CheapBastid Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2012 Posts: 61 Location: Los Angeles Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: None Grinder: Talking myself into a LIDO Vac Pot: None Drip: Mr Coffee Roaster: None
Posted Wed Dec 5, 2012, 9:21am Subject: Magnestir as a component of ComfortBrew™
I seem to be in a creative mood recently around coffee. I appear to have re-invented the French Pull method (sadly to discover that Trudeau already made the Tirra). Now I've come up with the idea of using a Magnetic Stir device while doing room temp brewing (I'm partial to calling it ComfortBrew™).
=)
I picked up an ancient Magnestir S8290 for cheap to use it with my recent foray into Molecular Cuisine and I thought it might help to get more extraction while my grounds are sitting in tepid water.
I've set up a Bodium french press with cheap coffee (Roast2Coast Columbian in a drip grind) using Netphilosopher's 15% ratio for the 60g of coffee. An interesting side effect is the old motor of the Magnestir heats up as it runs, so the slurry is being warmed to over 106 degrees (only have an oral thermometer).
The experiment is currently running in my kitchen (it's got about 7 hours worth of time on it) and I took the tiniest of pours to see how it's going. Surprisingly it's not bitter (like I thought it would be) and adding a splash of H&H (I know, I'm a heathen) it has left me with a very nice aftertaste in my mouth.
Anyone else experiment with disturbing the grounds while doing desktop extraction?
Posted Wed Dec 5, 2012, 9:45am Subject: Re: Magnestir as a component of ComfortBrew™
CheapBastid Said:
... An interesting side effect is the old motor of the Magnestir heats up as it runs, so the slurry is being warmed to over 106 degrees (only have an oral thermometer).
Posted Wed Dec 5, 2012, 10:27am Subject: Re: Magnestir as a component of ComfortBrew™
CheapBastid Said:
...an interesting side effect is the old motor of the Magnestir heats up as it runs, so the slurry is being warmed to over 106 degrees (only have an oral thermometer)...
Functionally, an oral and... the other kind are the same. The only real difference is the taste.
ROFLOL!
Seriously, back on topic, I've done agitation on cold brewing coffee every couple hours during a 12 hour steep. Compared to non-agitated, strength seemed to be roughly the same. Agitation changes how quickly the brew reaches equilibrium, but equilibrium strength reached over several hours doesn't seem to be affected by agitation.
But, maybe the combined constant agitation, slight warming WILL. Do you have a control brew going at the same time?
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- 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
Not this round, I just thought I'd give it a try as I expected it to be a disaster.
Next round I was thinking of using a static tabletop control/contrast with 'good' beans against the Magnestir 'office' beans and see which one was 'better' (both at 15%).
I was also thinking I might go with a 10% ratio as I'm guessing I'm losing a bit to evaporation as the Magnestir is warm (I'm guessing it's at about 110°ish).
CheapBastid Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2012 Posts: 61 Location: Los Angeles Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: None Grinder: Talking myself into a LIDO Vac Pot: None Drip: Mr Coffee Roaster: None
Posted Wed Dec 5, 2012, 11:18am Subject: Re: Magnestir as a component of ComfortBrew™
Another aspect that occurs to me is that the magnetic stir bar might be 'wet grinding' the fines as it's 'scraping' against the glass on the bottom as it spins. Although with the turbulence it may just be spinning them out to the edges.
Posted Wed Dec 5, 2012, 11:35am Subject: Re: Magnestir as a component of ComfortBrew™
I doubt the bar would grind the coffee at all, the force holding it to the bottom of the flask is pretty low. Certainly nothing like the force involved in a (blunt) burr grinder.
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 Wed Dec 5, 2012, 12:29pm Subject: Re: Magnestir as a component of ComfortBrew™
I've been meaning to make a cheap magnetic stirrer (Instructables.com) from a computer fan for extracting coffee in Tequila but I haven't got around to it yet.
Looks awesome! If you read down the comments another person set it up so it could be run from USB, also a pot on the line to change speed would be a great addition. If I didn't have a $20 Magnestir already I'd start hacking away!
Posted Thu Dec 6, 2012, 6:04am Subject: Re: Magnestir as a component of ComfortBrew™
CheapBastid Said:
Not this round, I just thought I'd give it a try as I expected it to be a disaster.
Next round I was thinking of using a static tabletop control/contrast with 'good' beans against the Magnestir 'office' beans and see which one was 'better' (both at 15%).
I was also thinking I might go with a 10% ratio as I'm guessing I'm losing a bit to evaporation as the Magnestir is warm (I'm guessing it's at about 110°ish).
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- 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
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