I've more or less given up on my Clever and wondered if anyone had overcome the issue of the filter not draining fully in a reasonable time?
I have been aiming for a steep time of 2.5 minutes with the aim of completing the draw down by 4 mins or so. Unfortunately by the 5 min mark there is usually 30 -40ml of brew left which takes for ever to drain. Sure I can ditch the brew at 4 mins but it annoys me and frankly the brew tastes sour and over extracted. Further complicated by fact that when I brew more coffee to compensate for what doesn't drain I'm left with an even larger residue up top.
Grind size is largely irrelevant since the filter clogs irrespective of this. Predominantly use Melitta filters. Have tried stirring/not stirring.
The grinder is not the issue since I'm using a new commercial grinder (not an espresso grinder).
Generally having very disappointing results from what on paper looked an ideal brewing method.
I know you don't think it's grind size, but I'd bet it is. Just a small adjustment can make a huge difference in draw time. What kind of grind are you using? I suspect you're way too fine. For a 2:30/4:00, I use 25ish on my Maestro Plus. To go up to a 3:30-4:00 steep, I coarsen up to 28 or so.
I'd agree with Andy. Try a French Press/Press Pot grind and then step finer from there.
The coarser grind protects against full-contact overextraction, but allows the filter to reduce the probability of it clogging.
My new CCD clogs if I get much finer than drip - even if I pre-screen fines from the grind. I am unsure if there were adjustments made to the CCD over the last years, or if the tooling is getting worn, but the ribs on my unit seem to be significantly less "proud" than my friend's older one (which seems to never clog).
Tho I'm intrigued by trying a Chemex filter...
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I grind the same as I do for drip and don't have stalling problems using a Melitta filter.
The OP states that stalling occurs irrespective of grind size, but that is not my experience. My experience is that there is a threshold of fineness that will produce stalls, but it isn't THAT fine, and you have a lot of flexibility to experiment above the threshold. One of the advantages of the CCD is that you can adjust grind to avoid stalling and then adjust steep time to your grind size.
One tip that I read somewhere that I follow is to preheat/prewet by filling the cone/filter with hot water and then discarding the water by pouring it out the TOP of the cone (not by draining it through the filter by placing it on a cup). Supposedly this reduces stalling by washing away any loose filter particles. I haven't really comparison tested this method and don't know how valid the explanation is, but I do it and don't have stalling problems.
Just because it happened to you doesn't make it interesting.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.
I've more or less given up on my Clever and wondered if anyone had overcome the issue of the filter not draining fully in a reasonable time?
I have been aiming for a steep time of 2.5 minutes with the aim of completing the draw down by 4 mins or so. Unfortunately by the 5 min mark there is usually 30 -40ml of brew left which takes for ever to drain. Sure I can ditch the brew at 4 mins but it annoys me and frankly the brew tastes sour and over extracted. Further complicated by fact that when I brew more coffee to compensate for what doesn't drain I'm left with an even larger residue up top.
Grind size is largely irrelevant since the filter clogs irrespective of this. Predominantly use Melitta filters. Have tried stirring/not stirring.
The grinder is not the issue since I'm using a new commercial grinder (not an espresso grinder).
Generally having very disappointing results from what on paper looked an ideal brewing method.
I have seen this problem exactly. In my case, it was the grinder itself.
I own a Vario. Whenever I used the Vario, no matter how coarse the grind, the drain from the CCD was slow. Even a coarse grind was slower than it should have been, and the resulting cup was astringent. My diagnosis was that there were too many fines in the grounds, and this correlates with Mark Prince's observations on the Vario.
I switched to a Preciso. The dust is significantly reduced. I can even grind finer and the drip still completes in a reasonable time. It is probably not worth it for you to switch grinders, but it was the issue for me.
Another option to check is the actual filter type itself-- perhaps you'll see improvement if you switch brands, especially if Chemex works better for you. I've found that Melitta filters from the local grocery are more likely to plug up on me, but the Filtropa brand that I get from Sweet Maria's are much better at draining faster. Chemex filters are about 7.5c each, but Filtropas are 4.5c each. I just order multiple-boxes each shipment from SM's, but I shop there a lot anyway.
Perhaps you didn't notice this problem with other drip brewers because you might not have to wait for those last drops to consider your mostly-full pot "done".
i definitely feel this is an issue with the filters i was using. In my case, about 75-80% of the coffee would drain predictably then the remaining water would pool up and take a long time to drain.
i saw a shop near me using the chemex filters on their clevers so i decided to give it a try and now i have no issues with my drain time.
i wonder if other brands of filters may be better. i was using some cheapie stuff that i got from amazon.
I guesst this is a possibility, since it's only a month or so old, with a pound of beans going through it a week. Do they really need a break in period?
Very frustrating since I recently replaced my Maestro plus with a Mahlkoenig Tanzania (over kill and then some). The coarsest setting on this is 9 = 900microns which I read on another post on here corresponds to 22-23 on a Baratza Virtuoso.
I'm taking the Virtuoso correlation with a pinch of salt since 9 in too coarse for a French press with a steep time of 4 mins. The grind appears superbly even compared to the Maestro Plus as you would expect so I am not suspecting a fault nor that it is wrongly set since the results are excellent with French press. Ironic since I prefer a cleaner filtered brew.
I also had exactly the same problem with the Clever using the Maestro plus with settings of between 22-28. The Maestro latterly may have been worn or possibly even faulty (too uneven a grind even for the Aeropress).
I'll try the Filtropa and Chemex filters and the tip to empty the rinse water out the top. I suppose in the interim the burrs may bed in.
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