Good day folks, was wondering what digital scales do you use and where do you purchase them?

Many sites point to this one (American Weigh Scales AMW-SC-2KG Digital Pocket Scale) and i like the look and portability of it.

Unfortunately, the shipping is a bomb.
Hopefully fellow coffee lovers here could lend me a hand.

(Looking for ≥1,000g/1kg x 0.1 or 0.01 scale)

This post has been edited by AzrinRain: Feb 10 2016, 12:29 PM

Thanks for the speedy reply!
Yeah, it's quite small, melikes!
But the platform size is about 7x7cm, i'm guessing the readout will be obscured by the Aeropress and/or my 8cm mug.
How often do you feel the need to re-calibrate the scale?

Nice! Will consider getting this then.
As for the calibration weight - perhaps the thread users could pool in some money and have monthly meets to calibrate our scales, haha!
At least i can learn from other more experienced AP users than me.

Also, out of curiosity, do you use the supplied AP tote bag for travel, or do you use something else?

Was fortunate to receive mine second-hand from Carousell.
Very nice of the seller to include the Able Disk filter, but i feel it doesn't taste as great as using paper filters (since the grind is coarser than normal).
Ordered a filter from Kohi Labs, since it's said to taste and perform similar to or better than paper filters.

Have been looking for a great way to carry the entire setup around (beans, Mini Mill, AP, mug, filters, etc)

For my budget, hand grinders work great!
Looking to upgrade to a Porlex or an EvenGrind in the near future.

This post has been edited by AzrinRain: Feb 10 2016, 01:45 PM

Hahaha nonono i am nowhere near being a connoisseur!
The Able Disk i received is not the fine version, and i found out that means you need your grind to be a few clicks (on the Mini Mill) coarser, thus leading to under-extraction.
Finer grinds on that disk make me use more force on the AP, and some sediments will end up in your cup of coffee, not to mention having some stuck inside the Able Disk.

I would love to try some of what you guys/gals make someday!

A wood case sounds awesome as it is luxurious, but i commute to and from work daily.
At the moment, i'm re-purposing a camera bag to keep all my tools in, but a pouch will do wonders when travelling out of the country.

HAHAHAHA I know, right?
Though, i may have a hack for that.
I just fill in whatever amount i want to my grinder, and attach the top part (that hexagonal shaped nut thingy) to an electric drill.
Press the trigger lightly, and you should be done. Haha!

@ymeng85,
I love the AP because i don't like brewing the beans for too long.
I do my best to keep my brews under 2:00. Been working hard to keep the timing consistent, then i'll fine-tune the grind (more/less water, higher/lower temp, etc) to get to the beans' "sweet spot", so to speak.
Thus far, i'm happy with the paper filter, let's hope the filter i ordered works as great!

The electric drill thing was just a hypothesis i came up with. I believe it is quite doable, provided you go slow. You don't want go too fast and end up shattering the burr or melting the plastic body.
With that being said, i'm currently happy with cranking it with my hands.
Though, i try to crank as quickly and as carefully as i could, since beans can lose flavor really quick upon grinding.

What's your normal click setting for your grinder?
I'm pretty happy with 7-8 from closed position on the Mini Mill.

@ymeng85,

My brew recipe is as follows (ideas taken from Lukas Zahradnik's winning brew):
- 15g beans, pour 200g water in mug and let it sit for about 2-3 mins (i normally grind my beans right after i pour the water). Place filter in cap and rinse with hot water separately.
- inverted AP, pour just enough water to cover the grounds, let bloom for 30s
- 15s turbulent wiggle
- fill the rest of the water in
- put cap on and press for 45s.

1:30 brew time.
The water is ideally 80º, but i don't have a thermometer at the moment.


But of course, this is not to be taken as a gospel of sorts.
Different beans and equipment (even the water you use!) can affect the final taste.
Tweak as you'd like (more bean, hotter water, coarser grind, etc etc)

This post has been edited by AzrinRain: Feb 12 2016, 01:12 PM

Good day!
Does anyone know where i could buy a good digital thermometer?
Budget is RM50.
Brick-and-mortar preferred over online.

Looking at Lazada and found this Sanwood thermometer, but dang it takes 3-4 weeks of shipping!

Sweeet, thanks Low!
Will give it a shot tomorrow.
Is the thermometer reliable?
I mean, is it consistently accurate?

That's interesting, i keep reading that RTD (and some thermistor) types are said to perform better than thermocouple.

This post has been edited by AzrinRain: Feb 15 2016, 08:09 AM

I may be a coffee geek, but i don't think i'm capable of more than that, hahaha!

Hold up, do you mean whole beans?
If that's the case, anywhere between three to five weeks, depending on the roast.
Lighter roasts tend to last longer than darker ones.

Pro tip: Never keep them in the fridge. The huge difference in temperature will cause the beans to lose flavour faster.
Once you get your beans and open the pack, seal them tight, keep in an airtight container in a cool, dry and dark place.



What's the budget like, if you don't mind us asking?
I'm no good at recommendations, but there are some folks in this thread selling off their pre-loved machines at good prices.

Sign me up, please!
Though i'm a press kinda guy, my main interest is to see the differences between the grinding gear you guys have.

(I wonder who'll be able to host us..)

This post has been edited by AzrinRain: Feb 17 2016, 05:00 PM

Haha, i remembered an old adage that went "you'll actually spend more on the grinder than the coffee machine".
I think they're not kidding!

I agree!
It's like the audiophile industry.
You could have five-figure headphones, but if the music source, recording and encoding aren't good, the finished product will feel lacking .

If you're already at the 11-12k range, that's pretty much an EK-43..

I love my Bodum.
Purchased one from SB a few years back and that was my first foray into brewing!
http://www.lazada.com.my/bodum-kenya-coffee-8164141.html

(IMHO with a French Press, the grind matters more than the press itself.)

This post has been edited by AzrinRain: Feb 26 2016, 12:43 AM

Please excuse my limited knowledge on this, but with grinders, you're probably paying more for consistency over time, convenience and quality (again, emphasis on "probably").

Take a Hario grinder as a base.
An Aeropress may require a grind at click 6 or 7.
But the floating burr design means somewhat inconsistent grinds, and the levels of adjustment may not be as larger a range as a higher tier machine.
I mean, what if the recipe calls for click 6.5? Or even 6.75?

The real question here is, how would we know if a machine we buy could *actually* produce consistent grinds?
Companies can boast all they want, but if we don't have a particle spectrometer on hand, we may never know..

It's really down to those who've had a great deal of time testing these machines (baristas, reviewers, etc).
As @ymeng85 mentioned, find one that suits your needs, try to get as much info possible about maybe 3 grinders you like, choose by elimination.

Don't forget to factor in serviceability as well.
I made a mistake of buying something back then which only had support in the Europe, was a nightmare getting parts.

But seriously, if money is of no objection, EK43 haha!

You could try Bean Shipper
From there, you could reverse-search roasters who are near you to get fresh(er) beans and you could ask them about what their roasts taste like.
Been buying beans there, roast dates are usually within 1-2 days, delivery by PosLaju.

Hope it helps!

This post has been edited by AzrinRain: Mar 1 2016, 11:57 PM

As for me, it's simply keeping them in a cool, dry and dark place. And also buying 250gm x2 packs a month.

I believe temperature changes don't go well with the beans.
But it's really anyone's preference, as long as one does not grind the whole bag prior to long-term storage (newbie mistake i made years ago).