I started making pour-overs two weeks ago (I'm pretty much completely new to making coffee). I often refer to the PTs brewing guide to help me with ratios, and what order I need to do to make the optimum pour-overs but I still want knowledge and input from people who know more than me.

 

Such as:

What not to do to over extract or under extract

What goes on with the coffee, why temperature and timing is important, and other fun facts

How it takes before my grounds go bad

Do some coffee beans take longer to grind than others? I ask this because I have a hand grinder and I've worked with two kinds of beans. If it's not the beans, then it might be my grinder. (I know this question might not match the forum)

And whatever knowledge you would impart on on a beginner.

 

Thank you!

 

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To answer most of your (posted) questions and many others in terms of brewing, I'd refer you to start by picking up a copy of "Everything But Espresso" by Scott Rao.   Great, concise and easily understood resource.  As far as "what to do" and "what not to do," well, I'd say there are about as many preferences as there are people to voice them!  Why don't we start by you telling us what you're doing (grams of coffee, ounces of water, water temp, bloom time, extraction time, yada yada).  And get to know your local baristas who are doing pour overs and other fun things.
Well, I'm following the PTs Brewing guide on their website. It was a very simple rundown.  I'm doing 1 tablespoon of beans for every 4 ounces of water; I don't know the temp for the water. The guide told me to wait 45 seconds after the water starts boiling and I take my kettle off the stove top. Bloom time is about 20 seconds. Extraction is the biggest issue for me. It fills up fast so I have to stop occasionally and let the water drain before resuming. I heard that spent grounds go to the edge of the filter so I try to keep the water lower than the top grounds.

What type of dripper do you have?

Grinder?

 

Manual brewing can be as complicated or simple as you want.

I would say invest in a solid gram scale and start timing all of your extractions.  Tasted over-extracted?  How long did it take?  Underextracted?  How long did it take?

 

If you are just dumping water from your stovetop kettle into a pour over you are going to be endlessly frustrated by how fast the water pours out.  Stop over to homeloo.com and pick up one of their kettles.  Cheapest I know of and they pour slower than ones 2 and 4 times as much.

 

Also, check out:

www.brewmethods.com

They have great video guides on there.

 

Not sure which magazines have recently featured articles on manual brewing, but I'm pretty sure that the two I'm thinking of were in Fresh Cup and BMag.

 

-bry


Jacob McKnight said:

Well, I'm following the PTs Brewing guide on their website. It was a very simple rundown.  I'm doing 1 tablespoon of beans for every 4 ounces of water; I don't know the temp for the water. The guide told me to wait 45 seconds after the water starts boiling and I take my kettle off the stove top. Bloom time is about 20 seconds. Extraction is the biggest issue for me. It fills up fast so I have to stop occasionally and let the water drain before resuming. I heard that spent grounds go to the edge of the filter so I try to keep the water lower than the top grounds.
I would suggest you start thinking in terms of grams of coffee to grams of water. I have two 5 lb bags of coffee with a considerable variance in density. One 5 lb bag fit into a big glass container. The other darker roasted 5 lb bag did not. Same weight. Different volume. A spoon is not as accurate as a scale, and if you are going to get it right, better to be accurate with ratios.

Jacob McKnight said:
Well, I'm following the PTs Brewing guide on their website. It was a very simple rundown.  I'm doing 1 tablespoon of beans for every 4 ounces of water; I don't know the temp for the water. The guide told me to wait 45 seconds after the water starts boiling and I take my kettle off the stove top. Bloom time is about 20 seconds. Extraction is the biggest issue for me. It fills up fast so I have to stop occasionally and let the water drain before resuming. I heard that spent grounds go to the edge of the filter so I try to keep the water lower than the top grounds.

Bryan- My kettle is a Hario Buono V-60 drip kettle. My grinder is a Hario ceramic slim mill. I don't know much about them beyond that because the instructions for both are in Japanese! I try to go as slow as possible when pouring water. I should take into account the time it takes for me to pour my water. Thank you for the references.

 

Dennis- That sounds like a good idea, I'll look into that!

If you're working with a Hario dripper you should be shooting for a 2:30-3:00 extraction time.  Grind accordingly.

 

There are tons of references online for how to brew with Hario equipment, whether video, text or otherwise.  A little digging will turn up a lot.

 

-bry

Hi Jacob,

 

Came across this site that lists videos and articles for several different brew methods.

 

Aptly called www.brewmethods.com

 

There are a dozen or so great links under the pour over heading worth checking out...

Also, check out:

www.brewmethods.com

They have great video guides on there.

 

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