E61 Flow Control Kits - Worth it?

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E61 flow control kits have always seemed like an excellent way to improve the performance of your home espresso system. However, are they really all they're cracked up to be? Will they make you E61 espresso machine perform like a $5000 Decent DE1 espresso machine? In this video we explore the physics behind how E61 flow control knobs actually work, and discuss how that impacts their effectiveness and use case. This particular flow control kit is from Coffee Sensor, link above

#espresso #coffee #barista

Filming Setup

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[LifestyleLab_]

(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

[dandan]

Best explanation of flow and pressure relationship, something no one else seems to understand or explain! Well done. Makes so much sense.

[sticky]

If you were my physics teacher I think I would have actually passed. This explanation was awesome!!!

[neilrobins]

You are one of the best at explaining something period. I could listen to you all day, every day!

[Andrew-wpbz]

Physics is either your best friend, or your worst enemy.

Great video as always!

[lpnew]

Great explanation, it seems to me the best fitting method of flow control to an E61. Not a precision instrument but adding a rather charming character to espresso extraction with an E61, just like the E61 itself is not built for precision but for charming character.

[alanelassad]

Great video! I would only add that with certain machines (such as the Lelit Mara X, which I own) the original water debit (pump flow rate) with no resistance is really low at around 5ml/s and that limits the potential profiling. Combined with the natural slow ramp that pump also has it makes flow profiling almost worthless at least to me.

[josecuervo]

As a engineer, I appreciate this level of detail explanation. Thank you!

[glynrobinson]

Just purchased a LUCCA M58 with flow control. I appreciate your detailed explanation.

[edwarschilka]

Would love to see a part 2 video where you lay out how the flow control changes the taste of a couple different beans and roast levels.

[marketingoutin]

Very expressive! Like the simple picture, easy to understanding the priciple:)

[anotherguycalledsmith]

Thank you very much, that helps a lot to understand that this some kind of indirect influence on the pressure flow. I would have loved to see a concrete example of you using it — and what effects can be achieved ;-)

[casparwhittey]

Fantastic explanation. Arrow analysis for the win!

[akquicksilver]

Good explanation. I love my Coffee Sensor flow control on my Profitec Pro 600.

[dato]

Incredibly good. keep iy technical I love the detail we can always google generic advice, but technical advice is always best in a video and I love the detail. Going from high level to detail level back to high-level very good teaching method Thank you.

[pmalone]

Well done video and explanation and very much appreciated by a new owner of a Puristika with flow control. Thanks.

[BensCoffeeRants]

This is definitely the best description of how flow control works! Great video.
I've attempted to describe it previously to others in a similar way. Let me know if this sounds right.
Basically you have control over the flow rate, but not pressure directly. Max pressure is limited by the resistance of the coffee bed and then the OPV or Pumps max pressure setting. The pressure is not easy to precisely control because it either is going up or down, if the flow rate going into the coffee bed is higher than the flow rate coming OUT into the cup then you'll have pressure building, if the flow rate going into the coffee is lower than the flow going OUT to the cup then the pressure will be dropping, and I find the range between the two settings (where you are lowering or raising the pressure) is a very small range (so I think the Lelit Bianca, which I've never personally used, with a more limited range paddle, might actually have an advantage here over most other E61 flow control kits/knobs).

[tsachidahan]

Your videos are always intuitive and helpful

[jihuang]

Thank you so much for this video, I was having pretty bad insomnia, it saved me

[peterhutchison]

Excellent overview and about the best explanation I’ve seen 👏