Drip machine water loss

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
chilly22
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Joined: 10 years ago

#1: Post by chilly22 »

Hi,
I have a question about making drip coffee. I am losing a lot of water in in the brewed pot. If I put in 8 cups, I brew closer to 6 cups. I have a Cuisinart dc 1200 drip coffee maker. Obviously, some water gets absorbed by the grinds, some lost to steam, but seems like a a lot of a difference. Is this normal? I use fresh beans, the coffee maker has been cleaned recently as well. I usually like a chemex but when making large quantity for company I use a drip maker, I have a Baratza Vario Grinder set at 8 macro; S micro which seems a bit coarse?? but seems to work best for this dripper... The coffee tastes a bit bitter. I use about 8 gms per 6 oz of water.
any ideas? thanks a lot!
Tim

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achipman
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#2: Post by achipman »

My Bunn Velocity Brew did the same thing and I've heard numerous reports of others first hand experience being the same. My dad even called Bunn about the issue with their newer Velocity brewers and the representative said it is normal. It may be that the machines run a little hotter these days thus evaporating more water during the phases in between brewing.

All that said, I have no specific experience with your brewer type.
"Another coffee thing??? I can't keep up with you... next you'll be growing coffee in our back yard." - My wife

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HB
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#3: Post by HB »

A drip coffee machine imponderable... sure, why not?

My guess is water trapped in the grounds accounts for most of the "loss". If you really want to know, you could weigh the funnel + grounds after a brew cycle, assuming you have an accurate scale that can handle the weight. Doing the same thing without filter or grounds would make sure all the water going in makes its way to the brew chamber. I doubt steam accounts for much of the loss, but I've never measured, it's just intuition.
Dan Kehn

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civ
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#4: Post by civ »

Hello:
HB wrote:... water trapped in the grounds accounts for most of the "loss"
Quite so ...
I understand that (green) coffee beans lose roughly 20% weight (most probably all water) during the roasting process. It would make sense to me that hydrating them via the brew process could very well make them regain a good part, if not all, of that water.

To this, we have to add what is lost via water vapour, paper filter absortion (if one is used) and the machine's internal circuit.

Would have to do the math with the unknown quantities used, but at first sight it does not sound like 'too' much.

Cheers,

CIV

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Bob_McBob
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#5: Post by Bob_McBob »

You can generally count on the grounds absorbing around twice their weight in water. Are you physically measuring "8 cups" of water and adding all of it, or are you just filling your machine to the 8 cup mark? It's possible the reservoir doesn't fully empty.
Chris

chilly22 (original poster)
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Joined: 10 years ago

#6: Post by chilly22 (original poster) »

thanks for the replies! I figure is was more of an issue of bean absorption. Does anyone know how long it should takes to brew a pot of coffee with a non-commercial grade machine? does 5-7 minutes sound about right?
thanks,
Tim