E61 Dual Temperature & Pressure Gauge

#1: Post by **BenS** » June 9th, 2021, 1:56 pm

Hi There,

Can you buy a screw-in dual temp and pressure gauge for E61 heads? If not, is there a way of getting accurate readings for both temperature and pressure while pulling a shot?

I couldn't find a definitive answer within the forums (or any products) so sorry if this has been answered.

A flow control kit with a dual pressure and temp gauge seems ideal - or is it not possible to read both temp/pressure from the same gauge or from a single mount point?

Cheers

Ben

#2: Post by **walr00s** » June 9th, 2021, 2:12 pm

There's been a few small discussion about it on the forums here. There is no product that does both. I believe in one discussion they mentioned that it would be difficult/impossible due to space constraints

June 9th, 2021, 5:47 pm

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

I think saw a thread about drilling the back of the head but can't find it anymore - is that the only way of measuring both at the head currently?

If I wanted a head temperature gauge instead, would the built-in machine pressure gauge be accurate enough for use with flow control? I guess I could install the head gauge from the kit and compare it against the built-in one - right?

My brain is exploding from all the threads I've read so sorry if this is all answered somewhere.

Cheers, Ben

#4: Post by **walr00s** » June 9th, 2021, 6:05 pm

BenS wrote: If I wanted a head temperature gauge instead, would the built-in machine pressure gauge be accurate enough for use with flow control? I guess I could install the head gauge from the kit and compare it against the built-in one - right?

No, the flow control will decouple the pump pressure from the brew pressure, so your pump pressure won't mean much of anything.

June 9th, 2021, 8:38 pm

Thanks for that,

So right now, drilling into the head and taping a separate temp port is the only option if you want both brew temps and pressure?

Cheers, Ben

#6: Post by **JRising** » June 10th, 2021, 8:13 am

BenS wrote:So right now, drilling into the head and taping a separate temp port is the only option if you want both brew temps and pressure?

That would be a good route.
That way you have a gauge that doesn't require batteries on the head, right at the brew chamber and your NTC bead sensing temperature could have its wires going into the machine where there's power to draw from to operate the thermometer display.

#7: Post by **Jake_G** » June 10th, 2021, 10:45 pm

This is the topic where drilling into the back of the group was employed:

Lelit Mara - HX Profiler Conversion

While Michael uses a second pressure gauge, one could also feed the panel gauge from this new tap and keep the lines of the machine intact.

Cheers!

- Jake

#8: Post by **another_jim** » June 10th, 2021, 11:28 pm

I've used contact temperature sensors on the neck of E61s, and they are accurate at the start of the shot, but slow in changing. So it might be possible to create a unit that screws into the existing tap for pressure and has a chrome flange for contact temperature sensing. But I have no idea where to source the dual converter/display. It would also have to be an electronic unit, thermocouple for temperature and a strain gauge for pressure.

#9: Post by **Howardsmith** » June 15th, 2021, 3:09 pm

Yeh it can be done easily. I have done it.

The easiest and neatest method is to install a small thermocouple on the underside of the e61 and run that to a temperature controller.

If you already have a group head thermometer you can then run them side by side for a while to fine tune the offset in the controller to match the group head thermometer if you like.

I had mine set up with a an automated fan also which regulated the temperature of the group meaning no cooling flushes and also easily adjustable brew temps via the controller. The video below is a demo.

June 15th, 2021, 5:33 pm

Howardsmith wrote:install a small thermocouple on the underside of the e61

Hi Howard, thank you for posting this! I found your post that describes how you mounted your thermocouple and I have a question about it:

It appears the thermocouple is dangling in air between the bottom of the group and the top of the puck, so it doesn't give an accurate reading until water has been flowing for a few seconds. Is that correct? If so, would there be any benefit to fastening the thermocouple to the bottom of the group, so it would read the actual group temperature while the machine is idling?