Forgive the newbie question. I bought a used quickmill anita a few weeks ago and I installed the temp probe. When I first flush the machine, the probe reads around 210F but the temp in my preheated cup reads 180F. Is that right or should it be about 3-4F less than the probe. I checked the accuracy using boiling water and ice cold water and used another temperature gauge. Both thermometers were accurate Thanks for any help.

Measuring a preheated cup is not very accurate, but what you report sounds about right. The Styrofoam cup test (excerpted below) works within a few degrees. Measuring the in-cup water temperature will be off by 30 or more degrees.

barry wrote:foam cup method:

take a small foam cup which will fit up against the group gasket (6oz is about the right size), and push a dial stem thermometer through the side about an inch up from the bottom. angle the thermometer stem downwards across the cup and wedge it into the opposite bottom corner. to measure brew water temp, remove the portafilter from the machine and hold the cup firmly against the group gasket on the underside of the brewhead in such a way that you can see the thermometer dial. run about 2oz of water into the cup and watch the thermometer dial for the maximum temperature reached. it's easy to get burned doing this, so be careful not to let hot water run onto your hand.

I was thinking a preheated cup would produce more accurate results than measuring the temp in a cold cup. My shots have been a little bitter (using fresh beans) and I was wondering if it was a result from the shot temp...I guess it's probably just my poor technique.

You'll get a more accurate reading from a Styrofoam cup than a preheated ceramic cup. In the latter case, you're conflating the temperature of the cup itself and the water drawn from the group. A Styrofoam cup's raison d'être is its insulation qualities. As an aside, long before the introduction of the Scace thermofilter, I used a low-tech thermometer and Styrofoam cup with consistent results. It's tedious, but works well as long as you hold the cup tightly against the grouphead as Barry describes.

I will try using a Styrofoam cup to get better results but I still don't see how the temp can be so far off. Shouldn't the water passing through the puck be around +/-200F when pulling a shot not 30 degrees less.

If I try the Styrofoam technique, will the temp be about 4 degrees less than the probe reading?

This post provides some info as regards temperature differentials when producing shots using various flush techniques - Need hints on using E61 thermocouple adapter
The instructions that are available for the thermmometer also discuss this a little. There is a lot of temperature lost as the water travels through the coffee and performs the extraction process. If I remember correctly, a typical basket exit temperature is AROUND 185 F.

And this would help also:

Brew ratio vs brew temperature

The water temp in the cup is NOT the water temp you are getting at the puck. It is an approximation, which is 30 degrees lower then what your actually getting at the puck, approximately.

When pulling a shot, the temp reading on the grouphead thermometer is about 3-4 degrees higher then the actual temp. At AROUND the 25sec mark, the reading is damn close to the actual temp.

Depending on your boiler pressure, your flush will be different. Im running 1.3B in the boiler. When I flush after a long idle, like the first thing in the morning, the group therm reads as high as 215-216. Before the flush, the idle temp is slightly lower. The first thing I do when I walk up to machine, is flush the group till the therm reads about 208-210. Then I start building my shot. Purge the grinder, weigh the beans, grind the beans, dose into PF, tamp.

Now its time for the cooling flush. Depending on the bean/blend Im using, the flush will different. For my boiler setting, Ive learned the approximate flush and rebound times for a couple temps. My rebound time stays pretty constant at 20 seconds. So.

If I want to hit about 198-199... I flush the group until the therm reads 204, and then rebound 20 seconds, pull the shot

If I want to hit about 201-202... I flush the group until the therm reads 206, maybe 207. Rebound 20 seconds, pull the shot.

The lowest number I flush too, generally, is 204. The highest I do is 208.

Now, if the rebound time changes from 20, to say, 30 seconds, the flushes might be slightly different. you'll just have to play around with the machine, the boiler pressure, the flushes, and see what happens.

With an HX, its all about experimentation. What I wrote above is what works, FOR ME. Try flushing all the way down to 185, and pulling the shot when it reads 198. Try flushing till it reads 210, and pulling right away. Experiment. I found it easiest to change one thing, and leave the other constant. So, keep the rebound at 20sec(or whatever) and flush to different numbers and see. Or, flush to the same number, and change the rebound.

The higher the boiler pressure, the quicker its going to rebound. Which means longer flushes, shorter rebounds. The lower the boiler pressure, the slower its going to rebound, which means shorter flushes, longer rebounds.

The quickmill HX machines aren't known for being super easy to learn the flushing ritual(s) on, but by NO means are they hard to use. MANY people own them, including myself, and are very happy. You need to play around with different things to find what works for you. How someone flushes a Giotto Premium or a Vibiemme isn't going to give you the same result on the Anita. They're all different.

Also, for a given boiler pressure, the machine will "want" to run at a certain temperature. For example, if your running down at .9B, you're going to have a hard time hitting 203-204 at the puck. If your running real high, like 1.45/1.5, you're gonna have a hard time hitting 195ish. What you want to do, is find the boiler setting which: gives you a flush length you can live, and allows you to easily hit the temps you most use for the coffee(s) you like. 1.3B gives me flushes that aren't too long, and allows me to be in the range of temps I most use.

And remember. What I described above is what works FOR ME. Everyone has their own way of running their HX. Some people like the boiler real hot. I dont. Some like it on the cooler end. I like it right in the middle.

In the FAQ section of this site, you can find two threads in particular that give a couple examples of using the grouphead therm to hit certain temperatures. There is a couple videos in one of the threads which show a method of using the backflush disk to flush the group, which works very well.

Experimentation my friend. It is the KEY to loving your HX.

Thanks for the good info but I still can't seem to wrap my brain around the big temp difference. If it was passing through the puck, I could understand the difference but not straight from the head. The probe is only a few inches from where the water comes out. I can't see how it's possible for the water to be around 200 F when it reaches the puck. Is the probe giving a higher than actual temp because of the contact with the metal???

The water in the cup passes through air and cools.

The probe is in the middle of the group water path. Initially, the water path is cooler than the water, which is why you start a few degrees hotter. As the shot progresses, more cool water enters the group, dropping the thermometer temperature. While the water flows, the group water path temperature rises. By the end of the shot, it's the same.

This graph shows the crossover point.


Perhaps Scace Thermofilter Temperature Device will help