We already told you why using a scale to brew coffee will make your life easier. But how to actually get started? Here’s an easy way to brew on a Chemex using a scale.
Once you get yourself a good gram scale, it’s time to talk about brew ratios! For most brewing methods, the ratios of coffee and water will usually be between the industry standards of 15:1 and 17:1. For the sake of ease, let’s use 16:1. That means that for every 16 grams of water, we will use 1 gram of coffee.
Let’s say you want to make a 10 ounce cup of coffee in your Chemex. We will use the ratio of 16:1, which means there will be 320 grams of water for our 20g of coffee. Now, let the scale do the work for you!
1. Tare or “zero out” your scale and weigh 20g of coffee.
2. Place your Chemex on the scale and tare it so that the scale reads zero.
3. Pour 20g of coffee into the Chemex filter.
4. Pour 320g of water over the coffee, evenly wetting the grounds.
5. Wait until brew is done and enjoy!
Want a stronger cup? Use more coffee (a 15:1 ratio). Too Strong? Use less coffee (a 17:1 ratio).
Need a scale? We like a gram scale that can support to at least 2 kilos and that is durable and large enough to hold your Chemex, French Press, etc. We love the Hario Drip Scale – tested and loved by coffee nerds everywhere!
GET THE GEAR
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3 comments
I’m a bit stumped. How are you converting fluid ounces to grams? Most of the online calculators are calculating 10 fluid ounces into 295 (or 295.7) grams.
Mr. Coffee Guy,
That’s a great observation, and 10 oz. of coffee does weigh around 295 or 300 grams. But in this blog I believe the goal is to brew 10 oz. of coffee. So You’ve got to start with a little more water than that because some of the water will still be in the wet grounds as you drop them into your compost or trash.
VA Coffee Guy,
According to my calculations 1 US fluid oz is equivalent to about 29.6 ml. The trick to this is that 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram. This lets you measure water weight and volume really easily. So if you’re making 10 oz of coffee then (10 ounces) x (29.6 ml per ounce) = 296 ml of water. Then divide that 296 ml / 16 to get 18.5 g of ground coffee to start with.