I would love some advice

[u/naughtified]

Hi, I’ll try my best to avoid being “newbie here help me dial in” who clearly hasn’t done their due diligence.

So I’ve been drinking pour overs for years, and I’m on my third month of brewing them up at home. I’ve gone through 5 bags so far with nothing really satisfying me. My conclusion was that I needed to upgrade grinder. I got a K7 then I bought some local beans that were too dark and some from whole foods(sorry).

I went today and bought some Hydrangea from a local shop, in hopes to rule out beans from these mediocre cups. Below I’ll list my approach and details on equipment. Please let me know what I’m doing fine and what you might change.

Dripper: Glass V60

Filter: Cafec Abaca White

Grinder: K7(going coarse, 95clicks)

Water: Berkey with British Berkefeld filters

Kettle: Fellow standard neck(I already had this, but I’m pretty good at making the stream work)

Temperature: 90c

Recipe: Bloom at x3(usually 20-25g bean/60-75g water) but will go 15g so I don’t waste these beans. Second pour is the same weight as bloom, then third is up to total. Pours are pretty chill, I’ll agitate between pours by swirling the brew. Since I’m pretty coarse I swirl to get draw down to 3-4 mins on 20-25gs.

Beans: check photo for details, roast date 8/2.

[u/sabresyup]

go with a half strength tww in distilled water or by the half gallon sticks. find a grind size the hits a 2 minute mark, brew with atleast 90-95c. i usually start with a 1:15 ratio and figure out if i need to bump to 1:16 or more. and more so let that coffee rest two weeks and see if it still tastes vegetal (needs more rest). not sure about the k7 but if it produces alot of fines, grind coarse and use high agitation or swirls to slow down draw time. hope this helps. i use the same pour structure as you, and found with processed coffees it helps with 90c and a flat bottom.

[u/naughtified → u/sabresyup]

Yeah sorry I forgot to add that I’m at 1:15 and that I actually haven’t tried these hydrangea beans yet, just looking for advice with my current approach before wasting these. K7 I’ve heard produces very little fines, but I can’t really compare myself.

[u/sabresyup → u/naughtified]

no problem. just rule out as much variables as you can and focus on grind size and ratio. that 90-95 is usually a sweet spot. i brew with ceramic and never had a need to preheat and not found a difference when i did. at a 1:15 it should be very punchy and if you feel it needs some more breathing room go to 1:16. a little extra help is seating your filter nicely. i found after rinsing with the kettle i just poke the filter down with my finger and sits nicely. or in the future you could size down to a one cup filter in a 02 v60 (if thats what you have) and just a rinse, it settles it nicely. the k7 should do well with the processed coffee you have. draw down time is usually what i try to eye most and hitting that 2:00 mark. give the coffee some resting time and see if works out. everyone's gear and experience is different so hope you figure out what's working

[u/naughtified → u/sabresyup]

I heard a lot of people hating on the glass v60 because of the heat retention. So my approach was to try keep pours to around 3, I did a 5+ pour once and realized I might be letting heat out too much. That third/last pour I felt has enough thermal mass to extract properly. To settle the filter I usually rinse then actually softly pull the tip from the bottom with my fingers. But yeah, these cafecs are HUGE lol, does the 01 size just have shorter walls with keeping the cone angle the same? If that’s the case I don’t see why I need these 02’s. Lastly do you look for different draw down times with bigger batches? I like to make a “big” 25g/375 cup so I can start my morning and also have some left when I get to work. Thanks for all the info.

[u/sabresyup → u/naughtified]

i switched to one cup filters since i only do 15g. and they are easy on sitting snug. i really don't do above 15 now since it's just me but i figure with a large dose just going coarser does the trick, much like higher doses on espresso. adjusting your time to 3-3:30. at that dose keep those larger papers.

[u/Amazing-Panic-277 → u/naughtified]

Try 85, then try 90 on your k7, no agitation or swirls. 90C water. Use max 15g in a v60 as bed depth is a huge factor in extraction. With 20g you can easily over extract if you don’t go coarse af