Posted Wed Nov 7, 2012, 7:44am Subject: Re: Egg shells for a smoother cup
johnnyb3 Said:
My mom claims that the shells themselves helped the grounds precipitate out. She tells me that when she was a girl (in the 40s) her folks would just put a pot of water on the burner with some coffee grounds thrown in. After a few minutes they'd throw eggshells in to get the grounds to settle and then pour themselves a cup. When the inevitable company would come by, they'd just add more water and more coffee, and throw more eggshells in.
More than likely the egg shells had remnants of egg albumen (the whites), left/stuck on them. Albumen was used/works (among other things) as a fining (clarifying) agent in wine making/beer brewing & also works here.
FWIW - I was told this is actually a small grain mill for making rough flour for hardtack, but this is just word-of-mouth. I never researched it in depth.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- 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
calblacksmith Moderator Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 5,680 Location: Riverside, Ca, U.S.A. Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: ECM Veneziano A1 Grinder: Many different commercial Vac Pot: 40s era Silex Drip: Milita, Bunn&Curtis... Roaster: Cast iron pan, gas burner
Posted Thu Nov 8, 2012, 7:14am Subject: Re: Egg shells for a smoother cup
Netphilosopher Said:
FWIW - I was told this is actually a small grain mill for making rough flour for hardtack, but this is just word-of-mouth. I never researched it in depth.
Hard tack is pre made in factories and not in the field. The grinder may have been used for other uses once you have one but the primary use and the reason it was there is for coffee.
In real life, my name is Wayne P.
Feed the newbs, starve the trolls and above all enjoy what you drink!
Posted Thu Nov 8, 2012, 8:34am Subject: Re: Egg shells for a smoother cup
calblacksmith Said:
Hard tack is pre made in factories and not in the field. The grinder may have been used for other uses once you have one but the primary use and the reason it was there is for coffee.
The link above says that the conclusion that it wasn't used for coffee is based on it not being a very good coffee grinder. That doesn't seem to stop the production or sales of whirly blade grinders... ;)
Posted Thu Nov 8, 2012, 3:39pm Subject: Re: Egg shells for a smoother cup
calblacksmith Said:
Hard tack is pre made in factories and not in the field. The grinder may have been used for other uses once you have one but the primary use and the reason it was there is for coffee.
And so it does. I guess I should have clicked the linky... LOL
Seriously, though, what's wrong with rocking or pan-roll cracking coffee, especially if you're going to do something like decoction anyway? It works for coarse pepper cracking (when you want that beautiful cracked pepper crust on your peppercorn crusted steak). I think I might give it a whirl - seems like it might produce less fines for French Press.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- 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
Posted Fri Nov 9, 2012, 2:54pm Subject: Re: Egg shells for a smoother cup
CraigA Said:
More than likely the egg shells had remnants of egg albumen (the whites), left/stuck on them. Albumen was used/works (among other things) as a fining (clarifying) agent in wine making/beer brewing & also works here.
John, I know just from my memory bank & going back to when I started out homebrewing & winemaking in 1971., & reading that in the days of old time brewing & wine making in books on the subject that I have. Another olden time fining (clarifing) agent was Isinglass, which originally was the dried & pulverised swimm bladder of the Sturgeon if you can believe it. {;-)
Posted Fri Nov 9, 2012, 3:53pm Subject: Re: Egg shells for a smoother cup
CraigA Said:
John, I know just from my memory bank & going back to when I started out homebrewing & winemaking in 1971., & reading that in the days of old time brewing & wine making in books on the subject that I have. Another olden time fining (clarifing) agent was Isinglass, which is the dried & pulverised swimm bladder of the Sturgeon if you can believe it. {;-)
You consume calcium carbonate in solution all day long (unless you only drink distilled or RO water). If you ever had a soft drink - you've consumed calcium carbonate.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- 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
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