fac10 wrote:I recently ran across this device while web searching -- it seems relevant to this thread:

http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.454...id.7799/.f

Of course, given the price ($165) you'd have to be really committed to sifting coffee to justify one of these.

Hah. That is the same device as this Geotech field sieve kit: http://www.benmeadows.com/store/item/220149/, which is far less expensive. I'm quite sure because I have one sitting right on my desk. I'm not sure why the "coffee" one would only include 6 of the sieves.

I bought this a while back with the intention of using it to quantify exactly how bad the fines production of this crappy grinder I bought is (as opposed to just knowing that I can't make a decent cup with it), and compare it to some real grinders, both a Ditting at a local retailer and the espresso grinder I have at home. I was also going to use it for sifting grounds from a hand grinder or crappy electric for Chemex brewing here at the office. Always nice to know I'm not the only one crazy enough to do something like that.

another_jim wrote:MPE has a page of articles of which the ones in the Coffee and Tea Journal are informative.

Thanks, great link, I skimmed a few of the articles and they look good. I especially liked the article on Coffee Grinding and Its Impact on Brewed Coffee Quality where it talks about the compounds and associated aromas associated with overextraction.

I played with a kitchen hand sieve this weekend, but ended up with a stuck draw-down on my vac pot anyway. It's been too long since I've brewed vac pot and my Yemen / Sulawesi blend was roasted on the dark side to full city / full city plus which didn't help.

yakster wrote:I played with a kitchen hand sieve this weekend, but ended up with a stuck draw-down on my vac pot anyway.

Mine does this with the cloth filter. My belief is that you can't get all the fines out due to static electricity—the very smallest particles adhere to the big ones and no amount of shaking will loose them. When you take out all the middle-sized stuff, that ultra-micropowder seems to be able to easily clog a siphon's cloth filter. If I use the sifter for vac-pot, I usually just use my metal mesh filter (the bigger mesh of the metal lets the super-fine stuff through, no clogging). Unfortunately with that the texture isn't near as clean as the cloth-filtered brew, so I haven't been sifting for siphon--only French Press/cupping.

Wow, I hadn't thought that I could be doing more harm then good. I played with the hand sifter twice this weekend, and got a stuck pot both times. Thanks for the feedback.

Unfortunately, life has called a "delay of grinder" on me by throwing a totaled car and a dead TV (failed after only 27 years) at me, and my Wife still expects a new dishwasher before I get another turn at upgrades.

Other interesting bit of info from http://marco.ie/uberproject/?p=310

"Taste Try it - using a sieve, take out all the fines below 600um and compare it with a brew using a normal profile. The difference is stark and for me positively so. We use endecotts sieves."

I read this thread with interest, thought it could help improve my coffee at work.
At work, I am currently using a Magister grinder, which I think is a rebadged Anfim Haus with 50mm burrs. Problem with this grinder is it produces too many fines. My drip is better at home, where I have a Vario.

Being cheap, I looked for a more cost effective way to shift the fines from my coffee.

I found these at Mcmaster.

9238T529 Particle-sifting Woven Wire Cloth, Type 304, 20x20 Mesh, .014" Wire Dia,12"x 12"sheet
9238T531 Particle-sifting Woven Wire Cloth, Type 304, 24x24 Mesh, .013" Wire Dia,12"x 12"sheet

The first one, 20 mesh, is too large, didn't even try it.

So, I brought the 24 mesh to work, and tried it. It sifted out a fair amount of fines, and then I made a cup of coffee. Coffee was better (IMHO) then unsifted. I made a cup of Ethiopian, which had been lacking at work before. There is a characteristic flavor I taste in Ethiopian, when I hit the right roast profile. I have been missing that flavor at work, but it was in the cup at home when I tried it with this batch of beans the other day. After sifting, I got the taste back.

I decided to build a frame around it, to make it easier to use. First I built a 6x6 size frame, but decided that was too small. I built a 6x12 frame using ¾" square aluminum tubing, with angles brackets to hold the corners together. I use a flat piece of ¾" wide aluminum to wedge the screen to the square tubing. There is a small gap in one corner of the frame, to feed the coffee into the filter.

Using the 24 mesh, at the current setting, I am sifting out between 25% and 33% of the coffee, by weight.

I probably ending up spending at least $50, so I could have bought an already made sieve from ben meadows, but I like the one I made, and I can easily change to a different size mesh, if I want to.

Randy