Hi,

Any recommendation of a temperature strip that fits well the cremina ?

Thanks,

loic

Hi
La pavoni temp. strips er very good. Ordered mine from The Espresso Shop uk.

I got mine from Gabor at Naked Portafilter in Hungary. Works great on my Cremina.

Picked mine up together with a naked PF from Tudor, coffee-sensor.com, 6 Euro, they all look like to come from the same producer, shipping or combining things.

I was impressed by its responsiveness of these strips, a hot water flush gives near instant color effect, thought the mass of the group head would slow the temp change down. Still, the 5 deg interval is a bit too indicate for me in the end, I am ready to compromise the looks of the Cremina with a small diode/wire/thermometer.

Arson wrote:the 5 deg interval is a bit too indicate for me in the end, I am ready to compromise the looks of the Cremina with a small diode/wire/thermometer.

The strips are better than nothing, but thermometer or a thermocouple is a better choice for accuracy and repeatability. The strips also degraded over time. I was happy to get rid of them for a better, long lasting, more accurate solution.

Added thermometer from coffee-sensor, works good and accurate but is slower in response than the strip.

.
Cremina in equilibrium after 20min switching on.

After a hot water flush the strip responds almost instantly and is then steady, the thermocouple takes 45 seconds before it reaches the new equilibrium. Possibly because of the barrel around the thermocouple. Not a real problem, I know already the temperature increase with a 1 or 2 sec flush. The thermometer helps me now to understand a bit more accurately what the presstat cycle is doing in the grouphead. Once there is a bit intuition on that I think I'll remove it again.

Arson wrote:Added thermometer from coffee-sensor, works good and accurate but is slower in response than the strip.

After a hot water flush the strip responds almost instantly and is then steady, the thermocouple takes 45 seconds before it reaches the new equilibrium. Possibly because of the barrel around the thermocouple.

Have you tried taping the thermocouple directly to the group? I have a similar setup and the temperature feedback is nearly instantaneous.

Yes, but tape didn't hold well there, the tip barrel is a bit too large.
Slow response; it is the thermometer itself or the (insulated?) tip, it never seems to take a jump to the right temperature, even if you throw it in hot water. Maybe I should take away this metal tube and stick the bicouple directly to the group.

As others have said, I think the temp strip works if you are okay with being in "the ballpark." My current setup is the Thermoworks MTC and a flat PerfectPrime TL0225 k-type sensor. I put some felt furniture pads on the back of the MTC and used a neodymium magnet to make sure it's a firm hold to the machine.

beerwiffle wrote:I put some felt furniture pads on the back of the MTC and used a neodymium magnet to make sure it's a firm hold to the machine.

Very clever!