Bialetti Sneeze

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
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drgary
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#1: Post by drgary »

This morning I made another breakthrough discovery in the annals of coffee brewing -- how to make a Bialetti moka pot sneeze, and it wasn't pretty. Here's how you do it. Fill the coffee reservoir not quite full of grounds. Brew as usual. As it gets to the end of the brew it starts sputtering steam and it's time to take it off the burner and wrap a cool towel or dip the bottom in a bowl of water. But with the coffee reservoir not quite full and leaving it in a touch too long it's easy to form a steam pocket, and that's just what happened. I may have created the perfect sneeze by inserting an AeroPress filter under the screen. Has anyone else run into this? It's never happened before even though I like the paper filter for clarity of the cup.
Gary
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DanoM
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#2: Post by DanoM »

Mocha pot sneeze huh? I bet that was real fun! Mocha, mocha everywhere, not a drop to drink! :lol:
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Eastsideloco
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#3: Post by Eastsideloco »

Good trick. Hopefully, it's not easily repeatable.

On the plus side, my friend who brews almost exclusively with Moka pots says that the "crema" improves with more pressure in the pot. He has three Moka pots, one of which has a crema enhancing feature that builds a little more pressure in the pot. The paper filter probably aids in that regard.

Unfortunately, the paper probably also blocks the coffee oils. Maybe try it with a cloth filter?

With siphons, cloth resists the water on its path up (or down) slightly less than paper. It's a Goldilocks filter medium, blocking much of the sediment while letting some oils pass into the cup. It might work well as a method of clarifying coffee from a Moka pot without contributing to pot sneeze or blocking the coffee oils. It's just a little extra effort to clean and store.

Not surprisingly, it looks like someone actually used to make a cloth filter for aeropress. Unfortunately, it appears to be currently out of production. You could always cut down a cloth siphon filter.

What ever you do, don't stick your face too close in there. :shock:

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drgary (original poster)
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#4: Post by drgary (original poster) »

Eastsideloco wrote:What ever you do, don't stick your face too close in there. :shock:
:lol:

I don't mind blocking the coffee oils sometimes. There's a long discussion I'd rather not reignite here about paper filters and heart health -- just telling you why paper's fine with me.

Crema enhancement with a moka pot? I'd rather just pull a shot on a real espresso machine. I sometimes like the caramels and easy cleanup of the moka pot unless the *#!% thing sneezes!
Gary
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What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

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Eastsideloco
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#5: Post by Eastsideloco »

Crema enhancement with a moka pot?
Exactly. That's why I put crema in quotes. It's a dubious proposition. (And I've never really tasted a consistent difference in the cup. My buddy never weighs his grinds, so every batch is an adventure.)

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drgary (original poster)
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#6: Post by drgary (original poster) »

Eastsideloco wrote:Good trick. Hopefully, it's not easily repeatable.
It is easily repeatable. I did it again yesterday, so I consulted with Lucio Del Piccolo, the world expert on moka pots and H-B member LVX. He likes to insert that paper filter for a clean cup. He told me I had the filter on the wrong side of the screen. The right way to do it is wet the filter and put it on the outside of the coffee screen on the top part so it is between the coffee grounds and that screen. The wrong way is to insert the filter under the metal screen on the top part.

Other tips offered by Lucio include keeping the heat low and stopping the brew half way through the extraction.

I will illustrate with photos in awhile.
Gary
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drgary (original poster)
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#7: Post by drgary (original poster) »

Here are photos to show how to insert the paper filter correctly with tips on using the Bialetti. (Thanks to Pat aka Homeburrero for showing me the Annotating tool in the Mac Preview program. To use that open a photo in Preview, select Tools, select Annotate and it presents a menu for shapes and text.)

This is how not to do it. Don't put the paper filter under the screen on the upper part.



Here is how to insert a paper filter correctly. First you insert the metal screen and gasket.



Then you wet the Aeropress filter paper and lay it on top.



Here's how I adjusted the flame. I had the moka pot filled with water preheated to a boil in my microwave to speed up the brew.



After a few minutes coffee started to flow.



This shows the gentle flow that started. I was aiming to just above the groove in the spout as my fill point. This is when it's time to stop the brew. You can remove it from heat at this point.



Or if the coffee reaches the boiling point coming out of the inner spout dip the bottom of the moka pot in water or cool it with a wet rag. Even doing it this way the coffee wasn't bitter.



While doing all of this I found some ways to use funnels to make the whole process easy. Here's the thread I created for that.

Using Funnels as Stands for Loading a Bialetti Moka Pot
Gary
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What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!