We are in winter now in Brazil and even if it's not ice cold it's cooler in the mornings.
Besides that I've been experimenting some new beans and roasting profiles.

I had been pulling darker beans (when weather was warmer) without flushing the HX and the shots were very good.

As a matter of fact, in high summer, even when flushing longer the HX, the result was a little bitter, as being too hot, therefore I preferred pulling shots before the machine got completely warm in the morning, about 20 to 30 minutes after turning it on.

Recently, while tasting a clear roast and pulling without flushing, the taste was very clear but much too acid, without getting sour.

I tried the same beans in the Graef, with normal temperature (about 93C), and acidity was perfect ...

Therefore I tried pulling the shot with the Strega, after an HX flush, even while believing that it would bring the temperature down and that the shot would be even more acidic.

To my surprise it came out very well.

It seems, to me, that the brewing water after idling, comes out quite cooler than after a flush, even after a long one.

I'm quite happy with this little trick as it allows me to use even clearer beans while taming the acidity to the right level, at least for my taste.

bmb wrote:It seems, to me, that the brewing water after idling, comes out quite cooler than after a flush, even after a long one.

I can't imagine how the water trapped in the HX for a period of time would be cooler then fresh water flowing through the HX.

That's exactly how I felt !
Maybe the group head is cooler than expected and acts as a heat sink making the Strega work a little as a "cold nose" machine instead of the opposite, as expected from the group heating ...
I don't have a Scace to test it, and the digital thermometer I tried shows only the heaters cycling ...