Calling all Siphon Users! - Page 6

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
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Boldjava
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#51: Post by Boldjava »

happycat wrote:Boom. Wife imploded the vac pot this morning and it woke me up.
That Cory rod may be great for some circumstances but with a changed roast and thus coarser grind it stalled out.
I think the mesh was way safer in that it never stalled. Wish I hadn't bought that rod.
Guess I am just fortunate. With my protocol, a medium grind on my MACAP for 13 years, I have had a total of 2 stalls. I just put them on the back burner and let them run their own course and ultimately, they drained on their own. Some recommend reheating, which will release water into the fines which are clogging the filter. No implosions.
Why were you using a coarse grind? It is bound to produce fines which will clog the filter.
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aecletec
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#52: Post by aecletec replying to Boldjava »

Are you suggesting that a medium grind will have fewer fines than a coarse grind?

IMAWriter
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#53: Post by IMAWriter »

I will suggest that with most under $500 electric grinders. A sieve solves that.
A manual grinder such as a Lido 2 is a nice tool for vac pot...if you want "relaxed!"

Tonefish
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#54: Post by Tonefish »

happycat wrote:Boom. Wife imploded the vac pot this morning and it woke me up.

That Cory rod may be great for some circumstances but with a changed roast and thus coarser grind it stalled out.

I think the mesh was way safer in that it never stalled. Wish I hadn't bought that rod.
Used the siphon with a Cory rod daily for almost a decade (with a Capresso Infinity grinder) and never had an exploding pot. I had a stall or two but nudged the rod ever so slightly to get through that (I like Dave's method even better but on a workday I'm not that patient :D ). I've heard they could implode but have never seen that. Hopefully you'll hang onto your rod and give it another go along with your renewed awareness. It beats the heck out of screens/cloth and springs.
LMWDP #581 .......... May your roasts, grinds, and pulls be the best!

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Boldjava
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#55: Post by Boldjava »

aecletec wrote:Are you suggesting that a medium grind will have fewer fines than a coarse grind?
In my experience, coarse grinds fracture the beans more and does render more fines than does a medium grind. That is my experience with my MACAP MC4 and LIDO 2.
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LMWDP #339

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aecletec
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#56: Post by aecletec replying to Boldjava »

It seems strange because it's obviously not the case with this range of grinders Titan Grinder Project: Particle size distributions of ground coffee
Of course, they could perform differently...

IMAWriter
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#57: Post by IMAWriter replying to aecletec »

I had mentioned SUB $500. I don't believe, unless those Titan grinders are having a collective SALE, they qualify. :lol:
Besides, those are ESPRESSO grinders. For drip/vac, better off with a Baratza vario/Forte, or even a preciso...which has been used in brewing competitions.

Stanic
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#58: Post by Stanic »

here is my workflow

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Eastsideloco
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#59: Post by Eastsideloco »

Boldjava wrote:In my experience, coarse grinds fracture the beans more and does render more fines than does a medium grind.
Cona vacuum coffee makers use glass rods. As with other no-filter brew methods, like the Walkure, the bed of grounds itself acts as a filter to trap fines. It's entirely possible that a very coarse grind doesn't have enough interfaces within the bed of grounds to trap fines.

That said, I've never experienced a stall on a Cona with a coarse grind setting; the usual culprit is forgetting to adjust from my default pourover settings, which are definitely too fine for a glass rod setup. The way my Vario is setup, the coarsest setting it probably more of a medium-to-medium+ setting. This max setting is what I use for the Cona or large-batch Chemex brews. It's certainly possible that a very coarse (traditional French Press) setting would let fines migrate to the glass-on-glass interface.

keepitsimple
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#60: Post by keepitsimple »

I use a cheap Dualit conical grinder (actually a Solis 166). Definitely not sophisticated, but works very well for both filter and syphon. Have a stack of Conas that I use with cona glass rods, and also a US made Cory metal brewer (electric) which I tend to use with a silex lox-in filter as it's a bit more violent than the conas and can dislodge the unsecured type of filter.

You can't objectively compare grind size settings even between identical models of grinder, but I'd say I use a "fine side of medium" for both types of brewing.

I don't think I've ever had a full-on stall, but have had the very occasional slow draw down.

Have a stack of glass rods, and they do differ a bit both in design and quality of manufacture. They are clearly moulded in 2 halves, and some have a pronouced seam down each side including the filter part. Haven't done any comparison in how they perform as I tend to pick up the nearest to hand and use that, but it may be that they do act a bit differently.

Haven't ever tried my Mazzer for this purpose - apart form anything else too much hassle to re-adjust, but I'd go along with the view that espresso grinders aren't the best for glass rod filters and can produce a coffee bed particle mix that blocks too easily.