LMSC This is a rabbit hole 😁
So, the more number of pulses ( ex: 7), the higher the extraction, should a smaller number of pulses (5) give a weaker EY keeping the grind setting the same.
No, this is not the rabbit hole. Trust me. This is the basis of drip brewing, the crux of the whole matter & predominantly why we grind the way we do .
For a given workable grind, brew size & ratio, the slower you add the water (fewer and wider intervals), the higher the extraction. To decrease the extraction, you add the water faster (fewer & closer together pulses). If adding the water faster drops the EY, finer grinds can restore it. Finer grinds might also need fewer & faster pulses to keep agitation & silt tolerable (up to you after tasting, all coffee has some silt & mouthfeel, it’s a personal preference). With some brewers (not V60) and a finer grind you can bloom and add the remaining water with a regular kettle in 5-10s.
LMSC I am thinking if you are indicating that if we find the cups are consistent in terms of flavour / taste and/or a lack of silts in the cup, measuring the EY isn’t required unless one has access to it ?
Cups across 10 coffees will be mostly consistent in flavour balance/lack of brewing defects, we buy different coffees because we want different flavour experiences, not the taste of generic faults like under-extraction, or too much silt (less than ideal average EY and/or grind setting).
LMSC Considering you have been brewing and recording the date for more than 10 years (am I right ? 😊), how often do you pull out your VST? I am thinking you may be measuring once a new bag of coffee is dialed-in.
Since 2013, but gradually refined the way I have been recording the info, so the longest continuous run of comparable parameters is since 2016 (I didn’t know at the start which were the most important things for me to record & compare, I was also hoodwinked into the myth that immersion brewing is more consistent so wasn’t making that many drip brews early on). I use my VST for almost every drip brew I make at home, so daily (if someone just pops round for a brew, I don’t experiment, I use a known method & don’t bother measuring EY). It takes about a minute. This is also because I switch brewers & grinders a lot, so it’s rare I make multiple cups from the same bag with the same brewer & grinder (unless, as earlier, someone pops round and just wants a coffee).
I don’t dial in bags of coffee. To do this would be the rabbit hole :-) (Minor adjustments, sure, fine - but then I can switch to finer grind method & steer that way too.) We buy multiple bags of coffee, use low retention grinders, so we can switch from one to the other & capitalize on variety - the idea of taking multiple cups to ‘dial in’ seems at odds to me, with those intentions. I want to pick up a new bag, grind brew, drink, enjoy/move on & not constantly explore/experiment.
I make coffee to enjoy the drink, not to tinker with mechanical contraptions. Though, realistically, we are inexorably bound to mechanical contraptions to make coffee & somehow (blame curiosity) I have ended up with too many mechanical contraptions…many of which I would not have needed to have bought if I knew then what I know now. 😀 (Though to be fair, quite a few of the things I use most often nowadays didn’t exist when I started making coffee).
Wisdom is a comb given to a man once he is bald.
