I received the kit in the mail 6 days after Eric sent it. I’ve read the instructions several times over even before I received the kit, so I pretty much did a quick effortless installation. The instructions were well written, but for newbs who don’t know a bolt from a nut, it would be helpful if there are photos detailing the name of each part.
The really plus point is that Eric has a Quickmill Anita. So, the charts he has in his instructions are all Anita-friendly. Lucky me.
In his response to this blog entry, Eric stated that “the blue data points represent actual readings of a thermocouple inserted into the grouphead exactly where the digital thermometer is inserted. The pink represent the Scace thermofilter readings. A thermocouple and/or digital thermometer typically will always read higher than a Scace thermofilter because the water gets cooled further (by the grouphead) in the additional 1.25 to 1.50 inches it must travel.”
From left to right, the above chart shows the thermocouple reading of a flush til the end of a pour. The thermocouple’s reading is about 5ºF cooler than the actual brew temperature measured with a Scace thermofilter. The peak of the curve at approximately 218ºF shows the start of the flush, which continues until the thermocouple reads 185ºF when the flush is stopped. The upwards spike denotes the thermocouple reading the grouphead temperature instead of the water temperature during the flush. A good 100 seconds pass before 198ºF (marked Eric’s favourite) is reached, and the brew lever is turned on for the pour. The part that denotes the pour is magnified in the chart below:
The 100 seconds lull is more than enough time for me to go about my routine of DLTing my portafilter. I initially wrote that with Eric’s device, I tend to flush more water than I normally would without his device. But then again, without Eric’s device, it was a Hail Mary flush each time, not knowing at what temperature to stop flushing, with me just watching the water dance to gauge.
Eric added that “the chart ALSO represents MY methodology for pulling a shot. Needless to say, there are a number of ways to execute a shot and every individual would have their own “little” variations. It is correct to say that this methodology uses up more water but it is not correct to say that the installation of the digital thermometer (in and by itself) uses up more water. As you can read (and feel free to copy verbatim into your blog) in the adaptor tidbits document, I dose directly into the basket while the PF is in the machine.
It would also be easy to FULLY PREPARE the basket, flush to, say 200, and immediately pull the shot. You would be flushing less BUT I believe the consistency of the shots would suffer – I could be wrong. The temperature dynamics of our espresso machines (all prosumer machines) are very complex.”
While I need to brush up on my routine, I’ll have to note that with the help of Eric’s Digital Thermometer Kit, my pours have improved a lot. At the very least, I KNOW when to end my flush and begin my pour. That’s ending another uncertain variable in the journey towards making a goodshot. This mod is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for E-61 machine owners who don’t know when to stop.