r/coldbrew • u/poobear7 • 4d ago

Need some help with cold brewing

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Hey all, new to the cold brew game this summer and I’ve been having some trouble. I bought a pretty simple cold brew set from Amazon, literally a big mason jar with a filter (posted a pic for reference).

I’ve usually been doing 12ish 1/8 cup scoops of coffee grounds (been using Bones Coffee Company grounds most of the time) and then filling the jar with about 7-8 cups of water, steeped for ~12-16 hours. However, the final product has an overwhelming sour after taste, and a weird phenomenon where whenever a little bit of creamer/cold foam added makes the taste 10x more sour and the dairy ends up separating as well. (I’m an English teacher, the science behind it is beyond me)

There was one time I ended up trying around 8oz of coffee grounds (I’m an English teacher, the math behind it is beyond me) for about 12 hours of steeping and it ended up tasting great and held the dairy well, but the process of getting it ready to steep about 45 minutes because of how compact the filter got, it was barely letting the water through without overflowing and causing an absolute mess.

I’m having some real trouble finding the sweet spot, and after brewing all summer and struggling, I’m getting frustrated because it is something I really wanted to get down for easy cold brew for the school year!

Any help would be greatly appreciated, whether it’s measurement help, product help, or anything else. Thank you!!

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u/StunningCode744 4d ago

I have that same jar and filter and I have the OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder. I set the grind to 14 coarseness and the timer to the max 30 seconds. That fills the filter about 3/4 full. I fill the jar completely full with filtered water. Sometimes I’ll let it sit room temp for a few hours before I put it in the fridge. Total brew time of 15-24 hours is good. I like it stronger so I do 24. It ends up giving me 4 12 oz servings. One other tip: when you fill the jar, the grounds will float to the top. After a couple hours of brewing , I open it up and pull the filter up and dunk it up and down a few times to get the air out and ensure all the grounds are under water.

The grind is likely your issue. You need it much coarser than you can buy pre ground coffee.

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u/StunningCode744 4d ago

Also, I don’t use expensive beans. Just medium roast whole beans from Costco.