Old Hippie's "Hack-A-Vac" Pot

[Old Hippie]

One of my favourite cartoons is one Gary Larson did in The Far Side of a bearded biker standing proudly in his kitchen with a "Java" tatoo and a t-shirt reading "Born to be Wired." The cartoon is titled, "Carl 'Javahead' Jones and his chopped espresso maker." Posting it here would violate copyright, but it's easy to find it so go have a peek. I'll wait...

I've always wanted to be that guy.

For decades I've been peering at dusty shelves in coffee shops ogling the occasional siphon/vacuum pot. I heard they were great, but really only hipster coffee obsessives would bother with them. But still, there was some allure and I've always wondered whether the coffee from one was, as many seem to think, all that and a packet of crisps.

Recent discussion here got me thinking about it again. OK...I can admire the vacuum pots that look like a lab experiment. I can totally get the level of nuance involved in the decision to use whichever of several styles of burners to heat the water. But dang, those vintage Sunbeam Coffeemasters would do what I want: a cup of coffee with just enough fiddling. Problem is, they need a gasket between the upper and lower pot that hasn't been made for the significant part of a century. In fact, Sunbeam Coffeemasters are so vintage that even the modern replacement gaskets made by a private entrepreneur are no longer made.

Working out how to get a gasket started looking like way more effort than I needed. So, as Hunter S. Thompson noted, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Time for some lateral thinking.

Our brother @StlEd was kind enough to share some pics of his disassembled Coffeemaster, and that was the key insight! Don't blame Ed for what I did with what I learned...bear with me:

So a vacuum pot has a lower and upper chamber. There is a "dip tube" that extends into the lower chamber almost to the bottom. This is so as the water heats up and creates steam above the water, the pressure will force water up the dip tube and into the upper chamber where it mixes with the coffee grounds. A bit of heat is kept on the bottom of the pot to keep generating just enough steam pressure to hold the water/coffee mix in the upper chamber once the brew cycle is going. Then the pot is set off the heat and the vacuum created in the cooling lower chamber sucks the coffee down through the grounds and filter and into the lower chamber from which it is served. Now let's look at another device for making coffee.

The "moka pot" or stovetop "espresso" maker (yes, I know it's not real espresso) has an upper and lower chamber, a dip tube going near the bottom of the lower chamber, and, above the area where the coffee is loaded it also has a "riser tube" that extends up into the upper chamber and prevents the coffee from going back down into the lower chamber. Raise your hand if you can already see where this is going!

I wanted a nice stainless steel vacuum pot. I determined to chop a moka pot to get it. Just like choppin' a motorcycle, man. Start the bike and start taking things off until the engine stops. Put that one thing back on and you've got a chopper. After obsessing about wanton destruction for a couple of weeks, today I pumped my courage up to the sticking point and headed out to the shop. The plan was to cut out the bottom of the upper chamber, leaving a sufficient rim to support the upper filter and to seal the gasket.

I can report that Bialetti New Venus moka pots are the absolute bomb. Thick stainless steel! But I have a power jigsaw. After a few minutes of whining motors, screaming steel and light smoke the deed was done. Cleaned it up a little, took it inside and washed it, and then made myself a cup of coffee. Now I see what the shoutin's about. Medium heat until the water begins to rise. Stir the coffee. Once the water is up and steam is bubbling through it, turn down the heat a little. Stir the coffee and let it steep a minute. Set the pot off the heat and sssslllluuuuurrrrpppp it pulls the coffee back down through the grounds. A little awkward to have to take the top part off and pour out of the lower chamber, but it works.

Love it when a plan comes together.

I used a 10 "cup" moka pot, which holds pretty near 500 ml. That's my usual "cup" of coffee. I used only the amount of coffee I use to make my usual cup. If I'd messed it up I'd think I wasted a fair bit of money (but learned something), however it isn't messed up so I got a nice vacuum pot that I can toss in the kit box and take camping or use at home -- for about a quarter to a third of what a "for really" vacuum pot would cost me.

And of course I love it because I made it.

Maybe I can find somebody to laser-engrave some flames on the side of it...

O.H.

 

[Old Hippie]

And some pictorial evidence:



"Bottomless coffee" -- still needing a little attention from the Dremel.



With the riser tube gone now you can see the top of the upper filter! A perfect place to put a couple scoops of coffee...



From the outside it's a "sleeper." It's what's under the hood that counts.

O.H.

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

@Old Hippie

I loved reading your DIY vacuum pot post, as well as your lovely photo's post. When you have the time, and you are doing it for yourself, this is something that you can really make work. You took something vintage, and you turned it into a useful treasure, and I commend you. Plus it serves you well far better actually using the thing, then letting it sit on a shelf or china cabinet looking good for posterity. I am happy to know that it makes delicious coffee for you, and that this thing can actually be used while camping as well.

I am a mechanic by trade, and this is something we don't typically do with vintage machines in our field. We simply choose not to work on vintage tractors and the like, because you can't get parts for them. And the time and money it would require to make the parts ourselves, would negate the cost in the end, as the customer would have to fork over thousands by the time the job is done. Having said that, if you worked on your own 70yo machine, thats a different story.

So continue on fine sir, and have many cups of delicious coffee brewed and served to you, by your awesome DIY repair job, of your vacuum siphon brewer!

 

[Old Hippie]

You took something vintage, and you turned it into a useful treasure, and I commend you.

Actually, I bought it brand spankin' new. One of my goals was to have something I can still get parts for, though in fact the only part I'll need to replace occasionally is the silicone gasket. But I accept your commendation; thank you!

I am a mechanic by trade, and this is something we don't typically do with vintage machines in our field. We simply choose not to work on vintage tractors and the like, because you can't get parts for them. And the time and money it would require to make the parts ourselves, would negate the cost in the end, as the customer would have to fork over thousands by the time the job is done. Having said that, if you worked on your own 70yo machine, thats a different story.

Been there. A neighbour pulled up and dumped an old TEA-20 tractor in the yard. "It was running, then it wasn't. Yours now." Challenge accepted! Then we pulled the pan and found chunks. We pulled the head and found two busted pistons. Shims had fallen out of the bearings. Mains were toast. I don't need that kind of yard art, so off to the crusher it went after we salvaged things like fenders and hood, gas tank and radiator that other folks needed for their own projects.

So continue on fine sir, and have many cups of delicious coffee brewed and served to you, by your awesome DIY repair job, of your vacuum siphon brewer!

I shall!

O.H.

 

[Ad Astra]

Great write-up! Keep on truckin', O.H.!

Wife still uses traditional moka pot for our Cuban coffee (Bustelo, La Llave, Pilon) sometimes, but I swear it tastes better in the Breville Cafe Roma.

Love- and old enough to remember - that cool 60's art ... Loved RF.

AA

 

[Old Hippie]

My mother, who adored the masters, just could not wrap her head around my youthful fascination with R. Crumb and Rat Fink.

Major Dad, who'd seen a lot of nose art and pinups during the war, got it but thought Crumb and RF were both a little tame.

Edit: A blown hemi in a Nova? Wot da heck is wrong with a bowtie 427?

O.H.