Problem:
I'm not having much luck brewing a home-roasted Guatemala: Proyecto Xinabajul as espresso. With a medium roast, I'm getting light cups and finicky pours with either drips or channeling. So I've focused on syphons for this batch and with no espresso going, I'm using the Pharos to grind for brewing.

The cups have been muddy with an edge (although the latter half tends to be better) and based on reading here I suspected that fine particles were an issue. Grinding with the Pharos is a breeze at coarser settings, much faster than my electric Encore, but I took it slow to (supposedly) minimize fine creation.

I grabbed two little differently-sized kitchen sieves and shook the coffee through one then the other. I was very surprised to see that 30% was boulders, 30% was mid-sized, and the rest was very fine particles. This difference confirmed my suspicions but I roast in small batches and did not want to waste coffee.

Trying something new:
One of the interesting things about syphon brewing is that the upper globe is an open infusion chamber. It occurred to me that I could add the sieved particles in stages: first big, then medium, then fine. I chose a 60 second infusion time and arbitrarily divided it into three equal stages.

I used a 5-cup Yama stovetop brewer. I brought the water to a rolling boil and sealed the infusion chamber on top. I let the water fully rise then I reduced heat to Low and let the water settle so it wasn't bubbling so violently. Normally I don't do this when I make 3-cup syphons (I let the bubbling mix the coffee) but with 5 cups, I suffered a boil over in the past.

At time zero, I dumped in the boulders. At time 20 seconds, I added the medium particles. At time 40 seconds, I added the fines and gave a little stir to integrate them because they were sitting on the surface. At time 65 seconds I removed the syphon from the burner and applied a wet towel around the base. The syphon drained a little slower than usual.

Results:
I poured the coffee into a couple of mugs and let it sit. When we drank it, it had none of the edge that I associate with over-extraction. It was a better cup that let hints of butterscotch cookie and malic acid through. It still was not as good as it should be so I need to change my particle infusion times. Perhaps the large particles need more overall time, and perhaps the medium particles need more proportionate time.

Conclusion:
Yes, I would prefer a bulk grinder, or maybe a Lido 2 if it produces few fines. Yes, my Pharos might need alignment though I re-aligned it a week or so ago. However, this was a pretty quick effort and it was easy to implement and results in zero waste.

happycat wrote:Conclusion: ...this was a pretty quick effort and it was easy to implement and results in zero waste.

Interesting and logical, thanks for sharing. Did you consider simply dumping the fines?

FWIW, I agree with your "zero waste" conclusion. But not the "pretty quick" and "easy to implement" parts. If I had to grind by hand, then sieve my coffee, and then add it to the brewer in stages... I'd drink a helluva lot less coffee.

I don't disagree but I doubt it took more than a few minutes total. Hand grinding on the pharos is super fast for coarse grinds and sieving was little more than a bit of shaking. I did it while water came to a boil in the Yama.

The Pharos is a great espresso grinder, but not very good for siphon, press, etc. You can either use complicated and inconvenient workarounds, or simply get something more appropriate.

The ~$200 Baratza Preciso and Breville Smart are excellent for these purposes. Presumably, the Lido 2 will be as well.

RapidCoffee wrote:Did you consider simply dumping the fines?

I sieve my coffee for siphon brewing and just compost the fines. Since I'm primarily using a glass rod filter, I decided a little bit of waste was better than stalling, which can happen when fines plug up the filter on the draw down. While stalling likely isn't an issue with other types of filters, fines still slow the draw down regardless of filter media. A faster draw down may be preferred with some filter types. (Metal filters seem to draw down quickly; paper, glass and cloth draw down more slowly.)

FWIW: I have tried the zero-waste process described in the OP. The results in the cup weren't noticeably different than using sieved coffee. So I've been dialing in a process using a relatively uniform grind size.

boar_d_laze wrote:The Pharos is a great espresso grinder, but not very good for siphon, press, etc. You can either use complicated and inconvenient workarounds, or simply get something more appropriate.

The ~$200 Baratza Preciso and Breville Smart are excellent for these purposes. Presumably, the Lido 2 will be as well.

BORRRRRRRRING!

I know. How mundane to pound nails with a hammer, compared to the phenomenal joy of banging them in with your forehead.

BDL