a Cory filter rod. I read through all the pages on the Vac Pot Q&A thread and thought I give one a try. Scored a Cory rod off eBay for $4 and a Yama 8 cup from my favorite jungle source. Both showed up on Monday and I did a test run with only water so I could see what goes on. I put everything away afterwards thinking I'd wait until Xmas morning to use it, but I figured this morning was close enough.
Wasn't sure how much ground coffee to use so I went with 64 grams, ground slightly finer than drip. This is the same grind setting I use for FP. I added the grounds after all the water had moved north and was bubbling away. I was a little concerned that after adding the coffee the top was going to overflow. For some reason at my current grind setting I've noticed that I get a pretty thick head when the grounds are added to my FP. Kind of like the head you get from pouring a Guinness from a tap. Anyway using my bamboo stirring paddle I pushed the grounds down into the water rather than stirring. I lowered the heat, waited one minute while it continued to gently bubble and then pulled it off the burner. I ended up with a total extraction of 3:30 minutes from the time I added the grounds until the top was sucked dry.
I have to say that my first pot of siphon brewed coffee turned out really nice. Beginner's luck? Maybe. I'm a firm believer in that as I have experienced it a lot. I will say though that I glad I decided to give this method a try. It's a bit more involved and it does take longer, but I have nothing but time on my hands.