Once my gram scale comes in, I'll try and find the hydrometer.
I know what you mean about the large quantity required... and you'll want to cool it down so it seems like a waste of good coffee that I could be drinking, but if the cylinder diameter isn't too large relative to the hydrometer, it shouldn't be too bad.
I've been using some inexpensive (10$) gram scales, for brewing and for coffee. Been working rather well. The quantity of coffee needed for a hydrometer reading probably isn't too bad for some of the larger coffee drinks, but it really wouldn't work with espresso or with Brikka. IIRC, my hydrometer tube contains something like 150ml (about 5 fl oz.). Still, it's worth a shot.
Posted Sat Oct 17, 2009, 9:07am Subject: Re: Measuring Coffee Strength With A Brix Meter
I have been watching this thread with great interest (but some confusion).
I understand why Alan Addler would set up a lab to determine how changing variables throughout an appropriate range would influence 'extraction' and thereby coffee strength. I would do that too if I were planning on investing (say) $500k in injection-moulding tools to produce his wonderful Aerobie Aeropress. As I said in a previous post, when I stopped 'experimenting' and just followed the instructions in the manual I got excellent coffee, cup after cup, to this one ...that I'm drinking right now.
But why would I want to invest in a Brix Meter to determine strength? In fact, my Bunn drip brewer makes almost as good coffee, slightly less strong, a bit more 'bite', similar good aroma.
My 'strength measuring system' works as follows: I put a splash of 18% cream in the cup. If it looks like dishwater, it tastes like dishwater. If it looks too dark and I put a bit more cream in and it's still too dark, it's too strong.
"But I don't like cream..." I hear someone responding. That's OK. Don't drink it. But what about 18% cream and a measuring spoon and printed colour patches? Remember, most of us are just trying to find the right brewing conditions for correct (more or less) strength.
yakster Senior Member Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Posts: 1,006 Location: San Jose, CA Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Factory / La Peppina... Grinder: Vario / Kyocera Vac Pot: Yama 8 + Pyrex Lox-in Rod Drip: Brazen / Kalita / Chemex /... Roaster: Behmor
Posted Sat Oct 17, 2009, 12:06pm Subject: Re: Measuring Coffee Strength With A Brix Meter
JKalpin Said:
I have been watching this thread with great interest (but some confusion).
...But why would I want to invest in a Brix Meter to determine strength? In fact, my Bunn drip brewer makes almost as good coffee, slightly less strong, a bit more 'bite', similar good aroma.
For me, I am interested in this thread to determine if I'm getting strong coffee by overextracting too little coffee or underextracting too much. I guess I'm looking to fine tune my brewing methods with the right amount of coffee.
I'm not looking to invest in a Brix meter, though, although I'm tempted to buy gadgets (it was the same with home brewing, but now that I have kids, I limit my expenditures on my hobbies). I already have a triple-scale hydrometer in the garage and a graduate cylinder in a cupboard (up high where the wife can't reach behind all my coffee filters) and I think it would make a cool experiment and look all sciencey and stuff.
I think maybe it'll help me understand the coffee extraction chart more too, with the relationship between contact time, extraction, total dissolved solids, etc.
I'm also playing with using Vac Pot and pour-over so I keep changing my brewing processes.
I've already ordered the gram scale for espresso purposes, so I'm not out anything extra to do this experiment.
I can see also in a cafe environment wanting to fine-tune procedures to make sure that the coffee is properly extracted for pour-over, vac pot, or chemex or what have you.
Posted Sat Oct 17, 2009, 12:43pm Subject: Re: Measuring Coffee Strength With A Brix Meter
Hi Yakster,
I note you're in San Jose. I live in Los Altos. Perhaps you'd like to meet for lunch some day and yak (sorry I couldn't resist that) about coffee. Call my office if that's of interest.
Well, I wouldn't . . . I use the refractometer to measure the Brix in grapes as I walk through a vineyard, but I wouldn't use it for coffee.
Consistency is key to making great coffee, just as it is for making great espresso. Measure the coffee, measure the volume of water, wait a few minutes before pouring the water (thereby taking the temperature down from the boiling point), and there you go . . .
Posted Sun Oct 18, 2009, 12:18pm Subject: Re: Measuring Coffee Strength With A Brix Meter
JasonBrandtLewis Said:
Consistency is key to making great coffee, just as it is for making great espresso. Measure the coffee, measure the volume of water, wait a few minutes before pouring the water (thereby taking the temperature down from the boiling point), and there you go . . .
Not really. Many people are using expensive, top-flight beans, yet they are making coffee that is "consistently" worse that it could be -- without knowing why.
JasonBrandtLewis Said:
I use the refractometer to measure the Brix in grapes as I walk through a vineyard, but I wouldn't use it for coffee.
I suspect you are voicing an opinion based on ignorance. If you had a refractometer of the required accuracy, and you knew how to use it for coffee, your opinion might be different.
JasonBrandtLewis Senior Member Joined: 9 Dec 2005 Posts: 6,100 Location: Berkeley, CA Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Elektra T1 - La Valentina -... Grinder: Mahlkönig K30 Vario -... Vac Pot: Yama 5-cup Drip: CCD, Chemex Roaster: No, no, not another...
Posted Sun Oct 18, 2009, 7:47pm Subject: Re: Measuring Coffee Strength With A Brix Meter
andys Said:
Not really. Many people are using expensive, top-flight beans, yet they are making coffee that is "consistently" worse that it could be -- without knowing why.
Which does not mean that using a refractometer is the answer. Furthermore, using "expensive, top-flight beans" is, in and of itself, no guarantee of quality. Just as anybody can pull a bad shot of espresso and/or beans -- regardless of equipment -- so, too, can anyone brew a bad cup/pot of coffee, regardless of equipment and/or beans. Indeed, lots of places -- let alone people -- make consistently bad coffee. Just look at Starbucks . . .
Then again -- all wordplay aside -- consistency is the key to making good coffee.
andys Said:
I suspect you are voicing an opinion based on ignorance.
The gram scale came in, and I found my hydrometer... in pieces. I found the Drakes Tube (a sort of wine thief that keeps your hydrometer captive so you can easily make measurements of your brew) and a floating thermometer, but the box with the hydrometer in it was crushed.
I'm still tempted to stop by a beer and wine making shop and pick one up just for kicks.
Posted Mon Oct 19, 2009, 5:04pm Subject: Re: Measuring Coffee Strength With A Brix Meter
JKalpin Said:
when I stopped 'experimenting' and just followed the instructions in the manual I got excellent coffee, cup after cup, to this one ...that I'm drinking right now.
But why would I want to invest in a Brix Meter to determine strength?
If you can measure coffee strength -- with precision -- and you are careful with your measurements of ground coffee and water, then you are able to calculate your extraction yield. (Extraction yield is the amount of the original dry coffee that ends up in dissolved in your cup). And numerous studies over many decades have concluded that the best balanced cup results when your extraction yield is in the 19-20% range, although this may vary according to the coffee and your personal taste.
Nobody needs a refractometer; it just makes the process of dialing in a coffee faster and easier. When I got one, my coffee immediately improved. If you're following the very non-standard instructions that Alan recommends in his manual, I believe that proper use of a refractometer will make an immediate improvement in your coffee, too.
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