# Moccamaster ‘boozy’ brews



## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

Been getting some very stewed almost boozy tasting coffee from the MM in the last week or so and I don't know what is causing it. It's unpleasant to say the least.

Been doing usual 30:500g brews with volvic water. Brew time in the 4-5 minute range. I think I might be too fine and need to speed it up a bit but not sure.

This has happened with to types of beans although both Ethiopians. Not sure if that is relevant.

Any thoughts?


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Are they both natural processed Ben? Boozy is sometimes a kind of taste you might get with natural Ethiopians in particular.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

"Stewed" sounds like small particles getting through the filter paper, grind coarser.


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## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

jlarkin said:


> Are they both natural processed Ben? Boozy is sometimes a kind of taste you might get with natural Ethiopians in particular.


yes they are. Tasted good as a kalita but really overpowering in the MM. I suspect it's grind size causing that profile to get really strong. I'll try coarser as MJWB suggests and see how that goes.


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## thepiecesfit (Nov 29, 2017)

I gave up using anything besides medium and light roasts in this brewer. Anything dark that has any oils just turns out tasting real bad. The grinds start to balloon and the saturation is not even. With light roasts I get a nice crema layer and grinds are submerged in water then it drains evenly. With dark roasts I cannot achieve that no matter how I grind my beans and the contact time is too short. I grind about 16 on my Baratza Encore and I get the best tasting coffee when my grinds are actually under about half an inch of water throughout the brew cycle almost like a french press. My brew time is about 3 minutes for 500ml and approaching 6 minutes on 1 liter.


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## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

thepiecesfit said:


> I gave up using anything besides medium and light roasts in this brewer. Anything dark that has any oils just turns out tasting real bad. The grinds start to balloon and the saturation is not even. With light roasts I get a nice crema layer and grinds are submerged in water then it drains evenly. With dark roasts I cannot achieve that no matter how I grind my beans and the contact time is too short. I grind about 16 on my Baratza Encore and I get the best tasting coffee when my grinds are actually under about half an inch of water throughout the brew cycle almost like a french press. My brew time is about 3 minutes for 500ml and approaching 6 minutes on 1 liter.


Thanks for that info it's helpful. The beans were good quality and probably a medium roast. They were quite lively though and frothed up a lot despite being well rested. I'm putting this down to these particular beans not lending themselves well to This brewer and also too fine a grind.


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## thepiecesfit (Nov 29, 2017)

How are you measuring the brew time? Is it from turning on the brewer? I measure as soon as the water first hits the grinds. Most people will tell you 3 min to 3:30 is ideal contact time for 500ml and 30 grams in terms of contact time. It definitely should not be in the 4-5 minute mark sounds like you are over extracting. Try to coarsen up your grind and bloom your coffee manually. What I do with some fresh roasted beans is let the water cover the grinds in the brew basket and let it bloom for 30 seconds.

So basically I start the brewer, as soon as the water hits the coffee in about 10 seconds turn off the brewer and then turn it back on after 30 seconds has elapsed and the grinds release some of the gases. Once it turns back on you should have more complexity of flavors. Which Moccamaster do you have? I actually ended up buying a custom artisan shower head because I was getting tired of the uneven grinds coverage with larger batches.

Check out a video of it I made here:


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## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

thepiecesfit said:


> How are you measuring the brew time? Is it from turning on the brewer? I measure as soon as the water first hits the grinds. Most people will tell you 3 min to 3:30 is ideal contact time for 500ml and 30 grams in terms of contact time. It definitely should not be in the 4-5 minute mark sounds like you are over extracting. Try to coarsen up your grind and bloom your coffee manually. What I do with some fresh roasted beans is let the water cover the grinds in the brew basket and let it bloom for 30 seconds.
> 
> So basically I start the brewer, as soon as the water hits the coffee in about 10 seconds turn off the brewer and then turn it back on after 30 seconds has elapsed and the grinds release some of the gases. Once it turns back on you should have more complexity of flavors. Which Moccamaster do you have? I actually ended up buying a custom artisan shower head because I was getting tired of the uneven grinds coverage with larger batches.
> 
> Check out a video of it I made here:


timing from the waters first contact with the grounds. I've definitely been over extracting as my brews are taking too long. Going to switch to using my hand grinder to see if that makes a difference and going much more coarse. That shower head is cool, looks like it does away with the need for stirring.

My Moccamaster is the latest one with the thermal carafe


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## the_partisan (Feb 29, 2016)

I think with the Melitta type of cone that Moccamaster has doesn't benefit so much from a full shower head. It's far more important with flat bottom brewers. Maybe @MWJB would have more insight


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## thepiecesfit (Nov 29, 2017)

GingerBen said:


> timing from the waters first contact with the grounds. I've definitely been over extracting as my brews are taking too long. Going to switch to using my hand grinder to see if that makes a difference and going much more coarse. That shower head is cool, looks like it does away with the need for stirring.
> 
> My Moccamaster is the latest one with the thermal carafe


Are you using a good quality burr grinder? I use a Baratza Encore on 16-18 setting.


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## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

thepiecesfit said:


> Are you using a good quality burr grinder? I use a Baratza Encore on 16-18 setting.


Yes either a feldgrind or a Sage Smart Grinder Pro usually the sage for the MM


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