I sense a little confusion here. Your B II does not have a PID unless someone modified the stock machine. That sounds unlikely from the text of your post.
As the owner of the second Brewtus to be converted to a true PID (with the help of Sean O'Neil, the guy who did the first one ... I mostly was the go-fer), and a contributor to the extensive post conversion performance data, I would advise you that you should stick with the old controller on this machine. If you want to spend the money to upgrade because you want the fun of a fancier toy, then fix this one, sell it and buy a B4-R on sale at Christmas or inventory reduction price. Your confidence that the machine is not a barrier will rise, ... but I doubt that you will consistently taste any difference beneath the variance you get from age and technique. Our experince was that the PID did not appreciably change the taste in the cup, it just improved our consistency a hair because the already tight band of dispensing temperature was tightened beyond the ability of most people to taste differences. (All three of us were certified judges for the US Barista Championships and had been trained to be very very discriminating.) When we modified the third machine, Abe Carmelli also added a rotary pump and in retrospect thought it added more benefit than the PID system. But the performance of your stock machine is already more consistent than most people can taste. Or as Ken Krone summed up his morning routine with the Brewtus on one of the forums, "Ho hum, another perfect cup of espresso." A little more not very technical background: A PID controller (proportional–integral–derivative controller) is a type of loop feedback mechanism that tracks three variables to LEARN how to keep the temperature very close to the target ... Perhaps 2 tenths of a degree, not 7 degrees. Part of its performance is dictated by the speed and sensitivity of the temperature probe. When the original B1 was introduced, it had one of the first easily adjustable brew boiler controls ... and it was a digital. Wow, it looked just like the readout on the home installed PID controllers on Silvia's that were in vogue. The distributor and the early discussions referred to the B1 as a PID machine because it looked like those. Eventually, someone with appropriate training pointed out that there was no PID involved ... It was a thermostat just like the one on the wall of you house. The spanish designers had structured a water delivery system that had the heater kick on after the temperature (as read by a not very sensitive probe at a position near the heating element) fell about 7 degrees F, if I recall correctly. And it would stay on until the temperature reached the "turn it off" temperature 3 degrees above target. The read-out showed the actual temperature with an adjustment (six degrees, called the offset) to allow for how much the water would cool while flowing through the room temperature pipes from the boiler to the coffee puck. (When the temperature was above the target temperature, the controller just shows the target temp.) By luck and design, this system actually produces an incredibly stable dispensing temperature in a very narrow band for about six shots in a row, not 7 degree temperature swings at the group head. This performance is why many reviewers raved about the machine. It was affordable and matched the performance of the top multi-group commercial machines for the volumes needed at home. A true PID didn't appear on the stock Brewtus until the B3. Modifying a B1 or B2 to be operated by a PID is not the quick plug and play project that a controller replacement will be. Keep it simple and concentrate on your espresso. KittJ Sent from my crystal radio On Dec 4, 2012, at 6:37 PM, JimR <[email protected]> wrote: my 8 year old B2. WLL, they told me it's either the Pstat valve or the PID controller. to replace the PID with the same unit is about $50 vs. $235 for the newer version. Have you guys REALLY noticed a significant improvement in your shots for that extra $185??? -- 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.
