Madesco's 3 lb.-Coffee-Capacity for 5-Gallon Commercial Cold Brew Coffee Filter "The Senior Grande" (bucket/dispenser not included)

1. Bags are too small. When I put the 5 pounds of coffee in it is too tight to allow water to penetrate the grounds so the bag of coffee just floats on top of the water.2. Bags are too thick. This plays heavily into the tightness issue because in addition to the problem of the bag floating, once it is submerged in the water it still doesn’t allow enough passage of water for the coffee to become strong and flavorful.3. Too messy. Part of the directions are to stir water into the bag with the coffee grounds. This is VERY MESSY business and not something I had to do with the larger and thinner paper bags I used before.4. The drawstring closing in ineffective. The directions say to close off the bag by pulling the drawstring tight. However, this leaves a hole about the size of a half dollar. This led to coffee ground spilling out into the coffee.5. I had to supplement the process to improve the coffee, which barely help. I could plainly see that the water color wasn’t turning once I place the bag in my commercial Toddy coffee maker. So, I untied the bags and stirred again. Then I submerged the bags in the water squeezing the mashing the sides until bubbles stopped coming out when I did. The water got a little darker but the bags still floated like a beach ball. So, I took the little stand in the bottom of the coffee maker and put it on top of the bag of grounds with the feet facing the lid and, FINALLY, the bag was submerged.6. The coffee still sucks. After all the trouble I went through trying to make this product successful I tried a cup of my coffee this morning, more than 16 hours later, and it is terribly weak.7. This cost me $100. Granted, the bag only costs $25, but the coffee I just tried to make was $75.8. What a mess! Now, I’ve got these bags in the coffee maker full of my $75 worth of WASTED COFFEE and I’ll need to clean up the bags if I intend to A) use it again, which I DO NOT, or B) return them, which I’m unsure if I even could after using them.This product could have been so much better if they had used one bag instead of two, that bag had been much larger, and the bag closed all they way without tightening around the coffee. It’s my estimation, based on the shoddy design, that these bags were never designed for this purpose but, rather, are a surplus of bag intended for some other purpose but some marketing nitwit suggested tossing coffee instructions in them and selling two 25 cent bags for $25. These are a rip-off.

I've been making cold brew for about two years and JUST found out about these bags. I usually take a pound of course ground beans, steeped in a gallon mason jar in the fridge for 20 hours, then filter through a french press. It made excellent coffee, but was a lot of work and cleanup. I've had this bag for a week and it's life changing.First off, cold brew coffee. If you've never had it, you're missing out on life. With cold brew, the solids get slowly extracted from the beans with cold water instead of quickly extracted with hot water. This is significantly better extracting the solids you do want (sugars) and leaving the solids you don't want (tannic acid etc.). This makes for EXTREMELY flavorful, sweet coffee with SIGNIFICANTLY less acid and no bitterness.Now for the process. I have a wide mouth, three liter pitcher. I course grind (35 on my Baratza) 1 lb of freshly roasted beans and dump into the bottom of the bag (it's a big bag so I roll the top down about halfway). Then I place the bag into the pitcher and stretch the mouth of the bag over the mouth of the pitcher. Slowly fill the pitcher with cool water, close the bag and leave in the fridge overnight. In the morning I remove the bag and top off the pitcher with extra water. I do not use the second, outer bag.This makes a full three liters of delicious coffee concentrate that stays fresh in the fridge for about five days, although my wife and I can't seem to make it last more than three days. It could last longer in an airtight pitcher or jar. To serve, I pour some in a small glass and top it off with ice and water to taste.

So I have ordered 5 gallon cold brew bags from other companies/vendors. Love how these bags are double lined.However this is the first time I have gotten such small bags. Yeah they good enough to hold coffee grounds to make 5 gallons. But I like having extra room in the bag to add some ice and also I like to stir the grinds around in the bag to make sure all the grounds are wet before starting the cold Brew.Otherwise it's a great product. Minus 1 star for small bags (however do function well)

At first I wasnt very into these filters. Seemed smallish and hared to load with grinds. But actually, they are a perfect size for 4-5 gallons. It was easier with the coffee sock I had before but I have noticed the cold brew taste different now. The only drawback is the draw-string, which after a few dozen uses, ripped and I am not rough with it either. I will order them again!

Excellent when used along with my Toddy Cold Brew Coffee Maker. I was having problems with the Toddy filter becoming obstructed and cold brew not draining completely. The Madesco Labs filter fixed that problem. It's a little pricey for what's basically a cloth bag however it's worth the price for me if I don't have to deal with the annoyance of a clogged filter every time I want to make a new batch of cold brew.

This is not a 5 gallon bag. I find the marketing deceptive. Take a look a the picture I took. It is almost the size of 2 hands. I would guess the bag is maybe 1 gallon in size. This definitely does *not* fit around the lid of a 5-gallon container for making large batches of cold brew. It fits inside the 5 gallon container (see picture) and I guess you could use it as a small bag inside the container but not practical for large batch.Sending it back and getting the Toddy Cold Brew 5 Gallon Strainer bag which is also cheaper and actually is 5 gallons.

Seems like it would be a nice Big grounds bag for making cold brew, but it came New in a package with a hole in the corner! It does have an inner bag that seems to be fine , so I can still use it but the outer bag has a hole so the double strain won’t be happening haha

I highly recommend these amazing filters! They are of high quality and I was able to fit 5 pounds of coffee in the bag into a 5 gallon Toddy system easily. Madesco is great and would buy from again!! IF you are debating what filters to order for your cold brew needs, look no further than Madesco!