What's wrong with my Swissgold?

[BobTimo]

Hi,

A cousin just gave me a Swissgold KF300, that one-cup brewer. On my first few brews, I enjoyed it. A 4-minute wait for it to fully drip on my cup may be a bit too long compared to my Aero, but still I like using the Swissgold when I have to brew just one cup. And so I started bringing it for travel coz I only have to brew for me.

But lately, I noticed the drip finishes too soon. With my Bodum Antigua grinder set to 3 steps from the finest grind (that I use for the Aero), it takes less than a minute to complete the drip, when it used to be around 4 minutes in my first brews. At the finest grinder setting, it's still under 2mins. So I have underextracted coffee. Looking at the gold screen, I can see no damage at all.

Thanks!

Bobby T.

[John F]

Humidity changes / moisture content?

[milowebailey]

Sounds like grinder burrs might be the issue.

[BobTimo]

in this tropical country, those factors seem to be stable, always in the high level. now i'm on travel and in an airconditioned room, humidity is low. but i still have the same problem. i may have to go out and look for some solo french press around here coz i can't drink the coffee from the swissgold anymore.

[BobTimo]

Sounds like grinder burrs might be the issue.

on my first travel with the swissgold, i can only bring a small black&decker blade grinder. it was fine, completing the drip in 3-4mins. now i'm away again, with nothing but the same blade grinder, i's still getting too fast a drip.

[milowebailey]

Same coffee?  Same time from roast to cup?  These both will come into play a little, but the difference seems to much.

But as I think of "a blade grinder" I go back to my first guess...... it's the grind.  Whip it a little longer.

[BobTimo]

different coffee, but yeah, i think the time difference is just too much. i tried grinding with the blade grinder too long, almost powdery, but still the same too fast a drip. eniweys, got me an $8 chinese-made french press. this will do in the meantime. :-) can't bring the aero for travel coz the wifey uses it at home. maybe i'd get another one. :-)

[peter]

Just out of curiosity, how do you heat and pour the water?

[BobTimo]

just the simplest -- boil with a cheapo electric kettle, then pour into the plastic receptacle with a flat bottom and many holes to spread the drip. unlike the ceramic conical drip, i understand the KF300 doesn't require the expensive hairo kettle and some special pouring techniques?

[John F]

Special pouring technics would work. 

[Ascholten]

How much coffee are you putting into the swissgold.   Some types DO make a difference.   I typically use 10 to 11 grams in my one cupper.  Some coffee's that completely covers the mesh well, others it barely makes it fully covered.... and those ones tend to drip a bit fast.  Try adding another gram of grounds see if that helps.

Finer is not always the answer, although it intuitively seems it should be.  Try to coarsen it up a bit, but it does sound like a grind issue honestly.

worse case scenario, cut a piece of tin foil the size of half the thing and put in the bottom to cover half the holes, put coffee on top and then pour,  not the best way of doing it though.

Aaron

[BobTimo]

My "cup" is about 5oz. I'm using the Bodum scoop that holds about 7gms which is intended for a 4oz cup. So I add a few more beans to compensate for the 1oz difference. Your 10-11gms, I suppose you have a bigger cup?

What's puzzling me is, while I did not change the rest of the variables (grind size, amount of coffee, water temp, water volume) , the drip just became faster. But I'll experiment some more on the grind size when I get home and will have a better grinder, not this blade grinder I carry with me on the road. The foil suggestion might just work, though, if nothing else will.

Thanks!

[Ascholten]

It might be the coffee itself, as I said some beans are dense and the beans dont spread as far.  Try a different coffee.

also how are you cleaning the sg?   I hope you are not really scrubbing on it too hard, that could possibly open the holes up a bit though i kind of doubt thats the issue.

This is odd, most of the times the complaint is that its stalling, not running too fast.

Aaron

[Tex]

The grind hasn't changed and the holes in the filter are the same size, right? It's been my experience with any drip coffee maker that if nothing else changes, faster drip rates are usually attributable to bean staleness/dryness.

That'd be where I looked for a solution.

[Ascholten]

Tex is right there.   Also on the beans,  when I do Kona's  they tend to be fewer beans to the gram, so the grind does not completely cover the bottom as dense as any other bean does, consequently they like to drip fast if I am not careful.

Oh and btw my cup is a good 12 to 14 oz.  Standard military cpo cup.  (I did say CPO stands for coffee pot operator right)  at least that's what my guys used to say  ... and what I used to say, before I made rank... and got my ass beat during initiation... for saying that.... oh nevermind.

Aaron