Using a Balance Brewer
Channel: CoffeeGeek
Date: 2019-07-13

How to brew coffee with the world's first automatic coffee maker.

This is actually a modern take on the 1850s-designed balance brewer. The original models (you can still buy replicas today) used a counterweight for it's automated feature. This model uses internal springs to handle the weight of the water kettle on the right side. As the kettle gets lighter, the springs decompress, lifting the kettle up until the base can clear a spring-loaded cap for the alcohol burner.

As explained in the video, the brewer's gasket is a bit soft and doesn't fit super tight, but I like it this way, because it prolongs the extraction process, taking longer than normal to draw the brewed coffee over from the glass brewer side to the serving kettle side.