Airpots

[rasqual]

Take 2 identical airpots, fill one of them all the way up and the other half-full, both with 195? coffee.  Let them sit for 6 hours.

Can't. Thankfully, everyone drinks the contents within a half hour.   ;-)

However, I can speak of a coffee shop that has timers on its airpots so you know how old the coffee is. I can also say I've seen an employee reset the timers when he thought no one was looking.   

[BoldJava]

Done.  Switched to the Bunn line, stainless steel.  2.5 liters.  $39 at this restaurant supply outfit out of Tennessee:

http://www.katom.com/021-321250000.html

Thanks again, won't be lugging the coffee paraphernelia to the office anymore.  Just the airpot.  B||Java

[ButtWhiskers]

Katom is a great place - I got a gourmet basket for my Bunn airpot brewer from them. 

[cfsheridan]

Slightly OT--do any of you airpot folks have recommended brewers?  Looking for a pour-over variety.  Danke.

[ButtWhiskers]

Slightly OT--do any of you airpot folks have recommended brewers?  Looking for a pour-over variety.  Danke.

I have a Bunn CW15-APS that is a pourover and works like a champ.  Brand new they are about $330 if you look around, but you will probably find one used for $150 or so.  The only shortcoming is that the supplied plastic funnel (brew basket) is a tiny bit too small, so you need a Gourmet 'C' basket (made by Bunn) that allows for a larger filter and won't overflow so easily.  The C basket is stainless, so it will not warp, either.  [The plastic one probably doesn't warp if used as intended, but if you overfill the basket with fresh homeroast, and it blooms a whole bunch, it can put enough downward pressure to cause the basket to slightly warp and pop off the holder, making a hellacious mess.  Had this happen a couple of times and it was not a happy event, hence the larger, stainless basket]

I also have a Bloomfield 8773 airpot brewer that is okay but works slower.  It is a pourover but may also be attached to a dedicated water supply (I think it works faster then...  need to try it).  I got that one on eBay for about $80 including shipping.  I picked up an inline filtration system for it this morning, in fact, so I'll probably be permanently installing that one in my basement. 

Most of these have adjustable batch size and temperature.  I have the Bunn set up to run at about 204?F in the basket, which makes really great coffee (but it does boil like crazy in the reservoir at this temperature - this is higher than they tell you to set it - the control is mainly meant to adjust for boiling temperature at higher elevations).  The specs are 1.9L to 3.0L batches, but the recovery seems to be ideal at 2.5L or less.  At this size and temperature I can knock out airpots in about 8 minutes.  People make such a fuss about Technivorms and proper brewing temperature, but you really can get the same quality out of one of these if you tweak the settings. 

One of these days I want to get a Fetco extractor that does 1 gallon batches, but not until I find one for cheap on craigslist or at an auction.  I believe that they are more efficient - but a Bunn CW15-APS will do everything you need it to for most circumstances, and get you about 4 gallons an hour of top-notch brew.

[Dante]

Slightly OT--do any of you airpot folks have recommended brewers?  Looking for a pour-over variety.  Danke.

Hi Chad, I just started using my Newco OCS-12, which I bought via the discount option arranged by Joe for GCBC (thanks Joe!). It is cheap, very easy to use, and brews great coffee. I use it to brew at 8 cups instead of 12 and that is just perfect for the 4 coffee drinkers in my home for our morning caffeine fix. It's great that the coffee stays hot for a few hours after brewing. I bought 2 extra carafes (which, by the way are really well designed) and I make three full 12-cup batches just before my visitors arrive so I can enjoy the party with them the whole time instead of having to miss some of it while I fuss about making coffee after the meal.

[shep]

Hey Buttwhiskers,

I have a question for you since we basically have the same Bunn brewer; I like my coffee on the strong side but feel like my machine brews rather weak. What amount of coffee do you usually use to brew in your particular machine?

Shep

[BoldJava]

Stainless steel will facilitate catalytic reactions, and affect the flavor of coffee, if it is cleaned using chemicals which leave the surface activated.  The solution to this is to not use cleaning compounds, and allow the surfaces to become 'conditioned'.  ...The first couple of batches in a new airpot will have some of the flavor change that Chris describes, which I believe is actually chemical reduction (gain of electrons) of some of the more reactive compounds.  Once the surface is conditioned, this no longer happens.

Glass really needs to be cleaned with chemicals or it will begin to taste skanky, and will actually start salting up with metals and organics that cling to deprotonated hydroxyl groups on the glass, facilitating further gunk.  Stainless can be well-maintained using only very hot water.

The Bunn came today.  Very well made.  Do you suggest about 2 pots to condition it?  Getting a brush to use without soap...bristled coffee pot cleaner, ~$12 at restaurant supply company, with bristles on the bottom of the brush as well.

B|Java

[ButtWhiskers]

Stainless steel will facilitate catalytic reactions, and affect the flavor of coffee, if it is cleaned using chemicals which leave the surface activated.  The solution to this is to not use cleaning compounds, and allow the surfaces to become 'conditioned'.  ...The first couple of batches in a new airpot will have some of the flavor change that Chris describes, which I believe is actually chemical reduction (gain of electrons) of some of the more reactive compounds.  Once the surface is conditioned, this no longer happens.

Glass really needs to be cleaned with chemicals or it will begin to taste skanky, and will actually start salting up with metals and organics that cling to deprotonated hydroxyl groups on the glass, facilitating further gunk.  Stainless can be well-maintained using only very hot water.

The Bunn came today.  Very well made.  Do you suggest about 2 pots to condition it?  Getting a brush to use without soap...bristled coffee pot cleaner, ~$12 at restaurant supply company, with bristles on the bottom of the brush as well.

B|Java

Dave,
It should condition itself through use - I never do anything additional outside of my regular use, although you will notice that the flavor is more stable after a couple of pots have gone through it.
I rarely use brushes, only hot water.   I would use a brush if coffee sat in the airpot for longer than a day or so, but normally I dump any remnants while it is still hot, rinse with hot water, then fill the airpot back up with hot water and allow it to set until the foam and bubbles stop rising (10-15 minutes), then I dump it and store it empty.   My hot tap water is 170?F in my house, which helps...
-Greg

[J.Jirehs Roaster]

My hot tap water is 170?F in my house, which helps...
-Greg

That is one hot shower   

[ButtWhiskers]

My hot tap water is 170?F in my house, which helps...
-Greg

That is one hot shower   

That was the only way to keep from running out of hot water when I had two teenage daughters living in the house.  I could probably turn it down, but I've got it so well insulated and have become so used to it that I'll just be an environmental criminal and leave it like that.   

[BoldJava]

OK, so I am not an engineer.  That is my brother.

Can't figure out, even with the diagram, how to clean the 'bellow cap, bellows, and plate.'  Even WITH the diagram.

I assume that is all inside the cap but nothing seems to budge and I don't want to horse on it.  Where do I begin?

I was going to put the pdf up here but Bunn ungraciously doesn't have it on the site...grrrr...

B|Java

[ButtWhiskers]

OK, so I am not an engineer.  That is my brother.

Can't figure out, even with the diagram, how to clean the 'bellow cap, bellows, and plate.'  Even WITH the diagram.

I assume that is all inside the cap but nothing seems to budge and I don't want to horse on it.  Where do I begin?

I was going to put the pdf up here but Bunn ungraciously doesn't have it on the site...grrrr...

B|Java

I have never cleaned this on a Bunn.  When some knucklehead left half a dozen of my old stainless airpots (from espressoparts) laying on their sides with coffee still in them, I had to clean the bellows on those because coffee got inside of them - it was a major PITA.  If you are using your Bunn airpots correctly, nothing other than air should ever get inside the bellows, and I would think that cleaning them would be an undue strain with the risk of breaking something.

The only things that coffee should ever come into contact with in your Bunn airpots are the stem and the liner.  If you never let those sit with coffee in them for very long (over 3 or 4 hours), they will clean up just fine with very hot water.

[BoldJava]

Suggestions?  I have been looking at both Bunn and Zojirushi.  Thoughts?  Thanks, B|Java

This is amusing.  Remember my Zoj vs. Bunn debate?  Seems there is no difference. 

Today, when I emailed Bunn re:  the unintelligible directions and instructions on cleaning the bellows on each use, I got this reply from Bunn:

Hello Mr ZenBunn, thank you for contacting Bunn Commercial Services, I have a fax instructions send to me by www.zojirusi.com they are not so clear and have not been able to find the manual on their site, I e-mailed them and hope to heard from them soon, meanwhile, here is what I found at their site I hope this helps you, please let me know, you could e-mail service and support in any event please keep me posted,  thanks.

http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/airpots/aape.html       

Commercial Technical Services
        Bunn-O-Matic, Corp.
      1400 Stevenson Drive
       Springfield, IL. 62703
           1-800-637-8606

B|Java

[ButtWhiskers]

You didn't get the model number that I was talking about if it is like those Zoji's.  The Bunn model that I described (32125) is a lever-action.  Those Zoji's in your link are press-pumps.