SCAA 2008
600 gallons of coffee stat!
FETCO was fortunate enough to sponsor Master Brewing for the SCAA show again this year. It truly is an honor. This year, we brewed about 600 gallons of coffee. Gold Cup.
All hail the Brew Master.
Brew Master Jim, a regional sales manager for FETCO, has this down to an art. Well, down to a scientific art. "We're going to hit Gold Cup outta the gate!", proclaimed Jim within minutes of arriving. Great. Confident Jim is here. Actually, I like Confident Jim. Jim adapts his persona to fit the situation and does so with an extremely good sense of humor. Although we have been doing this for years, we are brewing 12 gallons of coffee at a time and achieving Gold Cup isn't as easy as it may seem. The Cirqua system is the size of a small condo. The grind resembles mulch in consistency. My role is supportive. I nod a lot and look very serious because if we do not hit Gold Cup the first time around, Confident Jim can easily turn into Brooding Jim. Everyone is scared of Brooding Jim. Confident Jim is confident for a reason though. He has done this for several years. He has charts. He has excel sheets. He has a TDS meter. He has a Brew Master apron. It's go time.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
After measuring, weighing, brewing, sampling, testing, charting, and a few tears (mostly Jim's), we did hit Gold Cup in the first round. Every year I am in total awe of the technology of the equipment that can brew coffee like this. Every year I gain more respect (if that is even possible) for coffee growers, roasters, research and development, water filtration systems and people that just love a good cup of coffee. And, of course, every year enjoy learning from a Brew Master that can brew 600 gallons of coffee and make every cup count.
FETCO was fortunate enough to sponsor Master Brewing for the SCAA show again this year. It truly is an honor. This year, we brewed about 600 gallons of coffee. Gold Cup.
All hail the Brew Master.
Brew Master Jim, a regional sales manager for FETCO, has this down to an art. Well, down to a scientific art. "We're going to hit Gold Cup outta the gate!", proclaimed Jim within minutes of arriving. Great. Confident Jim is here. Actually, I like Confident Jim. Jim adapts his persona to fit the situation and does so with an extremely good sense of humor. Although we have been doing this for years, we are brewing 12 gallons of coffee at a time and achieving Gold Cup isn't as easy as it may seem. The Cirqua system is the size of a small condo. The grind resembles mulch in consistency. My role is supportive. I nod a lot and look very serious because if we do not hit Gold Cup the first time around, Confident Jim can easily turn into Brooding Jim. Everyone is scared of Brooding Jim. Confident Jim is confident for a reason though. He has done this for several years. He has charts. He has excel sheets. He has a TDS meter. He has a Brew Master apron. It's go time.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
After measuring, weighing, brewing, sampling, testing, charting, and a few tears (mostly Jim's), we did hit Gold Cup in the first round. Every year I am in total awe of the technology of the equipment that can brew coffee like this. Every year I gain more respect (if that is even possible) for coffee growers, roasters, research and development, water filtration systems and people that just love a good cup of coffee. And, of course, every year enjoy learning from a Brew Master that can brew 600 gallons of coffee and make every cup count.
Another prime example why we are the "ROCK STARS" of the coffee brewing industry. We know and understand brewing fundamentals that is why we are successful. Communicating our expertise when specifying and ordering equipment to customers is always a challenge. Many times I have arrived at a site to train and set up our brewers and find out that the brewer ordered was incorrect and should have been a smaller or larger brewer. My roasters routinely call me to ask my opinion on brewers based on the situation and this had led to ordering the right equipment. Using the site survey on the web site helps also (located under c-stores). What else can we do to help our customers order the correct equipment?
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TO BY-PASS OR NOT TO BY-PASS, for brewing coffee in quantities of 1 gallon or above?
In the past it was standard to use by-pass (water around the grounds)on larger brew quantities to control the overall strength of the beverage, the rise of the grounds in the filter basket and the overall flavor profile. This along with the size of the grind, the amount of water to grounds and the temperature of the water were your main controls.
With todays technology, using the FETCO Extractor line of brewers as an example, it may be possible to reach the coffees sought after results without the use of By-Pass. In this way we may be able to reach a more precise soluble solid content and overall flavor profile. By using the separation of brew time to water quantity to help achieve the rise of the grounds in the brew basket and the flavor profile. Pre-Wet by percentage gives us a huge advantage of being able to de-gas (CO2 as a by-product of the roasting process) in the brew basket prior to the actual brew cycle. This capability allows us another control of the rise of the grounds in the brew basket, while softening and preparing the grinds for more efficient extraction.
The FETCO Pre-Wet Delay timer allows 10 second adjustments and I have found this to be a very precise control for the overall body (mouth feel, viscosity) of the finished beverage and also allows adjustment to smooth out or remove the bite that sometimes occurs. To test this setting it is interesting to brew coffee with everything the same except changing the Pre-Wet Delay 10 to 20 seconds different.
My point of all this is a question: Is the use of By-Pass on todays brewers a habit from the past (we have always used by-pass on quantities of 1 gallon or more)?
It would seem to me that the automatic use of by-pass defeats the standards of coffee to water ratios set for todays "Specialty Coffees."
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The only times in the past that I saw bypass in use involved 6 gallon urns. Most operators I know avoided use of it fearing a dilution of the finished product. Used in very specific situations only - it is a good tool to solve a problem, not to improve coffee flavor.
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Fetco is an excelllent manufacturer of Coffee related Equipment. I want everyone to be aware that at the shows Cirqua brings a very large system to supply all the water for the exhibitors on the show floor. Without the correct water formula no one at the show could create the "Gold Cup Standard". Most of our water treatment equipment for coffee retailers are 18" x 24" profile. We only bring the "Condo" system because we need to produce more than 300 gallons every morning before the show.
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I'm new to brewing coffee. Our church brews about 9gallons each Sunday on a 2052e. Our brewer is set to 4% bypass and 5% prewet with a 1min prewet delay. We are switching from a South American coffee to a Rwandan coffee - I hear it has a bit of a different (stronger?) flavor/character. Any advice on some of these advanced settings? Or just trial and error?
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Hi Keith,
Please watch FETCO's video on "Dialing in Your Coffee Profile". I think you will find this very helpful to use as a guide for establishing the settings on your brewer. It is the second video on this web site page -- http://www.fetco.com/FETCO_tech.html
Hope this helps.
Please let us know if you were successful in setting the parameters resulting in a perfect cup of coffee. If not, we would be happy to help you directly.
Krista
FETCO, Sr. Marketing Director
ktelios@fetco.com
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Thanks. I'll let you know.
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