In our week seven lab, our group began assembling our brewer with the new, heat and pressure safe materials. Ethan began fitting the vinyl tubing around the funnel for a secure fit; Ben drilled a hole through the rubber stopper for a secure transport of the water and coffee. Once the brewer was assembled, we began preliminary testing. From our first test, we used hot water for our water source. This posed as a problem given the hot plate was not set to a temperature that was significantly higher than the boiling point of water. The water cooled, and the pressure did not build up. Additionally, the seal between the tubing and the rubber stopping has slight leakage. In a second test, hot water was placed on a hot plate that was set to 280 degrees Celsius to account for heat transfer through the Pyrex flask. Ben secured the seal on the rubber stopper with hot glue (other methods of securing the stopper will be tested later).This brew served as our first functional initial brew, and
Notes and Suggestions from this brew are documented under the Brew Notes tab.
Pictured:
Ethan and Ben set up the design for the initial testing of the new brewer (above).
Angie, Ben, and Ethan watch as the hot water begins to travel through the tubing (left).
The product of our first extraction (bottom).
