Rick, even though you like coffee on the lighter side, I'd still suggest bumping it up to see if you like it more, especially since your vac-pot is turning out a weak coffee. My Yama 5-cup gets 44g at the full 5-cup level... coffee goes in after water's been on top for a bit, grounds get pushed down, timer is set for 2min, pot is pulled off the burner when the timer's done, perfect coffee every time. My other advice would be to figure out what caused the stalls, and revert back to the glass rod.