Too Much Coffee

I have found that pouring in circles works better and creates a more even extraction than just pouring in the centre, keeping a bit of a vortex to help with the turbulence (and the coffee grounds moving a wee bit)

Bloom vs Non-Bloom - personally I prefer to let the coffee bloom a wee bit (as per James's video), using 60-80mls water for 30g coffee grounds, as I find that if I just keep pouring without doing this then there is less resistance and shorter overall extraction time, which when mojo'd also shows this as weak/under-developed.

Pouring more in the middle but still incorporating the sides every 20 seconds or so,seems to keep the grinds from compacting too much, restricting the flow of water which leads to an increased contact time and over-extraction.

I'm still experimenting and very much open to suggestions too and will try any techniques mentioned here.

Dom...

The extraction time was actually longer. I aim for about 4 mins but it took roughly 5+.

this morning I just couldn't be bothered with Faff...so guessed the grounds, kettle poured the water, let it bloom, poured a bit more until it looked about right, 3.5 min extract with a slightly coarser grind. Much better than the stirred.

Tristan wrote:Has anyone tried a watering can sprinkler type system?

Actually, I did an image search for a raomatic and came up with nothing.
Seeing as there is nothing he doesn't own, James, you got a pic of one?

I've been thinking about sprinklers though (never thought I'd say that on here!). A lot of the comments so far in this thread are advocating a general spiral movement to the brew water, as a means of creating a degree of movement. I wonder whether a sprinkler might not counter act that. All of which is hypothetical of course.
How about a copper bonsai watering can? Too much heat loss from the copper maybe?

Tristan wrote:Has anyone tried a watering can sprinkler type system?

I've been using neapolitan flip pots for years - as did my mother and grandmother. Funnily enough there is a reference to a watering can in the description of the pot although I was told that my flip pot (like the one pictured) looked like a dustbin.

Hi guys,

well finally:



it's here. Borrowed for now, but I'm seriously thinking of buying one. Haven't tried much with it, haven't even calibrated it as I haven't got distilled water. First measurements showed that my morning brew was weak and underdeveloped, but that of course might be due to calibration errors. On the photo there's my tap water sample in the device and it showed 0.1, even though my cheapo TDS meter shows 0.19, so it's a rather big difference. I will have to wait until the distilled water gets here and try it again.

Regards,
dsc.

This one might be a stupid question and slighty off topic as well but I'll ask anyway.

Can I brew just one cup with two cup hario filtercone without compromising the quality?

Hi guys,

I was just about to right something on the subject. Today I brewed some Takengon in the morning using 48g/800ml and I have to say the taste was better than what I normally get with 500ml (and sticking to 60g/1l dose). Perhaps it has something to do with the way the coffee sits in the Chemex filter, but it was definitely different which the Mojo confirmed (around 1.3 with 500ml and 1.4 with 800ml). I also tried brewing with waiting for the coffee to bloom and the taste was a bit underdeveloped, checked it afterwards with the Mojo again and it showed 1.15 which pretty much confirms what I've tasted.

As for the Hario which brewer is it? the sock-type one? or the pour-over porcelain? if it's the latter I don't think it matters too much.

Regards,
dsc.

dsc wrote:As for the Hario which brewer is it? the sock-type one? or the pour-over porcelain? if it's the latter I don't think it matters too much.

It's the pour-over one which I just ordered. Thanks dsc, I can now sleep in peace.

Hi,

as it's a smaller cone it shouldn't make a big difference, but you can always experiment and block one of the holes in the bottom of the filter (if it has two, mine does, but it's not a Hario, so your's might be different). That will slow down the flow and you will get a different cup. Besides you can brew two cups and one cup and compare:)

Regards,
dsc.

There is SO MUCH more that could be added to this thread! Probably needs to be more device-specific though, but otherwise with the same title...

Hopefully people will continue to add more detail, here, or in new threads.
What I'd quite like to see, as well as more videos, is simply pics of the spent grounds, together with a brief description of the recipe, the pour method used to achieve them, and, crucially, whether it tasted good or not.

The V60 is a curious thing indeed. The other day I ground quite fine at '18' on my Rocky, and achieved a brew time of under two minutes. But on making another cup grinding a lot coarser at '31', and using a different pouring method, I hit a significantly longer brew time! Both tasted underextracted, in very different ways. Upon re-brewing at a grind in the middle, with a hotter temp, and a similar technique to the 2nd pour, I finally achieved something acceptable. So many combinations..!

One part of me would love to get my hands on an EMojo too ...But then the other part wants to just ditch the now habitual constraints of even the scales and the thermometer, and just rely on feel and taste! But I'm not brave enough, and still have faith that they do actually help!

Anyone seen Nick Cho's hilarious (and quite possibly brilliant) new V60 videos..?!

http://taylormaidfarms.com/news/very-fu ... by-trubru/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy8VdJp-D1w


Ps, My Hario cone only has the one hole...

Part of my job covers looking at flow through beds of particulate material (like coffee grounds). Models for conductivity usually look at a characteristic size and at the spread in sizes. Generally a lot of spread, represented by the ratio between the 10th and 90th centiles, means less conductivity. The little particles fill the gaps left by the big ones.

The industry I have been working for goes to a lot of effort to remove fines from crushed ore to improve conductivity.

This is a long winded way of saying that a water may take longer to travel through a coarse and irregular grind than a finer and more regular grind

That's interesting Chris. Many years ago I did a microscopic examination of freshly ground coffee from different grinders and found that the best grind for espresso contained an irregular grind, however without any "boulders." The particle spread was quite large and the curve roughly normal (bell shaped).