Originally Posted by
lifereinspired
Hello!
This is a great thread! I've read it completely through and have found resolution for questions that I've been seeking answers to for over a year.
We, like so many others here, want to be able to have a decent cup of coffee and tea while traveling. I'm pretty much set on the brewing part. We use insulated wide mouth Klean Kanteens with a GSI H2Joe screw on brew screen. Works great with a course grind, and works well with a standard drip grind. You get some French press type "sludge" at the bottom but it's easily avoided by not drinking that last sip and it gives that French press body that we enjoy. I may experiment with adding a hemp filter as well to catch a bit of those excessive fines when using a drip grind.
So my problem is hot water. I've been trying to find out if I could use an immersion water heater with the stainless Klean Kanteen and never could get a straight answer till now. Huge thanks for that! I learned not to plug it in unless the unit is submerged in water and unplug before taking it out. I'm still not sure if I want to try this or go for a kettle of some sort. But I ran across another question that came up from the extensive knowledge in this thread. If I go with a kettle, I'll have to do two back to back boils so my spouse and I can each have a mug. As I learned, some kettles have to be completely cooled after the auto off switch is tripped before starting another book. This would be a complete dealbreaker for us. So I'm wondering, are there any mainstream (like available from Amazon Prime in the US for instance) that can do a second boil immediately? Can I trick it into doing so? For instance, turning off the kettle right before it boils avoiding tripping the switch and allowing another boil? Would this be difficult to get the timing correct and we end up frequently frustrated with one of us not having their cup of coffee? Would I be better off with the immersion heater? Can the immersion heater go from one bottle to the other and do back to back boils without cooling? Has anyone used one of the new silicone collapsible kettles? I'd rather use stainless if it were for daily use but I'm intrigued for travel. They also seem to hold more water per boil on average.
Thanks again so much? I'd love to hear your thoughts and expertise as to which option may suit our situation better. I have no experience using an immersion heater so any additional information you think I may need to know would be brilliant. I'm assuming that as long as the immersion unit is submerged, it doesn't matter if it touches the inside walls of the insulated steel bottle?
By the way, the new Klean Kanteen Cafe Cup 2.0 leakproof lid is brilliant! Makes using the bottle with hot drinks so much better! We highly recommend them.
Thanks so much!
Rae
A kettle can be forced to reboil back-to-back if it has a rocking button such as the
Bonavita Dual Voltage Kettle. However doing so will shorten the lifespan of the kettle and possibly mess up the thermostat which the auto-off safety function depends on.
If you're going for 2 x 16oz mugs or larger, that will essentially be 1 litre or more, so one of the full-sized kettles would be appropriate if the dual voltage function is not needed.
Procter-Silex kettle is often available at drugstores (Walgreens/CVS) but does have a strong plastic taste for the first few weeks. Stainless kettles of a similar size can also be found online.
If you require dual-voltage, the Narita has the largest capacity at 700ml but does not have a rocking switch to manually force it to reboil. Most other dual-voltage kettles have a maximum 500ml (2-cup) capacity.
What size is your mug? The reason I ask is that my 16oz travel mug is only 16oz when filled to the brim without its lid. The usable capacity is actually only 14 oz if I plan to put a lid on and drink my tea/coffee black (which I do.) If you need a much larger capacity for 2 x >20oz Klean Kanteens, then I would recommend getting the most compact full-sized kettle you can find in the voltage of your destination. There is a saying in ultralight backpacking "ounce-wise; hour foolish". To save time and headache just get the size you need to get your brew made properly and your day started on time. You can either donate the kettle when you go home or take it home with you for another trip.