# Brew time vs grind?



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

We tend to determine/aim for grind size that corresponds to an anticipated contact time. What effect does time (in itself, just steeping, as opposed to time spent washing out solids in a filter by gravity & time spent agitating) have?

My CCD brews are just shy of "espresso grind" (OK, it's a fairly arbitrary division) territory and steep time (separate from bloom & filling time) are still 5-6minutes (total contact around 7min). However, I make for 3-4 and brew a concentrate, so I'd expect slower extraction due to less solvent & higher grinds to water ratio. Today I opened a new bag of coffee, threw some in the FP:

Brew #1 -... at a "drip" grind (10 on Porlex) and steeped for 5mins (plus a slow pour filling time)...plunged and pressed through an Aeropress to clean up the cup. Should have gone for 6 min, a shade under, got better into the cup. Still some fines at the very bottom...not enough to put me off.

So then I thought speed it up by grinding proper fine, like 9 (or is it 9.5? Anyway, the one just before10) on the Rocky...

Brew #2 - Otherwise same procedure as before...slow fill up (at least a min), then tasted after each minute of steep time, plunged at 3:30 of steepage and ran it through a filter cone. This one was better, sweeter, richer, obviously a fuller extraction (so a direct comparison regarding grind & flavour profile isn't fair), less acidic - but the thing that really struck me was how even the cup was from top to bottom. Still fines at the bottom of the cup, but not as bad as regular, unfiltered FP brew.

Hardly science, but I was surprised at how much steep time the finer grind took...obviously sped up the process, but nothing like to the level one might expect?


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## tribs (Feb 21, 2012)

I'm going to have a go at this (coarse vs fine) with my FP pour a bit as it steeps method and report back. I don't bother with further filtering though as I don't mind a little silt.


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