# Brewing Control (Brewed Coffee)



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

MikeHag: "Do you use the Brewing Control Chart to ensure you're getting what you want to get from the beans?

If you don't, and just use taste to monitor the brew, do you manage to get it tasting the same most times (ie consistent strength/extraction), and rarely discard it?"

This is an old thread from 2011, I'm surprised that it went unanswered...but, yes Mike (wherever you are now), I use the principles outlined in the chart to help me assess what's going wrong with my brews. I think for a lot of people (unfamiliar with it) the chart is like a map with "places of interest" highlighted but no roads identified to help you get there?

I posted an earlier version of this chart on another thread, but can't for the life of me find it now...(this version is a better representation anyway)...

  

Brown arrow heading down & right from "1.55%" shows the effect of adding brew water to your pourover, cooler water/coarser grind will see it swing downwards (less extraction yield & weaker), hotter water/finer grind/more agitation will see the arrow swing upwards (higher yeild/stronger at the same brew ratio). Staying on the ideal path, but adding more & more water will see your "once ideal" brew get weaker & over extracted.

Something I have only just really noticed is that 58g/l would seem to give you more flexibility within the ideal range box? Though

"Cup ratio" is an espresso-like output weight ratio, rather than brew water added ratio (like on the instructions for Asian pourovers that tell you to make a 120g "cup".)


----------



## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

What's helped me in the last few months to achieve far greater consistency in brews has been to primarily overhaul the way I was thinking, bypassing online brew guides and approaching one brew method at a time. Going by taste - as I don't have a tds meter/refractometer - and simplistic theory, i.e. "what is happening between the coffee and water" not "I've stirred three times anti-clockwise with a 5mm chopstick at 95 degrees, 60% humidity - why doesn't it taste right?". The fact is that everyone's grind and water is so different that any recipe is going to produce vastly different results between users.

Nice chart by the way!


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Cheers! Yeah, that's very much what I'm trying to convey...a given recipe is like road map instructions that take you from Paris to Munich...those same instructions don't work if you start in Lima. ;-) Hopefully this chart gives some insight into the dynamic of a typical pourover extraction, & possibly may help some get their bearings? E.g. if you aim for 63g/l and find your brew tastes under...add more water until you hit 58g/l, taste...still under? Maybe try 53g/l...it'll get a little weaker (note & correct grind for next time), but it may help you get farther on & sweeter with that particular extraction? The objective is more to hit the 19% line at 1.20% or higher (though maybe 1.15% will work for some) rather than to simply adhere to a set grinds/water ratio...then pour the coffee down the sink, scratch your head, and switch to another brewer! (Though I still, of course, reserve the right to do just that!) ;-)


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

OK, decided to act on what I preach....caveats: I don't have a refractometer, so I just went by taste and brew ratio, hence I have removed TDS & extraction figures from the chart as no surefire way to establish they meet a universal datum. However, there should still be some value in the mechanism described...

  

Brew #1 (square) - 59g/l - A really nice cup, fruity. I'd have been happy to serve it to anyone...I'd have gracefully accepted any criticism, though suspect such would be minor. Good, job done? Not quite. Underlying the juicyness was a faint pithyness/dried peel, some tangyness in the final sips. Not enough to spoil the enjoyment of the cup, but a pointer that perhaps I could carry the extraction on a little further.

Brew #2 (circle) - 51g/l - Was supposed to be 55g/l, but being a compulsive tinkerer, I tasted it at 55g/l and thought it a bit tangy & pulsed some more water through. A weaker cup than ideal, but still quite pleasant, rich in flavour. No bitterness, but a faint sappiness...past the sweetspot.

So, brew #1 slightly under, brew #2 past the sweetspot. We know the brew ratio so can determine the line on the graph where they sit, exact point on that line is harder to determine, but if brew #1 is a little under, the line of extraction path (assuming it's fairly linear)passes through that, then on to brew #2...in a worst case scenario and I was at the very outside of palatable, you can see that no matter what brew ratio I use, I won't get into my desired sweet spot (the yellow squares) so it was obvious what I needed, yes, a triangle!;-)

2 clicks finer on the Porlex & aimed for 60g/l. I decided not to do any faffing, just stick to the same technique, pour the amount of water, with no intention of remedial action & live with the result. Did it work? Well, have you ever had to fight back a tear of joy when drinking a brew? I really wasn't expecting the degree of improvement between #1 & #3. I couldn't fight back the following tear of despair though, as that was my last 12g of beans. :-(


----------



## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

would you like to become 'head of brewed coffee QC ' for Bantam coffee ; )


----------



## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

Mondrian meets Kandinsky - love it!


----------

