Pour over rate in grams/sec - is 2.5g/sec standard?

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
dsc106
Posts: 546
Joined: 4 years ago

#1: Post by dsc106 »

So I recently got the new 2021 Acaia pearl with flow rate indicator, and on my first pour I realized I had been pouring much faster than the Pearl recommends. I think I'd been doing my pour overs closer to 11.5g/sec, and moving to the Pearl's recommended 2.5g-6.5g range was MUCH slower for me, especially if targeting the lower 2.5g/sec.

I wanted to know, is this slow pour rate what most people are using? Are these recommendations correct, or is slow pour rates a technique? If in fact I should be pouring much slower, I am now curious to see how such a slow trickle of a pour rate impacts my brews (V60, Kalita, etc.)

travis_rh
Posts: 84
Joined: 4 years ago

#2: Post by travis_rh »

Check out Jonathan Gagné's work on this subject. Here's a link to a quick infographic on Instagram that might help. I don't personally measure the flow rate when I pour, but do try to ensure that I'm not hearing splashing sounds.

Advertisement
dsc106 (original poster)
Posts: 546
Joined: 4 years ago

#3: Post by dsc106 (original poster) »

That's a super helpful illustration! Thanks!

So, I think I'd still been pouring too quick - even if not splattering, which may have been causing clogging and slow draw downs then?

Looks like targeting around 6.5g/sec (which is one of the key markers on the acaia pearl) is probably a good flow rate, then, so long as I'm as high as I can be without splattering?

Ejquin
Posts: 155
Joined: 6 years ago

#4: Post by Ejquin »

yeah that's a good thing to aim for

Mbb
Posts: 465
Joined: 6 years ago

#5: Post by Mbb »

Why wouldn't you do what..... Tastes best...... To you?

I'm usually but brewing about 29 g / 480 g.... With the target time of about 3 minutes.... Which does work out to be something like 2.6 g /s. But I honestly can't tell the difference of that finishes in 2 minutes or 3 minutes. So it obviously isn't that important

DamianWarS
Posts: 1379
Joined: 4 years ago

#6: Post by DamianWarS »

dsc106 wrote:So I recently got the new 2021 Acaia pearl with flow rate indicator, and on my first pour I realized I had been pouring much faster than the Pearl recommends. I think I'd been doing my pour overs closer to 11.5g/sec, and moving to the Pearl's recommended 2.5g-6.5g range was MUCH slower for me, especially if targeting the lower 2.5g/sec.

I wanted to know, is this slow pour rate what most people are using? Are these recommendations correct, or is slow pour rates a technique? If in fact I should be pouring much slower, I am now curious to see how such a slow trickle of a pour rate impacts my brews (V60, Kalita, etc.)
I have the same scale and I was surprised at how slow you had to pour to hit it's sweet spot. I think one issue with pour rate is it's not the whole story as already brought up here from Gagne his work shows that pouring is not one-dimensional and so scales like the Acaia can only measure one aspect. He has a more in-depth blog about the subject that you might want to check out and it matches what his book says.

The goldilocks pour needs to match the flow rate with the pour height. because of the physics of fluid dynamics involved the water will naturally start to break up once it hits a certain point, it's just at this breakup point (if I understand Gagne's blog) where it's perfect for agitation but if you go higher/lower it will be too much or too little agitation and if it's a full-on laminar flow it will drill a hole in the slurry. Each kettle will be slightly different with this balance and kettles with wide mouth openings will break up quicker and kettles with narrow openings the water stays laminar for longer. so wide mouth kettles need to be closer to the surface and narrow mouth kettles need to be further away. You need to measure the right height for your kettle while pouring at a consistent rate that aligns with your flow rate goals (what Acaia says or some other standard) so that the agitation is not too deep but also not so little that there is no agitation.