Ascaso Dream UP with Brew Head Upgrade
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- The Dream UP, like its predecessor, is a 'versatile' machine, meaning that it can brew both pods and grounds. However, the brew head design really favors pods. Gail shows us the difference between the screens and water dispersal, we compare the solenoid valve's performance between the regular brew head and the upgrade and then she pulls a shot to show us the mojo. Now with 100% more super-sessy music!
@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
@44Bigs yeah - we showed it in the video, it has 4 holes instead of the three that the US stock machines come with. - Kat
@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
@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
@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 Thanks a lot, Kat. I appreciate the help from your team.
@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 Dave,
The only thing I can do is to 90% of the ground coffee into the double shot basket (either pressurized or non-pressurized). It has been working quite well so far.
Hope this helps.
Huck
@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 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 Ha :) You're very talented to have used just one the first time!
Gotta love Sylvia Striplin! :) - Kat
@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
@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'm not sure; I know that we order the parts individually and then create the kit, so not sure if anyone else is doing that. Most of Europe is off during August, so we sometimes see delays on smaller items like this as a result. Sorry about 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.
Yeah, not sure what to tell you here. I know that you have to dose a little bit less with this retrofit as it does protrude more than the original one, but I have never heard the portafilter just not fitting. Wish I could be of more help! :( - Kat
@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
@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
Once I replaced the ground kit/original shower with the new one in the kit, the verstaile portafilter WILL NOT FIT into the brewhead, NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY. ADVICE?
It's not a matter of wimpy torque strength on our part...we have used home espresso machines for many many years, currently a Gaggia...our Ascaso portafilter simply DOES NOT FIT the brewhead with the new ground kit/filter installed.
Do we need to return the entire machine?
is that thr red one or the orange one camera switches between colours
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 ?
How do you backflush after installing the upgrade? One shot basket seams to be too small, cause i can't lock the handle in place. And the two shots basket is too big, and water will leek out through the bottom like when making coffee.
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 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 huckhsu/ Kat, did you sort it out? just got a dream up today and i had the same problem, not being able to fill the coffee up in the basket, it feel like the head is too low or something. thanks dave
I would like to purchase the brew head upgrade kit, but Seattle Coffee Gear is unfortunately out of stock until mid-September. Do you know of any other companies that carry this product? I've looked and looked, and I'm having trouble tracking anything down. Thanks for your help.
I heard that upgrading the Ascaso brew shower screen results in a much drier and even puck. But ground coffee dosing needs to be reduced, because the Ascaso kit fits over the existing seals, resulting in less room, is this true? If so, is there a workaround for the V2 model?
Here at SCG, we've never heard of the Ascaso Brew Head Upgrade resulting in a drier puck, but it will distribute the water much more evenly in your portafilter. Due to the boiler ball valve and spring, there will always be a bit of water left behind because of the design of this particular brew head. - Brendan
@SeattleCoffeeGear Woops, guess I should use *both* my eyes next time ;)
Love the music btw :)
@watcherjohnny She can't hide for long! :D - Kat
KAT!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE????? NOW GAIL IS TRYING TO HIDE!!!!!!
@jdharding2 Ah - cool :) - 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.