Yeah, no worries. This is closely related to a recent thread about what the actual temperature is at the brew group vs. what is on the display. In the end, pressure and temperature are just relative adjustments, and you will learn to trust your tongue and your puck. If the shot tastes great, your temp is in a nice range. If you have pinholes and are spraying espresso all over your kitchen and yourself, your grind/dosing/distribution are off, and/or your pressure is too high. If you have a nice, solid, slightly elastic, mostly dry puck, these things are in balance. The numbers will cease to be important to you, except as a relative measure vs. other numbers. There is no "right" number for every machine/blend/bean age/grind/dose/distribution/tamp/preinfusion rate/etc./etc./etc. 9 on my machine may be wrong on your machine, and so we work relative to some point until we get it right.
In the words of Johnny Depp, "They're more guidelines, really..." :) Happy shots, bmc On Apr 10, 2011, at 2:18 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Thanks for the info, Ira re/ the Kill-A-Watt meter. Hi Ben: I seem to > remember hearing that the difference between the brew gauge and a > portafilter gauge is approximately 1 bar. I guess I was going off of > what WLL sets their machines at, which is 10 bar. I live in Canada > where the vendor I purchased from ships the machines unadjusted. Good > to know re/ channeling behavior. I will see how things go and perhaps > make a further adjustment. Thanks again, > > Pete > > > On Apr 10, 1:08 pm, Benjamin McCafferty <[email protected]> wrote: >> Glad to hear it. You still may try lowering to 9. Why do you think the >> gauge is wrong? One thing I have experienced is that I have a hard time >> stopping channeling if I'm above 9 bar on the grind, 9.5 or so on the blind >> PF. So if you're getting holes/spraying at 10, and feel your dosing and >> distribution is good, you're probably still a bit high on pressure. >> b >> On Apr 10, 2011, at 11:45 AM, [email protected] wrote: >> >> >> >>> Ben - I lowered my brew pressure from 12 to about 10 bar, which I >>> believe is really 9 bar because of errors on the brew pressure gauge. >>> Pulled two shots with tight grinds and....no more fluctuating brew >>> pressure. Thanks! Will try moving Brewtus to another outlet later this >>> afternoon to see if I can solve the flickering lights issue. However, >>> thanks a bunch for your help with this. >> >>> cheers, >> >>> Pete >> >>> On Apr 10, 11:24 am, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>>> Thanks Ben and Ira, >> >>>> Great suggestions as usual. I'll work through the suggestions and let >>>> you know how I make out. >> >>>> Pete >> >>>> On Apr 10, 11:15 am, Ira <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>>>> At 08:27 AM 4/10/2011, you wrote: >> >>>>>> ANY help/suggestions would be appreciated. >> >>>>> Do you have a Volt Meter? If not they are cheap as is a >>>>> Kill-A-Watt. Plug the meter into the same outlet as your Brewtus, >>>>> and watch the voltage as the Brewtus operates. If it varies more than >>>>> a couple of volts, you need to fix it as something is getting hot >>>>> somewhere, likely near the panel. I'm guessing you don't play with >>>>> electricity, but if you do and want more pointers just ask. >> >>>>> As an example with my POS meter, it reads 117.5 and drops to 115.9 >>>>> with the Brewtus steam boiler element on. Cycling the pump has no >>>>> effect on the voltage. >> >>>>> Ira >> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Brewtus" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit this group >>> athttp://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en.
