Stagg X pour-over review, experience - Page 3

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
CathyWeeks
Posts: 321
Joined: 8 years ago

#21: Post by CathyWeeks »

Acavia wrote: 2) More involved work flow - small size makes the provided funnel necessary to pour coffee grinds into it.

Having to use the funnel to put your grind into it is awkward to me. You have to remember to place the funnel over it before taring you scale, or your measurement of coffee grounds would be off. You could weigh your coffee grounds first but some of the grind will likely stick to the container holding your grinds so that would not be accurate for the grinds poured into the Stagg X.

....

5) Does not fit regular carafes well.

When I placed it on my Hario carafe that I easily use for both Kalita Wave and V60, I could tell it would not work because it made a perfect seal around the carafe's lips lower than the spout so there would have been a vacuum issue pushing against the exiting water from the brew, so I had to improvise placing the Stagg X into an empty V60 02 and then placing that setup on the carafe.

So in using the Stagg X one would have to improvise as I did which would make it more cumbersome, or get the Stagg carafe which is expensive and from reviews I read it does not sit level every time, or get some kind of brace, like the V60 olivewood brace, to place around bottom of Stagg X to use it with other carafes easily.
2: This may or may not be of help, but I frequently use an Aeropress, and I use that funnel regularly as part of my routine. I've found that the Aeropress funnel works much better than the included Stagg funnel when brewing with the Stagg.

5: My Stagg dripper has three tiny gaps or grooves in the seal around the bottom edge, presumably to prevent it from forming a vacuum on whatever vessel it's sitting on. Unless the carafes you are using are somehow clogging those tiny gaps, a vacuum should not be an issue.

Here's a picture of mine (forgive the water spots):


Ejquin
Posts: 155
Joined: 6 years ago

#22: Post by Ejquin »

CathyWeeks wrote:What are you using as the dispersion screen?
I'm using this: https://flairespresso.com/product/pro-d ... on-screen/

It works great. I haven't routinely tugged the filter up, but I'd imagine the screen would be better for consistency from brew to brew.

CathyWeeks
Posts: 321
Joined: 8 years ago

#23: Post by CathyWeeks »

Oh, cool! Thanks so much. I'm going to pick one up.

Acavia (original poster)
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#24: Post by Acavia (original poster) »

RHPours wrote:
Most of my Stagg X brews are between 2:15 and 3:00. The Kalita brews are usually longer and my favored recipe uses a slightly lower temperature.
What brew sizes, coffee and water amounts?

RHPours
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Joined: 3 years ago

#25: Post by RHPours replying to Acavia »

My most common brews the last six months have been 15g of coffee to 250ml of water and 18g/300. But last year I did a lot of brews using 20g of coffee to 335-340ml of water. Almost all very light roasts from Nordic-style roasters in Canada and Europe with a handful of medium-light US roasters as well.

Acavia (original poster)
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#26: Post by Acavia (original poster) »

For the last week I have been doing full draw down multi-pour brews, which is probably a good method for Stag X, so I am revisiting the Stag X. First brew was good using almost full drawn downs - Stagg X slows much with just a little water over bed, so I am not going completely dry as I did with V60 brews. I used a V60 filter, pushing it against the walls. That makes it easier to brew, opening up the top to almost the size of a Kalita 185. Doing that makes it much easier to pour grinds and water into it, and should make for higher extraction too lessening bypass.

mikelipino
Posts: 257
Joined: 3 years ago

#27: Post by mikelipino »

One thing that might help you with consistency is a tool I designed, the Filter Smoosher. It's designed to press a variety of filters to the Stagg X (V60 and trapezoidal filters work, but I like flat bottom filters better because less junk hangs off the bottom). It also floats the bottom of the filter above the bottom of the dripper to prevent clogging without the need of an additional dispersion screen. Lastly you can consistently set the filter, press out the pleats, and heat the Stagg X all in one go.

Testing the FS, I was averaging 23% EY (vs 19.5% with normal pleated filters) and have been doing 1:20 ratios for the past few months for really nice tasting cups around 1.4 TDS (1:16 is a bit too intense at 1.6 TDS!). This was with 2x bloom and 4 subsequent pours (drawing nearly completely down to maximize fresh solvent while keeping slurry temp up). So it's approaching no bypass brews.

If you have a 3d printer, it's worth a go!

I've also designed a swirl base because I tend to swirl and use larger-mouthed carafes.

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baldheadracing
Team HB
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#28: Post by baldheadracing »

Just wanted to say - I saw the filter smoosher on Hoon's YT channel and thought, what a clever idea!

Kudos!
-"Good quality brings happiness as you use it" - Nobuho Miya, Kamasada

mikelipino
Posts: 257
Joined: 3 years ago

#29: Post by mikelipino »

Thanks! The biggest issue was convincing him to say smoosher rather than smasher. Smooth sailing after that

Acavia (original poster)
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#30: Post by Acavia (original poster) »

I have used V-60 02 filters for Stagg X brews since I started using it again. I noticed they do not fully cover the bottom - usually pockets on the outer part as the filter hugs the wall and does not full crush all over the bottom. I assume this will keep it from clogging the holes, but it will be inconsistent in how it fits the bottom each brew.

Do others experience the same with Hario filters, or are you able to push them down more evenly? Note: I have no 3d printer, so I can not make one of those molds/tools.