Posted Thu Jun 21, 2012, 5:22am Subject: Brewing Prediction Challenge for June (kinda need a VST or strength measurement)
Thought I'd throw out another brewing challenge.
C, Coffee = 20g (Eight o Clock 100% Colombia, if this matters - all the same coffee) Wb, (Brew Water mass at end of brew cycle) = 250g Grind = ~French Press
(What brew water mass means is when you weigh the produced coffee and the wet grounds, the total weight should be ~270g. If your brewer tends to evaporate some amount like my auto drip, then you should add this to the reservoir.)
This is small enough to do in an inverted AeroPress (just).
This is set up to accomplish a brew ratio of ~8% or inverse 12.5 water to grounds. (I've been calling this value R, same as 1/brew ratio, I think ExtractMoJo calls it CBF, and the brew charts for US are in wacky mixed unit ratios like grams/1.9liters or oz. (avoirdupois) of Coffee to fluid oz of undefined temperature brew water, so be very careful. All of my stuff will be mass-based and in grams)
My experience:
Using my auto drip, stretching the brew to 5 minutes by on/off switch (not as hard to do as it seems), I produce:
213-215g coffee Wet grounds weigh around 55g Strength ~ 1.80%
If done in a manual pourover (Melitta #2 filter) over 4 minutes (running a bit drier than recommended), heating the pour water at mid-way, it isn't much different:
~204-5 g coffee Wet grounds weigh ~64g Strength around 1.44%
If I stretch the contact time in the AeroPress to 8:00:
~225g coffee ~42-3 g wet grounds Strength ~1.49-1.50%
The challenge:
Given the information above, predict the strength with the following brewing method:
20g coffee 250g HOT water Grind: French Press (approximate, very coarse, same grind as all of the above)
Combine in a mason jar or other appropriate container, agitate to wet all grounds. cover and Steep for ~5 minutes. Agitate if you desire. Try not to lose any of the slurry, and try to reduce evaporation.
Seal tightly and place slurry into fridge.
Allow to steep for at least 10 hours in the fridge.
After 10+ hours is complete, separate coffee from grounds with whatever method you prefer (pourover, aeropress, throw it in a small press pot and filter, whatever you feel like).
Weigh wet grounds and produced coffee (for total mass verification, and also grounds separation method absorption ratio).
The results give us insight into the limits of extraction and coffee solution concentration. Remember to predict the strength first (if you do this brewing challenge).
I'll post my results in mid-July (yes, of course I've done this - more than a few times). I did recently migrate my brewing ratio from 7.5% to 8% (R=12.5) because it gives me a bit stronger coffee from the AeroPress so I can dilute to make a fuller mug at 1.2% or so.
I've provided all the info needed to calculate extraction if you so desire, or you can look it up on a brewing control chart, or plug info into mojotogo or ExtractMoJo. Maybe it will help the prediction.
Anyone is welcome to throw out their predictions on strength, and explain why. It will either get stronger, a LOT stronger, stay the same, or get weaker, right?
Auto Drip 5:00, 1.8% Pourover 4:00, 1.8% AP 3:00, 1.44% CCD 3:00, 1.44% AP 8:00, 1.50%
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Posted Thu Jun 21, 2012, 5:23am Subject: Brewing Prediction Challenge for June
PS: You're welcome to provide taste comments, but they are not necessary. I find that, just like in the book "Blink", by Gladwell (chapter on experts vs. novice jam tasters), if you have people taste coffee blind with no direction, they tend to be very similar in classified tastes. Three different people, given an auto drip traditionally calculated as an underextraction, overextraction, and one ~19%-20% extracted, will agree a surprisingly high percentage of the time - identifying sourness, underdeveloped character (even if they can't describe it exactly), and overextracted bitterness.
Then, if you give them a primer on how underextracted, overextracted and properly extracted coffee SHOULD taste, and a brief overview on terroir, then the "natural" ability to classify taste suddenly gets whacked out. If you then give them a cup of properly extracted coffee and tell them it's under or over, the coffee suddenly takes on that character. Nowadays, when I give coffee to someone, I give it to them blind with a wink, get their comments, and THEN explain what I gave them (especially so if I'm trying something different).
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Posted Tue Jun 26, 2012, 9:14am Subject: Brewing Prediction Challenge for June (kinda need a VST or strength measurement)
No takers, huh? ;^D
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 