ggcadc Senior Member Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 146 Location: San Diego, CA Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: QM Alexia Grinder: Mazzer mini E, Virtuoso,... Vac Pot: Yama 3 cup Drip: All of them Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Mon Dec 10, 2012, 5:27pm Subject: drip tower, can i build it on my own?
It looks like I could buy lab equipment from a lab supply store and build my own drip tower for far less than the hario or yam a costs, anyone tried this? Worth the effort or trouble?
oktyone Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2012 Posts: 26 Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Mon Dec 10, 2012, 10:05pm Subject: Re: drip tower, can i build it on my own?
You can get a Separatory Funnel and a laboratory stand for less than those Hario and Yama drip towers, but there are even cheaper ways of mimicking a cold drip tower, such as the Aeropress link above, with the only drawback of not having control over the dripping speed, but you can easily hack an aquarium spigot to the plastic bottle and have much more control. I definitely think it's worth the effort, it's probably one of the simplest brewing methods, personally i would never pay that kind of money for a cold drip tower unless i had a coffee shop to justify having it as display piece.
calblacksmith Moderator Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 5,685 Location: Riverside, Ca, U.S.A. Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: ECM Veneziano A1 Grinder: Many different commercial Vac Pot: 40s era Silex Drip: Milita, Bunn&Curtis... Roaster: Cast iron pan, gas burner
Posted Wed Dec 12, 2012, 7:09am Subject: Re: drip tower, can i build it on my own?
With a bit of clever adaptation there is no reason you could not do it yourself, no need for lab equipment but it is out there if you choose to buy that stuff. I have bought stuff such as stirring hot plates and motorized stirrers (I was going to make a chocolate tempering rig but it kind of fell through a long time ago) on the bay for a fraction of the real price of them. For the food contact surfaces though, I would go new, there is no telling what has gone through used lab equipment and I would not want to take a chance on that.
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If you want to DIY, I'd suspect the hardware store has some kind of similar valve for you to rig up your own setup, it'd probably be cheaper and less precise but much more sturdy. The valve portion of burettes tend to be pretty wimpy and fail often, plus the length of the burettes relative to their diameter makes them a bit fragile, I wouldn't use them for anything other than a precision measuring scenario.
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