Todd Carmichael's Winning Brewers Cup Method [video]

#1: Post by **TomC** » February 23rd, 2014, 12:45 pm

Here's Todd Carmichael's how-to video demonstrating the "Polished Immersion" method he used to win the 2014 North East Brewers Cup using Ironman Geisha from Auromar Estates. I haven't commonly seen the glass rods before. Anyone care to chime in on those?

<missing video>

#2: Post by **squaremile** » February 23rd, 2014, 2:26 pm

Wow that's actually a lot simpler than it sounded.

#3: Post by **yakster** » February 23rd, 2014, 6:37 pm

He said on Twitter that he made those himself, heating up the rods and bending them.

He also said you could use chopsticks or something else instead.

#4: Post by **another_jim** » February 23rd, 2014, 6:56 pm

I use a similar method of steeping and then clarifying through a filter. But I use a Melitta with an elarged hole in the cone, and a Swiss Gold over it; and my drain tie is two and half minutes instead of one minute fifteen seconsd. So he's really improved the drain time with the spaces and choice of materials.

But where did he score the Ironman? I thought it had all gone down to Oz.

#5: Post by **yakster** » February 23rd, 2014, 6:59 pm

It reminded me of Nick Cho's Gold + Paper + Clever method from 2010.

February 24th, 2014, 1:21 am

another_jim wrote:
But where did he score the Ironman? I thought it had all gone down to Oz.

I know Klatch had their hands on a small amount. Whether they were behind anything there, I can't say. But it would seem unlikely. Klatch is very good at marketing what they do. They don't do anything quietly or out of the coffee medias eye.

February 24th, 2014, 1:37 am

yakster wrote:It reminded me of Nick Cho's Gold + Paper + Clever method from 2010.

I played with this a few years ago, before I stumbled on the Ditting and had it's particle size dialed in. The trouble I encountered was once you pulled the gold filter along with the larger coffee particles, you've effectively removed the substrate for the fines to collect and coalesce against. Leaving behind more fines that end up choking on their prolonged journey down thru the Clever and paper filter. I assumed with greater footwork, I could improve this whole issue with a better grinder, and limiting the finer particle size end of the distribution curve, but I moved on.

I have all the gear still, and a much, much better grinder now, so maybe it's worth revisiting.

As far as Todd's prep method, I think the most important thing was simply gluing the base onto the kettle and keeping the temp stable throughout the brew process. I found I could increase my perceived extraction without leading towards bitterness by putting my Tiamo pour over kettle onto a hot stove during pours on the Kalita Wave, bringing the temps back up. It's demanding of time and effort, but the results were great, albeit not very consistent between different coffees.

#8: Post by **MWJB** » February 24th, 2014, 7:07 am

Todd's arrangement is a little different to what I anticipated when I first heard about it, I had assumed the glass rods would have sat between the Kone & the filter paper...I guess the rods suspend the paper off the Chemex to allow the coffee to drain along the available height of the filter wall, rather than being a 'closed' cone & draining mainly through the tip (as in a typical Chemex, or in the Melitta/Clever scenario)?

I guess you could approximate it pretty well by using a Kone/Hario Cafeor filter, V60 02 & paper, without the glass rods?

I use 2 different gold filters in my Clever & Bonavita immersion brews (Swissgold & a Cilio, very different fit in the cone between them but it doesn't seem to make an appreciable difference), I don't yank out the gold filters, I just let the coffee drain with the gold filter in place, even if I grind espresso fine with a Porlex/Hario (presumably lots of little, filter clogging particles) draw down takes less than 2 mins...but I haven't done a timed A/B vs yanking the gold filter. But this case is a little different as the bed has settled at draw-down, rather than dumping the churned slurry into the filter & draining.

February 24th, 2014, 7:18 am

You can get glass rods similar to those from sigma-aldrich. That said, I'd be tempted to use stainless rod, just for durability.

The second method just seems wrong, letting the fines extract for a longer period than the rest.

Thanks, i just got a Tanzania and may play with these methods.

Tom, I really enjoy a lot of your posts. Thank you.

#10: Post by **MWJB** » February 24th, 2014, 7:44 am

therabidweasel wrote:The second method just seems wrong, letting the fines extract for a longer period than the rest.

I guess the question is do the fines extract more in the second method, compared to a draw down with the fines as apart of the main bed? In Nick Cho's video the coffee has already extracted to a significant degree, so what's passing through the filter isn't so hungry for coffee TDS, faster draw down should theoretically decrease what the brew picks up on the way through the filter & fines? But having said that, I have had some inordinately long draw down times after filtering French press brews through a Melitta style cone & Filtropa white paper, but it didn't seem to negatively impact the brews.

Using the gold & paper in the Clever tends to give a cleaner tasting cup & give a slightly lower yield, compared to draining through the bed with a paper filter only. Sure, you can't rule out the fact you might be picking up some undesirable elements from the fines, but it still strikes me as the lesser of the two evils?