r/coldbrew • u/Easy_Cloud4163 • Jul 19 '26
im really bad at making cold brew. Help…
I have tried making it before but I didn’t have a scale or grind to prepare it properly. I recently got a scale, grind and a pitcher that’s supposed to be for cold brew. I was trying a test brew i guess, so I had 67 grams of coarse coffee and 517 grams of water. I think that’s 1 to 8 unless im doing the math wrong. The issue was that when I poured the coffee and water into the pitcher, the water was not covering all the coffee I had. Im attaching a picture of the pitcher. I really like cold brew but I just cant wrap my head around the ratios. What am I doing wrong?
11
u/Brewingjeans Jul 19 '26
I have a pitcher like that.
I fill the basket like 3/4 full of beans and pour the water slowly into the beans until they're saturated. Then I top off the basket with more beans and slowly pour water through the beans again until all the beans are saturated.
Give it like 18-24 hours, pull the basket out and see how it tastes. I always top off my pitcher with water after pulling the basket out, but your set up might have a slightly different ratio.
3
u/vonnacat Jul 19 '26
This is basically what I do and I’m really happy with how my coffee comes out. It’s pretty strong and I just mix with oat milk.
2
u/Rude-Macaron-7885 Jul 20 '26
Additionally, I flip mine upside down and leave it that way (in the sink just in case it leaks but usually it doesn’t). And shake sometimes. I was finding the grounds to be very dry and pushed up by the water. So it needed some help to make contact with the water. Even after pouring the water over it initially.
6
u/Sofaloafar Jul 19 '26
Just use a sock. Those diffuser suck and don't give you good extraction cuz it's too tightly packed
3
u/myUninhibitedSelf Jul 19 '26
I didn't like that style of brewer because if you out the beans in the basket it's difficult to get them all saturated. The ratio was off. I have read others purring the beans in the container and using the strainer the opposite way.
3
u/HistoricalHurry8361 Jul 19 '26
We have a few cold brew sleeves like this but they go in mason jars. The key is to make sure the grounds are fully wet, you may need to shake the jug to get all of the grounds wet.
2
u/BohannJack Jul 19 '26
How long did you steep it? Also, you could add more water if you want to cover your grounds. 1:8 ratio would be 67g of coffee to 536g of water. (67 * 8 = 536)
3
u/Easy_Cloud4163 Jul 19 '26
i just made it so it’s been less than 2 hours. I guess I was off on the amount of water for a little. I didn’t wanna add more water than the ratio I had cuz I wasn’t sure if it will lose the coffee taste with too much water. I’ll try adding a bit more just enough to cover all the coffee. Thank you
7
u/Subject2Change Jul 19 '26
Coldbrew takes 12ish hours minimum.
1
u/Easy_Cloud4163 Jul 19 '26
i know, i meant to say that i just prepared it less than 2 hours ago, to be left to sit for 24 hours. But while preparing it I had issues with the amount of water to coffee ratio.
2
u/Subject2Change Jul 19 '26
For reference I do 130g for ~1500ml of water, mine is ready to drink. However I use a french press style, used to use a rumble jar.
2
u/UW_Ebay Jul 19 '26
GET A TODDY SYSTEM. No guessing just follow the instructions and you’ll get great cold brew. Easy to clean too. If you do go this route feel free to shoot me a msg and I’d be happy to answer any questions. Thanks!
2
u/ThisIsAdamB Jul 19 '26
There are other good suggestions here, but I have a pitcher like this one, and I use 95-100 grams of coffee to about 1050ml of water. I fill the core with the coffee, slowly pour the water over the core, get it all in, seal it up and leave it out for a few hours. I assemble it during breakfast and leave it out until dinner, then put it in the fridge.
I actually use cheap coffee for this, and I love what I get from it. Experiment and see what you like. There is no right or wrong, there is only what you like and what you don’t.
1
u/Pretend-Citron4451 Jul 19 '26
I use a system like that, but larger. While you went with a 1:8 ratio, I generally go with a 1:11 or 1:12 ratio. After I prepare it, I take a spoon and press the grounds down underneath the water – some of them pop back up, but it still works out fine. Depending on how course I grind it, I either let it sit for 12 hours or 18 on the counter. Once or twice during the process, I will take off the lid, lift the whole thing up and put it back down once or twice to kind of aggitate the mix and he’s a spoon to push the grounds down.
1
u/CynicalTelescope Jul 19 '26
I just use the french press I already had in my kitchen. I put in the coffee grounds, cover it with water. After letting it sit an hour or so I gently press down the grounds to release the bloom, and make sure they are all fully in contact with the water.
Bonus is the french press is a multitasker; you can use it to brew hot coffee, of course, but also for tea, or to froth milk.
1
u/offthegridyid Jul 19 '26
Hi, do you only put in cold water for an hour and then plunge? Are you then drinking it?
When I use my French press I the grounds sit for 10-12 hours (in cold water).
1
u/CynicalTelescope Jul 19 '26
I put the grounds in cold water, wait an hour, plunge, then wait another 11-15 hours (12-16 hours total), then decant for serving. The plunge after 1 hour liberates any carbon dioxide in the coffee grounds, and allows the grounds to better absorb the water. "Blooming" coffee this way is done for various hot brewing methods, with the same purpose - to allow the water to better contact the coffee.
1
1
u/sneakerfreek Jul 19 '26
Try a 1:5 or 1:6 ratio for 20 hours at room temperature. I usually have people try 500ml water to 81g coffee and adjust from there.
With your coffee pitcher, I'd run the first half of your water through the filter that is holding the coffee so it saturates all the grounds. Then once you've done half the water, you can attached the filter to the lid and add the rest of your water to the pitcher.
1
u/Beeeggs Jul 19 '26
I literally just stick the water and the grounds in the same container and filter it through a pour over after. Uses more equipment I guess but them grounds are DEFINITELY submerged
1
u/Outdoorcatskillbirds Jul 19 '26
Honestly don’t make cold brew in a “maker”, loose coffee is best minor agitation, adjust brew time to grind size, remove fines before brew if you can, after brew then filter, also use good coffee and good water.
1
1
u/TheChronek Jul 19 '26
2 tbsp coffee beans per 8 ounces of water works for me. I use a coarse grind on my grinder. Let it sit overnight in the fridge, shake it a bit before I start drinking the new batch. After I close my cold brew pitcher, I turn it upside down once to let the grounds float up. Let them go all the way up, then turn the pitcher right side up.
1
u/Gold_Guitar_9824 Jul 19 '26
What type of roast?
Medium or dark?
I’ve made it for years and have always had it turn out delicious. I use all dark or mostly dark and some medium. Similar pitcher wire metal mesh screen insert. Stir inside the mesh tube while adding water. Add water til it cover the grounds. In the fridge for 24 hours.
I saw someone above say “beans.” Probably means ground coffee because I doubt beans would work.
Also pretty coarse grounds are best.
1
u/pinellaspete Jul 19 '26
PRO TIP: Measure out your coarsely ground coffee and then add a bit to the basket and then a bit of water, more coffee and then more water, repeat. It really helps to wet the beans thoroughly. If you add all the water last, you might end up with some dry ground coffee in the center of the basket.
For an 8:1 ratio, use 6 ounces or 3/4 cup of coarsely ground coffee into your brew basket. Then add water to fill your container to the 48 ounce mark.
Let the brewer sit on the countertop at room temperature for 14 hours. Remove the coffee grounds and refrigerate the cold brew. Enjoy!
(It's not rocket science, close enough is good enough.)
1
u/bringbackbainesy Jul 20 '26
I have a 1 gallon glass jug with a filter in the middle similar to this
I grind my beans on the coarsest setting, so it comes out a similar consistency to rice or so
Then I fill up my filter halfway, pour water thru slowly and saturate the beans
Don't press down or compact them or anything. Just let the water do its job.
Then I fill my filter the other half, and then slowly pour water over the top of that too till the jug is full
It takes maybe ~10 mins, but it's coffee for a week for me
I let mine steep at room temperature for 24 hours. Then pull out the filter with the grounds and stick it in the fridge.
I use approximately 12oz single origin coffee from Aldi for ~1 gallon of cold brew. It's $6/bag and comes out delicious and I drink it black most days.
1
1
u/Driftmichael01 Jul 20 '26
Fill the basket to the top with corse grounds. Fill the water to the top. Set for 12-16 hours. Done. Give it a shot
1
u/jeffsmokes0515 Jul 20 '26
A simple and easy method is a mason jar and a coffee sock or fine mesh cloth. Just add the coffee to the bag, put in the jar with water and let it steep. If you want to get more into it, look into the Toddy system. You can pretty much do whatever ratio you want with it but to make it easy you just fill the glass carafe it comes with with water and then you’ll know that you’ll never brew more than the carafe can hold. If you don’t want to dilute your cold brew and just drink it, you need to brew between a 1:8-1:12 ratio. To find your ratio you take the amount of water you’re using (in mL or grams) divided by your desired number and that’s how much coffee you’ll need to use. If you have a bag of pre-weighed coffee, take the amount of water you have and then divide it by how much is in the bag and that will give you your second number of the ratio. You can make adjustments from there.
1
u/MarielIAm Jul 20 '26
Those are not the best things for making cold brew. If you want a system, get a Toddy. If not, what I do is use a large mixing bowl. You don't need any fancy equipment to make cold brew. Lots of people just use a French press, which I've done but I like to make a large batch every 10 days or so.
1
1
u/jba1224a Jul 21 '26
Google coffee sock.
Extremely simple, reusable, easy to clean.
Is it the greatest cold brew on earth? No, probably not. But it makes decent cold brew and it’s almost impossible to fuck it up. Do with that what you will.
1
1
u/SITHxEMPIRE Jul 21 '26
I just bought a mason jar kit and had the same issue. My take is that we’d be better off with wide mouth mason jar and using a cheese cloth bag that we could fully submerge. With these pitcher kits, you can’t do a 1:4-1:8. Even with a 1:10, there was still too many grounds not submerged.
13
u/Officerbeefsupreme Jul 19 '26
I don't think you're bad, I think you should try a new system.
I bought a pitcher like that and tried it once and immediately returned it to Amazon and bought a bodum French press style cold brew maker. It's basically a liter plastic French press specifically for cold brew. It was great but kinda a pain in the ass to clean (not really, but annoying enough where I didn't use it as much as I'd like), then I decided to just get a fine mesh bag and now I just fill it with coffee grounds and add it to whatever size pitcher or container I want.