Breville the Barista Touch BES880

How much coffee is in the portafilter before you tamp the coffee?
Do you tamp it down quite hard?
I guess you mean excessive steam from the bottom of the portafilter and not from the top seal.
I guess too much steam would mean the grind is not fine enough. Try 9 grind and see if that is good with a hard tamp. On different coffee beans you need to try a few different grinds to get it to taste good. The brew without milk should taste smooth and not bad.
With a finer grind you will need to increase the time to fill to same level.
My portafilter needs to be a bit over full before tamping.
After saying all of that are you using the double bottom filter basket. For shopping centre coffee you usually need to use the double bottom. I guess you are using the single bottom basket and that is why you are getting excessive steam. Use the double wall/bottom filter basket with a 13 grind for a start.
See how you go.

thanks for reply. approx 18 to 20 grams of ground beans in portafilter and ive used various tamping pressures. I dont use the double wall/bottom filter basket as the beans are ground at time of usage and booklet says to use single wall when grinding fresh whole beans.when ther is excessive steam/smoke, the coffee brew smells and tastes burnt . I will try the 9 grind and double wall filter in the interim.
Cheers

The problem the beans are not fresh whole beans as you say. They are not fresh as they have not been roasted recently.
Fresh beans is when I get green beans and roast them yourself. That is what you call fresh and after two weeks they are also not fresh.
When I roast green beans I can use the single wall basket but after a week or two I need to use the double wall basket.
Basically all shopping centre beans need a double wall basket as they are old in roasting terms.
You can try a 9 grind with the double walled basket but you may find no or not enough brew will flow. That may be too fine for the double walled basket and you may need to go to say around 13.
You are suppose to with every different coffee beans try a few different settings for the grind until you get a great smooth tasting brew. Just one or two different grind settings can change the taste from great to bad.

Hope you get it right soon.

The micro switch behind the portafilter where you grind might be stuck a bit. Push the button in and out sharply with your finger and it should move freely and click.

I guess you could try the old PC fix of turning it off at the power point and pulling the plug out of the wall for a few minutes. Leave it out longer if all else fails.

You could also try a Full Factory Reset with is the last one on the Menu List on the touchscreen. I did it yesterday for no special reason and you just bypass the items you do not need to do.

Apart from that I guess it needs a repair unless someone else can help.

I guess you mean the Brew is frothing? I like it like that for my Cappuccino coffee. I only use the larger baskets being the single wall basket and double wall basket.

If you have good coffee beans newly roasted you use the single wall basket which is used in most machines. If you roast your own beans or beans from the supermarket you use the single wall basket for about two weeks or so and then use the double walled basket when the brew comes out all black and runny. Some supermarket coffee beans only come out runny and black in the single wall basket.

If you are getting too much frothing for the type of coffee you like you would use the single wall basket. That's the one with lesser number of holes on the bottom.

But that is just on baskets. There are numerous other things you could be doing to get too much froth in the brew. It also depends on the grind size you are doing. What number do you have the grinder set on?

Also without seeing a photo or video it is hard to say what it is. Also the machine may be faulty but hopefully that is not the case.

I have been finding for the last few months the different coffee beans have had not much taste. I went to Coles and got the Moccona Barista Reserve Medium Roast Coffee Beans for $19 usually $36 and they are really great. They have a nice strong taste.

Are you using the single or double wall basket?

I've tried descale Backwash clean changing baskets.
The only thong that worked was a backslash but then after 2 coffees it keeps doing it.

1. Is it you have too much crema on the brew and nothing to do with milk?
2. What beans are you using?
3. What number are you grinding at?
4. What type of coffee are you doing. Cappuccino, etc
5. You have four baskets? Two small ones and two double ones.

I'd say it is the wrong size grind doing that or double wall basket.

OR IS IT:
You are making a Cappuccino and expect to see more runny fluid but it is actually working correctly?

All complaints I have seen have been about getting black watery brews instead of a good brew.

OR:
You like black runny fluid. I guess do a very course grind and that should do it but not dure what the taste will be. Also use old beans and that will do it.

So it is working good now?