Coffee Grinders and Travel

There are a number of fundamental truths about coffee.  One is “garbage in, garbage out.”  If  you start with crappy beans, it won’t matter how freshly roasted the beans are, nor will it matter what type of grinder is used.   Similarly, if you start with stale beans, grinding the beans doesn’t create fresh ground coffee.


How do you know that your coffee beans are fresh?  My rules of thumb, based upon twenty years of home roasting and five years of commercial roasting:  Raw coffee beans:  one to two years.  Beans with higher acidity (think brightness) tend to fade after a year  A low acid, big-bodied bean, like a traditional Sumatra, is good for a couple of years.

Roasted coffee beans:  one to two weeks.  Coffee is food, and taste will evolve over 14 days, but within acceptable limits.  Coffee beans are best used within a week after roasting.

Ground coffee:  Here, the rules vary, depending upon how fine the grind is (a fine grind is exposed to greater air surface area (oxidation).  In my coffee shop, I found that espresso needs to be “just ground.”  A few hours changes the extraction time.  A day can ruin espresso.  Coarser grinds are more forgiving.  Drip is generally acceptable for a weekend, and french press grind can go for 3-4 days.

Last week, we were headed out for five days to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  What would I do for grinding coffee?    Fortunately, I have the right tool for the job–a Zassenhaus Knee Grinder.

The knob to the left adjusts the grind from fine to coarse. The roasted beans are loaded into the compartment on the right.

The grinder is designed to be operated between the knees, while turning the handle in a circular motion.  When the beans have been processed, the grounds are collected in the drawer below.

In my opinion, Zassenhaus makes  the finest hand grinders in the world.  This one is vintage and acquired via Ebay years ago. The craftsmanship is incredible. No electricity required.

The Brew Hut

Our 16 foot Scamp now has a new name, courtesy of my wife Julia.  It shall be called the Brew Hut.  Last weekend, we hitched up the Brew Hut to the our Nissan Frontier and went on a two day adventure along the Mississippi River.

Day One:  

Our respite caregiver for our son Justin arrived at 9 a.m. on Friday morning.  Because our campsite wouldn’t be available until 3 p.m., we planned to hike most of this day at Wyalusing State Park, south of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where I had camped and hiked by myself earlier this year.

The two hour plus tow was my longest to-date, and there were some challenges.  The road, State Hwy 60, was curvy and hilly.  Plus, my newly installed driver’s side mirror extension extended the width of the truck, so that I needed to be more aware of the road’s center line. When we arrived at the state park, I couldn’t find a good place to park the truck/trailer.  All of the stalls that we saw were designed for a single vehicle.  No double vertical stalls.  We ended up driving down to the boat landing and parked in one of the truck/boat trailer stalls close to the Mississippi River.

Starting from the bottom of the bluffs, we hiked from the boat landing up the Sentinel Ridge Trail (1.6 miles), down the Old Immigrant Trail (2.6 miles), up the Old Wagon Trail (0.8 miles), and back down Sentinel Ridge (1.6 miles).

We were sweaty and tired, but the bugs were not as bad as we thought they might be.  From here, we continued south, eating a hearty lunch at a bar in Bagley, and towing the Brew Hut to Nelson Dewey State Park. At the top of the bluffs at the state park, we hiked several short trails (lots of mosquitoes), adding  another mile or so to the day’s total.  We then drove to the  Grant River Corp of Engineers (COE) Campground, just south of Potosi, Wisconsin.


Unhitching and setting up camp went smoothly.  We drove back into and stopped at a little winery to buy some wine, cheese, and crackers.   Back at the Brew Hut, we chowed down on our cheese, crackers and some strawberries we had purchased at a stand in Bagley.  It was hot, so we turned on the Brew Hut’s air conditioning system for the first time.  It worked fine, and cooled the trailer off to 72 degrees at the low setting.

We had been warned about the trains running close to the campground, day and night.  Julia and I both like the sound of trains, but have never spent the night so close to the tracks before.  When a train came through, the whistle rang loud and clear, and then the trailer and ground shook a bit  as the train roared past.  I slept ok; the air conditioner provided some white noise.  But a storm came through with lots of thunder and lightning.  Not the most restful night.

 Day Two:   

In the morning, I cooked pancakes (a Julia favorite) on the cast iron skillet inside the Brew Hut.  I brewed up some fresh roasted coffee with the cone filter and water just off-boil.

We did not discover any hiking trails near our campground, so we took off in the Nissan after breakfast for nearby Dubuque, Iowa, leaving the air conditioning on in the Brew Hut at the campground, so that it would be cool when we arrived back later.

In Dubuque, we found a hiking/biking trail along the Mississippi River between the casino and the industrial park. We walked about three miles round trip, and then drove a little further, finding a free parking spot a few blocks from downtown.  As we walked towards City Hall, we discovered a wonderful Saturday morning Farmer’s Market, spreading out several square blocks around the City Hall.  We walked up and down past the stalls, buying a few munchies and drinks here and there. During our stroll, we discovered a brew pub with a sour beer event beginning at 11 a.m.

As the Farmer’s market began winding down, we headed back to Jubeck New World Brewing for the special release of the barrel-aged Golden Sour, dry hopped with German Huell Melon Hops.

Julia mentioned to the brewer that I was a home brewer, and he immediately took me on a tour of the brew room next to the bar.  He was very cool, and it’s always fun to be around someone enthusiastic about his craft.  Some sour beers are over the top, but this sour was refreshing and delicious.

Feeling like we caught Dubuque on a really great day, we headed back across the bridge to our campground in Wisconsin.  That afternoon, we took it easy at the campground, watching the Mississippi River make its way south.

After using the campground showers, we drove into Potosi for a planned visit at the Potosi Brewery restaurant for dinner.  I had a Reuben sandwich and a Grapefruit Hefe beer, which is another wild/sour beer.  It was more sour than the Dubuque beer, but the wheat softened the overall taste.  I liked it, although I liked that morning’s beer better.

We had planned to stay for the scheduled music in the beer garden, but a passing rainstorm resulted in the event being canceled.  The rain stopped after a short time, but I guess it was too late to bring back the band.  By the time we arrived back at the campsite, the skies lightened, and the temperature dropped into the low 70’s–very pleasant and no air conditioning needed in the Brew Hut. In the cool night air, I slept like a baby–until the first train roared past.

On the next day, I fixed a quick egg scramble with asparagus, toast, and coffee.  The trip home was uneventful.

Test Drive

Yesterday, I hitched up the Scamp and drove 45 minutes to Astico County Park, a county park and campground in Dodge County, Wisconsin.   Many years ago, I served as a law clerk for Dodge County.  One of the judges liked to take me out for lunch every week or so.  One time we passed a wayside off Hwy 60, and the judge mentioned to me that there was a nice county park and campground across the Crawfish River from the wayside.

Twenty years later, I took him up on his recommendation.  The campground wasn’t far away, offered electric services, riverside camping, and reasonable fees at $27/night (including reservation fee).  While most of the nearby state parks were booked up, only about a third of the sites were occupied last night at Astico.   Here was the view of the Crawfish River from inside my Scamp.Towing the Scamp to the campground was not smooth.  Hwy 60 is in terrible condition.

I used to think our state roads were some of the best in the country; however, things have changed.  Hwy 60 between the I-90 and Arlington is particularly disgraceful.  I also noticed some trailer sway.  Upon taking measurements at the front and back of the trailer, I found out that I was not completely level.  After arriving at the campground, I  unhitched and drove to the local farm supply store in Watertown to swap my adjustable hitch ball mount for a ball mount with a more precise fit.

After picking up supplies in Watertown, I cooked up some Shrimp Scampi (of course) and had a glass of home-made Chardonnay.  Thoroughly stuffed, I took a perimeter walk around the campground and discovered trails leading to a mill and dam.  There was no access from my side of the river, so I found a trail that led to a bridge to the other side. From here, I was able to walk down below the dam.  

From below the dam, it was easier to follow the Hwy T and Hwy TT to Atisco Park than to backtrack. But then I found an even faster shortcut.  

I saw this cemetery as I passed through the campground earlier.  I just wasn’t sure how to get from the fenced cemetery to the campground.  Several of the graves were really old–people who had lived and died in the 1800’s. I tried to imagine what their lives were like.  Wisconsin didn’t become a state until 1848.  One person was born in 1824.  As I approached the campground, I contemplated climbing the fence.  Fortunately, just before I made that decision, I observed that some of the fence was damaged.  Walking through the gap was a better decision.

Time to buy some campfire wood.  Earlier, I picked up some store ads and an empty cardboard box, if needed, for fire starter.  As it turned out, I needed every bit to get the fire going.  The wood sizzled and hissed for about thirty minutes until the fire took off.  It was time to watch the river go by.

Around ten p.m., I tested out the television and antenna.  To my surprise, I was able to pick up a variety of free broadcast channels.  I found some evening news and watched a bit of Steven Colbert on the Late Show before falling asleep.  In the morning a few thunder showers with lightning passed through.  When the rain stopped, I successfully used the dump station to get rid of my gray and black water.  A successful test drive. More adventures ahead.

Date Night

I’ve spent the last few weeks making some minor repairs and mods to the Scamp.  One of the lights wasn’t working above the dinette.  That fix required drilling out four rivets, disassembling the upper cabinet to expose the wiring, removing the light, cleaning out the switch, and putting everything back into place.  I also switched all the interior lights to LED as an energy-saving measure.

Additionally, I added a propane tank so that I now have two 20 lb tanks with an automatic transfer valve for when a tank runs dry.  I confirmed that the water pump works, along with the water heater (which had a leak that needed to be fixed). Tomorrow night, I’m taking the Scamp on an overnight test trip.  In a few weeks, if all goes well, we will take the Scamp for a weekend trip along the Mississippi River.

Last night was date night.  Wisconsin gets only about a dozen or so perfect days each year.  One of those days was yesterday.  We took a walk around the state Capital in Madison, enjoyed a margarita and expensive but tasty tacos at the newly opened Canteen Restaurant off the square, and then walked down State Street to the Memorial Union, one of our favorite spots (and where we held our wedding reception many years ago).

When we were undergrads and then later when I attended law school, the Memorial Union was my refuge.  I studied on the couches on the second floor, and gazed out at the lake when I didn’t want to study anymore.  A lot has changed since then, but the views and the vibes are still spectacular.

Unfortunately, no one sang Neil Young at last night’s Open Mic, as in the good ol’ days.  Some of the rap songs reminded me of the sounds coming from megaphones on top of vehicles in Mexico during election time.  On the positive side, the beer choices on the Terrace are better now.  I enjoyed a Fantasy Factory IPA from Karben4 Brewing, as we watched dusk descend over Lake Mendota.