Brazen Plus - Your Favourite Settings

[Melbroaster]

For those that have bought in on the Brazen plus, I thought it interesting to see how others are configuring their brews.

Maybe just a simple description against the following as a copy and paste, acknowledge that its open to interpretation particlarly grind size etc...

Recipe
-----------------
Presoak seconds:

Temp:

Grind weight:

Grind size description:

Coffee bean:

Water quantity:

Bean roast level:

Brew description:



Let me give it a shot:


Recipe
-----------------
Presoak seconds: 45

Temp: 200f

Grind weight: 70g

Grind size description: 40 on a breville doser pro. Right in the middle of the range for drip, similar to coarse salt

Coffee bean: Yirgacheffe

Water quantity: Full

Bean roast level: on the lighter side of filter roast, probably cs6.

Brew description: Smooth, medium body, not obviously bitter, slightly sweet, some origin flavours. Maybe 6/10 hoping for better!

[Javaphile]

Great idea Melbroaster. The beans being brewed would also be good information to have as different beans have different temperature sweet spots.


Java "Data is good!" phile

[Melbroaster]

Thanks for the idea. Have updated

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

And maybe how much water? I presume you filled the Brazen?

[Melbroaster]

Updated. Thanks!

[Melbroaster]

Approx how many brazens in the wild in oz? Andy- mind sharing ?

[coffeechris]

Having had mine for about 2 months now I can say im very happy with it. I use mine for a few people at work. It took a while for everyone to be happy with it as they were used to a few other ones i had including the Moccarmaster. They preferred a glass Caraf and the Moccarmaster was able to make a little more. That aside they all said however the coffee has tasted far better in the Brazen. My opinion was simple. The coffee wasnt sitting on a hot plate and for many reasons the coffee tastes far better than any of the other brewers i have had.

here is my Recipe
-----------------
Presoak seconds: 45 sec

Temp: 91c (sometimes 90c)

Grind weight: 60-80g

Grind size description: On a Ditting in between paper filter ans metal filter

Coffee bean: All types but mainly Central America coffee's as these are my preference.

Water quantity: Full most of the time (due to having to cater for a larger amount)

Bean roast level: once again.. Bean dependant but just before Second Crack and sometimes a little more before SC

Brew description: ITs hard to get wrong, I feel if you add to much coffee you can get a a little unlike able flavours. Also if i could do half brews with less coffee i find it tastes better also. Over great machine.

Chris

[Andy]

Approx how many brazens in the wild

Heaps! We have been shipping them to every corner of the country.

the coffee has tasted far better in the Brazen

Nice to hear Chris. Great taste should always be the goal!

Maybe 6/10 hoping for better!

I have to say the Brazen produces 10/10 often so if you are getting a 6 then change something!

Surprise surprise I have some opinions on the use and potential misuse of the Brazen and instead of hijacking this thread with my ramblings I've posted a separate one.
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/brewing-eq...pour-over.html

...back on topic...

Today while roasting at the Snobbery I did:

Recipe
-----------------
Presoak seconds: 30


Temp: 90C


Grind weight: 65g


Grind size description: coarser than espresso, finer than plunger.


Coffee bean: Yemen Ismaili from Wednesday's roast (4 days old).


Water quantity: 1.2 litres (full)


Bean roast level: CS8.5, similar to Chris above "a little more before second crack"


Brew description: Fruity aromatics with a body/depth that you could nearly chew. Clean finish with slight (but nice) drying acidity.

[TC]

I've been playing with similar numbers to Andy with circa 60g (by sight) on a 3/4 fill at 90 deg with a 1 min pre-soak.

Most recently with CS Colombia Esperanza Pacamara to a couple of degrees before 2nd.

Clean, clean with gorgeous fruit and had me back a couple of minutes later for a second. We also frequently use the one at home for a post dinner decaf.

For me, the performance of the Brazen along with what it puts into the cup dictated that both of our Ewebroos were sold within a couple of days of opening the first Brazen demo.

The Brazen produces far and above the best filter coffee I have ever experienced. I find it difficult to get one wrong.

[coffeechris]

I originally bought mine off Chris from talk coffee and took his advice from where to start with the settings all the way down to even buying some of the Colombian mentioned and roasting it. As said it goes super well. I have had to change a little from my orignal settings to satisfy the people here at my work. However i jabe tried many and use many people at work as test dummies. Everyone loves the coffee with no complaints except for they wish the caraf was bigger so they can have more..

Having had many and i mean many filter machines now i will say without doubt the coffee made from this exceeds any of the others in my opinion. Some at work say the coffee doesnt stay hot enough a hour later, even though most of the time its gone in 10 mins. Mind you the big difference to me is that if there is coffee left an hour later, the taste is still very undisturbed unlike most of the other filter machines where the caraf sits on a hot plate. As i saw Andy mention it in a early post about the brazen and it not having a hot plate and the ones that have a hot plate 'the coffee just stews'. My view also and it turns into something that resembles a burnt watery coffee.

It took a long time for this to come out, however you can see alot of thought has been put into the Brazen and this shows in the end result with the extraction and taste of the coffee far exceeds many of the others. Its hard to really stuff it up and believe me i have tried some coffee thats darker and tried different temps and the coffee still comes out better than i thought.

Bottom line and this is not me trying to sell the Brazen but i if you are looking for a great filter coffee machine this is it. I tried to dislike certain things about it ergonomically and its userability like other filter machines but i cant. The ease of use and the variations you can achieve through temp, grind and pre soak pretty much guarantees it will suit every coffee drinker and you are going to make a great cup everytime.

Cheers,

Chris

Ps exuse my spelling as i write this on my phone as i wait for the brazen to heat up

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

My Brazen arrived Friday, and I experimented at home on Sunday with some of the CS Costa Rica 'Extra Fancy' (92 degrees, 20 second pre-soak). Didn't quite get it right, grinding too coarsely I think. Took it to the office today, with some of the Colombian Esperanza. Bumped up the pre-soak to 1 minute, dropped the temp to 90 degrees, and ground a touch finer. Certainly very smooth but I think I might need to still tighten the grind a little more. Can't try too many a day as the caffeine hit is certainly noticeable.

[coffeechris]

I must say having played with the grind alot I found going to fine lead to grinds at the bottom of the pot at the end. At first i thought this isnt good and i will have to grind coarser. However i found going that going a little bit finer gave a better taste providing the pre soak wasn't over 45 seconds. I havent tried it at 1 min yet which i might give ago at work tomorrow with some courser coffee.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

OK. After a bit of experimenting, here's what I've come up with:

Recipe
-----------------
Presoak seconds: 40

Temp: 91C

Grind weight: As many beans as will fit into the top half of my Porlex Mini (about 20g), which are then tipped into my K3 (using my left hand).

Grind size description: about 5-6 dots coarser than espresso on my K3 (in absolute terms I'm on about 46-47 for Brazen......but unlikely to be transferable to another K3)

Coffee bean: Kenya Murang'a AA (or whatever it is....was on Bean Bay about a year ago)

Water quantity: roughly 375mls

Bean roast level: CS7-8

Brew description: Bright, medium body, a touch of spice


I tend to drink about half of it black, then have a 2nd with a little milk (and perhaps a quick zap in the microwave). Really enjoyable coffee either way, or if I drink the black coffee cold.

[dibster]

Can I bump this thread now that Andy has a fresh batch of Brazen Plus machines in stock? I'll be using a Lido 3 Hand grinder (which Ive never used before by the way...waiting for my Brazen Plus to arrive first). So I'll be new to the Lido, new to the Brazen Plus and pretty much new to freshly roasted beans too!

Any tips on this combo or if others have found a sweet spot for a great extraction, would love to hear your thoughts.

Marco

[Andy]

My standard starting point is:

Ethiopian Harrar Longberry (or at the moment, Ethiopian Sidamo Ardi)

1.2 Litres water (fill-line)
80g of a bit finer than plunger
45 seconds pre soak
92C

We run that at work and home every day. Coffee in the morning, fill our travel cups and put the Brazen on at work mid morning for a top-up.

Even the leftovers stone cold at the end of the day are beautiful and I know a couple of people that use them for an iced coffee later in the day.