Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
i admit i am a complete newbi to the whole coffee thing, so i thought this little contraption would be a cost effective way to get into it... but i have found that one really needs to spend some time perfecting ones technique with this thing... it can is quite temperamental
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
I like to let the brewer sit on the flame without the top half screwed on, so it gets up to the right temp without messing with the coffee at all. Once it starts to simmer, then i pop the basket in and screw everything shut. from there its around 5 minutes until i start brewing.
Im getting the best results from the 6 cup reducer and about 27~g of coffee. ground a bit finer than table salt coarsness. If youre looking to dilute the brew, grind finer and adjust brewing volumes and time to taste.
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Guest repliedRe: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
Thanks! that was really helpful!
Originally posted by 0338373C2C2A590 link=1246339682/71#71 date=1328593295The volume doesnt really mean much for the bellman, its more about the extraction time. for instance if the bellman brewed 120ml in about a minute, it should be about one cup, but if it took 2-3 minutes it would be considerably stronger. You can adjust the time it takes to brew by grinding coarser to speed it up, or finer to slow it down. Also you can dose less coffee to speed it up, or more coffee to slow it down.
so if i want to make two cups /servings of coffee, does that mean that i should be using the 6 cup reducer basket rather than the 3 cup? (sorry, it must sound like a really silly question to ask but i really have no clue...:/ hah)
will try with cold water next time..! having said that though, a friend just told me that using cold water might make the brewing process too long and therefore yielding a somewhat sour taste.. so i shall see!
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
The volume doesnt really mean much for the bellman, its more about the extraction time. for instance if the bellman brewed 120ml in about a minute, it should be about one cup, but if it took 2-3 minutes it would be considerably stronger. You can adjust the time it takes to brew by grinding coarser to speed it up, or finer to slow it down. Also you can dose less coffee to speed it up, or more coffee to slow it down.
starting off with cold water is generally better as the hot water from your tap has to go through an additional hot water heater and more piping to get to your sink which gives you a higher chance of contaminating the water with other stuff. Also starting from cold gives the brewer a longer time to heat up so everything is a bit more temperature stable. - that said i usually use cold water from the tap and pre boil it in the kettle. it makes things a bit quicker for me.
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Guest repliedRe: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
hey! thanks for sharing all your thoughts on the bellman, i have been having so much fun just tinkering about with all the advice you guys gave
im relatively new to the bellman so i have a few questions that might sound silly, sorry for that..! so,
1. i used the 3 cup reducer when brewing the coffee and i cut the drip after 120ml; would that make one serving of coffee or three? is that a normal shot of coffee or does it contain a lot of caffeine?
2. I read at another forum that suggested brewing it with cold water instead of hot water.. what is the difference? would the coffee be better extracted that way?
thanks so much, really appreciate it!
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
I know!
I just have had another brew of Espresso Wow and totally different again!
Can only think that what I did different this time was take the first 10 ml out of the equation and tip it down the sink as well as add about 40ml of hot water at the end from the kettle (heated to 80 degrees)
What I have got in the cup is not so strong in the flavour I was getting before from this blend, rather it is more smooth and much more to my liking really. If I had to liken it to anything today, I would say it is closer in flavour to what I would get out of the plunger when I use espresso wow (yep, who says that blend is only for espresso machines!? ;D
)
The coffee is 2 weeks post roast.
I guess all we can do is keep playing with these funky little machines and having fun doing it and then posting up our experiences here. Eventually, well probably nail it!
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
Yeah cafes going great, thanks for asking
. I am using new beans. theyre the house blend from work (60% Brazilian, 20% Sumatran, 20% Columbian) when i first used them i got that syrupy brew. Second time, it was like all the others. Its like i happened upon some magical combination of things that produced something extraordinary and now i cant do it again. Its quite frustrating, heh.
My current theory regarding the first part of the brew is that its under temperature. I havent been pre-heating the basket or the top part of the unit, maybe i should, though dosing the hot basket could be a pain, literally ;D.
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
Zaneus, Id be interested to know what coffee beans you are using? Have you changed them at all or are you using the same blend? I have found that Espresso Wow gives me a hugely different coffee to the two South American beans Ive tried.
I can see why cutting the first part of the brew would be a good idea, as I think that the first drops of coffee might not be quite good, especially if the nozzle hasnt been cleaned of the previous brew! A couple of times, Ive thought that I had cleaned it but there was still some horrible gunk that came out into the cup!!
So, are we talking about preinfusion that isnt preinfusion in a Bellman perhaps?
Hows that new cafe going? 8-)
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
Okay so i havent been able to replicate the syrupy brew i got before, tried a few times and did what i thought was exactly the same thing. It remains a mystery to me :/
I decided to cut the brew into segments and taste each part seperately. first two cups have 60mls in each. i continued brewing after id normally cut it off to see what it tastes like.
first pour took 45 seconds. pour didnt start until 10 seconds after opening the valve. Lacks acidity, only slightly bitter. pleasant mouth feel.
second cup brewed in 30 seconds. slightly less body, more balanced. bit more bitter but with some tastey acidity. I actually like this part of the brew better than the first.
i caught the last 30mls of the brew into some shot glasses. its pretty horrible. no flavour and astringent. least i know im stopping the brew at the right time ;D
I combined the first two cups together and its has a nice balance.. I feel though that overall the second cup tastes better. I might try cutting the first 15-20mls of the brew out of the final cup and seeing if it has an improvement.
If im going to start experimenting i really need to get more serious about it then just winging it and seeing what happens. I need to be structured and take readings of everything etc. If i decide to really get into it ill post up the results. If someone else (scoota?
) wants to try it out, be my guest and let me know how it goes! Id really like to know if anyone else has improvements in the cup by cutting out the first part of the brew.
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
Holy mouthfeel batman! Not exactly sure what i did, i havent used the bellman in a month or so, decided to give it a crack today. Using the house blend from work, probably 6 weeks post roast (i know, i dont have anything fresher) and using my smart grinder instead of the sunbeam em0480. roughly the same grind size. 27 grams of coffee, medium reducer. I didnt tamp at all this time, just leveled off. everything else i kept the same.
the pour was a fair bit thicker looking and it had the mouthfeel of espresso, not bitter at all and a really nice chocolate and cherry finish. I really cant believe how good this brew is considering how old the coffee is. Im thinking i brewed this at a slightly lower temperature. I let it sit on the flame for about 2 or 3 minutes before opening the valve, from then it took roughly 30-40 seconds before it started to flow, which started off very slow, only dripping, then started to speed up.
Ive fallen in love with this brewer... again ;D
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
So...WalkinD...did you resolve your Bellman issues yet?
Ive made a couple more coffees recently with the Bellman, whilst I took it with me last weekend camping, I didnt actually use it and was lazy and just used the plunger instead.
However, I did use it this weekend with the two roasts I did in the last week. I had done a roast of Peru Ceja de Selva Estate and El Salvadore Chaparrastique. As well as blend of this and the El Salvador bean. Yesterday, I was game enough to just run the SO of the Peru bean through and was yet again blown away by the coffee I got out of this little machine! Smooth as and probably the best Ive had yet out of the Bellman. Closest yet Ive had to tasting like an espresso without that syrupy mouth feel. I let a small amount into my new Terra espresso cup and whether it was the cup that made the coffee seem like an espresso, I dont know! It sure was as good as one. Smooth, no acidity and nice on my palate. No bitterness at all. This morning I brewed up the blend and got the same smooth taste in my coffee again. I think that these beans seem to lend themselves quite well to this method of brewing, either that or they just suit my tastes! ;D
Anyway...Id still like the tamper for this, if only to just speed up the process a little but for me, I am enjoying my ownership of the Bellman. I dont have the pressure gauge model either and Id consider upgrading to that one to make the process easier as well as I am finding that I am not sure when to open the valve and that it is a little bit of guess work there.
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
Hello there,
you said there is a clear silicon seal on the basket? Because on the machines I ship this seal is orange coloured.
You can dissasemble the coffee valve with a thin spanner or adjustable wrench. If you look at it you can see two flat edges underneath the black knob part. You can undo it and check the internal seals.
Lettuce snow how it goes... ;-)
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
The brew basket has the original clear silicone seal, I just checked. What else could it be? ...Looking at the valve for opening the coffee spout, it looks like there is a nut underneath. Should I try to open that with a wrench? Then, I could see if there is some kind of broken or missing gasket underneath the valve. Hmm.Originally posted by 17233530303D373F540 link=1246339682/61#61 date=1317002583I am wondering if the machine needs new seals. I think it may have missing gaskets. I am sure one is missing for the brew basket, possibly elsewhere.
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
Hi there! I bought my hubby a Bellman, and I tried it out with just water at first. It seems to have a problem. The water spluttered out of the coffee spout, even when I tightened the coffee valve knob. So, I got 8 ounces of boiling water through the coffee spout while the valve was closed.
I am wondering if the machine needs new seals. I think it may have missing gaskets. I am sure one is missing for the brew basket, possibly elsewhere. I am thinking to buy the 5- piece replacement set of gaskets, sold here : http://www.fantes.com/bellman-parts.html
Will new gaskets solve this problem? Or, maybe it needs the coffee valve gasket replaced?
Also, can I open the coffee spout valve entirely so that I can view the spout? Is there a trick to doing that?
Also, I tried making froth with whole, organic milk, even though the water was spluttering out the closed coffee spout. I am wondering if there is a trick to making perfect froth with the Bellman..
I hope yall have some great ideas for making this machine work.
Cheers,
WalkinD.
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Re: Belman Stove Top Coffee Maker
it seems to vary greatly from bean to bean and roast to roast. I have had beans peak after a few days and start to decline rapidly and other that seemed to get better and better after 10 days (beans rarely last longer than that in my household).
The problem with buying from a roaster is that often you cant tell when the beans were roasted... but the advantage is the expertise and blending... I have access to two excellent roasters and I do buy beans from them to test against my own roasts as a benchmark to work towards... but I wouldnt give up home roasting for anything... I enjoy my ever growing bean stash too much 8-)
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