Flow Control Device for E61 groupheads

Fairly simple to install. Follow the included instructions and watch out for worn gaskets. Use the included replacements if your machine's are worn.Look, this is flow control for an E61. It's not going to turn your venerable Hx machine into a Decent, nor give you anywhere near the level of precision of the Linea paddle or the Decent, but...What it is going to do is allow you to control the flow during the shot to minimize channeling. You can tinker with various profile curves that you'll find online to imitate, say, a lever machine, or whatever, but what I end up doing the most is starting out the shot choked down to a quarter for 15 seconds as pressure builds, then, just as flow begins, I crank it open a couple turns, and when the drink weight hits 10g (for a 40g pull) I choke the pressure down to, like 6 or 7 bars to reduce channeling. This works nicely and produces a nice, sweet shot.I've upgraded two machines with this device and, until I can afford a Linea or a Decent or similar (probably never :( ), this improvement to my brewing is welcome and enjoyable. It does take a while to get used to manipulating the valve while brewing. I jokingly compare brewing with an Hx machine and this valve to running a steam locomotive, at least that's kind of what I imagine that experience would be like.Cheers and happy brewing, -- Netizen

Adds flow control, comes with everything you need including a bit of plumber's tape. Also has 2 handles so you can use whichever style you prefer. Made well from a small business. Can't ask for more. Works great! (Handle in picture is self made and isn't part of the product)

First, this is a good product. It eliminates squirting and appreciates the flavor profile. It is a good value.Based on the provided instructions, it lacks everything you need to know. And not every Amazon customer with a 58 or 61 grouphead will understand.The installation instructions should be printed twice larger or offer a legible pdf. Coffee Sensor's website is incomplete as well. No video on this or help with my points.One of the installation instructions poses a contradiction -- "dont remove the (existing) spring" and "use the strong spring provided." Also, not everyone knows what a blind basket is when testing the gauge. The presence of the gauge is really so you can calibrate the lever to the bar pressure - that fact is missing and it's important to say. (There are better methods of flow calibration - go to Whole Latte Love on YouTube). There are extra o-rings, but for whom? Why not include who those are for or some people might add them and struggle to install.It took some searching on the internet to fully comprehend what-if-where-and-why -- and after 6 wasted shots I finally figured this out with help from Whole Latte Love on YouTube. I had to scan my paper instructions at a very high resolution (1200 dpi) just to magnify the type large enough to read with my glasses. What keeps this Amazon product from 5 stars is that it leans heavily on assumptions of all the points I mention above.If you know what you're doing, buy it. If you don't you have some searching to do. I have attached my hi-rez scan of the instrux.

Installed on a Rocket Cellini Evoluzione V1. Very easy installation. Works as described. Comes with everything needed to convert your E61 espresso machine into an espresso machine with flow profiling.I will updated more at a later time when I have had a chance to play around with it.Update May 25, 2020 - best modification that I have made to my Rocket. Getting much better shots in the cup with the ability to now grind much finer and perform longer pre-infusion at super low flow...

UPDATE: After a year of using this and never really getting consistent results out of it, I finally did some testing to measure output and sensitivity. This valve blasts out water at a very high rate. Even just opening it a tiny bit will release water at a rate of 4g per second. At a quarter turn, the output is around 10g per second, which is much higher than a standard E61 flowrate. going much further than that, and it's just far too much to be useful.Yes, you can grind much more finely with this, and that's because it blasts out much more water. But that fine of a grind requires a very high powered grinder with massive burrs. My Ceado E37j struggled to create a fine enough grind to use with this.On top of all that, the poor instructions and lack of details (no description of if/how to calibrate the output of the valve) make this a no deal for me. Maybe I got a dud, but I just think most people writing good reviews for it don't know what they're talking about.I installed this on a Quickmill V2BE.ProsDevice is very well machined and high quality, and the extra o-rings and tape that come with it are a nice touch. Plus, received on the U.S. East Coast in 5 days from Romania was really nice.It provides the advertised flow control, which leads to very noticeable reduction of bitterness, and you can really tease out the sweetness and interesting flavors. Flow control is a total game changer for these E61 machines.ConsWhile it does work, I would strongly recommend you pay more and get the QM-specific kit from Chris' Coffee for any QM device rather than this.Here's why:1) The needle valve needs to be rotated 720 degrees in order to reach full flow. This makes it less sensitive to adjustments, so it takes longer. From what I can tell, the QM goes from Nothing to full flow with a 180 degree rotation, that means you can get very fast response to your adjustments and modulate the flow better.2) The replacement spring for the pre-infusion chamber just doesn't fit the Quick Mill model. It would not seat correctly and thus went in at a slight angle and was very difficult to screw in. I was not confident it worked properly, and due to the next issue described below, I removed it.3) This device ruptured the o-ring on the mushroom valve after the first use, completely defeating the flow control function. It worked fine for the shots, and I turned off the machine for cool down. The next time I went to use the machine, flow control no longer worked. Thinking it was a fluke, I replaced with the provided spare o-ring. Same thing happened.I thought perhaps the issue was due to the crooked pre-infusion chamber spring, so I removed that and put the stock spring back in (I also wanted to preserve the stock pre-infusion function). I also used the 0-ring from the stock mushroom valve, which was noticeably thinner, Lastly, I lubed the o-ring with silicone plumber's grease. Though I can't say for sure which of these steps fixed the issue, I've had no problems since (I suspect the issue was the replacement o-rings being too thick).ConclusionBeing at least $100 cheaper than other versions of this mod (but of all the same high quality metal and machining, etc.), I am satisfied with my purchase, but knowing the issues that I ran in to ahead of time would have made me spend more for the Quick Mill version for my machine. I'd still recommend this to non-QM users.