I definitely think the type of coffee makes all the difference. I always try to aim for medium-bodied, but I personally love coffee so it’s hard for me to pick out nuances more than the average person. I just realized this year that I have used a different type of coffee each of the 4 years I’ve brewed this. Sumatran, Guatemalan, Peruvian, and this year Papau New Guinea. So far, in my opinion and feedback of others, Guatemalan has been the best. I just bottled this years so I haven’t tried the Papau yet.
Someone else asked about water profiling. I use the Bru’n Water spreadsheet for every beer. I use distilled water and scale up what I need. In this beer I add Gypsum, CaCal, and baking soda. I shoot for a mash pH of 5.5.
On a related note, just wrapped up my 4th time brewing this and have it pretty dialed in now. Comes out at 12% and all the flavors mesh so well. Everyone I share this beer with loves it and I look forward to brewing it yearly even though it’s such a long brew day.
Bottled yesterday, and the last 2 years I’ve been using a SS Brew Bucket to ferment. It gets so thick at the bottom with syrup and eveything else that the valve is not usable. I ended up using a fine mesh bag over the top like you would BIAB, and autosiphoning through that-it worked super great, no clogs until the end when it was really thick. That’ll be my next project-figuring out how to maximize the beer out of there as I lost about .5 gallons from the sludge.