Yes it fits 100% perfectly, attaching a pic for you. Just imagine that red silicone heat pad is a burner

The model moka pot is a Bialetti Venus (stainless steel) 4-cup. I'm not sure which other moka pots it will work with but I'm guessing the standard aluminum 6-cup would possibly work... but I'd prefer the stainless steel, personally.

https://imgur.com/a/XxDS0Jy

The silicone is sitting right on the Moka pot while it preheats. Does the direct contact with heat over a period of minutes risk damaging the silicone band at all?

What if I seated my brew chamber upside down (red o-ring at the top) so that the silicone doesn't touch Moka pot? Would this be equally effective?

Don't worry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicone_rubber

Wow! I didn't realize it was so resistant to melting. Thanks!

MikeTheBlueCow wrote:Yes it fits 100% perfectly, attaching a pic for you. Just imagine that red silicone heat pad is a burner

The model moka pot is a Bialetti Venus (stainless steel) 4-cup. I'm not sure which other moka pots it will work with but I'm guessing the standard aluminum 6-cup would possibly work... but I'd prefer the stainless steel, personally.

I'm preheating with a 2-cup Moka pot base. However, I've found the steel piston does not get as hot as the brewhead, when preheated atop the cylinder. I wonder if I should submerge the piston separately in boiling water to get it closer to the same temp as the brewhead cylinder, or does the steel piston not reduce brew temp enough to worry about? (The piston seems to reach about 150 F or so when I place it on the steaming cylinder, whereas the cylinder preheats to 204 or so.) Of note, it's much easier to handle the steel piston when it is steamed vs. submerged... gets so very hot to handle once it's been boiled!

Yes, if you are measuring temp with an IR thermometer the piston won't appear to reach a high temp. It is a much thicker metal. But the surface that will be in contact with the water will be the same temp as the brew cylinder since it was in full contact with the steam. I wouldn't worry about the temp reading of the piston.

Excellent!

This steaming system with the Moka pot is far far superior to a boiling pot of water! Flair would be wise to promote it.

There are inevitable drips & spills that go with tongs lifting wet & very hot brew heads & pistons out of pots of boiling water, and this system avoids all that. It is also nice & compact in the space it occupies on the stovetop, which is great if you are manually heating milk at the same time.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I am looking to pick up a moka-pot like you're using, but can you elaborate all the reasons for going this route? Convenience is a factor for me (I have been dripping hot water and using tongs with boiled-in-kettle method) but I am more concerned with consistency of process and quality of results.

Do you get the cylinder to the same temperature as boiling? Or is the advantage that it cools slower because there is less water on the outside of the cylinder to effect evaporative cooling? Or is this primarily a convenience factor?

Can you describe how this will let me get better results (speed to brew as a result of increased convenience, better temperature control) or improve the process?

It's also good to know the 2-cup and 4-cup are both options. But since I will likely not use the moka-pot for its intended purposes and only for this, I'm definitely interested in knowing the right reasons I'd be doing it that way.

Advantages over boiling preheat are numerous (in my case at least):

- faster than boiling preheat on almost all stoves and kettles (on induction around 1.5 min to boil + 0.5-1.5 min boiling)
- works well on induction stove, while boiling preheat was very problematic
- cylinder cools less/slower due to evaporation, because outside is not wet and inside is less wet, so easy to get consistent brew temperature and higher brew temperatures achievable
- cylinder not too hot to hold by hand, you can manipulate it with hand instead with tongs, so
-- it is faster to mount it onto PF, so it cools less
-- it is safer not to drop it on glass ceramic by accident and crack it
-- you don't need tongs
- no lime scale on the outside (was quite heavy in my case)
- no need to have extra kettle when traveling (assuming I have some kind of stove in all places I travel to and using csezve to preheat the brew water at the same time)
- no boiling rubber parts in the water and using the same water for making coffee (despite being relatively safe)

Control of brew water temperature is simple - after I move the cylinder from czesve to PF, I pour a few grams of cold water into the same czesve with off the boil water before pouring it into cylinder, otherwise brewing temperature at the beginning it is too high (around 98°C)

On the other side, I can't see any advantages of boiling preheat over steam preheat

I agree on the advantages of the moka pot.
It is the easiest & most effective way to preheat IMO.

Not all moka pots have the same diameter, even though they are 2-cup or 4-cup sizes. The Bialettit 2 & 4 cup pots fit the Flair chamber, but the same size pots from other manufacturers are sometimes too small across the rim to enclose the brewing chamber. So, when you are buying, if you can't see it/test it in person, go with Bialetti to be safe.