I would recommend coarsening the grind. One trick you can use for a slow pour is to stop pouring when you hit a time limit and then add the rest of the brew water to the coffee "Bypassing" the filter. Batch coffee brewers often have a bypass percentage configuration to prevent overextraction.

A coarser grind should be your first adjustment.

For any grind setting a few gentle circular stirs will shorten the drawdown time because it dislodges particles clinging to the filter sides.

mfogliet wrote:Follow the George Howell instructions exactly as written. It's a perfect method. Simple, repeatable. The methods that instruct to use a turbulent poor are more difficult to repeat imho.

I have also been using this and liking it. However, I do allow for higher ratios at times ( sometimes by accidentally doing 5 g extra each pour)

mfogliet wrote:A coarser grind should be your first adjustment.

For any grind setting a few gentle circular stirs will shorten the drawdown time because it dislodges particles clinging to the filter sides.

Ugh. I forgot to adjust my grinder before grinding. So today, I halted extraction at the 5:30 mark (it took me 30 seconds to find something to transfer the filter (with water still in it) to. And it's MUCH better. Not good yet, but definitely getting there.

I adjusted my grinder setting AFTER the fact, so it should be good for tomorrow morning.

yakster wrote:I would recommend coarsening the grind. One trick you can use for a slow pour is to stop pouring when you hit a time limit and then add the rest of the brew water to the coffee "Bypassing" the filter. Batch coffee brewers often have a bypass percentage configuration to prevent overextraction.

Sort of like making an Americano?

As I forgot to adjust my grinder until it was too late, I meant to try this method, but then I robotically followed the instructions.

Not so much an Americano, you're using the same brew ratio but with larger batches (like 1.9 liters) it can be difficult to pour all the water through the grounds in a reasonable time so these batch brewers will send some of the water in a bypass path which skips the filter and goes right into the pot. This will mix with the extracted coffee, even if you don't pour the full 1.9 liters through the bed you'll still be able to fully extract the coffee with the water that does go through in your set timeframe.

I also recommend changing the grind size, but having the idea of doing a bypass brew in your back pocket is a great idea in case you suddenly switch from making a Chemex for two to trying to brew for a party and find that you're not going to be able to pour all the brew water through the bed in a reasonable time. Just stop pouring enough before your time is going to be up to allow the filter to drain and then add the rest of the water to make up the volume. You can then adjust the grinder for the next batch for a better pour time. It's a useful technique for pours that are going to far exceed your target brew time, keeping in mind that for coarser particles you'd expect a longer target brew time than for finer particles.

Ground the coffee a bit more coarsely, and it was definitely better. But I think I made it a bit too coarse, as it didn't taste quite strong enough this time. Most of the water drained by the time the timer rang, but I did remove the remaining slurry. I'm going to try again at this coarseness but let all of the water drain to see what that does.

I do see why people use gooseneck kettles for pourovers. I'm using a ceramic Brown Betty to heat my water, and while the spout is better than other teapots, it's not got the control that people like for this.

CathyWeeks wrote:Ground the coffee a bit more coarsely, and it was definitely better. But I think I made it a bit too coarse, as it didn't taste quite strong enough this time. Most of the water drained by the time the timer rang, but I did remove the remaining slurry. I'm going to try again at this coarseness but let all of the water drain to see what that does.

Use the grind to control brew time.

Brewing is a moving target. Change one variable and you need to adjust something else. I is not as simple as... press this button for coffee but it is not all that difficult either.

CathyWeeks wrote:I do see why people use gooseneck kettles for pourovers. I'm using a ceramic Brown Betty to heat my water, and while the spout is better than other teapots, it's not got the control that people like for this.

Goosenecks make it much simpler to get it right.

I've gone back to my Russell Hobbs. Bit more finesse to get the stream but it is more convenient for me than digging out my Bonavita as it is always on my counter and I can use the additional capacity to rinse the filter and warm the carafe.

If you are looking for a gooseneck, take a good look at the temp controlled Bonavita. This will help you dial in another one of those variables that you need to control