Well I finally got around to completing the installation of 2 PIDs on my Linea 2AV. I wasn't sure what to set the brew temperature to, so I started with 94 degrees C. Wow! What a change in the body of the shots I have been getting. I can suddenly get the taste I had hoped for when I first got the La Marzocco. I can only think that the brew thermostat was set too low previously. Whatever the reason; I'm sold.

The pour colour starts much darker than previously, but develops into a nice even honey colour crema.

I would welcome any comments about temperature settings others are using on their brew boilers. I also realise the temeprature I am measuring in the boiler (thermocouple inside the thermowell) isn't the same as the temperature at the puck.

Sounds good. I don't have any experience on LMs, but the Speedster and Synesso offsets are in the range of around 2C IIRC. If roughly the same heat loss is experienced, you're probably getting about 92 at the puck. Try bumping it up another 2C and see what happens. If you are using a relatively light roast you may even get more of an improvement.

That is of course assuming you don't have access to a cheap thermocouple to snake into the pf to see the temp for real.

I have my machine generally set to 94 at the head, which for me is either 96 or 96.5 in the boiler, can't exactly recall.

Cheers, Chris

I have set the offset to 2C on the Fuji controller of my Linea and for most coffees (for my tastebuds) I have found the optimum shot temperature is between 92C and 93C.

I tend to run my PID at 96C.

I've got a 2AV, my Scace shows that the offset shifts from as much as 4.5C to 1C. Warming flushes reduce the offset. Seems to settle at approx 2.5C when making a few shots in a row.

For the most part I use coffee roasted to what I would call a medium roast. Just before, or at the very beginning of, second crack.

Every machine has a slight different offset in my experience.
As a result, unless you feel comfortable tuning by taste, it's worth using a Scace to measure actual brew temp.
In terms of target brew temp... I've found coffees optimal (to my taste) at ranges from 197.5f to 203.5f -- you'll need to tune the brew temp for the coffee (for your taste).