# New oracle owner having problems...



## Etk (Oct 26, 2016)

Hi all, my first post on this forum having read a ton of useful stuff in the last couple of weeks.

My my old bean to cup delonghi died a fortnight ago and, looking for something better, I stumbled across the Oracle. It looked ideal as a way of getting better coffee without necessarily giving up all the convenience of the old machine. Unfortunately I've been really struggling with it! I just don't seem to be able to get any consistency out of it...

Initially when pulling shots by the standard time settings I was getting really sour, unpleasant coffee. I was trying ancoats warehouse city blend (roasted ten days ago) - 22g coffee, 30 secs total brewing time (including 9 secs pre infusion), yielding 48g espresso. From the stuff I'd read that should be ok but it was undrinkable, really odd smell and horribly sour.

I read about someone trying a 3:1 extraction so thought I'd give that a go and actually preferred it so thought I'd give the volumetric settings a chance. Had to change beans to Has Bean jailbreak as I ran out of the ancoats (I've wasted a lot of coffee in the last week!). Last night pulled a few 62g shots in 32-36 seconds which were nice, probably the best I've made. This volume has been saved to my oracle's two cup button so I thought all was well...

then i I got up this morning! Without changing a single thing the two cup button gave me the following shots:

20g in 16 secs

40g in 20 secs (both horrid)

49g in 24 secs (better and made an ok latte but still not as good as last night)

whats going on??? Only thing I can think is the volumetric part isn't working properly as the shots we're so far apart. I've not had the white glove service yet so will get that booked but wondered if anyone had any suggestions in the meantime?


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

Hi After the Oracle has been cleaned within the grinder or even without cleaning the machine can deliver as much as 24 grams for the first shot out.

After wards it settles down to circa 22.5 grams. This delivery is not easily adjustable.

Suggest you weigh your PF empty & then reweigh after the grinder has delivered. That will help you see what is going on.

Don't rely too much on the buttons just yet.

I would tend to set 1 button at 39 seconda incl. 10 secs pre infusion for starters & the 2 button at 50 seconds incl pre infusion.

Use the 2 button for the shot & stop it when you have 45 grams in the cup.

To learn to use the Machine at its best it's all about weighing I'm afraid. Afterwards you can adjust the 1 button to fit your personal preferences.


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## Etk (Oct 26, 2016)

Cheers Ron, thanks for the quick reply. I've been weighing before and after grinding religiously. As you say the occasional time it has dosed at 24g but almost all others are 22g.

The reason for trying the volumetric settings (went into advanced menu and switched over to flo vs sec) was to try and deliver roughly the same amount of shot each time without the need for weighing the output - basically so SWMBO can use it easily! What's bothering me though is that even with the shot weight of 62g stored on the two cup button the machine seems to be spitting out wildly different amounts. It's not as if the puck is soaking wet either, so it's not like the water is all staying in the portafilter. If only 20g made it into the cup I'd expect another 42g to be lurking somewhere - and they just aren't!

or have I misunderstood the way the volumetric setting works??


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

Never use the volumetrics personally.

If your weights are correct & you're using the samr beans without 'hands on' its difficult to guess what it is.

Best to wait for your 'white gloves' guy & see what he says.

Don't know where you are but here we have 'Josh' who is very good

Please post the possible answer when you find out ,as it benefits other owners


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

Have you had Sage visit your home to set up your machine and take you through everything? If not, I imagine that this would be really useful both to help you dial in the machine and also to answer your questions about volumetrics. You need to phone them to arrange this, it's included in the price of your machine.

When I read about wildly different shot speeds for the same dose I usually bang on about 'distribution'. The Oracle is supposed to be more automated but it may still be the case that you are getting channels in your puck leading to underextracted (sour) shots.


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

Second what Ron says , weighing the input and output is going to be your answer to get a grip on what's going on


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## Etk (Oct 26, 2016)

Thecatlinux said:


> Second what Ron says , weighing the input and output is going to be your answer to get a grip on what's going on


yeah, that's what I've been doing... and why I'm so puzzled! The input weight is always around 22g +/- 0.5g.

With the machine set up for volumetric delivery (which last night gave a great espresso with 62g weight) it gave the three wildly different output weights this morning:

20g

40g

49g

I know the volumetric settings only measure input water, not output but surely it's not possible for the same amount of water in to give such different output weights? where does the excess water go?? it certainly wasn't into the puck which felt fairly dry and crumbly.

As mentioned, I will be getting the white glove service but just wondered if anyone had set up volumetrics on the oracle and could give me a steer?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

It might be that the flow meter that controls the output is playing up...


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## Etk (Oct 26, 2016)

Just called Sage. Only thing they could suggest was getting the white glove service booked in... didn't want to talk about whether it may be a fault or not









I'll try and get this sorted but unlikely I'll be able to for another couple of weeks due to work so looks like no decent coffee for a while


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Use scales, it's not the end of the world


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## Etk (Oct 26, 2016)

Mrboots2u said:


> Use scales, it's not the end of the world


Agreed - just need to persuade my other half of that now!









Seriously though, I *will* keep trying with it see if I can't work something out...


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