# New Oracle owner



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

My Oracle arrived yesterday (non touch) and I've been playing with it a bit since then. My aim is to use this thread as a bit of a log of what I discover about using it, good and bad, problems/questions I come up with and also successes.

So the initial set up is a doddle, unpack, read quick Start guide and within 20 minutes it's heating up for the first time and filling the two boilers.

As with other sage products I've seen it's very well packaged and very user friendly in its design and style. I feel their user videos on YouTube are over simplified however but I'll get to that soon.

First double shot I made using their default setting was actually pretty nice; nice enough to drink anyway.

The default is grind setting 30, 7 second pre infision and a 30 second total shot time (including the pre infusion). I didn't weight the output as I want to learn to use the machine as it was intended to begin with.

Made a a couple of flat white/latte hybrids and they were good. On first inspection the milk texturing is excellent and fool proof. This was one of the things I was keen on and I'm glad to see it's as good and easy as it looks on the videos etc

today i I made a double first thing with no changes to yesterday's settings and it was very sour. Set grind a bit finer and tried again, still sour. Decided out of interest to weigh input and output just to see what I was dealing with. Input is a dose of 23g +\- 0.2g and this seems consistent with this bean anyway. Output on the default settings was 24g...so that's 1:1 ratio. No wonder it was sour!

However the numbers fell within their guide. First espresso should flow between 9-14 seconds. This did, they all have but still not right. I see two options, mainly due to the fixed dose, pull it longer and or change the grind. I think the grind is about there so pulling it longer to increase the brew ratio to 2:1 is my first plan.

Another however, however. The puck has a pretty good imprint of the shower screen on it post shot. Is this an issue and causing poor water flow? I can't change the dose but I can change the tamp pressure and duration. I can also change the pre infusion time. Could it be too long at 7 seconds and causing the puck to swell up too much too soon?

Ive got in touch with sage today to book the white glove set up. I'm going to use my experience so far to explain to them where I am with it and I'm really interested to see what they suggest. For now I think I'm going to hold off using it until they have been (I won't I'm impatient) as I do want to try and use it as intended as much as possible.

Not really looking for answers to any of my questions above, more using this as somewhere to dump my thoughts and findings to refer back to but always happy to hear any advice from other users.


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

Today's tinkering.

Rave Chatswood blend

23g dose fixed

2:1 - sour, 10 sec PI then shot at weight in 29 seconds total. Grind setting 30

2.5:1 - 10 sec PI 42 seconds to weight. Better so going to stick to yield of 57g and go finer. Grind 30

2 stops finer same as above 41 seconds?? Grind 28. Weight hit in 41 secs. Perhaps old grind residue still there

Repeat as above. Grind 28. 2.5:1 target yield. 45 seconds

As above G25. 57g in 52 seconds. Better but still not sure I'm going the right way.

Maybe should try a shorter shot given these are quite dark beans?

theres every chance I won't like this coffee even if I nail it but I should be able to tell if it's got any major errors that are down to me is my thinking.


----------



## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

GingerBen said:


> Today's tinkering.
> 
> Rave Chatswood blend
> 
> ...


Chatswood is my favourite coffee Ben - I get it a lot.

I find it easy to work with - works well at 2.5:1 and also 3:1 for me.

Even though it's advertised as medium/dark by rave for me it behaves like a dark in that it's easy to extract.

I found quicker shots better as it packs such a pinch eg 1:2.5 in 24 seconds.

I've found it impossible to get a sour drink out of this blend - what's the roast date on yours?


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

kennyboy993 said:


> Chatswood is my favourite coffee Ben - I get it a lot.
> 
> I find it easy to work with - works well at 2.5:1 and also 3:1 for me.
> 
> ...


ive had proper face changers out of it today lol. It's october roasted but been frozen.

To get a short shot time wise with a 2.5:1 ratio I'm going to have to go a lot coarser grind. I'll give it a go though as I'm keen to see if I'm totally at the wrong end of the scale with it. Sadly I only have a bit left as with 23g doses a bag doesn't last long when experimenting.


----------



## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

I go coarser with it than most coffees.


----------



## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

If you like chocolatey Ben then I think you'll love it when you've got it dialled in.

The orange really lifts it though - compliments it beautifully


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

kennyboy993 said:


> If you like chocolatey Ben then I think you'll love it when you've got it dialled in.
> 
> The orange really lifts it though - compliments it beautifully


i think I will for espresso. I've been all lightish, fruity pour overs up to now but I'm not sure I want those flavours in espresso, certainly not with milk at least. For now I'm focussing in on what I like for espresso and how to make it.

Hopefully the white glove service will get in touch soon so I can get that done. I think I'll get a couple of 500g bags of coffee to dial in with them here. 1 that's typical of what I cureentlylike and one more espresso focussed which in my mind at the moment means chocolate/nuts/honeycombe etc

ive got some square mile red brick to try as it sounds delicious but I don't want to waste it before I know what I'm doing with this machine.


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

Suspicions that this isn't working as it should. Three pucks this morning that failed to tamp properly which seems odd. Also a waste of nearly 70g coffee. Decided to leave it alone now until the white glove service as it's just going to annoy me otherwise which isn't the point of it!


----------



## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

Suggest you need to clean out the grinder also remove the tamper plate with supplied magnetic tool & replace.


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

ronsil said:


> Suggest you need to clean out the grinder also remove the tamper plate with supplied magnetic tool & replace.


Thanks ron. I've been doing this regularly as you recommend previously. This was first shot of the day with a clean aystem.


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

Have fully cleaned it out again. Empty hopper, run grinder to clear any beans out that I couldn't take out by hand and brushed as much as I could down the chute. Ran it a few times to get a clear as I could. Removed and cleaned tamper plate as well. Should hear from sage tomorrow so going to wait for that.


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

Expecting a call or email from the WG team tomorrow so should be able to get this show on the road soon.


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

Next Thursday Nick from coffee classics is coming to set my oracle up properly which will be great. I think I'm also going to book on to the Home barista course at Winchester coffee school as it's only up the road and for £50 looks like great value. They also use sage machines but encourage you to bring your own so that will be good as they will be very familiar with it.


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

Fired up again yesterday as impatience is getting the better of me. However got three badly tamped pucks in a row so cleaned it and parked it again until thursdays set up service. Be interesting to see if adjusting the tamp pressure and time would fix it but I can't help feeling the out of the box settings should work, especially as they say it has been calibrated and tested before sending out. Nick's got his work cut out with me lols


----------



## KTD (Dec 28, 2017)

Have you tried wetting the basket beforehand? I heard the new basket causes the coffee to slip in the basket and the machine can't detect the correct tamp level


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

KTD said:


> Have you tried wetting the basket beforehand? I heard the new basket causes the coffee to slip in the basket and the machine can't detect the correct tamp level


no, not heard that. I'm going to leave it now until Thursday I think.


----------



## KTD (Dec 28, 2017)

I read a few people with the same problem and this fixed it, pretty sure it was on coffeesnobs


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

KTD said:


> I read a few people with the same problem and this fixed it, pretty sure it was on coffeesnobs


Thanks. I'll check it out


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

All sorted. Nick from Coffee Classics came and set up the oracle. I had it more or less there but the bad tamping was due to too coarse a grind. Seems there can be quite a variance between beans so dialling in night waste a couple of shots or more. Think I'll limit my espresso beans to a few types so I can leave it dialled in for longer while I get used to it.

They set up by eye and taste, not weight so I'm going to run it like that and see how it goes.


----------



## KTD (Dec 28, 2017)

Glad you've got it sorted, eye and taste are all I've ever done, im probably missing out but im not up for all this weighing malarkey


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

KTD said:


> Glad you've got it sorted, eye and taste are all I've ever done, im probably missing out but im not up for all this weighing malarkey


sadly not quite sorted yet. Made a couple of drinks and they were fine. Next time back to not tamping properly and wasting coffee. They say freezing the beans is probably the reason it's not consistent so I'm going to get some fresh ones. Let them rest and then see what happens. Hopefully this is the issue but I'm not 100% convinced yet.


----------



## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

Out of interest why (and who) do they say freezing beans leads to inconsistency?


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

igm45 said:


> Out of interest why (and who) do they say freezing beans leads to inconsistency?


Coffee classics who do the WG service and service the sage machines for sage. Just said it was a bad idea and almost certainly why mine is playing up.

I have very kindly been given some curve espresso beans by @jlarkin that haven't been frozen and are well rested so my plan today is to dial those in and see what happens.


----------



## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Nothing wrong with freezing beans! Obviously depends on the method, freezer temp (to some degree, I expect), and length of time they are in the freezer etc.

I vacuum freeze mine 6 to 8 days post roast, remove and use within a month or so, roughly.


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

MildredM said:


> Nothing wrong with freezing beans! Obviously depends on the method, freezer temp (to some degree, I expect), and length of time they are in the freezer etc.
> 
> I vacuum freeze mine 6 to 8 days post roast, remove and use within a month or so, roughly.


well this is what I thought too but I'm going to take their advice and see what happens. I'll still freeze beans for filter as have no issues with those.


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

So long story short, either my oracle is faulty (I think this might be the case) or it can't handle lighter roasted beans and therefore is no good to me. Either way I'm going to get on to the retailer tomorrow to discuss options. Hopefully it's faulty so a new one can be sent but part of me isn't convinced


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

Anybody spot what's wrong with coffee corner?


----------



## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

Yep sage as gone, so what next?


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

Jony said:


> Yep sage as gone, so what next?


not sure. Will wait for refund then sit on it for a while and decide what I want to do. Probably go second hand and get something to pair with the Niche I've backed for when that arrives in June/July


----------



## KTD (Dec 28, 2017)

It's a horrible having doubts about something you have paid a lot for but at least you can get a refund, maybe a lucky escape longterm


----------



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

KTD said:


> It's a horrible having doubts about something you have paid a lot for but at least you can get a refund, maybe a lucky escape longterm


the retailer said it sounds faulty from what I'd described so im happy with that. I couldn't really believe it was meant to be doing what it was doing. They have been very good so far and are picking it up on Monday.


----------

