How do coffee percolators work? How does the water get forced up the tube?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “how do coffee percolators work“
How do coffee percolators work? How does the water get forced up the tube?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “how do coffee percolators work“
When water boils it has to go somewhere. But don’t use a percolator, use a Moccamaster and watch the water climb up the clear tube at 112 degrees, move sideways across a stainless steel wand to be dropped at 204 degrees over your coffee grounds for the perfect brew.
Thinking about it for a while, I’m sure that you would not want water going up the tube.
You need it to be hot, to get the wonders out of the ground coffee 8)
You COULD have high pressure forcing the water up, but to have the right temperature, you would want it to be steam instead.
It is best shown in the Bialetti ones, where there is no tube at bottom , but a concave one in the top.
The only way the water can escape, is to turn into steam and pass through the filter of coffee and up the tube.
Here it cools off ( condenses) and runs down the side as delicious coffee.
To force it up a tube in the bottom though – as steam – seems more challenging.
I think it would be impossible to move water up the lower tube, without a large amount of volume to push it.
So perhaps that is why it can only move through as steam.
Which means the dimensions of the tube is carefully considered, as a shallow tube most certainly would let water pass, whereas a wide one would not.
Hope that answered your question, and thanks for giving me something to think about. 8)
Have a nice day.
At the bottom of the tube is a very shallow funnel, with the wider part down against the bottom of the percolator. The heat from the stove or electric element boils some of the water, which is then directed up the tube by the funnel. The water is then replaced, is heated, and is forced up the tube – which is why the percolation isn’t continuous but occurs rhythmically.
Percolators are normally heated from beneath, so the water receives most of the energy there, where most steam is produced, rising in bubbles.
Percolators consist of a type of collector, which sits on the base of the container. This collector has a tube that pierces the collector, continues upward through a diffuser.
Once the water starts to boil, the collector directs the captured steam and water up the tube. The hot water then spills into the diffuser. The collector has a small opening near it’s base to allow more water to replace that sputtered out of tube top.