COLD BREWED COFFEE

The WONDERFUL thing about COLD BREWED COFFEE is it is quite less acidic than your normal cup of joe.
cold-water brewing process extracts the natural, flavors of coffee. The result: A bold, super-smooth taste that's easier on the stomach. From a comparison report from Intertek Caleb Brett Process Chemistry Laboratory it was shown that cold brew is 2.45 to 4.47 times less acidic than coffee brewed the normal way. See Pdf (ICB_Toddy) that was downloaded from http://www.toddycafe.com.
There are MANY different ways I have either heard of or found listed on the internet, of ways to cold brew coffee. Through a few trials myself I have come up with what I find to be the most consistent and easiest way to do so. So what you will find here is the way I do it and how I do it with a purchased system and my own little trick using old coffee canisters.
The pictures show a Ronco Brew System. Which I found Amazon for under $5.00 (lucky). But it is very similar to the Toddy T2N Cold Brew System that I was told of when I was introduced to Cold Brewed Coffee. Each system works the basic same way and to be honest with you… they are nothing but containers with holes and stoppers in the bottom and a place to place a rather thick felt filter into.
There is no AWESOME SCIENCE to the systems, as you will see when I use a coffee canister I have sitting around the house.
Toddy Has their instructions on a page of their site selling their system. http://www.toddycafe.com/customerservice/instructions.php and let me tell you this. If you don’t have all your ducks in a row, the moon is full and the egg standing on its end… You will make a nice MESS while trying to brew coffee the way they describe… After the 3rd time of cleaning out my filter and pot, I said there has to be a better way! And I have found what I believe to be one of the EASIEST WAYS!
So what you need is a Cold Brew system, either purchased or make one for your self. OR a coffee can and rubber bands…

Step 1: Step 1

Grind your coffee more on the course side. The Ronco system just says “Use your favorite Coffee” I say use coffee beans and grind them! This gives you the fullest flavor I have found! As you see in the picture I do not use a coffee grinder ( I have one, but this is THE FASEST way and it WORKS!) I use my Black-N-Decker Blender. I place 2 cups of FRESH beans in it and turn it on low. Pulsing ever now and then to get the beans moving down faster.

Step 2: Step 2

Prepare your Brew System. Place the Stopper in the bottom of your pot. Then Place the felt filter in the inside of your system as shown.

Step 3: Step 3

Now here is where I differ in my way from almost everyone else’s way.
Place a coffee filter on the counter and flatten it out, then dampen it so it lays flat and this also allows the brewing to start faster and helps the filter stay where you want it. (you will see)

Step 4: Step 4

Pour your coffee grounds on the filter making sure to keep it as close to the center as you can. If you have grounds on the edge it will make it rather hard to pick it up and place it in the system. Then if you used your blender like I did, fill it about half way with water and place the lid on! And turn on the blender to “CLEAN” out the coffee grounds that were left in it. Fold over the filter as best you can to make it easier to pick up. And place it EASIELY on top of the water in your system, letting it float there. This will give you time to spread the edges out over the sides some. Now use the water from your “CLEANED” blender to pour over the grounds, soaking them. Be careful to NOT OVER FLOW your system!

Step 5: Step 5

Now place the lid on the system and press down tightly. Then fold up on top of the lid the filter. Reason, it acts like a wick in an oil lamp and if you have it just sticking out it will leach out coffee all over your counter or refrigerator…

Step 6: Step 6

Now for the Coffee Canister/CAN way, it is much less work. Because there is no stopper nor filter at the bottom. For the one in the picture I only used 1 cup / 8 oz of beans instead of my 2 cup / 16 oz in the Cold Brew System. As you can see in the pictures I did use a rubberband to hold the filter on the can while I poured the water over the grounds. Also, I didn’t put water in the can first but just poured it over the grounds, this way I was sure of getting ALL THE GROUNDS WET and just the right amount of water in the canister without over flowing it!

Step 7: Step 7

Let them set for 12 or more hours… I let mine go for at least 12, the longer they sit the stronger the flavor is. I normally can’t wait much more than 12 hours though… ;)

Now when its time to reap your bennifits… its easy. On the BREW SYSTEMs, just pull the stopper out and set it on its craft. (as shown) and on the canister systems, just carefully open the lid, grab the filter making sure not to spill grounds in your brew and toss the filter and grounds in the trash. Now poor your self a WONDERFULLY FLAVORED CUP of coffee or cap it up and let it set until you need some.

Everyone like HIS/HER own strength in coffee so your first few cups you will need to test the waters as you may say. I was taught to use a 1 to 2 ratio of 1 coffee concentrate to 2 parts water. But I now drink it 2 parts coffee to 1 water, just a bit more on the TRUCKERS SIDE of coffee if you know what I mean. The WONDERFUL thing is, is you are getting FLAVOR and not that bitter acidic cup of crud that you get in convenient stores.

You will LOVE THIS, I KNOW YOU WILL!
I would LOVE to hear back from everyone to see what they think of COLD BREWING and if you like, my instructable itself.