Making Coffee on a Woodcook stove
 

We use a wood cookstove for cooking etc. For the life of me I cannot make a decent pot of coffee on this thing. It's either to strong or too weak. I need help guys. How full do I fill it, how much coffee. I think it is an eight cup pot. We bought it at Kmart. Thanks for all of your input.

What kind of a pot?

Do you always use the same kind/grind of coffee? I don't, so each time that I open a new package, I have to figure out how many scoops to use....either I get tea-like coffee, or I boing off the walls for a few hours...but after one or two test potfuls, I have it down pat.

It's the kind that has the plastic basket inside for the coffee grounds and has a glass knob to see it brewing.

We like french roast but I don't always buy the same brand. Coffee is really getting expensive.

It doesn't really matter what kind of coffeepot you use...I have a $200 dollar (it was a crazy gift) machine, but I usually just pop a filter into a plasic flowerpot (the kind with holes at the bottom, and balance it over a teapot, then pour water in....pour boiling water in very slowly in dribs and drabs.

Shelly :)
If you are using a perk coffee maker make sure the water is fresh & COLD. I use a well rounded 1/3 cup of ground coffee to about 6-8 cups of water.
Set the pot on the stove on the hot side.

When it starts to perk hard, move it over to the right.

You want it to gently perk for about 8 min. that would be about 10 perks or bubbles inside the glass top thing every min.
After 8 min. take the pot off the stove and let it "rest" for 5 min. This way the grounds settle. Remove grounds basket and put back on stove where it will stay hot -warm.


All that said, I have had a very hard time getting coffee to perk on a cook stove first thing in the morning! The fire has to be very hot -hot enough to boil water, and on my stove that can take up to an hour, sometimes longer.
I need my coffee pretty much first thing and don't like to wait. I found a small 4 cup electric perk pot at the Salvation Army Thrift store and I will use that most mornings. If I was to go off grid....I guess I'd just have to learn to do without my coffee first thing in the morning :help:
Good luck.

veme

When we are camping, we use a french press for coffee. The coffee turned out to be so good, we now use it at home most all the time now.

I have a Polish friend that puts a spoonful of coffee right into a cup, pours boiling water over, waits a bit, then stirs. The grounds sink to the bottom of the cup.

when im camping i make cowboy coffee.. just dump a bunch of grounds in a pot and boil...

on the woodstove i use three scoops of coffee per pot and let it sit a while on the stove to "almost" get to boilin , then i finish it off on the propane stove...

i warm and reheat on the woodstove

Bring it to a full perk and let it perk for 10 minutes. Take it off the heat or move it to the warming trivit(if you have one). LOnger and the coffee is tar, shorter and it is coloured water.

You have a perkolator, guess others have told you how to use one. If you like boiled coffee, great. Personally I prefer an old fashion dripolator (mine is stainless steel Revereware one, though I still have an old aluminum one for camping, etc). You put your coffee in the grounds basket, Put on the part that you pour water in, pour the boiling water in and voila, it slowly drips down through the coffee grounds and you have coffee. Can then put the pot over on edge of warm woodstove to keep it warm if you want. I personally dont like coffee that lingers on the heat. I'd rather let it get cold and then nuke a cup of it at a time. I swore I wasnt going to buy another microwave and well I didnt. Friend was throwing out an old but very clean Toshiba cause it was "too big" for their current needs. I mean the thing works perfect, so I have a "coffee nuker" again.

Start with COLD water. We'll often go out and pump water right out of the well instead of using the kitchen water (different wells).

We use a copper bottom Reverware percolator and I buy coarse ground coffee or whole bean and we grind them coarsly. You don't need the coffee that's made for automatic drip coffee makers. We buy our coarse ground coffee at Tim Horton's. You might not have one in your area, but I bet any Canadian people know where I talking. :)

It's set over the hottest part of the wood stove and when it starts to perk we start timing 7-8 minutes, then move it over to a warm area on the stove top. We let it sit there for just a couple minutes to drain out of the basket. We were letting it perk for 10 minutes, but found that 7-8 minutes makes it mellower.

And I'd get rid of anything plastic.

I remember when you could buy different grinds (pre-ground & canned) at the store. I think there were maybe three, regular, percolator and (?). I wondering if the grind you are using is too fine?

We make Swedish Egg Coffee on the campfire and sometimes on the indoor stove too. Here's how we do it.
Boil water in your big granitewear coffee pot.
While your waiting for the water to boil, mix the coffee grounds with about a teaspoon of water and an entire egg (with or without shell, it's up to you). When the water boils, dump the coffee/egg mixture into the pot. Boil this for about 10 minutes....watch out so it doesn't boil over!

When done, quickly dump one cup of ice cold water into the pot....this will settle the grounds. Enjoy!

This is how I make coffe every morning. It is strong so if you want weaker, just adjust for it.
I an old blue enamel ware coffe pot.
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil
While waiting, put 1/4 cup of coffe grounds in another pot. ( I use another old coffee pot)
Pour most of the boiling water into the pot with the coffee grounds, and put the rest back on with the burner on low to keep it hot.
After a few minutes, stir the coffee mixture and then drizzle 1 cup of cold water over it.
Let it set for a couple more minutes and then carefully pour it into the hot pot. Stop before you get to the grounds.

This makes excellent full flavored coffee. I make it strong because I am the only one who is drinking it and it is 4am. When making for company, I use the same amount of grounds and 8 cups of water (plus the 1 cold cup).

?=drip! Dripolators have been around a long time, a lot longer than the plastic modern automated electric version. Not sure what "regular" was intended for unless it meant use either way, drip or perc. Oh there was a third "vacuum coffee pot" though no special grind coffee for it that I am aware. I vaguely remember Mom had one that somebody had given them as a wedding gift, but dont really remember her or Dad ever using it. Mom didnt drink coffee and Dad had an ancient aluminum dripolator with a wood handle that he used for morning coffee. Vacuum pot may have been pain to wash or it didnt make as good a coffee as a dripolator, I dont know.

I have the drip pot like this also. Perfect coffee every time. I have the kettle on the woodstove all the time so I have got water at the ready. The only thing I do differently than Hermit is that I have a thermo that I preheat with the hot water from the kettle while the coffee is dripping and then empty and put the coffee in that. Keeps it plenty hot for as long as I would want to drink that particular pot of coffee.

I had a cheap pint stainless thermos that I used for some time, then somebody decided they needed it worse than me I guess. My big thermos is very efficient and will keep coffee hot all day if I dont use any. Once more than third of coffee is removed and thus replaced by room air in the thermos, coffee in thermos cools quickly no matter how quickly or tightly I replace the stopper. I just never got around to getting another pint stainless thermos. For hot liquids to be used throughout the day, two or three pint thermoses are better than one big thermos.

I agree.......several good pint ones would be best. I do have to nuke that last cup or two out of my big one, but not as long and thus not as harsh on the coffee. I think it get a slightly "off" taste to it if I nuke it too long. me picky?? :)

Thanks everyone! I'm a die hard coffee drinker so this does help.

Well talking about it, finally did it. Looked on ebay and won bid on new stainless pint thermos for 99cents plus $5 shipping. Cheapest deal I could find and about twice what I gave for my old one, but its also little fancier, even has a little padded carrier :rolleyes: . I never see the stainless ones show up at local thrift stores unless they look like somebody used one for a baseball. :viking: And those old glass ones are super fragile and bottle tends to come loose with age.

Alright CF

I've seen this mentioned before. It sounds disgusting! I'm gonna try it!

Meanwhile, I recommend the (French) Pressed Coffee.

Rick

I was always told to make coffee the same way everyday and then get used to drinking it that way. Well that works for me. Have a good day.