I recently started a subscription to PT's Coffee. I received two coffees from El Salvador in the mail just a few days ago. I also recently purchased a 6 cup Chemex coffee maker. I'd been using a Melitta (single-hole) drip filter for a while now, so I'm used to brewing 10 oz (300g) of coffee at a time. However, I'm finding it difficult to brew larger batches with a cone shaped filter.

PT sent along these brewing instructions (para-phrased):

1. Weigh 50g of coffee and grind to a "medium-coarse" consistency.
2. Boil 900g of water (715g for the total brew) and rinse out the filter. Wait 45 sec to allow the boiled water to reach a desirable temperature. (Brew Ratio: 14:1)
3. Bloom the coffee with 65g of water and wait 45 second.
4. After 45 second, begin to pour 35-50g of water and then wait for 20-30 second. Repeat and pour another 35-50g of water again then wait an additional 20-30 seconds. Continue to repeat until you reach the desired 714g.
5. Once the water has completely drained from the filter, discard and enjoy!

So far, the total time for this recipe in my case has usually taken around 7:30 with a slow pour and grind size of six on the Hario Skerton. If I'm not mistaken, this seems long for a Chemex brew, but I'm not sure how long this method should take. Given the "pausing" parameters of the recipe, I would expect it to take longer than other Chemex methods.

It seems that most Chemex coffee guides these days have you fill the Chemex brewer up with water, then let it sit while the water drains. This, as I understand, allows for a much quicker brew time, but you loose more heat in the process and an uneven saturation. I'm very new to Chemex brewing, but I've stuck with perfecting this method because of some of the stuff I've read on Chemex brewing. For example, I remember reading this: http://www.jimseven.com/2009/05/19/the- ... eing-wrong.

When I accidentally brewed a large batch of coffee with a medium-fine grind (4 on the Skerton) I got an underextracted cup of coffee that had a "burnt sugar" kind of taste and smell. I'm thinking that with my grind size at a 6 on the Skerton, I shouldn't have that problem, but I believe that any more than that will cause overextraction.

The taste of the two coffees has been good, but I don't believe I've gotten it as good as it can be. It's certainly gotten better as I've coarsened the grind. The next test I plan to let the water sit the full 45 seconds before the pour and then increase my pouring rate.

Tips? Any potential flaws in the method I should consider?

PT's Chemex recipe is a pretty typical approach to manual drip brewing. However, most manual drip brewers use lower doses and target volumes. The challenge that you are having with regard to brew time is really associated with cone-shaped filter brewing at higher volumes and doses.

A certain amount of fines are produced during grinding and these will wash out of the bed of grounds and plug your filter. While this process is inevitable, it is exacerbated at higher doses and bed depths. Also, a $50 hand grinder will inherently produce more fines than a $1,500 commercial brewing grinder.

One thing you may be able to do to improve grind quality for brewing is modify your Skerton such that the burr axle is more stable at larger grind sizes:

http://www.orphanespresso.com/OE-Lower- ... _4066.html

(Note that this does not work will all Skerton models just "older" models.)

The other thing you can do is try some different recipes. At a minimum, I would start with a higher bloom volume. Most recipes call for a bloom that is twice the weight of your dose. So, for 50 g of coffee, try using 100 g of water for the bloom. That will do a better job of saturating the bed of grounds at start up.

You may also have better luck with these George Howell recipes for Chemex:

For 2-people: http://www.georgehowellcoffee.com/brew- ... p-for-two/
For 1-person: http://www.georgehowellcoffee.com/brew- ... p-for-one/

These recipes forego the bloom step altogether, which is pretty unique. In effect you will get a little bit of a bypass brewing effect with the first pour, in the sense that the off gassing that occurs during that first pour will repel some of the water that would otherwise saturate the grounds. I suspect you will find it easier to hit a shorter brew time with the George Howell recipe. Plus it makes a surprisingly tasty cup.

Eastsideloco wrote:One thing you may be able to do to improve grind quality for brewing is modify your Skerton such that the burr axle is more stable at larger grind sizes:

http://www.orphanespresso.com/OE-Lower- ... _4066.html

(Note that this does not work will all Skerton models just "older" models.)

Thanks! Actually, I got that this past summer and installed it this fall. It's been really useful so far. I knew that part of my problem was with the fines from my Skerton clogging up the filter, so that's why my first steps were to grind a little bit coarser.

Eastsideloco wrote:The other thing you can do is try some different recipes. At a minimum, I would start with a higher bloom volume. Most recipes call for a bloom that is twice the weight of your dose. So, for 50 g of coffee, try using 100 g of water for the bloom. That will do a better job of saturating the bed of grounds at start up.

You may also have better luck with these George Howell recipes for Chemex:

For 2-people: http://www.georgehowellcoffee.com/brew- ... p-for-two/
For 1-person: http://www.georgehowellcoffee.com/brew- ... p-for-one/

These recipes forego the bloom step altogether, which is pretty unique. In effect you will get a little bit of a bypass brewing effect with the first pour, in the sense that the off gassing that occurs during that first pour will repel some of the water that would otherwise saturate the grounds. I suspect you will find it easier to hit a shorter brew time with the George Howell recipe. Plus it makes a surprisingly tasty cup.

I saw someone post about George Howell's method. I've actually got one of those methods paraphrased in a spreadsheet I'm keeping to keep track of how I brew my coffee. But, I haven't tried it yet. I'm going to have to try it sometime tonight or tomorrow.

EDIT: I lost the battle in my soul to not make more coffee. I have a cup of the "Six Cup Chemex for One" method in front of me. The El Salvador (Sergio's Secret Garden) had a smoother flavor than PT'S method. I'm tempted to say it has more "vanilla" in it, but having read the roaster's notes I'm not sure I trust my senses...

I'm going to have to try this method again, but I'm tempted to say that it's...better. I'm still going to try a faster pour rate with PT's method, but I tentatively like George Howell's method. I think it would go especially well with something like a Brazilian coffee. I'm going to try again with a sweeter coffee sometime though and see how it does with that!

EDIT #2 1/22/14: I'm trying the sweeter tasting El Salvador La Illusion now. When I get more coffee, I'm going to try the PT method again, but George Howell's method tastes much better with my current setup! Thanks for the suggestion.