# Coffee for The Masses



## stinkypete (May 1, 2013)

Hi Everyone

I'm hoping to improve the coffee "situation" at our Church in Kingston. Every Sunday we produce around 40l of black liquid in the morning, and 20l in the evenings, in what I can only describe as a mass perculator (similar to the Buffalo ones here). Some folk call this coffee; me, not so much









I am busy looking for ideas of setups that will produce a large(ish) volume of coffee (about 40l in the mornings, 20l in the evenings) and was wondering if anyone here has any thoughts, ideas, contacts or even experiences around this? There is no defined budget as yet, so this really is a fishing expedition at the moment.

The Bunn kit looks good, and I'm going to give them a call but I suspect they are quite pricey! And I am looking into the coffee we use as well - at the moment they buy pre-ground by the box of 24 packs, so I'd also welcome any suggestions on grinders that would work in this situation as ideally I'd like to grind on the day.

Thanks

Pete


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

I'd suggest buying a grinder and some good beans first, then seeing how you fare with the current equipment. You might find you can make a decent brew without changing everything. Beans are always most important. Trouble is, 60L worth of coffee means about 3.6kg of coffee! I'd have thought that would be over £50 a week. You'd need a grinder that can handle that much action in one day. Can't really give any advice on which as I've only ever had my little home grinder.

Good luck!


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## danman2k (Aug 31, 2012)

buying beans and grinding on the day is the best option, buying ground coffee is ok, if roasted and ground that week, and you only open a bag per brew, and dont stock more than a weeks worth of coffee.

we supplied coffee like this for someone who had a marco machine, not sure which one, but that worked well like this. i am sure it was 180g a time, but it was a while ago.


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Maybe given the OP's needs does he have a local roaster or source of freshly roasted beans who could grind the beans for him on the Saturday I know this isn't ideal but could make the best of his current situation to try fresh beans in the current equipment.


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## stinkypete (May 1, 2013)

Thanks to all three of you so far.

I think the idea of fresh (ish) ground beans will be a starting point. We currently use a 500g bag per urn - so this would be 3 bags per Sunday. I think changing the coffee for a couple of weeks will be a good start, even if I have to buy the beans freshly ground a few days before. I am hopeful if this works I can twist some arms to get a grinder!

I have had a couple of good conversations with some of the church team about the possibility of putting in some more cafe-oriented equipment, so a grinder will definitely play a role in that. I've also managed to secure a Bunn of eBay; it's a low volume airpot dripper and - provided the seller actually ships it - it will be a good marketing tool in getting a better coffee setup down the line!


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## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

Have a look at Bravilor bulk brewers - available in 5l, 10l& 20l configurations. But watch the power requirements !

PS Bunn spares can be difficult & pricey to source


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

If you're using 1.5kg of beans to make 60L of coffee, that could be why it tastes bad!


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## stinkypete (May 1, 2013)

Earlepap - yup I suspect so, given though that it tends to percolate for an hour I think it's definitely over-extracted!!

Espressotechno - thanks, hadn't come across Bravilor before (!) so will look into them.


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