Lo-tek coffee vacuum siphon brewer

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By Gareth Branwyn
Posted 2009/06/19 @ 12:18 pm
Category General

Inspired by John Park’s Florence Siphon Brewer article in MAKE, Volume 17, Boris Legradic of Switzerland made this “cruder” version, mostly out of scrounged parts. In email, he says: “…it adds a certain je ne sais quoi with the potential for burning your flat down.”

Bare-bones Vacuum Coffee

In the Maker Shed

BeagleBoard BeagleBone Black

Makey Makey Standard Kit

Arduino Uno Rev 3 (Make SMD Version)

BrushBots

6 Responses to Lo-tek coffee vacuum siphon brewer

Bob Darlington on June 19th, 2009 at 1:30 pm said:

It is really bad practice to use lab ware as kitchen ware, and it’s just plain stupid to use it in the kitchen if it was ever used in a lab.

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- Boris Legradic on June 19th, 2009 at 2:36 pm said:
  
  Bob, I know you mean well, but trust me when I say I know what I am doing. I know what has been in that glassware, and it’s nothing I’ll regret putting in my morning coffee!
  
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John Park on June 19th, 2009 at 2:10 pm said:

Boris, I love the aesthetic of it! Much more MacGuyver than mine!

Bob, I know what you mean, I’ve heard it from many people. You’ve got to be REALLY careful that you are starting with brand new glassware, and I also see that point that you don’t want people becoming careless about ingesting things from labware.

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- Bob Darlington on June 19th, 2009 at 3:05 pm said:
  
  As a young chemistry major, I knew a few people that would use beakers for beverages -at least until the death of one of our colleagues. Multiple organ transplants, chelation therapy, and prayer did not help heavy metal poisoning from lead and mercury compounds. NEVER use stuff from out of lab, even a nutrition lab!
  
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vivi on June 20th, 2009 at 7:29 am said:

What’s the advantage of this method over the standard gravity method ? I assumed the vacuum would be used to force the liquid through the coffee and filter, but it looks like it’s only used to suck coffee from the puddle inside the filter …

Also, he mentions that glassware has been banned from his lab because it’s too dangerous (how ?). I wonder what they’re using instead.

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- Boris Legradic on June 22nd, 2009 at 12:35 am said:
  
  Hey vivi,
  
  in answer to your questions:
  
  We are now using stainless steel in the lab – glassware was considered too dangerous because it might break. Don’t worry, I don’t get it either, but that’s safety officers for you. Maybe it’s because we are physicists, and only chemists can handle glass safely?
  
  Vacuum siphons have the advantage that the coffee is brewed at near-perfect temperature, just below boiling. But mainly I like to do it that way because it’s cool
  
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