Home Coffee Roasting

[Dorman]

The faster the roast the cleaner the flavor (or so I've read).

I believe you mean: "The looser the waistband the deeper the quicksand (or so I have read)." - David St. Hubbins

Sorry, go back to teaching me how to roast coffee beans. Great thread.

[notoriousdjw]

My experience with air roasting was limited to using a small roaster called the iRoast2. It roasted fast and you could hear the first crack but 2nd crack was always a mystery (the roaster was also referred to as the iRoar). I was always dumping my beans at city roast or realizing that 2nd crack was well underway and ending up with italian roast.

After that it was all drum roasting. I had an Alpenroast that made good coffee but was prone to chaff fires and eventually the mechanism that turns the drum ate itself. I got a free warranty replacement and got rid of it. Next was a 3lb drum used with a chicken rotisserie motor on my gas grill (had a grill just for coffee to avoid weird flavor crossover). That produced excellent coffee from time to time and the results were often very good. It was inconsistent though and I stopped using it when my job changed and I was no longer responsible for keeping the office supplied with beans. I made my drum from 2 stainless steel office waste baskets but now you can buy them on ebay.

Finally I roasted every week for several years with a Behmor 1600. It was a nice unit and produced very consistent results. Darker roasts required cutting the batch size down to maybe 10-12oz (green). When baby 2 arrived I decided to reclaim the hour I spent roasting and gave the Behmor to a friend. It's a fun hobby and a great way to learn what you like and don't like.

[Dorman]

I love it, but a little depressing....

[HSTFixed]

I believe you mean: "The looser the waistband the deeper the quicksand (or so I have read)." - David St. Hubbins

That's exactly what I meant!!!

Did another round of roasting today. First crack came at about 3 min 51 second and went through 4:30 or so and second crack started at 5 minutes and I dumped them at 5:08. The beans looked great and I can't tell you how fresh and delicious the first batch I made has been for the last two days. From 24 hours after roasting and then the next morning it really came into flavor. This morning it was still very good but not nearly as much bloom. I love this shit.


4.5 oz unroasted beans turns into 3.75 oz of roasted beans which went about 8 to 10 seconds into second crack.



Cooling


More for later!!!

[HSTFixed]

Did another roast yesterday afternoon. Tried to keep track of times. First crack was 2:39 seconds in. Second crack started at 4:39 seconds and I dumped them at 5:06 when second crack was well underway. This is the farthest I've gone and it surprised me. Last roast ended at 5:08 and was much less into second crack than the most recent roast, which was roaring in second crack when I dumped them. More oil development to these beans and I finally learned after drinking almost all of them today that I need to do 2 batches of 4.5 oz. It's more fun to see the quality heighten/change after 24 hours of rest. I keep managing to drink it all within 24 hours of roasting. Here's two pics one with flash one without.

[Dorman]

Hey, I have a question. I have a Krups burr grinder (which makes a mess and really pisses me off) at home and I have used this with a gold filter and #4 paper filter in my Cuisinart. I don't like it that well. If I use my cheap blade grinder and a #4 filter I am much happier. Clear vs. cloudy, etc. What am I doing wrong?

[oldguy00]

Is it possible your Krups burr grinder is set too fine, producing some powder? For regular coffee, my wife and I are quite content with our cheap blade grinder. The only time I got picky and used a burr grinder (Rocky) was when we were making espresso..

[VertigoCycles]

Totally agree with the being lost beyond second crack. Things seem to happen real fast with the popper I have and the longest I went was into second crack, like a symphony of pop-rocks on yr tongue only louder. I panicked slightly and dumped them. There is a little oil development on the beans 24 hrs later, but nothing major. Could have gone longer. I"m impressed with the evenness of the roast you were able to get with the heat gun/dog bowl method. Let me know how it tastes.

If you haven't done this already, you may want to consider shorting across the thermostat. Every hot air "roaster" I've had has needed that mod at some point in time. It seemed to be more of an issue during the summer when roasting outside in warmer temps. The thermostats would open a little below 400* and wouldn't let the coffee get up to 410 - 420 or so where it needed to be to get into second crack.

P.S. do this at your own risk, don't leave it unattended, don't do it if you're not competent with electrical devices, have a heart condition etc...

PPS - I air roasted for about five years. I bought a drum roaster last year and haven't looked back. If you can find them, the original Poppery air roaster is a good choice, especially if you add a chimney to the top of it.

[lukasz]

Looks like you're doing very well. My super dark roast tasted like crap, but the point of it was to just take the beans to the end for experimentation. The lighter roast was actually pretty interesting. I could definitely taste the flavors that the beans carried. My espresso beans are coming in tomorrow. I'll probably roast some tomorrow night. Then they get wrung through this:



Which, by the way, I still suck at using.

[HSTFixed]

I love this shit! Just finished roasting through my 3rd pound of green coffee. This last pound was a different variety from my first two and the experiments are turning out just as delicious as the first ones. These beans are Bali Kintamani which are similar in geographical origin to the Papua New Guinea beans that comprised my first two pounds. They were recommended based on tasting good over a wide roast range. I did two roasts back to back this morning and took some pictures of the different beans.

End of first crack on the left. beginning of second crack on the right.



Switch Sides. Second Crack on the Left, First crack on Right.



Just liked this pic of end of First crack beans. city or city+ I think.



The one thing I've noticed about the Bali beans is that they're incredibly foamy, and benefit from a pretty long rest period. They're OK the day after roasting but they're really good two or three days later. I barely can roast enough to last that long but I hope to get another popper soon.


Lukasz I gotta say i'm very jealous of your espresso machine!!! Nothing I want more right now than one of those.

[lukasz]

I think that these will be drinkable:



Rain cut short my roasting adventures today. I read a bit more about what I guess is called profiling. I've gathered that there are some general roasting steps: first you do a drying phase (lower heat), then you rapidly turn the heat up to first crack, at which point you turn it down a bit... and go from there depending on how far you're taking the beans. In my case I think this translates to about 3 minutes with the heat a bit further from the beans, then bringing it in close for minutes 4-8 or 9 when first crack should occur. These minute numbers are for a one cup roast only. Finally I can move it a bit further away (but maybe not quite as far as in the drying phase) and wait for second crack.

It is advised that I take the beans I just bought (SM Espresso Monkey) to the beginning of second crack, which I did today except that I did not quite have my cooling solution at hand so they may be a bit darker. I'm going to do one or two more roasts tomorrow. Can't wait to taste these--probably Friday.

If you think bike people can put off beginners, check out this Ken Fox guy in this thread (I think that I got to page 9): http://www.home-barista.com/home-roa...on-t11023.html

[Sasha]

Over the holidays, I order twenty pounds to roast for gifts. From Deans Beans. Organic, fair trade, shade grown. If you've ever been to Guatemala, you'll know why these things matter. Roasted it all in a Whirl-e-pop from goodwill. Monitored the temp with a digital thermometer. My stove puts out big BTUs, so that helps. Pretty good. Very drinkable. My first batch was a bit burnt. After a few batches you really get a handle of this.

It's easy to get all voodoo about this stuff. And in Seattle, there are surely people that really nail it. But I was pleased with my results.

[wbarocsi]

I've had good luck with my air popper. It roasts well, but you've got to watch it. The roasing time can vary by a couple of minutes. 7 is average for the second pop, but it can go from 6-9 depending.
It probably depends on the variety of beans, but some loose most of their flavor past the second pop. I recently had Rwandan it is very good up to the 2nd pop, and rapidly looses flavor from there.

Wade Barocsi
CycleDesignUSA.com

[lukasz]

Over the holidays, I order twenty pounds to roast for gifts. From Deans Beans. Organic, fair trade, shade grown. If you've ever been to Guatemala, you'll know why these things matter. Roasted it all in a Whirl-e-pop from goodwill. Monitored the temp with a digital thermometer. My stove puts out big BTUs, so that helps. Pretty good. Very drinkable. My first batch was a bit burnt. After a few batches you really get a handle of this.

It's easy to get all voodoo about this stuff. And in Seattle, there are surely people that really nail it. But I was pleased with my results.

That is my conclusion as well. Over the past few attempts my coffee has been completely drinkable and I've got my "profiling" down for this blend of beans.



Chronological from L to R, and a bit lighter each time.

[Octave]

Who here roasts their own beans?

I've been roasting for a couple of years now, first with an air-popper style roaster and then with a larger, drum-roaster. I roast bi-weekly for a dozen people, and for the department at the university I work at, so I get a lot of practice (about 15lb/week).

I'd be interested to know who else here roasts, what equipment do you use, and what bean-source do you prefer?

[Octave]

Whoops, just saw: http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum...g-23589-2.html . Please delete.

[Eddie]

Whoops, just saw: http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum...g-23589-2.html . Please delete.

I award you bonus points for using the VGoogleista search function in the upper left-hand corner of the page.

How about I merge the threads and you tell us a little bit more about the unit that you're working with and your roasting methodology?

[Octave]

I use a Behmor 1600 for all of my current roasting, usually in 1lb batches. I find the Behmor has excellent control, and seems to be far less impacted by environmental factors. When using a hot-air roaster, I had to keep constant track of the air temperature and humidity if I wanted my roasts to come out consistently.

I get all of my beans from Sweet Marias, with the exception of some specialty beans that I get from a local roaster. In general, I and the people I roast for enjoy City+ to Full City roasts, which are easy enough to achieve with the Behmor. I actually find that, contrary to what is previously posted in this thread, I get richer, cleaner flavors from long roasts at lower temperatures than shorter roasts at higher temperatures.

I think the biggest factor that a lot of people neglect is the rest times. Most beans, especially those with complex flavors (read: anything african, anything honey-washed..etc.), require at least 24hr of rest before they should be bagged/jarred/consumed. In general, I've gotten good results from longer rests with darker roasts, especially espresso roasts, which I tend to let rest for 48hr before touching.

Lately, I've been digging Yemeni beans. The Yemeni Harasi beans in particular give a super-clean cup at a FC roast (mid-temp, 24.5min) with a 72hr rest.

[Cookietruck]

i've been using a behmor also

i usually run about 14oz of beans on the 1lb setting, seem to get the most even roast that way

i keep alot of the big fruity ethiopian beans around and also a good south or central american bean
city+ to full city is what i like

[Too Tall]

Let's talk green beans again.

Where are you buying, what is your go to bean and give me an idea how these beans like to be roasted Aaaaaaand are you roasting for espresso or ????

I've been roasting using a Behmore and really enjoy the Ethiopian peaberry beans from Sweet Maria's. I'm down to the nubs, just a few lbs of beans left so I'm in the market.

Most of the coffee I roast is made in a classic italian moka pot.

Does anyone order from: https://www.coffeeshrub.com/green-coffee.html They sell in large lots. If there was interest we could split a bag.