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Permalink Reply by Brady on September 8, 2008 at 5:02pm

We use both. I like airpots better.

Minuses:
If you draw off a cup during a brew cycle, it'll throw off the balance of the pot. This means your customer has to wait until the brew cycle finishes. Many people don't, which explains quite a bit. Compare to an airpot, where you can serve from one while brewing into the next.

Thermals weigh several times more, so shuffling them around on the counter is a pain for smaller employees.

Its tougher to dump the thermal when the batch ages out. Plus you end up co-mingle batches, so some of the pot may be an hour old and some only 10 minutes.

Plus side - fast, easy cup fill. Visible level indicator. Larger capacity to get ahead of a rush.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Dooley on September 8, 2008 at 6:04pm

Dear Rob,

Thermal Servers tend to be harder to clean, while Airpots are easily breakable but we use both.
My only non educated answer is monitor the batch time as it sits and make small fresh batches as much as possible. Some brewers are specially designed to give you smaller batches so the waste is lower and you can keep it fresh producing more often...that is good food for thought, thanks for asking.
Sarah- Seattle

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Permalink Reply by Rob on September 8, 2008 at 6:12pm

Thanks for the feedback Brady and Sarah. I do appreciate it. I like the idea of seeing how much is in the server but I also like the idea of smaller, fresher pots. Sarah, thinking of cleaning these things...what is the best way you have found? Sorry for the basic questions! We open in either Dec or Jan so most questions are fairly basic right now...

Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Dooley on September 8, 2008 at 6:18pm

You can use the cleaners like espresso magic or purocaf and I am sure there are even more. I think the next question to post is what are the "green" more eco friendly ways of getting a good clean. I have heard of a vinegar/ water solution for removing the residue coffee leaves behind. Great to hear back from you. No question is basic- it's all necessity and hopefully you will share your opening experience with me. Best to you on the opening!

Rob said:

Thanks for the feedback Brady and Sarah. I do appreciate it. I like the idea of seeing how much is in the server but I also like the idea of smaller, fresher pots. Sarah, thinking of cleaning these things...what is the best way you have found? Sorry for the basic questions! We open in either Dec or Jan so most questions are fairly basic right now...
Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by Brady on September 8, 2008 at 6:32pm

Rob said:

thinking of cleaning these things...what is the best way you have found? Sorry for the basic questions! We open in either Dec or Jan so most questions are fairly basic right now...

Thanks again!

Thermals - get in there with a blue scrubby, long skinny bottle brush down the sight tube, then a soak with Purocaff.

Airpots - soak with purocaff. blue scrubby the outside of the tube.

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Permalink Reply by Rob on September 9, 2008 at 3:51am

Thanks Brady,
How often are you cleaning them?

Rob

Brady said:

Rob said:

thinking of cleaning these things...what is the best way you have found? Sorry for the basic questions! We open in either Dec or Jan so most questions are fairly basic right now...

Thanks again!

Thermals - get in there with a blue scrubby, long skinny bottle brush down the sight tube, then a soak with Purocaff.

Airpots - soak with purocaff. blue scrubby the outside of the tube.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on September 9, 2008 at 5:10am

When they start to smell funny or have a visible film. Once a month maybe?

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Permalink Reply by Matt Swenson on September 9, 2008 at 9:00am

We use Urnex Tabz for our airpots. We soak them in that solution overnight 2-3 times a week and use an airpot brush in the morning to break up the residual stains if any. On the nights that we dont use the Tabz, we will brew an empty brew cycle into the airpots. That way the airports are warm in the morning. This will give them better heat retention than brewing a pot into a cold airpot.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on September 9, 2008 at 10:37am

Brady said:

When they start to smell funny or have a visible film. Once a month maybe?

OK, I read this again and that sounds kinda gross. When I say "funny" I mean like the coffee that was in them even after a rinse. There's one that always has the dark roast in it, and it'll usually start to smell kind of smoky... which is my indicator that its time to do them all.

On our airpots we also do a rinse and dry upside-down every night, followed by a hot water prefill first thing, for reasons Matt mentioned.

Out of curiosity, does anyone else do a chemical soak 2-3 times a week? Sounds like alot to me.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Dooley on September 9, 2008 at 10:43am

I rinse every day and do a chem soak once a week. You can purchase a spongy bottle cleaner from Baby's R Us. The one I bought has a long handle and spongy cleaner top with replaceable cleaner tops. It's also made of a less toxic plastic then normal...supposed to be safe for babies.

Brady said:

Brady said:

When they start to smell funny or have a visible film. Once a month maybe?

OK, I read this again and that sounds kinda gross. When I say "funny" I mean like the coffee that was in them even after a rinse. There's one that always has the dark roast in it, and it'll usually start to smell kind of smoky... which is my indicator that its time to do them all.

On our airpots we also do a rinse and dry upside-down every night, followed by a hot water prefill first thing, for reasons Matt mentioned.

Out of curiosity, does anyone else do a chemical soak 2-3 times a week? Sounds like alot to me.

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Permalink Reply by Bwynn on November 26, 2008 at 7:52pm

So Airpots verse Thermol Server-

I currently use the digital 1 gal TF servers by Bunn for non-flavored coffee and use Airpots for our flavored coffee. I find this the perfect solution but would not recommend the digital version of the TF. The level guide is not accurate and batteries suck @#%.

We do the chemical bath once a week. This seems to be fine as long as you are flushing them after each brew completion.

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