Brewing with my new Chemex Ottomatic - Page 5

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
Seed65
Posts: 178
Joined: 9 years ago

#41: Post by Seed65 »

Good day,

I had my first opportunity to use the Ottomatic today! I unpacked it last night and went through the cleaning process and today I used it. Unfortunately, I did not have any fresh ground coffee and used Starbucks ground...but I have to say the Ottomatic certainly smoothed it out a bit. It was not as bitter as it has been using my old Krups. I really need to buy a grinder!! yes..Lido 2.

Construction: better than I expected after reading many reviews online. Yes there are plastic pieces, but the whole unit does feel sturdy, especially the base.

Usability: Fairly simple, pour in water, place coffee in filter, one switch to turn on. You will need to do some testing on the amount of water and ground coarseness. The manual now has info on the water level versus brew level which addresses some concerns I have read about.

Brewing: After seeing the videos showing the Wilfa vs the Ottomatic, I was expecting the Otto to be quieter. It certainly was not at the noise level of the Wilfa, but still had some bubbling, gurgle that is typical. You will hear a loud click once the brewing process is complete, and that is just the auto switch turning off the water heater. The warmer remains on until you manually turn off the switch. I have read that there is not a auto-off, which makes me nervous as I am notorious for forgetting to turn things off. However, I plan to plug the Otto into a WeMo switch so I can turn the power on/off from anywhere using my phone.

I did not time the brewing process, but it did seem the bloom stage was rather short as compared to what I was expecting. Granted...I only made one 6 cup brew. I will be more detailed in my assessment as I brew more.

This was my first experience with the Chemex brewer (6 cup version, no glass handle), and I like the simplicity of the design, but I have large hands and the wooden "handle" is kind of awkward. My hand touched the hot glass as I poured, but perhaps I will get used to everything in time.

and Yes...the Ottomatic does have weird oddity that was mentioned in other reviews. Once the brewing is complete, sometimes after about a minute or two the Otto spurts out the last bit of water that may have been left in the tank. If your Chemex brewer is not on the warming plate, the water drips onto the warming plate and sizzles. Is this a problem? Not really as no harm is done, but some people will be alarmed.

Conclusion: too early to say, and I would not be able to answer " is it worth it" until after I get a grinder and use fresh ground....which this was made for. But so far soo good! There is not a perfect brewer but this one has the potential to be the best..for me at least. I will post updates as I brew more!

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MikeN
Posts: 3
Joined: 9 years ago

#42: Post by MikeN »

Hopefully you can see in the pics that the level is touching the shower head...




Again, this was water to the ten cup water level and ten rounded table spoons of coffee

Seed65
Posts: 178
Joined: 9 years ago

#43: Post by Seed65 »

Wow...that is tight spacing!

One would think that the shower of water would not catch all the grounds. But it looks like it does.

How do you like the Ottomatic beyond the tight spacing?

MikeN
Posts: 3
Joined: 9 years ago

#44: Post by MikeN »

So far so good! I have brewed with both the ten and six cup carafe and have not noticed a difference in flavor. I do agree that the spacing is too tight when using the ten cup . One issue it creates is that it causes me to have to wipe down the shower head thoroughly after each use.... Kind of a pain.

dweiser
Posts: 1
Joined: 8 years ago

#45: Post by dweiser »

New here but wanted to thank jaybar and Seed65 especially for their posts on the Chemex Ottomatic. Very useful and helpful! This is the week after Christmas and my Ottomatic should arrive mid-week.

pbrown
Posts: 1
Joined: 8 years ago

#46: Post by pbrown »

Chemex Ottomatic Users,

Anybody have any tips on cleaning/descaling? Thanks.

Peter

brianmch
Posts: 68
Joined: 9 years ago

#47: Post by brianmch »

I am a bit late getting onto this thread but I just received an Ottomatic yesterday as a gift! YAYYY!!!

I had met the factory rep for the company that manufactured the brew internals at the KC Barista competition last month and sampled a cup from their professional unit. I was greatly impressed but for $5K USD I should be, but that is for a shop-grade system to provide pour-over quality cups while baristas to do other things like steam milk!

My Ottomatic brewed 3 batches at 95C so I'm good there.

The pre-infusion and water dispersion is a bit odd in that it doesn't evenly come out of all spouts all the time. I know that one sort of streams on occasion with the others cycling on and off, but the pattern isn't full circle. Is anyones?

Also, the water level doesn't rise as much as when I do a manual Chemex. I'll play around with the grind a bit.

Ratios are 6 grams beans to 100 grams water, which is 16.67:1. Made 2 with 600 grams water and and one smaller. I preferred the larger batches-some. My coffee was only 12 hrs off roast so maybe still a bit gassy. In fact, I'm getting that baking soda aftertaste now at 36 hours off roast.

The heated plate doesn't bother me. I leave it on for a couple minutes after brewing then shut it off.

I love the look of it and am pretty happy with the cup. Not sure that it creates the designer drug coffee from a hand-poured Chemex but its pretty good.

Have not compared it to the BV or Wilfa. It is much more display worthy than some of my kit.

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TheCastanza
Posts: 50
Joined: 8 years ago

#48: Post by TheCastanza »

Thanks for the review. I love my Chemex but find myself almost always going for Espresso. Would you have been happy with the purchase if you hadn't have gotten as a gift?

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