In this page, I will show you how to adjust the brewing pressure of Lelit PL92t.
Before diving in, it’s a good idea to first learn about brewing pressure. James Hoffmann made a youtube video and told me everything I need to know. Check it out on this link.
Essentially, I want to tune my machine to brew at 9 bars of pressure. At factory setting, the machine is brewing at around 10.5 bars. With my Eureka Specialita set at grind size 2 and 19g of coffee (for double shot), I find the coffee acidic and the nuttiness did not come through. I think the coffee is coming out too quickly, possibly due to channeling.
Before making changes, I measured the factory setting. Use the nude portafilter that comes with the machine, press the 1 cup button. Observe the pressure meter, mine is at 10.5 bars.
To adjust the pressure, take the top lid off. Power off the machine, take the water tank out. On the inside walls of the tank area, there are 3 screws that need to be removed. You will need a T20 screwdriver bit for the job.
Once the top lid is removed, locate the pressure adjustment nut. It’s at the north tip of the 4-way copper element, located to the left of the copper brew boiler. (❶ in the picture below).
To decrease pressure, turn it clockwise. To increase pressure, turn it counter-clockwise. It’s a good idea to mark the factory default position for reference.
I turned it clockwise by a little over 90 degree, which gives me 9.5 bar of pressure.
Thanks to Stefanus Gaona, I learned about all these from his video guide.
With that, i put everything back together and the machine is ready for brewing. With the same amount of coffee and same setting of everything, the pressure gauge peaked at 9 bars. Pressure is slightly reduced compared to a nude filter, which makes perfect sense. I can see the flow has slowed down, which confirmed at 9 bar, channeling is less impactful.
What about the coffee? I’m not particularly good at tasting, but I find more flavor came out. The acidity came down a tiny bit and overall it tasted more balanced then before. It is more pleasant to drink, especially after it cooled down a few minutes. The after-taste is milder.
If you own a PL92T, play around with the pressure setting. It’s 15 minute of work and it’s fun. One side note, I noticed there is a sticker under the top lid. I’m not sure if Lelit use that to detect open chassis or if it will break warranty. I personally would not stop because of that.
I hope this post help you explore the full potential of the machine, cheers!
