# Foundry Rocko Mountain Yirg (brewed)



## BenL (Nov 6, 2014)

I know a bunch of you are familiar with this from the LSOL, and it's got a great reputation for espresso but I'm having problems brewing with it. I'm using a Kalita Wave 155, it was roasted 7 Feb.

My issue is I can't seem to get much flavour out of it at all, and I can't work out why! I've tried brew ratios of 60, 65 and 70g/L and gone from my usual grind, which I can get normally get great rounded sweetness from, to almost powdery espresso. Nothing seems to be helping, at finer grind and higher doses the mouthfeel and much darker opacity would suggest I'm extracting more, but I'm not getting any of the usual taste indicators of that. It just tastes watery and indistinct. At the lower ratio and bigger grind its not brighter or more sour.

I'm more than half way through the bag and just don't seem to be anywhere near the mark









Can anyone offer any help or suggestions?


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## CallumT (Aug 23, 2013)

Grind finer, brew potentially hotter, use spring water such as clear view.

What grinder and water are you using and what time are you expecting to achieve a filter brew, lighter roast means with a decent grinder you'll be able to down dose to extract more. Ie less than 60g per litre.

Upping dose will most likely result in a stronger but under extracted brew.

Matt Pergers recipe for the V60 is an easy go to for drip as a starting block.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Hi Ben

have you got a hausgrind by any chance

If so perger recipe is a good one for v60 . id suggest starting at one while turn plus to number 5 from burr rub , as a starting point ...

Should get you in the 19-20 % EY


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## BenL (Nov 6, 2014)

Yes it's hausgrind! I'm using Waitrose Essential (and tried Clearview too)

I'm currently on 1.3 and finishing in 3:50min at 60g/L. Which would be massacring most beans, my usual starting point is 1.9 to finish in 3:15.

I'll give Perger a go in the morning, and probably down dose the Wave a load more too.


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## CallumT (Aug 23, 2013)

Brew temp?


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## BenL (Nov 6, 2014)

1 minute off boil my, admittedly cheap, digi thermometer has it at 98º


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## BenL (Nov 6, 2014)

Happily both options worked a lot better. Perger V60 not over extracted (I had that when trying it in the past) but pulling the ratio down to 51g/L in the Wave made the better cup. I'm not wowed, but this is definitely in the right ball park at last. More tweaking lies ahead!


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## CallumT (Aug 23, 2013)

Depends what your expecting from the coffee, this is Ethiopian coffee, with tonnes of floral / fruity notes it doesn't have tonnes of body it is light delicate and pretty clean for a natural. If anything the clean aspect of it is why it's one of my fave coffees this year.

Up dosing won't have helped at all in terms of extraction, I'd suggest taking a reading on your probe to see what it thinks boiling is and work with an offset. If anything you could probably drop the dose further, so long as everything is extracting nice and evenly taste wise in the cup.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Callum obviously knows the coffee better but 98 if accurate is far too high for brewed!

Try calibrating your probe temp with boiling water and ice, then drop temp to around 90.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

I tend to do perger v60 at 96c on temp kettle


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## CallumT (Aug 23, 2013)

The coffee can take 97deg , sometimes cheap probe clouds judgement consistently instead of functioning as an aid.

In my honest opinion, as mentioned the likely culprit is uneven extraction and or expectation of what the coffee should be tasting like. The Hausgrind at 1.3'Oclock should be about right, although I haven't owned one for some time now. Have you by any chance got an Aeropress?

What coffees do you usually buy and enjoy?


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

BenL said:


> Yes it's hausgrind! I'm using Waitrose Essential (and tried Clearview too)
> 
> I'm currently on 1.3 and finishing in 3:50min at 60g/L. Which would be massacring most beans, my usual starting point is 1.9 to finish in 3:15


Out of interest, what quantities are you using?


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## BenL (Nov 6, 2014)

I checked the thermometer against iced and open boiling water, 0.9º and 101.5º, so not ideal, not even linear! Working with 1º or so offset, I'm now 2 minutes off boil putting me in the range 96-96.5º.

And.... a very tasty Perger V60 with 10g of coffee (50g/L)

Callum, I much prefer the brighter, lighter african coffees. I do have aeropress, but have struggled to get consistency with it. Rereading my posts I can see it might look like I was down on Foundry, I'm definitely not, it was frustration with my knowledge and technique - certain I should be getting a lot better than I was managing.

Mark, thats with 18.2g/300ml


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

BenL said:


> Mark, thats with 18.2g/300ml


Thanks, that is a long-ish brew...sorry, nothing obvious & useful I can add here that you & Callum are not already on top of.


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## CallumT (Aug 23, 2013)

Mark brought in an interesting point, a bigger brew is more likely to take more time anyway take most peoples standardised tasty extraction times on say a chemex. Forget time and brew to taste you have a capable grinder.

Knowing the smaller details about the probe will allow you to hone in to what temp. you want to brew with, I mentioned the Aeropress as FCR normally post some standardised recipes with this. The final suggestion would be to scale down the brews not only does this allow for more experimentation it allows you to make more coffees per day!

Great to know you do prefer the wilder african coffees I just wanted to make sure this was the case because some do take it do a distaste.

So long as things are progressing and the cups are getting better I'm happy to be helping out.


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## foundrycoffeeroasters.com (Jun 19, 2014)

Just to add that Callum's advice about using smaller doses has really helped me with Aeropress brewing. The coffee really opens up and the extraction seems to be more even. With this Yirg, I grind really fine and go around 95 degrees, 14g.


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## BenL (Nov 6, 2014)

Thanks to everyone for the advice here, it's made a massive difference. I suspect not just with these beans, but I'll be re-assessing my methods moving forward, I think I've been guilty for a while now of the updosing-underextracting thing!


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## foundrycoffeeroasters.com (Jun 19, 2014)

BenL said:


> Thanks to everyone for the advice here, it's made a massive difference. I suspect not just with these beans, but I'll be re-assessing my methods moving forward, I think I've been guilty for a while now of the updosing-underextracting thing!


That's great! Don't you just love it when everything moves forward?


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## d_lash (Aug 30, 2014)

Someone on eBay sells thermapens for 30-odd quid. I'd encourage everyone making brew coffee to have one - they are accurate, fast reading, reliable and iirc, British made.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

d_lash said:


> Someone on eBay sells thermapens for 30-odd quid. I'd encourage everyone making brew coffee to have one - they are accurate, fast reading, reliable and iirc, British made.


It's actually the company ETI who makes Thermapens that sells them on Ebay. They are new - come with a 12 month guarantee. If you are into brewed coffee, whatever the method, getting the temp bang on is going to make a big difference to the quality of brewed coffee.


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## foundrycoffeeroasters.com (Jun 19, 2014)

The Systemic Kid said:


> It's actually the company ETI who makes Thermapens that sells them on Ebay. They are new - come with a 12 month guarantee. If you are into brewed coffee, whatever the method, getting the temp bang on is going to make a big difference to the quality of brewed coffee.


Yeah, I agree. Although for 30 odd quid, I'd be tempted to put the money towards a bona vita kettle. That way you get the temp control with the hold feature (ie keeping the water at the same temp) which means you're not making your coffee in a rushed way, a much more enjoyable process.


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