# Sage DB questions



## vcarter (May 24, 2021)

Hello everyone,

I am still at the beginning of my espresso journey (coming from a Delonghi BTC) and I bought a refurbished Sage DB from an official service partner, paired it with a new Eureka Silenzio.

I started with pre packed beans from Amazon (leftover from BTC, good for the learning period) and I was able to pull an ok shot with the basic settings in 32-37 sec, 1:2 ratio, 18-20g dose. The puck is always wet (little water on top), knocks out in 1 piece, but I could never do a dry one (I read that it is not really an issue).

After a few days I bought some fresh beans from a local roaster (Honduras and Sumatra). Same grind setting I used on the other beans is not working, the water runs through it without pressure (1:3 in 15-20 sec). I tried to grind finer, but to my biggest surprise the Eureka Silenzio could not do it, nothing came out, like it can not grind it finer anymore. I opened the grinder and cleaned it and now it is better, but grinding very slowly (almost like struggling with it).

With the super fine grind I got it between 30-37 sec in a 1:2 ratio, but I have a feeling that something is not right. Is the Silenzio not good enough for the SDB?

Also I still did not get the hang of the steamer, it is always too foamy or just warm milk, never the right texture for latte (watched a few videos, did not help). Is there a trick or just lot of practice?


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

I'd be inclined to crush up 3 of the usual tablets and run a cleaning cycle with all of them if you have bought a refurb. Remove and clean the shower screen and the area behind it as well before doing that. Then run another with no tablet to flush any cleaner that is left out. I'd suggest doing it normally monthly. 200 shots for the clean me message to come up is too many IMHO and others as well. Some would say weekly or every other week depending on usage. I thought they had more or less stopped selling actual refurbs. My DB was a refurb and listed as one on ebay - not used which is all they seem to offer now. I don't think they do much to them anyway - just make sure they work and a descale.

I use puly 2.5g tablets in mine. Too big really so have to run it twice. Best results though are when one of those is crushed.

Are you weighing beans into the grinder or using it with a hopper full?

First time I steamed with my DB lovely foam and cold milk. I suspect steam heated the jug rather than the milk heating the jug. It's a fairly powerful steam generator. Try and find a video that mentions heating and foaming stages. Might help.

Going on my machine even a refurb may benefit from some extra descaling and as with all espresso machines water hardness is pretty critical. Some areas of the country are just unsuitable. The newer style filters they use helps but above some hardness level they suggest using an alternative source of water and also testing that. Bottled is used by some but only certain brands.


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## vcarter (May 24, 2021)

I've got 2 of those tablets with the machine. I already checked the shower screen and that plastic, all clean. I asked about O rings and descaling, which were replaced and done in theory in the refurb process. It's a German service company on ebay, even Sage CS confirmed that they're official and the machine comes with 1 year warranty. The double basket was not tight in the pf (shot count was almost 1400), I asked for new spring clip and basket, should receive them tomorrow.

Thanks for the tip about crushing the tablets, I will do a cleaning cycle. Do you think it will help with the grind setting to go coarser?

With the first beans it was with hopper full, with the fresh ones weighing in.

Steam is really powerful and hot, I tried to lower the temp, but even at 130 Celsius it's just so fast I can't control it yet.

I live in Spain now and the water is soft here, but I used bottled and filtered water so far.


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## vcarter (May 24, 2021)

I ran a cleaning cycle (pressure at 9-9.5 bar) and got the new basket (now it's tight, the issue was the spring clip). The machine seems to be ok, but again with the finest possible grinding I got 1:3 in 27 sec.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Sounds like your refurbers are better than the ones in the UK.  Ours sell on the basis of tough if things are missing. The warrantee is 6month full refund and pro rata for 6months after that but of late I have only seen them list used which essentially means 1 month to return and that's that unless they have changed.

You can expect to have to use a finer grinder setting when weighing in compared with using it with the hopper on. Also longer grinding times as the beans will be bouncing around. You will hear odd noise changes due to that but it's not the grinder struggling. It's odd beans being ground especially near the end when most of the dose has been ground. When the hopper is on bean weight keeps the actual beans being ground down on the burrs.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

I'm not familiar with the Eureka grinder. On most flat burr grinders the setting can be adjusted until the burrs actually rub.  No one grinds that fine but the point where they do is usually found with clean burrs etc and slowly adjusting finer with the grinder running - a chirping noise will be hared when they touch. Have to adjust very slowly to avoid damage. Maybe Eureka limit adjustment. Best ask in a separate post in a grinder related section and describe your problem rather than in this section.

The burrs may need aligning. There are some descriptions of how that is done in this thread.

https://coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/58285-new-g-iota-df64-solo-64mm-flat-burr-single-dosing-grinder/

Easy to check, just needs a marker but need shims to correct if needed.


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## vcarter (May 24, 2021)

First I ordered a Sage DTP from them, there was a little leak from the group head, free return and full refund no issues. After that I decided to go for the DB (great price) and with the basket tightness issue they sent the requested parts straight away, overall good experience with them so far.

I will post in the grinder section, hopefully it can be sorted (too much beans are wasted already), thanks for the link I will check it out.


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