I have owned the Bonavita Variable temp gooseneck kettle for nearly a year. When using it for pour over brewing I have found that it is challenging to consistently maintain a controlled stream of water. The spout easily pours out too much water, but when I attempt to pour lightly I get a lot of the "dribbling" effect, thus causing unwanted agitation to the slurry and likely produces an uneven extraction. (side note: I've heard that the Kalita Pot/Kettle gives the user excellent control and precision for pour overs).

I have found several forums and blogs online where fellow coffee enthusiasts and baristas have installed flow restrictors in their pour over kettles to help make pours more consistent. This year's U.S. Brewers Cup champ, Todd Goldsworthy, used flow restrictors in the Bonavita kettles that he used in competition.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a single place online that sells flow restrictors.
Does anyone know where I can purchase a flow restrictor?
Any "do it yourself" mods/hacks to creating a homemade flow restrictor?

I have one of these in both of my bonavita gooseneck kettles: http://www.espressoparts.com/water-inle ... ter-screen. They seat pretty well, but I can still remove them when I want to brew larger batches, and they slow the flow rate to a very good rate for single cup pour-overs.

I got a 2-pack from George Howell coffee:

http://store.georgehowellcoffee.com/mob ... php?id=344

Eastsideloco wrote:I got a 2-pack from George Howell coffee:

http://store.georgehowellcoffee.com/mob ... php?id=344

" Please note - These flow restrictors do not work in the electric kettles. "

Just want to throw that in there in case you almost click "add to cart" and don't read... which i would totally never do.

[creative nickname] wrote:I have one of these in both of my bonavita gooseneck kettles: http://www.espressoparts.com/water-inle ... ter-screen. They seat pretty well, but I can still remove them when I want to brew larger batches, and they slow the flow rate to a very good rate for single cup pour-overs.

Mark, is your pouring kettle electric or stovetop?

Mine are electric (the same model as the OP uses), and the restrictors I linked work without any problems in them.

Here is a second source for them.

https://www.espressosupply.com/catalog/ ... restrictor

I have been using the espressoparts version that Mark referenced above for the last couple of years. Works great. I use a Hario Buono kettle on my electric stovetop.

Two things:

I normally use Crystal Geyser water from the grocery store. Recently I ran out and decided to try to use the filtered water from my fridge. After a few days of using this water, the filter irreversibly clogged. I soaked it in Joe Glo and tried spraying it out with a high pressure sink sprayer, to no avail.

Thing number two: don't forget that on espressoparts site to use the coupon code PARTSSHIPFREE to get free shipping for this low cost item.

Pete

If it scaled up, you may want to soak it in hot vinegar for a while to see if you can unclog it.

I recently descaled my on-demand water heater with vinegar and the scale was so bad that when I first started the heater actually got clogged worse presumably by the scale that I was loosening up. I ended up having to reverse the flow to catch the loose scale in the inlet filter after running vinegar through it for a few minutes and repeatedly dump the scale from the filter and run it again until I got enough of the scale removed to run the vinegar through the system in the forward direction for an hour.

I just ordered the one from espresso parts. Thank you for your insight!

For clarification, will this flow restrictor work adequately with city tap water that is filtered through a typical Brita water filtration pitcher? (I am fairly uneducated about water chemistry's function in coffee brewing, which may explain why I am brewing coffee with filtered tap water).

I would give it a try. If it clogs, I bet the hot water and vinegar trick per yakster's suggestion will unclog it. I did not mention that the water here in AZ is super extra hard. So even though it went through the filter in my fridge, it probably has a lot to do with that result.

Pete