Are you using too much heat and percolating it too hard or long??

Under my aunt's supervision, I heated the percolator on medium heat till it started percolating then turned the heat down very low till it was percolating slowly and then set a timer for 8 minutes. When the timer went off I removed from the heat. A strong smooth pot of coffee. No bitterness at all.

It's a 8 cup percolator. I used the coffee scoop. 8 cups = 4 scoops but I did 5 scoops for a stronger pot of coffee.

The Keurig is convenient but the coffee is weak and since the Keurig appeared I don't have a drip coffee maker any more. I got a caffeine buzz off two cups of coffee for the first time in years from the percolated coffee.