Questions for Bonavita BV1800 owners

[BaconFat]

Would you buy a coffee maker off the bay with this description:

Bonavita BV1800 8-Cup Coffee Maker with Glass Carafe

This item is USED in POOR physical condition with ALOT of marks/scratches/signs of wear. 


This seller had several of these makers up for bid with the "Make an Offer" option.  They weren't asking that much for them, but I made an offer with a 20% discount.  I figured what the heck, they have a 14 day return policy so I could return it if it was really in poor condition.  Well the seller accepted my offer and two days later the UPS guy dropped it off at my house.

I guess this seller is a firm believer in, "Under promise, over deliver".  Not only was this machine not in poor condition, it looked brand new.  So I ended up with a new coffee maker with a 50% + discount.  Sweet....

My question concerns the grounds and the brew basket.  My initial brew used 74 grams of coffee, two days post roast.  When the water started flowing, the bloom rose high enough to make contact with the shower head.  My thoughts are, maybe I'm using a little too much coffee, although it tasted great.  Or do a manual pre-infusion before placing the carafe in the machine.   Then the other question is.  The shower head basically bore a cavity into the grounds so I had this hole in the center all the way to the bottom.  I was wondering if jiggling the crarafe/brew basket a couple of times during the brew cycle would be any benefit.

Granted I'm probably over thinking this.  My coffee tasted great so leave everything alone, but ...  I'm not built that way.  What do you think?

[Joe]

I bought mine on Amazon with it listed in good condition used, but received a brand new unit, it had the warranty as well. Very similar problems as you have with mine. I like to think that it's designed for this unfortunately. The shower head seems to be working appropriately. The bloom goes higher than I would like, I did adjust my level in the basket and that does help as long as the coffee isn't a super bloomer or only a day off rest. Otherwise I just clean off the shower head as it needs it and run citric acid through it from time to tome. The shower head completely soaks my grounds and doesn't really bore a hole through the center though.  I think if I were you I would run the cleaner through the machine or citric acid solution and make sure the outer shower head holes aren't clogged.

[RobertL]

The whole shower head assembly comes off for cleaning. Roastmasters has a good video of the disassembly for cleaning I'll see if I can find it again.

[BaconFat]

The whole shower head assembly comes off for cleaning. Roastmasters has a good video of the disassembly for cleaning I'll see if I can find it again.

Thanks, I just looked it up.  I'm going to give it a through cleaning and I should be gtg.

Turns out SCG has a really good video on cleaning the Bonavita.  Ya never know what you'll find on the tube.