Water temperature with aeropress

JahLaza

Hi, does anyone have any handy tips for getting water at the right temperature from boiling kettles for use in the aeropress? I’m thinking of around 90 degrees or less.do people pour out of the kettle into a cold cup once boiled and then transfer to the aeropress? Wait a number of minutes after the kettle has boiled? I keep getting a bitter taste and the grind is course enough so I’m moving on to tackle water temp next! Thinking if I can get it right using a kettle that’ll be universal for hotel stays/holidays etc as I won’t be bringing a thermometer around with me! Any tips much appreciated

MWJB

I honestly don’t think temp is the issue.
Kettles tend to click off at boil, so brew at this point.

An Aeropress would by my last choice for hotel/holiday brewing, personally.
You say you are grinding coarse, what reference do you have for this coarseness?
What is your ratio?
How long are you steeping?
It is certain that bitterness is not over-extraction.

JahLaza

MWJB 1 ZPresso supply a guide on their website for the different brew methods. I started with that, found it was way too fine, so, adjusted coarser until I was in the region I thought was more suitable, but, I may need to revisit this. I was letting it brew for 1:30 at this and found it nice but still the taste I describe above. That’s when I started to decrease the brew time to nothing. In fairness I may have been going the wrong way as you allude to above. Thanks for the above tips, I might start from scratch again.

MWJB Aeropress would by my last choice for hotel/holiday brewing, personally

What do you normally go for then?

JahLaza

I’m using a 1zpresso hand grinder and grinding to a salt kind of courseness.have been using 16g and 210g water. 30 second bloom and then plunge pretty much straight away once stirred. I think it’s ‘bitter’, could be wrong descriptor but it tastes like coffee from a brewed cafe pot that’s been sitting there a while! Over extracted like

MWJB

OK, so if you are plunging after 30s, you are getting a very low extraction.

Sorry, salt comes in many sizes and I have no idea about the standard deviations in salt particles vs coffee grinds. If 1Zpresso have a recommendation for coarser drip/Chemex/French press, this is where I’d be aiming to start with.

I would suggest using less water/more coffee. If you grind too coarse, the coffee will just be too weak/bland. So grind coarser until this happens, then go gradually finer until things get intense enough in flavour, without lurching into bitterness, or sourness.

To get decent strength at very short steeps I would advise using 1:6.5 (moka pot kind of strength) to 1:11 (weaker end of brewed coffee) kind of ratios. Maybe try 1:9, steep for 1:15 sink crust & plunge at 1:30 to start with?

You just told us that you plunge straight away, so you already know it has nothing to with being left too long. Brewed coffee, separated from the grounds, in a heated/insulated pot deteriorates in flavour, but the extraction doesn’t change from when it was brewed, so it’s not extraction related. Insulated French presses steeped for a couple of hours still taste great however.

MWJB

JahLaza I don’t make a lot of Aeropress, but I have 2 methods.

Coarse short steep. Grind 8% passing through Kruve 400/92-94 on Niche, or about as coarse as you would go for manual drip. Inverted, or use the Fellow Prismo, 20g coffee, 125g water in straight off boil. 2x NSEW stirs, flip, or knock down crust at 1:15, plunge at 1:30 until you see the dry bed.
Normal way up on a used/spare cup. Fine grind, moka pot territory/coarse espresso, 14-15g coffee in 1st, add 250g water wetting with pour, plunger in to stop flow, discard run off. Place on fresh clean cup. At 10:00-20:00 draw down remove plunger & let drain under gravity until it stalls, then plunge gently, stopping at sight of grounds bed.

JahLaza

MWJB thank you for the examples. I haven’t been able to use it yet past few days as I’m away with work but will get back to it Sunday/Monday

MWJB add 250g water wetting with pour, plunger in to stop flow, discard run off. Place on fresh clean cup. At 10:00-20:00 draw down remove plunger & let drain

Do you mean to let the coffee and water brew there for ten to twenty minutes?

MWJB

JahLaza Yes, 20:00 would be best for a normal extraction, but it can be done at 10:00 with some coffees & grinds.

The other recipe (#1) targets a range of low, but tasty extraction (hence bumping up the coffee to water to bolster strength). There is a middling region, that is very easy to hit, that is bland, muddled & bitter (but not over-extracted).