Imgonnatrythis

I've been sous viding for years but I always struggle with the darn bags floating. I've tried spoons (what a joke, does nothing for me), magnets, clips. It doesn't matter if I'm cooking three pounds of meat or one little vegetable, my bags always want to float up at least enough that some portion of my cook isn't fully submerged. Others report success with these techniques, and I can usually rig something after several minutes of fussing but it's an ugly ordeal every time. What am I doing wrong? Any good videos of a technique that really works?

Just an update on my travels with the Pipamoka portable siphon-style brewer.
I recently forgot my mini coffee scale (17.5g seems about the sweet spot for this device) but since my Q2 grinder maxes out around 20g, it's not a difficult eye-ball job. By packing the grinder into the pipamoka it makes for a very tight little package:

This is everything I need minus the beans. Unlike my aeropress, this brews into itself - an insulated travel mug. Dosing is also aided by the grounds puck that you basically fill maximally. I'll still probably bring my scale if I remember next time, but no panics if the batteries run out.

I haven't had any regrets since switching from the aeropress. I will comment that if throwing this in a carry-on, it could get flagged by TSA. Twice now they've done a bag search for not being able to identify what this is.

Congrats to Vito the pug! 2024 National dog show USA winner!

Friendly reminder the AKC standard is animal cruelty though. Look for breeders that go against the brachycephalic standard and breed for healthier snouts.

Need to talk about coffee stuff today guys. Gotta keep my mind off the news as much as I can.

I still use my chemex for washed multicup brews. I think it excels at this, and I love the asthetic. I have a handmade wool cozy for it and a 3d printed lid to keep these larger brews warm though and while the cozy is protective, I do worry about breaking this fragile brewer.

It seems like the Miir directly addresses the thermal and fragility concerns and still allows use of the chemex filters. Seems hard to argue with that.

Other than nostalgia and maybe not wanting to spend a cool $80 right now, any reason to hold on to the Chemex?

It's always eaten at me when I see someone taking a photo of a parking lot sign or some trivial piece of information, saving megabytes of data for a couple of bytes worth of data. However, I find myself guilty of doing this sort of nonsense sometimes as well now. I don't want these photos getting synced to my photo cloud, and I'd prefer it if they were much smaller, lower res photos anyway. Is there a decent app I can open that I can quickly take default low res photos with and keep them separately stored locally without integrating to my photo gallery? Preferably FOSS of course.

I had never really thought about using an immersion brewer as a pure pour-over device but just had a mind blowing honey process Ethiopian, and I noticed barista was brewing it in a Hario switch with the switch open the whole time. Tasted as good as a v60 brew to me. I've been wanting to try immersion brewing for a while. I get the sense this forum and many others lean more strongly towards the clever dripper. I imagine that device could also be kept open and used as a pour-over. Do you think an open Hario switch basically IS a v60? That sounds like the ultimate multi-Tasker to me. Am I missing something here? Any thoughts on the perceived lean toward clever? I've ruled out the plastic version and would be looking at glass clever vs switch.

Picture driving home after picking up a 12oz bag from a local roaster I haven't tried before. The entire car smells gloriously of Carmel and peach. The aroma is powerful and invigorating.

Pan to Me only thinking, "damn that is some piss poor packaging"

I usually prefer to just store beans in oem bag with a good bag clip. I've tried other containers and feel like it's typically no better or worse. Going to throw a ziplock around this one.

Any other favorite storage methods?

I'd like to experiment with a drip assist tool. Currently looking at Melodrip vs Hario v60 drip assist. The Hario is much cheaper, and I like the idea of not having to tie up both hands. Of note, I have been using less of my Chemex and more of the Orea big boy for multicup brews. It looks close, but I think the Hario drip assist might fit on big boy without falling in. Do you all think that these drip assists will have a bigger or smaller impact on these bigger multicup brews? Is channeling a real concern with the Hario and a bigger brew bed? What if I just rotate it between pours? How much are you adjusting grind size for these?