Stagg X pour-over review, experience - Page 5

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
Acavia (original poster)
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#41: Post by Acavia (original poster) »

zefkir wrote:Would it be possible to take a picture? I don't quite understand what you mean.
Take any square sheet of paper and fold it evenly once, then repeat to form a folded square 1/4 the size of the original square. That is how Chemex filters are in their normal form. I unfold them to one sheet then add to Stagg.

Acavia (original poster)
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#42: Post by Acavia (original poster) »

max wrote:I have tried smooshing different kinds of filters. In terms of best 'fit' (combination of wall contact and no clogging), Melitta filters do by far the best. They have fewer folds than Kalita style filters and still have a flat bottom, unlike V60 style filters. I smoosh a flat bottom outside the Stagg before I smoosh the sides inside.

There are plenty of Melitta style filters on the market, so one should be able to find the 'right' paper.
The #4 or a cup-like Kalita Wave style?

zefkir
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#43: Post by zefkir »

Acavia wrote:Take any square sheet of paper and fold it evenly once, then repeat to form a folded square 1/4 the size of the original square. That is how Chemex filters are in their normal form. I unfold them to one sheet then add to Stagg.
So it's smushing the filter in the brewer instead of using a specific folding pattern like the Sibarist fast?

https://sibarist.coffee/product/flat-fa ... ee-filter/

Acavia (original poster)
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#44: Post by Acavia (original poster) replying to zefkir »

Yes, just a large square squashed into Stagg X

zefkir
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#45: Post by zefkir replying to Acavia »

I see, I've done it before in my espro bloom, I thought there was something neater.

Btw, it's easier if you wet the Chemex first, make a ball and squeeze, and then smush the filter inside. It's basically the principle as crumpling parchment paper to make it fit better in a baking dish.

max
Posts: 376
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#46: Post by max »

Acavia wrote:The #4 or a cup-like Kalita Wave style?
I find the Melitta #4 do smoosh better than Kalita Wave style, if that's what you're asking.

Acavia (original poster)
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#47: Post by Acavia (original poster) »

mikelipino wrote:
If you have a 3d printer, it's worth a go!

I've also designed a swirl base because I tend to swirl and use larger-mouthed carafes.
image

I found as a substitute: A plastic bag. I have no 3D printer, so while watching your video, I thought about what items I have that might work as a smoosher. It dawned on me that a plastic bag might work. I just tested it; it works great. I assume it fully presses the filter against every bit of of the Stagg X surface since the plastic bag is completely flexible conforming to all the nooks of the Stagg X.

I took a Kalita 185 filter, put it into my Stagg X, ran a faucet flow over all its sides, wetting the whole filter. Then I took a plastic bag, opened it to scoop it full of air, then shut it twisting it to hold the air making the bag a balloon. Then I force one of its corners into the Stagg X and filter, pushing the ballooned bag into the Stagg X as I twisted it around. It pushed all the pleats perfectly into the walls - every pleat was even and firm against the walls. Then to test if it clogs the Stagg X drain holes, I filled it with water to test the flow - streams out all the holes, so it passed the clogging, plus I will put a Flair dispersion screen in it when I really brew.

Thanks for the idea. I will trying brewing with that set-up tomorrow.

mikelipino
Posts: 257
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#48: Post by mikelipino »

That's great! Yeah we're both drawing from the work that Jonathan Gagne originally did. He manually smoothed pleats with his fingers and also used a dispersion screen and saw measurable increases to TDS and EY. Part of the issue however was consistency as varying placement of the filter led to more variation in drawdown time and extraction. He also used a dispersion screen, then modded it to include bumps due to clogging problems, and also felt it added variation. Lastly is speed, as all this can take time to set up. My goal in designing the Smoosher was to address those concerns because if solved, we'd have a really convenient way to approach no bypass brewing.

Hopefully with your setup you can also address some of these consistency and QOL issues. In either case it's an interesting way to brew for sure. It's my daily morning driver, and my new dilemma is I have a coffee surplus at month end from doing only 1:20 brews. Champagne problems

Acavia (original poster)
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#49: Post by Acavia (original poster) »



Kalita Wave filter before running water over it:





Pushed and twisted ballooned plastic bag into it



Smooshed filter

Acavia (original poster)
Posts: 689
Joined: 4 years ago

#50: Post by Acavia (original poster) »

mikelipino wrote:That's great! Yeah we're both drawing from the work that Jonathan Gagne originally did. He manually smoothed pleats with his fingers and also used a dispersion screen and saw measurable increases to TDS and EY. Part of the issue however was consistency as varying placement of the filter led to more variation in drawdown time and extraction. He also used a dispersion screen, then modded it to include bumps due to clogging problems, and also felt it added variation. Lastly is speed, as all this can take time to set up. My goal in designing the Smoosher was to address those concerns because if solved, we'd have a really convenient way to approach no bypass brewing.

Hopefully with your setup you can also address some of these consistency and QOL issues. In either case it's an interesting way to brew for sure. It's my daily morning driver, and my new dilemma is I have a coffee surplus at month end from doing only 1:20 brews. Champagne problems
I saw your video on the extraction from both methods, and you stated you will do a comparison of four or so filters for Stagg X. Are you still doing a filter comparison video?