Coffee Upgrade; Long Overdue

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

skilletlicker

Head Chef
Joined
Aug 28, 2005
Messages
2,270
Location
Memphis, TN
For the past six or seven years, I've been brewing store-bought ground coffee in a 4-cup Black & Decker drip machine. But ended up with a pound of whole roasted beans. Could have "ground" them in the spice grinder but decided to get a new manual burr grinder.
Hario Ceramic Coffee Mill.jpg
Might as well replace the B&D so bought this french press to go with it.
Mueller Coffee.jpg
Used to roast my own beans. Talked about it last year here and 13 years ago here. Can't really do the "cowboy roast" anymore for lack of ventilation and convenient outdoor access but this roaster is calling my name.
FreshRoast SR540.jpg
Any thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Roasting your own beans sounds interesting.

I've been buying whole bean coffee from a local roaster, and there is a new roaster opening soon just down the street. The owner is originally from Medellin, Colombia. He's starting off as a one man show, and I'm looking forward to trying his offerings. The coffee roaster is a hundred feet away from a fish market, so the summertime "aromas" ought to be interesting!

A couple of years ago I upgraded from a Mr. Coffee drip coffee maker to a Bonavita. The more precise temperature control of the Bonavita made a significant improvement in the coffee. Never tried a French press, though. I grind the beans in an inexpensive Krups grinder, which does a pretty good job as long as I shake it a few times while grinding.
 
Tenspeed, is your Krups a whirley grinder or a burr grinder? The whirleys can be pretty good, but not for French press. With a French press, the grains need to be uniform largish. Anything too fine goes right through the filter and into your cup. Guess how I know.
 
I do like fresh ground coffee steeped in a French press. I can't see myself roasting my own beans, especially with so many good roasted beans available to me locally.

Living alone (psycho-doodle does not drink coffee), a small French press is a good alternative to my K-Cup machine for special occasions. Whole beans store better than ground coffee, too.

That small burr grinder looks interesting. I'll have to check that out.

CD
 
Yesterday morning the Amazon refund for the Skerton Pro Manual Coffee mill was credited and a couple of hours later, an unbroken one was delivered. :huh: Based on the phone conversation with customer service and the email confirming it, I already ordered the Baratza electric grinder which will be delivered later today.

I'm thinking it is okay to keep them both, but open to a different opinion on that matter.

Used the Skerton this morning. I'm impressed with its quality, ease of use, and the taste of the coffee, brewed in the old drip machine, half with the last of the Kroger grind and half with Sprouts roasted organic Guatemalan beans ground in the Skerton. Tomorrow I'll try out the Baratza and the French Press.

New roaster calls are getting louder.

Caseydog wrote: That small burr grinder looks interesting. I'll have to check that out.
CD, The original of that grinder was well-reviewed and long-praised by "fine grind folk," but French Press users, needing a much coarser grind, complained that the burrs wobbled in the larger hole required. The "plus" version helped some and the "Pro" helped a lot, maybe even solved it entirely. The grind adjustment mechanism is much improved also. Anyway, that's what I'd read and now, having used it once, I'm glad to have spent a little extra on the Pro, :ermm: even if it was fully refunded.
 
Last edited:
To update this saga, after a few days use, I'm 99 and 9/10ths happy with the little manual Skerton PRO coffee mill. It will grind enough beans for a liter of coffee in a couple of minutes, less time than it takes an electric kettle to boil the water. I can keep it in the cupboard when not in use. Asked Amazon to bill me for it again and sent back the larger and more expensive Baratza for a refund unopened. The new kettle and French Press fit easily in the same counter-space as the old 4-cup drip machine.

Will almost certainly order the Fresh Roast roaster mentioned above before my one-pound bag of roasted beans gets used up. It will go where the bigger grinder would have gone.
 
Having been informed by PM that at least one person is considering buying the Skerton grinder in part because of my comments I feel compelled to explain the small reservation I had about it. I'd hate to read someone blaming me for not warning them. The adjusting nut would loosen during the grind and toward the end, I would get bean pieces that were much too big. I was confident that the problem could be solved with either a nylon nut or small o-ring on the threads below the adjusting nut, although this would have made grind adjustments considerably less convenient.

But getting ready to write this post, I discovered the problem was that the adjusting nut was installed upside down. :wacko: Even though I don't remember removing it entirely I have to admit it seems more likely that I did it than a person or robot at the factory who screws that nut on all day long. When installed correctly, there is a click every 1/8 revolution making adjustments even easier to keep track of. Before and after pictures follow, in that order. Note: In the second picture you can also see the page in the owners manual warning of this very thing. :doh:
IMG_20190807_211414851.jpg
IMG_20190807_212039061.jpg
 
SL, that should make things easier, now that you figured out about the adjustment nut. That's pretty funny.
 
Was about to spend the refund on the Baratza grinder plus $50 more on a Fresh Roast SR540.

In a happy accident, got to talking to a good old country boy who works in the shipping department at Coffeebeancorral.com. He literally knows their products inside and out. Told me the SR540 heating element lifespan is two or three years, maybe longer since I'd only be using it a couple of times per week. Furthermore, it can't be replaced or repaired. Manufacturer Warranty is 1-year. Well, I'm thinking it ought to last the rest of my life, not an unreasonable expectation at my age but likely to be more than three years. And a decent drum roaster costs more than I'm willing to spend.

I've got my teeth into home roasting again so decided to go back to the old cowboy roast. Didn't expect the newfangled machine to improve on the quality I used to get anyway, but might have to jump through some hoops around BTU's, smoke detectors, ventilation, and chaff removal. No insurmountable obstacles though.

I know home-roasting is a topic with a limited appeal so won't bore folks with further progress reports in this arena.
 
I know home-roasting is a topic with a limited appeal so won't bore folks with further progress reports in this arena.

While I'm not into roasting my own, I have seen others discuss same..

There could be more interest than you might think.. Give it a shot..

Lord knows that some strange topics are discussed here.. ;):LOL:

Ross
 
Last edited:
While I'm not into roasting my own, I have seen others discuss same..

There could be more interest than you might think.. Give it a shot..

Lord knows that some strange topics are discussed here.. ;):LOL:

Ross

I think coffee roasting deserves its own thread.
 
Well, thanks, folks. But really there isn't at the moment anybody to talk to.
In 2017 Rparrny was interested in the subject and there was a conversation among several members including Cooking Goddess. I happily participated although I wasn't home-roasting at that time.

In 2006 there was an active thread for a while because a guy called KellyM joined the forum and he was interested, but he and I were the only ones roasting at that time.

I'm pretty sure that over the years I took part in a couple more threads of this type but I couldn't find them. Maybe they got lost with an old username, different Email account, or lost password.

So if somebody else comes along and starts a conversation, very likely I'll join in like I've always done. But I'm not interested in Home-Roast Evangelism or posting a series of soliloquies on the subject.

Guess I will add this. Tuesday FedEx will deliver 15 half-pound single bean sample bags from The Carribean, Central, and South America, Indonesia, and Africa. Expect to get a lot of entertainment out of deciding which I like; which I don't; and learning the best roast points for my favorites. The keepers I'll buy in two to five-pound bags and continue to sample new ones. It won't cost very much more than Folgers and I know from past experience that it is something I enjoy and adds to the quality of life. If anybody wants to do similar stuff, start a thread. We'll talk.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom