Posted Sat Jun 23, 2012, 10:58am Subject: Re: Computing Brew Ratio and Measuring Water
Brew ratio is determined BEFORE the brewing process.
It's the ratio of dry coffee to brew water, where brew water is the water you are about to use to make your coffee. Think of it as a recipe, amount of water, amount of coffee - brew - in the end you get produced coffee.
The term itself can refer to either ratio of coffee to water, or water to coffee. Usually if it's coffee to water, it's expressed in percentage, so 62.5grams per 1000g of brew water is is 62.5/1000 or 0.0625 or 6.25% - all the same thing.
The inverse produces a number in the 15's to 17's depending on who recommends what ratio (water to coffee). Some people also call this brew ratio, or coffee brewing formula, it's all the same thing, just the inverse. In the example above, 1000g/62.5g is 16.0
The concept comes from the brewing control charts - an example of which can be found multiple places on the internet. They express the brew ratio in wacky mixed units, but if you pay attention to the European chart, at least it's in grams of coffee : liter of brew water (same chart, different strengths).
The ratio of 57.5g of coffee to 1 liter (which if at room temperature or cold - and since nobody uses piping hot water in an auto drip system, which is what the charts were developed for - is sufficiently close to 1000g of brew water) should produce "normal" strength if extracted in the "proper" range.
The charts were made for convenience of the end user - and people rarely know typical "absorption" of a brewing system, so you don't even see the term in any of the charts. That's another reason brew ratio is the ratio of the ingredients BEFORE brewing - like a recipe.
It is possible to look at ratio of produced beverage to coffee, but that term is usually referred to as Produced Brew Ratio, Yield Brew Ratio, or Espresso Brew Ratio. Some methods it is not possible to know the original brew water, because the barista is controlling the amount of end product (like an espresso machine, for example, a barista has no idea how much water he/she is using to pull a shot, only the amount that's being produced).
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- 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
Java_Jiver Senior Member Joined: 3 Nov 2010 Posts: 131 Location: Baton Rouge Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Capresso Infinity Drip: Technivorm 741
Posted Mon Jun 25, 2012, 11:38am Subject: Re: Computing Brew Ratio and Measuring Water
I've followed a ratio similar to Netphilosopher's for years — almost to the point that brewing the morning coffee for my wife and me is a rote, mechanical process. I don't always adjust the amount of coffee beans to get right on to 60 grams, if my measure comes out to 61 or 62, that's OK. My drip coffee maker has markings on it that can measure out to exactly 1 liter, so I aim for that mark, so we use slightly more than 57.5 as specified. We get excellent coffee using this process every morning without the hassle of weighing out the water.
Correct our not, I lean to #2, especially when doing smaller amounts such as a Hario 2 cup (10oz yield of brewed coffee starting with 12oz for heated water, 18 grams of just finer than drip grind coffee) YMMV. Of course, regardless of brewing method, remember to thoroughly rinse your filter with a good amount of hot water before depositing the coffee in your paper filter.
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 