# Joined the Dual Boiler Club



## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

As the subject states I now own a Sage Dual Boiler. I picked up a year old unit from an Aussie barista for a good price and the best part of a years warranty from Bella Barista and Sage. I spent an hour getting to grips with the features. I now have the volumetric controls setup which is my favourite feature so far. If anyone has any tips or tricks please let me know.

Least favourite feature is the Heston endorsement. What a [email protected]


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## Rhys (Dec 21, 2014)

Does it use liquid nitrogen at all lol


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

No but it does do volumetric delivery, temperature control at the brewhead, adjustable preinfusion, filters its own water, calculates from water hardness when its time to descale, wakes itself up in the morning and is up to temp in ten minutes. It helps me to make perfect milk for a flat white for my morning milky drink. So no liquid nitrogen but maybe nitrous oxide injection.

Jeremy Challender of Prufrock in his latest blog writes that with all the high end machines they have in their training suite, the SDB does the best milk. So much so that they are hosting a latte art throw down where all competitors must use a Sage Oracle. It is true that Prufrock are a Sage stockist now, but I believe that was post Jeremy being wowed by a SDB during a taste test. They have some skin in the game but I don't think Jeremy would risk his name and reputation for the small number of boxes they will shift (as compared to John Lewis or Lakeland).


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## Beanosaurus (Jun 4, 2014)

I'd try playing around with pre-infusion settings - holding the manual shot button runs the entire shot at pre-infusion pressure and declines as the shot progresses much like a lever machine's pressure does.

Been doing a lot with this lately with great success.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

I have to say that I am loving the volumetric control. Press the double shot button and forget it while I texture milk. Oh yeah, it also has an automatic shot timer. So I keep one eye on that to make sure its still in tolerance (25 - 30 secs). The volumetric is pretty accurate, within a gram, as I was measuring and not trusting it to be accurate for the first few shots. I really do love this machine. Its not shiny shiny, but I don't care. Yes the frame is a very high quality plastic, but that won't rust unlike the mild steel frame of a Rocket for instance (its powder coated, but that isn't rust proof, just resistant).


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

When it dies in 12 months everyone will shout ''told you so''.

Or maybe it wont.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Kind of annoying how Sage can offer volumetric in a machine for the home user, but others who charge same/more cant...


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Thats volumetric in both time (sec) , or, flow meter cycles (vol). Very useful. I had completely forgotten about the function to be honest


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## NickdeBug (Jan 18, 2015)

Congratulations on the new purchase ridland.

AS you have probably guessed by now, I am a fan and heartily approve of your choice









Re volumetrics - I have to admit that I have hardly used this feature, preferring instead to operate using the manual control. I think this machine is a bit like that - lots of features that all seem fantastic - but you ending up just using a few. Nice that they are there though!

Changing brew temp and pre-infusion rates are loads of fun to play with. Amazing the impact in the cup!


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## Xpenno (Nov 12, 2012)

ridland said:


> Jeremy Challender of Prufrock in his latest blog writes that with all the high end machines they have in their training suite, the SDB does the best milk. So much so that they are hosting a latte art throw down where all competitors must use a Sage Oracle. It is true that Prufrock are a Sage stockist now, but I believe that was post Jeremy being wowed by a SDB during a taste test. They have some skin in the game but I don't think Jeremy would risk his name and reputation for the small number of boxes they will shift (as compared to John Lewis or Lakeland).


Last time I went there it was covered in dust and being used as a projector stand









To be fair even I can steam milk on the sage and that's saying something!! Feature-wise they are very comprehensive machines.

Congratulations and enjoy great coffee


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

garydyke1 said:


> When it dies in 12 months everyone will shout ''told you so''.
> 
> Or maybe it wont.


You are the one who gave me the confidence to fly in the face of the conventional wisdom. No backing out now.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

NickdeBug said:


> Congratulations on the new purchase ridland.
> 
> AS you have probably guessed by now, I am a fan and heartily approve of your choice
> 
> ...


So far the only use the manual button has seen is to rinse the portafilter through between shots to make sure its up to temp. I can't get over how fast the machine goes from stone cold to a consistent temp all through.

Its no piece of handcrafted Italian art and I am slightly envious of the looks of the Italian machines (but it is at least better loking than a Fracino) but as someone who has had Italian art fail spectacularly in the past (Alfa Romeo 156 Twinspark blew up going up a hill) I am always worried if my machine is the one built on Friday afternoon after a wine fuelled lunch.

Any suggestions on the preinfusion for lightly roasted fruity beans? I'm about to switch over to the Nicaraguan El Bosque from Rave (for 1 kg) and then its back to my favourite Rocko Mountain from Foundry.


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## NickdeBug (Jan 18, 2015)

ridland said:


> You are the one who gave me the confidence to fly in the face of the conventional wisdom. No backing out now.


Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

NickdeBug said:


> Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.


Brilliant. I'm going to shamelessly steal that.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

garydyke1 said:


> Thats volumetric in both time (sec) , or, flow meter cycles (vol). Very useful. I had completely forgotten about the function to be honest


I went into the Advanced settings on my first night and set volumetric to be in flow meter cycles. It was the feature I was looking most forward to. I now hit the double button (making sure the cup is in place this time) and walk away to get milk and jug from the cold fridge. I'm knocking out the morning round of milky drinks for me and the other half in about 5-6 minutes; as opposed to the 20 or so minutes on the Gaggia Classic. It was a good place to start but so glad I have moved onwards and upwards.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

Xpenno said:


> Last time I went there it was covered in dust and being used as a projector stand
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks Spencer. It was really great to meet such a thoroughly nice and knowledgable person on the weekend. I still am envious of your shiny shiny Vesuvius but that won't be happening until I have a nice lottery win.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

I use the single shot button set for 5 seconds to flush


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

garydyke1 said:


> I use the single shot button set for 5 seconds to flush


Great suggestion. Thanks.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

ridland said:


> You are the one who gave me the confidence to fly in the face of the conventional wisdom. No backing out now.


We can all live in fear of the 'what if's'. Or we can just crack on and enjoy tasty coffee


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## cirenpeter (Dec 24, 2014)

ridland said:


> I now hit the double button (making sure the cup is in place this time) a


I am so glad I am not the only person to do this!


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

garydyke1 said:


> I use the single shot button set for 5 seconds to flush


Good idea Gary I'm going to do it.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

Just found that David Schomer is a fan of SDB and replaced his home GS3 with a SDB. Says a lot I think.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Think it was just as or slightly more temp stable in the GS3 in some tests they ran.


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