Five Senses Coffee Blog

Synesso’s new electronics

This photo is the prototype of Synesso’s completely redesigned electronics box. The current relay driver board with separate display board will be replaced by a CPU board that will connect to the SSRs and solenoids through individual relay driver boards (via optically isolated outputs) . The operator interface is a four line LCD display that is used for changing the configurable settings and displaying temperatures and error logs etc.

All the machine’s functions and features are now fully controlled by the software program, which allows the machine to be incredibly versatile and configurable. New features and functions are added by simply updating the machine’s program via the inbuilt USB port.

Some of the features of the software being developed include: reduced temperature  power saving (sleep) mode, shot timers, two stage pre-infusion timers, error and event logging,  shot counters,  hot water spout timer,  auto back flushing, safety time out on pumps and valves and much more.

The fully operational  prototype will be at the SCAA in Anahiem next week, so drop by if you are going to be there and have a close up look at the next generation Synesso.     ~ Richard

Uber Boiler update

Mark Chandler takes the Uber for a sipin.

We’ve now had a good week to play with our new toy and I’m pleased to say that the Uber Boiler more than lives up to our hopes and expectations. The newly updated version 1.5 software makes the unit extremely stable and easy to operate. I will give you a brief summary of its theory of operation.

When first turned on, the Uber will automatically fill and commence warming up until the “prime temp” is reached. The prime temp is measured in the main tank and can be configured by entering a Service Menu within the software. The factory default setting seems to be 91 deg C.  The prime temp is basically the temperature the water vessel will hold while waiting to be used. When the barista is ready to make some coffee he/she switches the machine into Boost mode by pressing and holding the boost button until the desired temperature is displayed in “Boost Temp”. The Uber will now indicate “Boost Heating” while the heater quickly raises the temperature of the water tank to your set temp. While in boost mode, a recirculation pump is running moving water in a loop from the tank up through the font and back into the tank, evenly distributing the temperature throughout the system.  Unlike the prime temp, the boost temp is measured by a sensor near the base of the font, closer to the water outlet.

Once the boost temp is reached, the Uber Boiler’s electronic controller will maintain a stable temperature while the coffees are being made.  When I measured the temperature at the water outlet on the font, I found it to be within .2 of a deg C of the Boost temperature displayed.

When coffee making is finished, the barista places the unit back into prime mode allowing the water tank to be  refilled, reheated and ready for the next customer.

Next Generation Synesso

102_4554, originally uploaded by Five Senses Coffee.

Here are the first photos of the prototype for the new generation of Synesso coffee machine. There are numerous external and internal design changes under development and will be unveiled at the SCAA in two weeks. In this photo you can see the new front panel shape and the piezoelectric timed hot water switch. The grate design on the cup and drip trays is also new. In days to come I will let you know more about these and other features such as the new processor controlled electronics and the pressure profiling system. We will be at booth 2632 at the SCAA so make sure you drop in and say hello.

It’s Über time!

The Über Boiler

I have just installed our first Marco Über Boiler in a stainless steel bench which will serve as a mobile cart for our planned Über Boiler roadshow commencing mid way through next month. After cutting the required 410 x 195 mm hole in the newly purchased bench the unit drops straight in and holds itself  in place under its own weight.  My first observation is that the brushed metal finish of the base unit and the polished stainless steel water font look fantastic.  The production version is much more narrow than the prototype and has a combined display/controller rather than the separate temperature and weight displays.

Connection to the filtered water supply is though a 350kPa pressure reducer.  Attach a 15 Amp plug,  put the drain hose into a bucket,  position the Über grinder along side and we are ready to roll. Over next week or so we will be putting the Über Boiler through its paces using a number of different coffees, temperatures and baristi.  Stay tuned!

Tags: Chemex, Clever Coffee Dripper, Five Senses, Plunger, Über, Über Australia, Über Boiler, Über Project

Synesso Sabre with one Hydra Group!

Today I am upgrading a 3 group Synesso Sabre to have a single semi automatic group and two fully automatic groups. Sort of a Hydra / Sabre hybrid, you could say; it will definitely have the best of both worlds.   This particular machine is owned by well known Adelaide roaster and cafe owner, Mark Barun (The Coffee Barun!).

The first task is to split the group being converted from the water inlet manifold that supplies the flow meters at the point where it connects to its heat exchange pre heating tube. We then build a new water supply assembly which includes a check valve, brew gauge, expansion valve and hose connection. This machine is already fitted with the dual supply hose modification, so the Hydra group will only need a single braided hose.  The Sabre side pump will look after the steam boiler filling.

Once the manual group top has been fitted we can commence the wiring up of the group switches, brewing motor relay and pump motor. As a bonus, I will be fitting a pre-infusion timer also, maybe I should just go ahead and throw in some steak knives…

~rich

Fine tuning the drip brewer

There is nothing more frustrating than having everything at your fingertips…nearly. This is kind of how I felt this morning when I embarked on my mission to explore what results I get using different types of filters. Essentially, when it comes to coffee drippers there are seven main variables that impact on result in the cup. There are other variables which I think have a small effect but pale into relative insignificance if you can’t get control over the big ones.

For the purpose of testing the effect of using different filters in the drippers, the variables that needed to be consistent were:

• The origin used. Today it was Guatemala La Perla.
• The particle size of the grind through the lab grinder.
• The amount of coffee used. (40 grams)
• The steep time.
• The volume of water. (330ml)
• The water temperature grrrrrr the water temperature. Get my frustration!! Uber Boiler – wherefore art thou!! I can’t say that using a kettle gives us the best chance of controlling this variable excellently but by using a thermometer probe we were able (with quite a bit of effort) to get relative temperature repeatability in each of the drippers.

We used 3 test filters:

• An unbleached flat bottomed Melitta paper filter
• An non-chlorine oxygen whitened flat bottomed Melitta filter
• A swissgold gold filter.

Melitta claim that there is no difference other than visual between their unbleached (natural brown filter) and their oxygen whitened filter. We thought that this was worth putting to the test.

We ran the tests both yesterday and this morning. In both instances the tests were done blind to prevent prejudice being a factor in our evaluation and eventually our preferences. The differences were absolutely evident and the results that we achieved replicated in both tests. In our taste evaluations we also concealed the coffee so that we couldn’t be influenced by what we could see.

The result:
Visually: The two paper filters produced coffee with no suspended particulates. The coffee resulting from the gold filter was very muddy in appearance.
Taste: The flavour and character was evident in all of the cups but varied in intensity and clarity. The white filter produced a coffee that we felt had the greatest amount of clarity while the gold filter produced a coffee with an almost overt intensity – almost masking some of the subtleties we enjoyed in the coffee made with paper filters.
Mouthfeel: The gold filter resulted in a brew with much heavier palate weight than the two brews made with the paper filter. This isn’t surprising. It has been known for some time that paper filter prevents the movements of lipids (which include unsaturated long-chain fatty acids) into the cup.
Usabilty: The paper wins every time. I think that the effort to wash the gold filter properly after every brew would probably be disincentive enough for me not to bother with making myself a brew. The paper filter is 100% biodegradable so with a quick flick of the wrist the filter, complete with spent coffee, is in the compost bin. The swissgold filter costs close to $50 while $2 – $3 buys you about 40 paper filters. It probably means that paper filters might cost you more money in the long run but I think that once you throw cleaning time, detergents and water into the equation you might re-evaluate the real cost of choosing one type of filter over the other.

Summery:
Quote of the day from Richo *pointing* “that one tastes like coffee” then pointing again at another “that one is more like a meal”. We enjoyed the result of each filtration method but I think that it is fair to say that our taste preference was for the coffee brewed with the oxygen treated paper. The gold filter would produce a cup that in isolation would be something that most people would quite enjoy. However, when tasted alongside a cup brewed through paper there was no doubting that our preference was for the oxygen processed paper filter.

Baby Renegade

It’s here!

The Baby Renegade

It arrived yesterday afternoon. It isn’t plugged in so I can’t rave about how it transforms a humble green bean into a thing of beauty – but given its pedigree, we’re expecting amazing results. I’m not 100% sure, but I think that this little sample roaster is the only sample roaster in the world that can profile roast 500g of coffee.

The control panel

It’s brilliant because it gives us the opportunity to roast samples through a roast cycle that mimics what the larger roasting machines are doing. Now that totally rocks!

I’ll post our thoughts on the first roasts as soon as we have it commissioned. We’re pretty excited.

We’re finally in

I’ve arrived in Melbourne and rocked up to our fully functioning roastery. Feels good. The guys here are all pretty amped – Mikey appears to be growing in confidence and has nailed some great batches. Rich is planning to get our emissions under control within the next few weeks. Brad is here with me helping with the operational side of things.

Here are a few pics to give you an idea of what things look like – it’s early days at the moment – things will look even more settled in a month or so.