Ambient Room Temperature and Brew Temperature Stability

#1: Post by **James Mulryan** » January 7th, 2016, 1:23 pm

I live in an older house, my Quick Mill Alexia is on a timer and warms up an hour prior use. In winter I turn on the thermostat for the house after waking so my kitchen is probably starting out at 55-60F as I pull the first shot, and then warms up to 68 degrees within 15 minutes. Do you think the change in ambient temperature is making the brew head temps less stable? I feel like my consistency is declining.

#2: Post by **RapidCoffee** » January 7th, 2016, 2:25 pm

Less stable? Unlikely, but this is easy enough to check: compare successive shots before and after the room temperature reaches 68F.
A lower ambient temperature might result in a marginally cooler initial brewhead temperature, but a warming flush should take care of this.

I suggest you look elsewhere for consistency problems.

#3: Post by **RyanJE** » January 7th, 2016, 8:49 pm

James Mulryan wrote:I live in an older house, my Quick Mill Alexia is on a timer and warms up an hour prior use. In winter I turn on the thermostat for the house after waking so my kitchen is probably starting out at 55-60F as I pull the first shot, and then warms up to 68 degrees within 15 minutes. Do you think the change in ambient temperature is making the brew head temps less stable? I feel like my consistency is declining.

James, I know we had some discussion in the thread I started about my Alexia EVO and think you mentioned you have Eric's group thermometer. What does that show during idle and brew?

I confirmed with him it shoul read 3-5f above brew temp half way into the shot. As it turns out, I need a 28f display offset regardless of the stock 18f offset...and my ambient temp is 67ish..

I tested this with a homemade Thermofilter (calibrated for my location) and confirmed consistent brew temps of 200f with 204-205 readings on the group thermometer.

http://users.rcn.com/erics/ · #4: Post by **erics** » January 7th, 2016, 9:40 pm

Do you think the change in ambient temperature is making the brew head temps less stable?

Yes . . . less stable to the extent that the grouphead temperature will be fully stabilized after a one hour warm-up BUT when you then modify the ambient temperature, the grouphead temperature will also rise.

Everyone has their particular comfort zone but I would suggest you invest in a simple programmable thermostat such that you wake up to the 68 F you subsequently adjust the thermostat to.