I make up a bicarb concentrate in a 1 litre bottle and then dilute that when I refill my Lelit E. I may well also use that concentrate to prepare a 1 gallon glass bottle to keep ready under the sink, for when I need a fast refill.
Question for folks: Do you use the same (espresso water) recipe for pour over? Why or why not?
JHCCoffee Why would you? The recommended limit of 40-60ppm Alkalinity tastes fine for brewed coffee, you could go higher or lower to attenuate or push acidity to try and ‘rescue’ a weird coffee, but really it’s a lot of faff for day-today.
Best to stick to one water & be more choosy about the coffee you buy for pour over (preferred origins & roast level, easier said than done her in the UK though).
JHCCoffee Do you use the same (espresso water) recipe for pour over? Why or why not?
Have you actually tried it? I have.
If/when toy do so, let me know what you think, and we can go from there.
dutchy101 Since getting my Skuma I’m feeding the machine with RO water. I haven’t checked alkalinity, but the coffee tastes good to me and I’m hoping I’m getting enough drainage from the service boiler daily (about ¾ cups of tea a day) to keep scale away
Are you using the Skuma Coffee Infuser to add minerals to the RO water or just the RO water on its own? I’m doing the former and the extractions taste very clean.
I’m just using the RO water without any infusion.
Thanks for the reply. I don’t know much about these matters, but I thought that it was necessary to remineralise the RO water (to protect the boiler and pipes and to assist the extraction process).
depends, people confuse ro with rodi,
ro will have a tds to it,
rodi is like distilled nothing in it
Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -
It might be the case that I should add a little sodium bicarbonate to raise alkalinity (as I did when I was using Zero Water), but I haven’t got around to doing any testing on the water. The ro water from the Skuma should retain some alkalinity - hopefully enough. I’m enjoying not making up water any more. I’m making at least 2 cups of tea a day from the service boiler in addition to my steaming, so it’s being dlushed through very regularly
My Skuma RO water certainly retains something. The TDS of my tap water, measured daily over the last two weeks, has ranged from 186 to 258, while the RO has ranged from 65 to 72. I make that a filter efficiency of no better than 75%. In the same period, the TDS of the coffee-minerals water has ranged from 94 to 107 (usually in the 90s).
Of course, what matters most is what’s in that TDS (whether from plain RO or coffee-minerals RO). I’ll have to measure that sometime or send it out to be professionally analysed.
My TDS reading from the Skuma filter RO water tends to be in the 60s - my tap water is over 300 whenever I’ve checked (as high as 450 once - grim).
I use Sainsbury’s cheapest in 5 litre bottles in UK (about £1+- a bottle) which has very low Ca, Mg and TDS. In France I use Montagne (ex LeClerc) also 5L bottles (Ca4.7, Mg 1.8, TDS 74mg/L). As I use each machine for about 6 months a year I plan to descale every 2 years. The French bottles claim to use 25% recycled plastic.
Lelit Elizabeth (2) , Eureka Oro Mignon Single Dose, Mignon Mk2 (converted to single dose), Aerolatte Mini grinders(2), cafetières, Bodum K1218 Vacuum
Where do people buy their food safe Epsom salts and other chemicals from?
Where do people buy their food safe Epsom salts and other chemicals from?
Where do people buy their food safe Epsom salts and other chemicals from?
simonc - Bought from amazon - just search “food safe epsom salt” and you’ll get a few. The one I have is “Made in Wales” and can be used as a food supplement as per instructions, under medical supervision.
[unknown] thanks. Think I’ve ordered the same
Actually, scrap that, the Montagne does, but the Sainsburys still figures are confusingly given as ‘per 100mL’, rather than per litre, so this looks like hard scaling water.
Thanks MWJB, I hadn’t spotted this discrepancy. I might need to review the water for UK.
Lelit Elizabeth (2) , Eureka Oro Mignon Single Dose, Mignon Mk2 (converted to single dose), Aerolatte Mini grinders(2), cafetières, Bodum K1218 Vacuum
I am totally confused with water :) I’m using Ashbeck which I initially thought was good, then I had alarm bells going off in my head because I felt like my boiler would turn to a rusty pile, now reading this thread it seems fine again.
It’s like a water rollercoaster…!
Is there such thing as perfect water receipe? As in it:
Or is that just nonexistent? e.g. if it won’t corrode, will it always lightly scale your boiler etc?
And is Ashbeck ok now? I’m confused :)
