I agree with Ben but I'd like to relay a recent experience with brew pressure.  
My shots started spewing all over the place and having ruled out distribution 
and tamp I assumed it was due to excessive brew pressure.  I broke down and 
bought a portafilter pressure gauge and it showed that my brew pressure was 
actually way too low.  This conflicted with the reading on my Brewtus's 
built-in gauge which read 2.5 bars higher.  So I decided to trust the 
portafilter gauge and tightened the OPV.  The spraying went away and my shots 
improved dramatically in every way.  This was counter-intuitive to me but I 
can't argue with success.



On May 13, 2011, at 7:03 AM, Ben McCafferty wrote:

> I've also had good luck with an infrared thermometer ($30, radio shack) since 
> it reads as the water emerges and before it falls through the air. 
> 
> Squirting, however, doesn't have much to do with temp
> On my experience. It's bad dose/distribution, and/or excessive brew pressure. 
>  Look up the Weiss technique, it helps a ton.
> 
> best,
> bmc
> 
> Sent from my C-Dory
> 
> On May 13, 2011, at 6:44, Kitt Johnson <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> No Steve, it isn't a very good way to check an absolute temperature (vs. a 
>> relative one that was derived the same way.  You want to measure the water 
>> as it emerges from  the group head.  Short of $300+ of equipment (Fluke 52 
>> and a Scace), your best (imperfect) bet is to get a decent cooking 
>> thermometer and some thick Styrofoam cups.  Stab the thermo through the 
>> upper lip of the cup so it extends half way across the cup. This will 
>> position the probe directly into the falling water from the group at about 
>> the same height as the face of the puck.  Then run water across the probe.
>> 
>> This technique will still lose some heat (~2 - 4 F), but less than any thing 
>> else you can do cheaply.  You can test it with boiling water.  (Also, be 
>> sure to calibrate the cooking thermometer by holding it in boiling water.)
>> 
>> -----Original Message----- From: StevieG.
>> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 8:55 AM
>> To: Brewtus
>> Subject: Re: One more time - with feeling...
>> 
>> 
>> Hi folks - I have recently been bedeviled with the squirts, and am
>> working on my setup again.  I generally use CC Toscano, but can't seem
>> to pull a good shot lately.  This morning, I verified that a 7.7
>> second run on my Macap doserless produces the CC recommended 19.5
>> grams into a double basket.
>> 
>> Next, I want to get to 198 degrees - I had my heat set at 95C, and ran
>> some hot water from the group head into a heated Bodum double wall
>> glass and measured the water temp with an instant read thermometer.
>> It was around 184F, much lower than a straight conversion of 203F
>> should have been.
>> 
>> Is this a valid way to measure brew water temp, or should I be going
>> about this differently?
>> 
>> Thanks much for comments!
>> 
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