Brewers that operate at 195-205 F

[slurp]

+1 for Technivorm....

I sent my Technivorm back unused for a refund the same day it arrived after noticing how much of its plastic was exposed to hot steam and thus especially vulnerable to toxic bisphenol-a leaching -- and confirming my suspicions by conversing to a technician in the Technivorm U.S. support team who conceded the possibility.

[Joe]

+1 for Technivorm....

I sent my Technivorm back unused for a refund the same day it arrived after noticing how much of its plastic was exposed to hot steam and thus especially vulnerable to toxic bisphenol-a leaching -- and confirming my suspicions by conversing to a technician in the Technivorm U.S. support team who conceded the possibility.

Did you switch back to a glass vacpot?

[slurp]

I sent my Technivorm back unused for a refund the same day it arrived after noticing how much of its plastic was exposed to hot steam and thus especially vulnerable to toxic bisphenol-a leaching -- and confirming my suspicions by conversing to a technician in the Technivorm U.S. support team who conceded the possibility.

Did you switch back to a glass vacpot?

I like my coffee paper-filtered. Just because a brewer has some plastic in it doesn't mean it's a bisphenol-a risk. Most of the other brewer manufacturers have had the good sense to use plastics that have a higher melting point and weren't manufactured with bisphenol-a as a raw material.

Today the Bunn GRX I ordered arrived. It's all ready to go tomorrow morning -- I just have to worry about getting the right grind for it and the right water-to-grind proportions. This will be my fifth attempt to get a better brew than my aging $20 four-cup Mr. Coffee provides. Failure #1 was a Newcom OCS-8 that I ordered but that never came, #2 was the Technivorm with its bisphenol-a problem, #3 was a high-end Capresso with a defective spray head, #4 was a Hamilton Beach commercial brewer that was twice the price of the Mr. Coffee but made coffee only half as good.

Wish me luck this time with the Bunn!

[milowebailey]

I sent my Technivorm back unused for a refund the same day it arrived after noticing how much of its plastic was exposed to hot steam and thus especially vulnerable to toxic bisphenol-a leaching -- and confirming my suspicions by conversing to a technician in the Technivorm U.S. support team who conceded the possibility.

Did you switch back to a glass vacpot?

I like my coffee paper-filtered. Just because a brewer has some plastic in it doesn't mean it's a bisphenol-a risk. Most of the other brewer manufacturers have had the good sense to use plastics that have a higher melting point and weren't manufactured with bisphenol-a as a raw material.

Today the Bunn GRX I ordered arrived. It's all ready to go tomorrow morning -- I just have to worry about getting the right grind for it and the right water-to-grind proportions. This will be my fifth attempt to get a better brew than my aging $20 four-cup Mr. Coffee provides. Failure #1 was a Newcom OCS-8 that I ordered but that never came, #2 was the Technivorm with its bisphenol-a problem, #3 was a high-end Capresso with a defective spray head, #4 was a Hamilton Beach commercial brewer that was twice the price of the Mr. Coffee but made coffee only half as good.

Wish me luck this time with the Bunn!

Slurp

I aplaud your persistence... hard road behind you.  Bunns are great.  you are correct that the grind will make it a win or lose.... but water temp. should be on the money.  I have one and 1st couple pots I ground like I do for my cone filter Cuisinart... bad move on my part.. I had coffee and water all over the counter.. it stalled... what a mess.

My advice, is start courser than you think you'll end up with, then go a little finer at a time.

[mp]

Good move Slurp ... you can't go wrong with Bunn.

 

[slurp]

Today the Bunn GRX I ordered arrived. It's all ready to go tomorrow morning -- I just have to worry about getting the right grind for it and the right water-to-grind proportions.
...
Wish me luck this time with the Bunn!

Slurp

I aplaud your persistence... hard road behind you.  Bunns are great.  you are correct that the grind will make it a win or lose.... but water temp. should be on the money.  I have one and 1st couple pots I ground like I do for my cone filter Cuisinart... bad move on my part.. I had coffee and water all over the counter.. it stalled... what a mess.

My advice, is start courser than you think you'll end up with, then go a little finer at a time.

That's timely advice. I almost had a spill this morning on the Bunn's "maiden voyage."

Here's what happened. I brewed a half carafe (5 cups) using the grind-to-water proportions and fine grind I had always used on the Bunn's predecessor, which has a slow flow-through. Well, judging from the height of the grind in the Bunn's filter holder after the brewing had finished, I would have had an overflow had I tried to brew a full pot. Also, the coffee was weak, because the Bunn's flow-through is much faster than the older brewer on which I had based the grind-to-water proportions.

Tomorrow, I'll try increasing the coffee-to-water proportion while simultaneously coarsening the grind. This should produce a stronger coffee while avoiding overflow. I will also call Bunn and ask them to send me the finer spray head they offer on request. That might enable me to slow the flow-through and reduce the coffee-to-water proportion. I can then decide which spray head to go commit to.

My main problem will be my wife, who growls at me all day if she doesn't get a near-perfect cuppa java.

[Pyment]

Using a Bunn with fresh roasted coffee is somewhat a problem because of contact time in the pourover models. You can get a restricted spray head for use with fresh roasted coffee just by sending an email to the company. It's free.

I haven't looked at it for some time, but it should be in the manual.

[slurp]

I have three questions regarding good brewing technique:

1) I'm curious as to what coffee-to-water proportions GCBC members are using for brewing.

(Mine used to be 10 gms coffee per 5-oz cup of water for a slow pour-through 180 degree Mr. Coffee with a medium-to-fine grind. It's now 12 gms coffee per 5-oz water for a Bunn GRX at 195 degrees plus, the optional slow flow-through sprayhead, and a fine-filter ground. Both of these coffee-to-water ratios are way over what most web sites, including Starbuck's, advocate. This makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong, but perhaps they're able to use less coffee per cup because they're brewing under steam pressure with espresso-machines, vs. my pour-through brewers.)

2) I'd also like to know whether a shining surface on grounds after the brewing process is finished is indicative of too fine a grind and/or too long contact of water with the grounds.

(I've been trying to get a stronger coffee from my new Bunn GRX by experimenting both with a higher coffee-to-water ratio as well as finer grinds. This morning, after brewing was finished, when I inspected the grounds in the paper filter, I noticed that a patch of the grounds were shiny like clay rather than fluffy as the rest were.)

3) Is coffee right after brewing more prone to bitterness than coffee consumed somewhat later?

(Right after a brew is finished, I transfer the coffee from the brewing carafe to a preheated thermos bottle. I've noticed that the first cup I taste after brewing seems a bit bitter. I actually prefer the subtler taste of the later cups -- say, 15 to 30 minutes after brewing -- which don't have any bitterness. Can anyone explain what I am experiencing? Is this just an idiosyncratic response on my part or is there something in terms of ongoing coffee chemistry in the thermos that could account for this?)

[mp]

I personally use about 30 - 35 grams of coffee per 12 ounce cup.

I wouldn't think the shine would indicate too fine a grind as I sometimes get that and my grind for a pour over is no where near fine.

Bitterness is to do with coffee being over extracted.  For example if I have the grinder set too fine for an espresso shot it would take 40 to 50 seconds rather than 25 to 30 seconds for a good extraction.  The taste of the coffee then is noticeably bitter.

Hope that helps.

 

[slurp]

I personally use about 30 - 35 grams of coffee per 12 ounce cup....

That translates into 12.5 -14.58 gms per standard 5 oz cup, which is a little more coffee than I'm presently using (12 gms per 5 oz cup, with complaints from wife that the result isn't strong enough). So maybe I need to up the coffee used.

[peter]

I use 22g for 14oz. water.  That's measured before boiling.

The only time I see any shiny grounds is when I flush the top globe of my vac-pot into a gold basket that I use to let them dry enough to dump in the garbage.  There's a whole lot of water/turbulence and then zero turbulence as the grounds settle in the basket.  Maybe that's something like what's happening w/ you.  It's a medium/fine grind.

When a cup is still very hot, the temp can exacerbate the sour taste of acidity, which then settles down after only a couple slurps.  Perhaps that is what you're experiencing as bitterness.

Hope that helps.

[slurp]

I use 22g for 14oz. water.  That's measured before boiling.

...vac-pot...

When a cup is still very hot, the temp can exacerbate the sour taste of acidity, which then settles down after only a couple slurps.  Perhaps that is what you're experiencing as bitterness.

O.K., that translates into 7.86 gms coffee per standard 5 oz cup. That's in line with some of the lower values I've seen quoted on web sites, including Starbuck's. It's noteworthy that you're using a vac-pot, which is doubtless a much more efficient exploiter of ground coffee than a pour-through with paper filter, the type of coffee brewer I've been using.

[peter]

I could have been more clear on brewing methods.  For that last 5 years, it's been 98% press pot, one cup at a time.  For the last couple months, it's been a Clever Coffee Dripper from SM's.  The vac-pot is once a week.  The coffee:water ratio remains the same for all.  Just don't ask how I arrived at those numbers; they worked, and I stuck with 'em.

[rfeuker]

Anybody got any feedback on the Bunn STX?  Bunn's website says "Available Soon", but several on-line vendors have them - looks like about $150 shipped.  Bunn claims it brews at 200 and does 10 cups in 3 to 4 minutes.   It also has a thermal carafe instaed of the warming plate that so many of us love.

[Tex]

Anybody got any feedback on the Bunn STX?  Bunn's website says "Available Soon", but several on-line vendors have them - looks like about 4150 shipped.  Bunn claims it brewa at 200 and does 10 cups in 3 to 4 minutes.   It also has a thermal carafe instaed of the warming plate that so many of us love.

The problem with any most brewing devices is the mechanical bi-metallic tstat. To reduce wear on heating element circuits they come with very wide dead-bands. Add to that the simple fact that as mass produced items bought from the lowest bidder, they're not very accurate to begin with. As they get older they are subject to metal fatigue, resulting in growing inaccuracy.

What I'm trying to say is the brewers are only going to be as accurate as the tstat - and they're all over the place! If you can find a brewer that uses an electronic thermostat to monitor the water temps then you'll have a brewer worth buying.

http://www.bunnomatic.com/pdfs/retail/specsheets/r10_STX.pdf