They need to make one that's twice the size. Brewing one cup at a time is really not all that efficient. Yes, I know it says it can brew up to 4 cups, but that's not realistic. If you put 4 cups worth of coffee in it, there's not nearly enough room for the water needed to brew it.
Wonder why they don't go ahead and produce a jumbo aeropress or something...
Granted, it's four 2-ounce cups that they claim it can brew, as the creator believed it was capable of making espresso. Having followed the included instruction to a T, I can only state that I'd never want to buy an espresso where he's from! I love mine, but it's for brewed coffee only, and it really is a single cup brewer. Perhaps you could use it as a pourover, just leave the plunger aside and pour water into the top until you hit the desired weight. Of course, a cone would make that a lot more convenient, no?
Interesting. Could be some extraction logistics I don't understand, but seems like it'd work. It's been a while since I've used mine, but I'd do a double batch, split into two cups and add enuf water to make a 4-5oz beverage. Well maybe you can't supply the neighborhood with one plunge but at least it's fast and easy to do several back to back.
I love my Aeropress because it makes 'just one mug' of truly great coffee and because it cleans up in 1 minute. It's quick and it's good.
When I want two mugs, I have a 2-mug Moka-Pot that is pretty good too, although it takes a bit more time to clean up.
But when I have folks over for dinner, I use my Krups Moka Brew, which gives me 4 mugs.
The moral of the story is: If you want really fine coffee you have to accept that you get the best results from a brewer if you make a full pot. Partial-pots are possible if you experiment with all the variables and have special accommodation for a partial pot. I prefer to have three brewers for 1, 2 and 4 mugs.
This was not a big investment. All 3 together cost about as much as my Baratza grinder.
It makes an awesome 375g (ml, or about 12oz) cup. Can't brew final strength, though. You get to final "normal" strength by brewing strong and diluting to desired amount.
The most I've made in 1 press at a good extraction was a final amount of right around 700-720g of near perfect coffee. The recipe was 45g of dry coffee, 240g of brew water, Aeropress THOROUGHLY preheated (meaning that it sat inverted with boiled water in it for the 3-4 minutes it took to boil the actual brew water). 3-4 minutes contact time.
Produced around 175g of coffee, which I diluted to about 725g of total coffee (in a preheated pyrex measuring cup). It was a pain, though - all that preheating.
Without the preheating, the higher brew ratios underextract because of the loss in brewing heat/temperature.
I've modified my brewing methods over time - used to have a strict amount of coffee and brew ratio to make a specific strength - 22.5g of coffee to 120g of brew water, and diluting to 350-370g of coffee. But I realized that since I'm already diluting to a set amount, and I'm targeting a specific extraction, and coupled with the issue that higher brew ratios are more prone to underextraction on the aeropress (because of temperature drop and also bloom sensitivity and low brew volume available), I've modified my recipe.
I'm usually targeting a 20% extraction, and 350ml (350g) of coffee at 1.25% strength.
350g * 0.0625 = 21.9 or 22g of dry coffee,
Then, I brew for a contact time of about 2-3 minutes before starting to press, and I pour as much into the inverted AP as possible during the contact time (usually in stages depending on bloom) while stirring fairly frequently. This is usually around 220g-240g of brew water. I press the results and dilute to 350g in the end (basically fill up my coffee cup).
It's all math - to get 720g of coffee in the end at 1.25% strength, you need to extract 20% of 45g of dry coffee. You can do this with ANY brew ratio (within reason) but the Aeropress will trend low on extraction the higher the brew ratio. The extraction rate for the Aeropress becomes quickly asymptotic w/ respect to time, meaning that what you extract in the first 3 minutes won't extract much more if you steep for >6 minutes (assuming you start with a NON-preheated Aeropress). I found this with my dehydration measurements, and have recently confirmed this with my VSTcr. Brewing in <30 minutes requires temperatures above 170°F for full extraction.
The Aeropress is an excellent grounds separator device, so your other option is simply to use it as such - do the contact (steep) in another vessel, then pour the results into the Aeropress in stages and press (replace the filter between presses if you want, or pop the cap off and reuse the filter popping any of the coffee out between stage presses). I've done this with a preheated press pot, and also with "stovetop" coffee experiments (when attempting to create a severely overextracted brew, for example). The amount of coffee you can produce with this method is bound only by your patience and your contact vessel... and your receiver vessel(s). LOL You can make a liter of coffee with the staged press method, but you do have to press the AP into something around 60-80mm diameter with some column strength, and keep transferring it to your final carafe (or thermal pot or whatever). At that point you might actually consider a chemex or some other method.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
The recipe was 45g of dry coffee, 240g of brew water, Aeropress THOROUGHLY preheated (meaning that it sat inverted with boiled water in it for the 3-4 minutes it took to boil the actual brew water). 3-4 minutes contact time.
That has to be pretty close to theoretical maximum in an inverted Aeropress. With the plunger pulled back to within 1 cm of the end I measured my AP to have a volume of about 288 ml. I've also tried to measure the volume of water displaced by coffee and found it to be about 0.75 ml/g. So your recipe would have had a volume of about (240g*1.03ml/g)+(45g*0.75ml/g) = 282 ml. That would end up just 2 mm shy of the brim. Where did the bloom fit??
I thought you'd posted that you were building some sort of super long Aeropress?
That has to be pretty close to theoretical maximum in an inverted Aeropress. With the plunger pulled back to within 1 cm of the end I measured my AP to have a volume of about 288 ml. I've also tried to measure the volume of water displaced by coffee and found it to be about 0.75 ml/g. So your recipe would have had a volume of about (240g*1.03ml/g)+(45g*0.75ml/g) = 282 ml. That would end up just 2 mm shy of the brim. Where did the bloom fit??
I thought you'd posted that you were building some sort of super long Aeropress?
I mentioned I intro the water in stages - the first stage is to moisten the grounds and suppress the bloom. I make a small hole, then pour in approximately the grounds mass and make a sort of gritty "paste" with the grounds (in the example, I was adding about 45g of hot water). I start the timer at the next stage (in about 15 seconds) because the temperature of the half-coffee/half-brew water "paste" is only about 130°F, not really enough to get the extraction going, but enough to suppress about 3/4 of the bloom. I then add water to just above the max, again while stirring, and keep topping to max over the next few minutes every half minute or so. In the max case example, in between pours I actually put the brew water back into the microwave to keep the brew water temp high.
I also maximized the volume by going to the maximum extension as I thought I could go and still have a stable inverted AP. This gains a bit of stability just before pressing because I press the first part up through the filter before reverting. When I do that, the max volume is maybe closer to 290-295ml. My ABSOLUTE dry max volume calculates to about 305-9ml (119-120mm length X 57mm ID) but right on the ragged edge of stability (more stable with the clear-colored press, mm or two less with the dark smoked press). The full volume of the AP is 320ml if "verted" - IF it didn't leak out (about 125-126 mm length).
Also realize that ground coffee is around 0.5 to 0.65 specific density, but only DRY. When mixed with water, the volume of the coffee+water mixture is darn close to a specific density of 0.95-1.1 (g/ml). It's 0.95ish at the beginning of the steep (the water is 0.96 density and the coffee is indeed 0.75-0.79), but approaches 1.05-1.1 near the end, as the grounds absorb water and the dissolvables go into solution. The overall density increases because the temperature drops (water at 60°C, generally considered hot drinking temperature is around 0.98 density).
If you look at ground coffee when it absorbs water, it goes to the bottom of the slurry, but starts out near the top during bloom or just as the grounds start the absorption process. This tells us that saturated grounds end up a slight bit more dense than the coffee they are in. A good look at this is an unsampled "cupping". Prepare cupping with a known capacity cup (I use a 180ml cup, determined by filling the cup to the brim with distilled water at 40°F approx).
Do it according to protocol, including breaking the crust and stirring, but do not sample. Allow it to go all the way to cool in 30 minutes. When you first follow the protocol (ground coffee in the cup, then add 200°F water to the capacity of the cup) it brims above the cup until the bloom subsides. By the time it's ready to break the crust, it's right around the rim level to slightly below, and after stirring and allowing the cupping to settle and cool, it will be a few mm shy, more than is accounted for by evaporation (with my cup, the system seems to lose about 10g of mass during cooling due to evaporation, but loses about 20-25ml of volume).
I can also see this in the total mass of the system during unsampled cupping: Take a 180ml cup, add 10.0g of coffee, then fill to rim with 90-95°C water - you add about 160g of water (but by volume is more like 154ml). You'll start with a total brew mass of 170g, end up with a final brew mass near 160g (due to evaporation), BUT you'll be about 25ml - 30ml shy on total volume. (you can "measure" this by using 10ml syringe, adding back cool distilled water if you want to know EXACTLY how much you're shy until you're back to the original fill level).
I am still going to build an APxL, I have the parts but not the time LOL. I ended up getting a refractometer, so I'm squeezing every cent of usefulness out of it before I build an extended length AeroPress.
I had a few ways to go with modification. The tube itself is a standard ID copolyester (or polycarbonate for the older cloudy blue ones).
1) lengthen the tube and the plunger by cutting and augmenting. This seems to be simple but invasive, but I could easily double the length of the assembly (effectively double the volume).
2) knowing that when pressing, the puck is always between 10 and 30mm deep, just add that amount back to the length of the tube ONLY. This will add about 2.5ml per mm length added.
3) create a cross between the Clever Coffee Dripper and the Aeropress (yes, you heard it here first!). Modify the filter cap with a seal, brew "verted" and steep as long as you want, then open the seal and press (look mom, no flipping an extended plunger assembly). This increases the system to 320 total volume, but is more convenient by elminating the flip and allowing unconstrained steep time.
Of course, rebuilding one from scratch using 3.5" tubing (instead of 2.25") and stretching the length is always an option. Not a fun option, but possible. Do it 175mm long and you have a liter capacity.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
In the thread, Jkalpin mentioned grinding finer can also help with bloom suppression.
I've been very successful brewing with 3-day post roast at the peak of bloom using presoaking bloom suppression. I have migrated to using brew water instead of cold water, the difference between pre-soaking and pre-infusion is the amount added. Presoaking adds no more than the grounds mass in water and creates a rather thick nearly dry paste, pre-infusion is more water than that and can start the extraction earlier than you want (and also create some bloom froth that stays around longer than you want).
YMMV, of course.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Also realize that ground coffee is around 0.5 to 0.65 specific density, but only DRY. When mixed with water, the volume of the coffee+water mixture is darn close to a specific density of 0.95-1.1 (g/ml). It's 0.95ish at the beginning of the steep (the water is 0.96 density and the coffee is indeed 0.75-0.79), but approaches 1.05-1.1 near the end, as the grounds absorb water and the dissolvables go into solution. The overall density increases because the temperature drops (water at 60°C, generally considered hot drinking temperature is around 0.98 density).
If you look at ground coffee when it absorbs water, it goes to the bottom of the slurry, but starts out near the top during bloom or just as the grounds start the absorption process. This tells us that saturated grounds end up a slight bit more dense than the coffee they are in. A good look at this is an unsampled "cupping". Prepare cupping with a known capacity cup (I use a 180ml cup, determined by filling the cup to the brim with distilled water at 40°F approx).
Do it according to protocol, including breaking the crust and stirring, but do not sample. Allow it to go all the way to cool in 30 minutes. When you first follow the protocol (ground coffee in the cup, then add 200°F water to the capacity of the cup) it brims above the cup until the bloom subsides. By the time it's ready to break the crust, it's right around the rim level to slightly below, and after stirring and allowing the cupping to settle and cool, it will be a few mm shy, more than is accounted for by evaporation (with my cup, the system seems to lose about 10g of mass during cooling due to evaporation, but loses about 20-25ml of volume).
I can also see this in the total mass of the system during unsampled cupping: Take a 180ml cup, add 10.0g of coffee, then fill to rim with 90-95°C water - you add about 160g of water (but by volume is more like 154ml). You'll start with a total brew mass of 170g, end up with a final brew mass near 160g (due to evaporation), BUT you'll be about 25ml - 30ml shy on total volume. (you can "measure" this by using 10ml syringe, adding back cool distilled water if you want to know EXACTLY how much you're shy until you're back to the original fill level).
I am still going to build an APxL, I have the parts but not the time LOL. I ended up getting a refractometer, so I'm squeezing every cent of usefulness out of it before I build an extended length AeroPress.
How did you measure the dry coffee density, by pulverizing and compacting it?
Isn't the density of a coffee+water mixture a function of the brew ratio? And are you saying that the density changes only because the water temperature drops or also because some of the coffee dissolves?
How do you know that the grounds don't initially float because of trapped air or evolving CO2?
In your cupping example you miscalculated the starting water volume. It should be about 166 ml. That leaves 14 ml displaced by the 10 g of coffee. When the cup has cooled and you top up with 25 ml of water you have a total water volume of 175 ml. That leaves 5 ml for the coffee, something less than the original 14 ml. But I don't get the sense that you have the volumetric precision in this example to know if there was a significant change.
I often wish my Aeropress were slightly larger as I have to screw around to fit the water in each time I make a cup. I'm curious to see your APxL when you get the time to finish it. But I'm a lot more curious to read about your adventures with the refractometer.
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