Andy, do you know how much stability just heating the group added? From my Thermofilter tests just boiler PID'd I'd suspect quite a bit, likely overall around 2f inter and intrashot stability just adding group heater. Any idea if there's a 200f tstat that could be used rather than PID? I'm really torn whether to do the mod which I estimeate at another $200 for just the PID group or not because seriously comtemplating upgrading to a dual boiler for steaming convenience.

Compass Coffee wrote:Andy, do you know how much stability just heating the group added? From my Thermofilter tests just boiler PID'd I'd suspect quite a bit, likely overall around 2f inter and intrashot stability just adding group heater. Any idea if there's a 200f tstat that could be used rather than PID? I'm really torn whether to do the mod which I estimeate at another $200 for just the PID group or not because seriously comtemplating upgrading to a dual boiler for steaming convenience.

My recollection is that heating the group improved the brew temp stability by about a degree F.

If you really enjoy playing with this stuff, I would do the mod. If you'd rather sit back and enjoy a cappuccino, I'd do the upgrade.

AndyS wrote:If you really enjoy playing with this stuff, I would do the mod. If you'd rather sit back and enjoy a cappuccino, I'd do the upgrade.

Which means I'll probably do both!

AndyS wrote:My recollection is that heating the group improved the brew temp stability by about a degree F.

Let me rephrase the question. I was referring to start of shot or intershot consistency not intrashot stability. It would seem that pre-heating the grouphead should just about eliminate start of shot temp "creep up" between a series of shots. Or am I wrong in my thinking?

I'm wondering how a 95c/203f tstat would work on the grouphead heater. Unless I can find a 93c to try that is.

Compass Coffee wrote:Let me rephrase the question. I was referring to start of shot or intershot consistency not intrashot stability. It would seem that pre-heating the grouphead should just about eliminate start of shot temp "creep up" between a series of shots. Or am I wrong in my thinking?

I'm wondering how a 95c/203f tstat would work on the grouphead heater. Unless I can find a 93c to try that is.

If you're going to bother doing it at all, you want to use a PID so that you can accurately control the grouphead temp.

As I said in another reply to you, it seems likely to me that the your "creep up" problem is due to your habit of keeping the steam switch on.