CzechCzar wrote:
To be honest, I went out to a cafe this weekend, and got some of their coffee that they cold brew in a Toddy. While it was good, it was nothing revolutionary.

That's too bad. But remember brew method is only one small part of the coffee equation. It could be that you just didn't like the bean variety or roast. With cold brew I found that the more complex the blend (ie. mishmosh) the more interesting and flavorful the cup. It's weird but with cold brew, because of the low acidity, I can taste many more flavor notes in blends. I find acidity can be, is, a highly dominating flavor in coffee in general. In hot brewing methods it's always a challenge to tame the acidity without brewing out (eg higher temp) or roasting out (darker roast) the other delicate flavors.

That is very good advice. I think I am going to try ghetto-rigging a cold brew system with a cheesecloth, and, if the results are satisfactory, I might get a filtron. But, I have been thinking that even a Filtron is probably unnecessary. I could get results from just using a cheesecloth and bucket.

My last remaining question is what do I store my finished concentrate in. I am thinking that I want something airtight, and able to pour without making a mess. Does anybody have anything they would recommend?

Thanks!

For those still paying attention:

I ultimately went with fridge barista. Ultimately cheaper that anything else, even DIYing it. I will post results...

that actually looks kinda cool and like how it can sit in the fridge like one of those small water tap jugs.

Yes! The fact that I won't have to keep buying filters, the fact that it's dishwasher safe, has its own filter built in, and has a removable filter so the vessel I brew the coffee in is the storage vessel... all combined to make this a no brainer. Plus it's plastic, so I can travel with it easily.

CzechCzar wrote:Yes! The fact that I won't have to keep buying filters, the fact that it's dishwasher safe, has its own filter built in, and has a removable filter so the vessel I brew the coffee in is the storage vessel... all combined to make this a no brainer. Plus it's plastic, so I can travel with it easily.

Let us know how you like it

I thought about the Bruer... It is a bit too expensive, fragile, and does not produce quite enough concentrate for me to use it right now. If they make a bigger version I might bite.

I really like my Bruer. I just made a batch similar to what Cuvee Coffee does and pre-infused with hot water and brewed with ice.

In the Bruer:
Add paper filter on metal filter (below coffee)
63g Coffee (~22 on Baratza Virtuoso)
Pre-infuse coffee with 150g of water at 205F for 60 seconds
Add paper filter on top of wet grounds
Then brew as normal with ice water (150g ice/400g h2o) with a drip rate of 1 drip per second

For me this turned out AWESOME had less of that cold brew flat funk. The hot pre-infusion really drew out more brightness from the coffee which I like.

Does it make a concentrate or ready-coffee? If the former, what is the recommended ratio of coffee:water?

DouloScott wrote:I really like my Bruer. I just made a batch similar to what Cuvee Coffee does and pre-infused with hot water and brewed with ice.

In the Bruer:
Add paper filter on metal filter (below coffee)
63g Coffee (~22 on Baratza Virtuoso)
Pre-infuse coffee with 150g of water at 205F for 60 seconds
Add paper filter on top of wet grounds
Then brew as normal with ice water (150g ice/400g h2o) with a drip rate of 1 drip per second

For me this turned out AWESOME had less of that cold brew flat funk. The hot pre-infusion really drew out more brightness from the coffee which I like.

Thanks, I'll have to try this when it's my turn with the Traveling Roadshow Bruer. I like hot brewing into ice, and don't like cold brew funk and muted acidity.