Hi Kat. Would you be able to guide me since it is a easy tweak. I am on my second machine which has been in for a service and is still doing the same. Is this just an Ascaso problem?
@Dorothy904 I am not sure; I can't really guide/provide support via YT (my bosses draw a few lines for liability purposes) -- your repair center/retailer in SA can't help with this? - Kat
I bought the upgrade kit and I have the same problem posted by jdharding2 too. The brew head is too long and even I am using the ground coffee, the portafilter from the original package won't fit with ground coffee in the basket. (It fit without coffee in the basket, but how can I make coffee without coffee?)
@HuckHsu Hmmmmm....I'm not sure, honestly. I have not seen this happen on the machines we have put this on, they work just fine with ground coffee and you can fit the portafilter in there without issue. Could you send photos or a video so we can see what's going on? This is not a common report that we receive so we'll need to troubleshoot it. - Kat
@SeattleCoffeeGear Hi Kat, I uploaded a video for you, but I couldn't post the link here for no reason. If you can click my channel, then you will find the video. Let me know if you couldn't find it. Thx.
@HuckHsu Cool -- I talked to Jess and she is working this with you in tickets, right? She and Gail have gone over the video and will be working with you through there. - Kat
Hi, I just bought myself a Ascaso Dream up. I live in South Africa. I do have the brew head on my machine. I just want to know, I've just had it for about a week. It drips a lot after brewing (both the overflow and through the porter filter). When the machine builds up steam for frothing it also lets out a lot of steam through the porter filter before it reaches the correct temp. Is this normal or should I query this with the supplier. Regards
@Dorothy904 It could be that the little spring/closure in the brew head is not sealing correctly. I'd contact your retailer and talk to them -- they can either walk you through fixing this or have you bring it in; it's an easy tweak. - Kat
I got my brewhead upgrade installed on my regular Dream and it works quite well and keeps the pucks a lot dryer and less watery than without. I'm noticing two problems, though. One, it's more difficult to clean around the inside of the grouphead. Two, the original Dream came with a pod portafilter, and with the upgrade installed the pod portafilter does not fit. I may have to get a pod basket for the regular portafilter. But other than that it's good and worth the $40 price tag.
@jdharding2 You may find, however, that the pods don't perform as well post this upgrade. They work better with the version they made for the US with the more pod-centric brew screen. - Kat
I just bought one of these upgrade kits after seeing this vid. I got a question, though. My head looks horrible. It's stained with coffee like usual, but the o-ring in it seems to have melted and now I have this melted rubber residue all over it. I'd like to put the new kit onto a clean head, so how do I go about cleaning it up?
@jdharding2 Spoke to our techs, once the machine is cool, you should be able to peel the residue off, or sometimes they use a wire brush to clean it off -- nothing fancy. If you've removed the whole diffuser block and you're talking about the red thin gasket up there, you'll need to replace that completely, too, if that's what melted. Let me know if you need more info & I will find out for you :) - Kat
@SeattleCoffeeGear It's the black rubber o-ring on the first part of the grouphead. I forget what it's called. The brass part. I used Palmolive, which is probably not a good choice, but it deffinately cleaned it all up and made it shiny again. Took a lot of scrubbing to accomplish, but it worked! And since it's all metal, the soap washed off fairly easily. The brass is shiny again. Next time I'll use coffee soap. ;)
hi, i had a question. You know soo much about coffeemaking.. We used to have a phillips senseo latte select but we want to start making real espresso and cappucino.
We love the looks of the machine and are thinking of buying one. Would you recommend the dream up? because I noticed that you use a different machine when u make mochas and stuff..
@84shap I think it's a great machine if you know what you're getting: It's a single boiler with no auto-refill, so you can't brew/steam at the same time and you have to be careful to actively refill the boiler (we have videos on how to do this). It's convertible, so you do need to upgrade the brew head in the US if you want to get a good shot with grounds; the US versions favor pods. Let me know if you have more questions - feel free to msg, as comments are limited. - Kat
what causes soggy pucks in general ?? i tend to get a few from time also notice water sitting in the portafilter basket when i return to machine later on what is causing this ?
@tonyyuille soggy pucks could be too fine/too hard tamping. Also, there is going to be a little water leftover on every puck at the end of the shot -- not much, but a little moisture. If you aren't backflushing regularly, you will lose some of the suction as well, so make sure you're doing that. - Kat
In Europe the 'ground coffee only' edition is standard (so larger dispersion screen and non-pressurized filter baskets as well). Screw pods :) You only showed us the larger dispersion screen, but did you also use the different jet breaker that goes with it?
The only way I get wet pucks with my Dream UP is when I dose too little. Then things can get really messy.
@44Bigs Not sure what you mean by the different jet breaker. Yes, we are aware this was adapted for the US market only -- wish they would have left it alone! :) - Kat
@SeattleCoffeeGear I mean the big bronze thing.. not sure what it's called. It's included in the 'Brew Head Upgrade Adapter Kit for Ascaso' on your website.
@skoredreng Nah - we pulled tons of shots with the stock brew head and they were all wet and soupy like the demo in the original review. It just doesn't suck as much as the upgrade - in a good way! ;) - Kat
@SeattleCoffeeGear Oh, okay.. Its because that when i pull shots on my espresso machine, it sometimes happens to me, but thats because that i have tampered it with to much presure or something like that.. ^^..
@skoredreng yeah - often you will have some leftover on top of the puck if your tamp was off, but not nearly as much as with the regular brew head. There was like 1/2 oz of water on it -- or so it seemed! :D - Kat
Hi Kat. Would you be able to guide me since it is a easy tweak. I am on my second machine which has been in for a service and is still doing the same. Is this just an Ascaso problem?
Dorothy904 4 days ago
@Dorothy904 I am not sure; I can't really guide/provide support via YT (my bosses draw a few lines for liability purposes) -- your repair center/retailer in SA can't help with this? - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 3 days ago
Hi,
I bought the upgrade kit and I have the same problem posted by jdharding2 too. The brew head is too long and even I am using the ground coffee, the portafilter from the original package won't fit with ground coffee in the basket. (It fit without coffee in the basket, but how can I make coffee without coffee?)
Is there any way I can make it work? Thanks.
HuckHsu 5 months ago
@HuckHsu Hmmmmm....I'm not sure, honestly. I have not seen this happen on the machines we have put this on, they work just fine with ground coffee and you can fit the portafilter in there without issue. Could you send photos or a video so we can see what's going on? This is not a common report that we receive so we'll need to troubleshoot it. - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 4 months ago
@SeattleCoffeeGear Hi Kat, I uploaded a video for you, but I couldn't post the link here for no reason. If you can click my channel, then you will find the video. Let me know if you couldn't find it. Thx.
HuckHsu 4 months ago
@HuckHsu Cool -- I talked to Jess and she is working this with you in tickets, right? She and Gail have gone over the video and will be working with you through there. - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 4 months ago
@SeattleCoffeeGear Thanks a lot, Kat. I appreciate the help from your team.
HuckHsu 4 months ago
Hi, I just bought myself a Ascaso Dream up. I live in South Africa. I do have the brew head on my machine. I just want to know, I've just had it for about a week. It drips a lot after brewing (both the overflow and through the porter filter). When the machine builds up steam for frothing it also lets out a lot of steam through the porter filter before it reaches the correct temp. Is this normal or should I query this with the supplier. Regards
Dorothy904 9 months ago
@Dorothy904 It could be that the little spring/closure in the brew head is not sealing correctly. I'd contact your retailer and talk to them -- they can either walk you through fixing this or have you bring it in; it's an easy tweak. - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 9 months ago
@Dorothy904 Did you ever get this matter sorted out? What's the service like from the agents in South Africa?
YOUhuntsmanTUBE 6 months ago
I got my brewhead upgrade installed on my regular Dream and it works quite well and keeps the pucks a lot dryer and less watery than without. I'm noticing two problems, though. One, it's more difficult to clean around the inside of the grouphead. Two, the original Dream came with a pod portafilter, and with the upgrade installed the pod portafilter does not fit. I may have to get a pod basket for the regular portafilter. But other than that it's good and worth the $40 price tag.
jdharding2 1 year ago
@jdharding2 You may find, however, that the pods don't perform as well post this upgrade. They work better with the version they made for the US with the more pod-centric brew screen. - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
I just bought one of these upgrade kits after seeing this vid. I got a question, though. My head looks horrible. It's stained with coffee like usual, but the o-ring in it seems to have melted and now I have this melted rubber residue all over it. I'd like to put the new kit onto a clean head, so how do I go about cleaning it up?
jdharding2 1 year ago
@jdharding2 Spoke to our techs, once the machine is cool, you should be able to peel the residue off, or sometimes they use a wire brush to clean it off -- nothing fancy. If you've removed the whole diffuser block and you're talking about the red thin gasket up there, you'll need to replace that completely, too, if that's what melted. Let me know if you need more info & I will find out for you :) - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
@SeattleCoffeeGear It's the black rubber o-ring on the first part of the grouphead. I forget what it's called. The brass part. I used Palmolive, which is probably not a good choice, but it deffinately cleaned it all up and made it shiny again. Took a lot of scrubbing to accomplish, but it worked! And since it's all metal, the soap washed off fairly easily. The brass is shiny again. Next time I'll use coffee soap. ;)
jdharding2 1 year ago
@jdharding2 Ah - cool :) - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
hi, i had a question. You know soo much about coffeemaking.. We used to have a phillips senseo latte select but we want to start making real espresso and cappucino.
We love the looks of the machine and are thinking of buying one. Would you recommend the dream up? because I noticed that you use a different machine when u make mochas and stuff..
84shap 1 year ago
@84shap I think it's a great machine if you know what you're getting: It's a single boiler with no auto-refill, so you can't brew/steam at the same time and you have to be careful to actively refill the boiler (we have videos on how to do this). It's convertible, so you do need to upgrade the brew head in the US if you want to get a good shot with grounds; the US versions favor pods. Let me know if you have more questions - feel free to msg, as comments are limited. - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
what causes soggy pucks in general ?? i tend to get a few from time also notice water sitting in the portafilter basket when i return to machine later on what is causing this ?
tonyyuille 1 year ago
@tonyyuille soggy pucks could be too fine/too hard tamping. Also, there is going to be a little water leftover on every puck at the end of the shot -- not much, but a little moisture. If you aren't backflushing regularly, you will lose some of the suction as well, so make sure you're doing that. - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
In Europe the 'ground coffee only' edition is standard (so larger dispersion screen and non-pressurized filter baskets as well). Screw pods :) You only showed us the larger dispersion screen, but did you also use the different jet breaker that goes with it?
The only way I get wet pucks with my Dream UP is when I dose too little. Then things can get really messy.
44Bigs 1 year ago
@44Bigs Not sure what you mean by the different jet breaker. Yes, we are aware this was adapted for the US market only -- wish they would have left it alone! :) - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
@SeattleCoffeeGear I mean the big bronze thing.. not sure what it's called. It's included in the 'Brew Head Upgrade Adapter Kit for Ascaso' on your website.
44Bigs 1 year ago
@44Bigs yeah - we showed it in the video, it has 4 holes instead of the three that the US stock machines come with. - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
@SeattleCoffeeGear Woops, guess I should use *both* my eyes next time ;)
Love the music btw :)
44Bigs 1 year ago
@44Bigs Ha :) You're very talented to have used just one the first time!
Gotta love Sylvia Striplin! :) - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
Arh nice.. alot better with the upgrade..!
But maby the problem last time could be the 'filter'' AND the tamp combined, that made the water float on top? - dunno..
skoredreng 1 year ago
@skoredreng Nah - we pulled tons of shots with the stock brew head and they were all wet and soupy like the demo in the original review. It just doesn't suck as much as the upgrade - in a good way! ;) - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
@SeattleCoffeeGear Oh, okay.. Its because that when i pull shots on my espresso machine, it sometimes happens to me, but thats because that i have tampered it with to much presure or something like that.. ^^..
skoredreng 1 year ago
@skoredreng yeah - often you will have some leftover on top of the puck if your tamp was off, but not nearly as much as with the regular brew head. There was like 1/2 oz of water on it -- or so it seemed! :D - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago
KAT!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE????? NOW GAIL IS TRYING TO HIDE!!!!!!
watcherjohnny 1 year ago
@watcherjohnny She can't hide for long! :D - Kat
SeattleCoffeeGear 1 year ago