starbucksblows Senior Member Joined: 1 Mar 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Hesperia, Ca Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Carezza Grinder: Solis Maestro Vac Pot: Nope Drip: Piece of Junk Roaster: FR+
Posted Mon Mar 29, 2004, 12:58pm Subject: Slow Brew... Help!!
Hello everyone,
This is my second post. Your input on my last issue with fast roasting times on my FR+ was invaluable. I was able to streatch my roast from 4 min. to about 10 by roasting outside where it is colder. What a difference!!! My best coffee yet. Now to my problem...
I am using a Melitta style cone filter holder with a #6 filtropa filter from SM (is ther anyone else???) I have set my grind to a couple of clicks finer than drip on my Solos Maestro and got great results the first two times. But than on my 3rd attempt, the water would not filter through the grounds into my thermos. I was using about 7 cups (8oz each) worth of H2O and 1/3 cup beans (pre ground) and that had yeilded me great results in the past. Now it is taking over 10 minutes to brew. I tried grinding a little more coarse (1 click finer than drip) and it only marginally helped. I don't see any clogs at all in the cone. Should I grind more coarse?? Any thoughts. I am also pre rinsing my filters.
Is there any significant difference with the beans each time? They're the usual suspect. I can't imagine how the same grind setting could give you two wonderful pours and then suck. Now, if you were using my old LaPavoni grinder that might be a different story. :-)
what do grind setting do you use for autodrip? I'm using about half way between drip and french press, but the Gevalia coffee maker I'm using brews rather slow, and so the coffee is a little bitter. Maybe a coarser grind would help, what do you suggest?
I actually did switch beans. They were both home roasted, but I believe the first time I had this issue was with the origional batch I had success with prior to. I did go from 5 cups to 7 so there was more coffee in the filter. Maybe that contributed, but I would have thought it would have handeled it. I didn't want to fuss with it last night so I eneded up trying some of my new Espresso Monkey from SM's in my Carrezza. Yummy. Who needs drip when you can get that instead? I do I guess. Can't live on espresso alone. I'll try a coarser grind tonight.
I only do autodrip at work with my cheapo Mr. Coffee and my crappy LaPavoni burr grinder. At home I usually do either Chemex or press pot. I can go pretty fine with the Chemex since I'm controlling the flow rate.
I would definitely go coarser if the water is backing up. That's about all the help I can give.
well..I tried a coarser grind and that fixed the problem. I grinded on the default drip setting on my Maestro. To me though it brews too fast now. It seems with the smaller batches the finer grind seems to work better and with a larger batch maybe I need to grind coarser. Once the grounds settle to the bottom of the filter cone the drip stalls to a crawl, but if the grounds float up and than they stick to the sides of the filter than the brew works fine. Does this make sence? Am I doing anything worng here?
(snip) It seems with the smaller batches the finer grind seems to work better and with a larger batch maybe I need to grind coarser. Once the grounds settle to the bottom of the filter cone the drip stalls to a crawl, but if the grounds float up and than they stick to the sides of the filter than the brew works fine.
If you ever try a manual pour method, you can see this happening better. With the Chemex, the trick is to distribute the water around so the grounds don't bunch up too much and really clog things up. With an autodrip, you sorta have to take what they give you.
The real question is, does the coarser grind taste too weak for you? If so, maybe you could find a workaround like interrupting the brew once or twice. I got that idea from Mark's Black and Decker article.
I've been having similar problems with some of my home roasted beans. Stirring the top helps. I noticed with very slow drips that I get a lot of "sludge" from ultra fine particles that float and block the filters pores. It is a particular problem with the filter holders that only have one hole because if that one has paper stuck right up against the hole, your coffee is going nowhere.
Another option is a goldtone permanent. If that brews too fast or gives you too many particulates, put the gold tone inside the paper filter. This keeps the main grounds away from the filter paper. Or you can do what we chemists do and flute the paper!!!
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