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how hot does a coffee maker hot plate get

How Hot Does A Coffee Maker Hot Plate Get

How Hot Does A Coffee Maker Hot Plate Get?

Maybe your coffee machine is your savior every morning as it does give you the smell of a fresh-brewed pot of coffee. Commonly, the elements of a great coffee are the beans, water, brewing temperature, extraction time. But does your coffee maker brew at the right temperature? How hot does a coffee maker hot plate get?

According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the National Coffee Association, the optimal temperature for a brewing cup of coffee is 197.6-204.8 F. If the water temperature is too low under extraction occurs and your coffee will taste weak and has a sour flavor when the beans are not properly dissolved. On the other hand, when the water temperature is too high, over-extraction occurs and your coffee tastes bitter. It heats water to 200 degrees and has a built-in plate that keeps your coffee hot.

But how much do you know about your coffee maker? 

Technically,  its heating element is coiled in wire, the same as on the filament of a light bulb or an electric toaster that gets hot when there is electricity running through it. The coil is embedded in a plaster making it more rugged. This heating element functions:

  • When you put water in the coffee maker, it heats it.
  • Once your coffee is made, it keeps your coffee warm. 

This element is placed in between the warming plate and the aluminum water tube. It directly presses against the underside of the warming plate and white, heat-conductive grease making heat transfer efficient. Your coffee maker’s switch turns power to the heating element on and off and you can also keep it from overheating the other components like sensors and fuses. As you may check, coffee makers have sensors to detect if the coil is getting too hot and cut off the current. When it cools down, it turns the current back on. With this, the coil keeps at an even temperature while fuses cut the power if it senses too high temperature. Both are very important for safety purposes if the main sensor fails. This is how hot does your coffee maker hot plate gets.

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Also, another important part of the coffee maker is its one-way valve. It is either in the hole in the bucket or the aluminum heating pipe. Without this, the boiling water would flow into the bucket as it rises the white tube. This one-way valve makes cold water into the aluminum tube and forces the bubbles of boiling water to flow up the white tube.

Did you know that anything over 205 degrees will burn the grounds and leave you with a nasty aftertaste coffee? Thus, boiling water will seriously ruin your coffee. If you want to drink your drip coffee as soon as it’s finished brewing, leaving it on the heating element for too long can also burn your coffee. If your machine is a French press, you may want your water to be around 195 degrees. Though it can be difficult to determine if you’re boiling it on the stovetop. 

Again, the elements of a great coffee are the beans, water, brewing temperature, extraction time. But does your coffee maker brew at the right temperature? How hot does a coffee maker hot plate get?

Some coffee makers use thermocouples to control the temperature of the brewing water. It tends to wear out after a few months of use. As it wears out the temperature of the brew, water begins to decline to result in a weak and sour coffee. If you are using a drip coffee maker, you should take a meat thermometer and put it under the water discharge head on your coffeemaker and it should read close to 200F. If you can’t get to the head, you may check the temperature of the coffee coming out of the filter and it should be about 180F. If the temperature is below or above the recommended temperature then, it’s time for you to get a new one. 

When you are filling your water reservoir, it should be cold. But why? According to experts, most coffee makers are built to assume you’re using cold water. They designed it to heat water to the right temperature by the time it hits the coffee grounds where extraction happens. When you over-extract your coffee it will turn to sludge and if under extract it will become flavorless brew.  

Most coffee makers are going to run the same heating cycle every time and if you start with hot water you are going to screw up the balance and end up having terrible coffee. Thus, do not use your coffee maker’s timer function or you’ll be brewing with room-temperature water. 

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What should be the best thing to do? You have to run your coffee maker on a water-only cycle before brewing your coffee. Through this, the interior components will heat up to the proper temperature and give you a better cup. This is where the timer function comes in handy. You can program your coffee maker to a warm-up cycle on a timer and then warmed up to make your actual cup. 

How hot does a coffee maker hot plate get?

The majority of coffee makers are set up so the carafe is sitting on a warming plate so you can brew until you need a piping hot refill. The warming plate is applying continuous heat to the coffee to keep it warm. It plays a big part in turning your coffee bitter overtime when the heat is added breaking apart the chemical compounds in your brewed coffee. Coffee temperature varies from every drinker’s preference, others like very hot while others like ice cold.  How hot does a coffee maker hot plate get?

The optimum temperature for serving coffee is between 160 and 185 degrees. There’s more to know about coffee temperatures that make a flavorful coffee. Again, as mentioned above the ideal temperature for brewing is between 197-2of degrees. It’s also noted that brewing or serving coffee at a too high temperature can make your coffee too acidic and bitter. 

If you really want to have the hottest coffee, you may serve the brew around 200 degrees. If you’re putting a large amount in a thermos, it only makes sense if you want it as hot as possible. But there are a lot of coffee makers such as Drip coffee makers, French Coffee makes, Pod coffee makers, Percolators, Pour overs.

According to coffee experts, they prefer drip coffee makers that can brew between 197.6° and 204.8° under 4 minutes but not exceeding 8 minutes. Nowadays, a hot plate or warming plate is getting rarer. But for traditional drip coffee makers, it can still be found in it. The hot plate varies based on the manufacturer. Some allow you to adjust the temperature. But it typically heats to between 120° and 140°. This hot plate plays an important role in keeping the carafe warm while the coffee sits in and preventing it from getting cold. 

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However, it isn’t always a good thing to leave your coffee on a hot plate because it seems like you are already cooking your coffee. If you’ll be at grandma’s house and smelled sour, burned coffee, you’ve smelled the smell of coffee that’s been sitting on a warmer for quite some time. And this is one of the reasons that these days, coffee makers don’t come with warming plates. 

If you really want to have a good cup of coffee, then get a good quality of whole Arabica beans, grind, then use purified cool water in a good quality coffee maker and brew it fresh. This will only take a minute and will be better than holding your coffee on a warming plate for an hour.  

On the other hand, the warming plate is also susceptible to rust and coating flake off due to some spilled coffee. To solve this, you have to soak the surface in rust dissolver for about 30 minutes before wiping it clean with a towel or you can soak the surface in soda with a wet strip of aluminum foil which can gently remove rust without damaging your plate. 

How well do you know your coffee maker hot plate?

For an electric coffee maker, the adjustable warming plate is a fixedly positioned metal hot plate with an electric heating element. This heating element includes a tube unitary forming a continuous flow water heating tube for the coffee maker. It has a pressure element to urge the heater toward the contact point and the setting element to adjust the spacing between the heating element to the hot plate. This also provides simple and reliable means for varying the thermal coupling of the heating element to the hot plate.  

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