Vintage aluminum percolators

[HawkeyeScott]

I'm kicking around the idea of buying what appears to be a vintage percolator for $10. This would be a restoration project to do before it warms up outside. It looks, though, to be aluminum. For some reason, I've been under the impression that using aluminum to cook with isn't a good idea. I believe this stems from some people cutting beer kegs in half and using them to fry fish or turkeys.

If I restore it, I'd of course like to use it.

Any thoughts? Am I way off on this?

 

[maxdustington]

Cooking with raw aluminum means you will be consuming aluminum oxide I believe. Anodized might be different, but anodized items seem to be fairly exotic and rare before the 1980s.

You would also have to polish it all the time, vintage gear requires a vintage work ethic.

 

[CR94]

I cook in aluminum every day and haven't died yet. My parents used 1950's-design West Bend percolators for many years. The internal parts were bare aluminum. The outer body was anodized, I think. As far as I know, the second one (bought in the '60s) still works.

A chemistry prof told us a tale of how a neighbor asked him how to clean her coffeepot of hard-to-clean coffee and mineral residues. He advised hydrochloric acid would suffice. Later, she complained the acid destroyed the coffeepot. "You didn't tell me it was aluminum."

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by HawkeyeScott
I'm kicking around the idea of buying what appears to be a vintage percolator for $10. This would be a restoration project to do before it warms up outside. It looks, though, to be aluminum. For some reason, I've been under the impression that using aluminum to cook with isn't a good idea. I believe this stems from some people cutting beer kegs in half and using them to fry fish or turkeys.

If I restore it, I'd of course like to use it.

Any thoughts? Am I way off on this?


Well if you are a coffee buff, then its not a great way to brew coffee. The latest way, heat water to a certain temperature then pump it over the freshly ground coffee grinds will produce the best coffee. Percolators had a habit of producing coffee that tasted burned.

 

[krismoriah72]

Since you are talking vintage..i have been thinking about getting this pyrex one. I would rather see all the workings and goings on.. and not deal with the cleaning of aluminum..

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by krismoriah72
Since you are talking vintage..i have been thinking about getting this pyrex one. I would rather see all the workings and goings on.. and not deal with the cleaning of aluminum..

I have this same one. Works great. I just buy standard coffee filters and tare a tiny hole in it for the center tube. I tear it under-sized so it fits tightly. Works great. I use it on weekends when I have more time to make coffee.

 

[Kira]

That glass pot is downright emblematic. Only a Silex has fewer parts and they're available in glass or stainless.
The tall, white Corningware percolator with its stainless steel stem and basket is hard to beat.

It's funny how real life displaced all the "beware of aluminum cookware" notices of the '80's.

Perking coffee and letting it sit to settle is hard to beat. People tend to over-perk coffee. It takes ~2 minutes once it starts perking.
You can't coax additional flavor from weak beans / grind by perking longer.

 

[Pelican]

Here are the systems with the amount of caffeine in the brew from least to most:

1) Espresso (that was a surprise to me)
2) Melitta (Drip on paper filter)
3) Bodum (Press)
4) Percolator.

So use the perc if you want to load-up on caffeine

 

[Kestas]

I believe aluminum is blamed for Alzheimer disease.

 

[Squirrelee]

Originally Posted by Kira
The tall, white Corningware percolator with its stainless steel stem and basket is hard to beat.


Be cautious with those Corningware percolators. They actually had a recall on those because the epoxy holding the handle / stainless trim ring to the pot could come loose with constant heating and cooling cycles. You'd be carrying a full pot of steaming hot coffee one second, and it would be in someone's lap the next.

Corningware recall

I have one of these sitting in my basement - it was used for decades without trouble, but I stopped using it "just in case."

 

[HawkeyeScott]

Thanks for weighing in. Don't think I will move forward with it. We already have a stainless percolator (Farberware) we use while camping. The brewing process on a Coleman camp stove - and then enjoying the product by a fire in the cool, mountain air - is just about heaven on earth for me. I was looking at this as more of a need for a small project than an actual need for the finished product.

That caffeine ranking is interesting and makes sense based simply on how caffeine-buzzed I've gotten from enjoying that mountain start to the day a little too long and consuming a little too much coffee.

 

[Sayonara_Sonata]

Percolators burn coffee & drip leaves flavour in lieu of convenience. For me the cheapest easiest has been a drip w/spring loaded stopper at the bottom of the basket. An older Mr. Coffee. Two scoops coffee, 2 1/4 cups water. Start the brew w/o carafe under basket. The window on the side shows 4 1/3-1/2 water level. When close to 3.5 insert carafe.

When water level drops to 3/4-1/2 cup pull carafe taking care not to spill any coffee from basket. Leave coffee turned on, walk away enjoying the coffee in the carafe. Five to thirty/whenever later turn off & insert carafe. Inside coffee is covering everything. Gravity isn't enough, so give 'er a 'elpin' 'and. Take both 'ands und w/8 digits tap out, on top of unit pinky left/right, right/left in succession unto index fingers to, either The Flight of the Bumblebee or The William Tell Overture.

The vibration from alternating digits assists coffee drainage. Sometimes I wait on drinking mixing in the second "batch" after 5-10 minutes. The coffee is stronger w/o burned taste. I never leave coffee on the hot plate cooking.

As always, YMMV ...

 

[Sayonara_Sonata]

Originally Posted by Kestas
I believe aluminum is blamed for Alzheimer disease.


There's no sense in allowing a little dementia to stand in the way of a good hot cup o' joe.