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Coffee Roasting with Behmor 1600+

Behmor does not allow for "tweaking" easily. There are a few things you can do but those are mostly extending the roast at the end.

It has pre-programmed profiles you can run

It is similar to how the Hottop P model works.

Pick a profile and just watch.
So I'm doing it right [emoji16] I'm good with not tweaking it as the 50% mix of Columbian is delicious

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Behmor is an automatic roaster.

It will give you good coffee.

It is flexible enough to give you a good depth and range of roasts but you have to stay within what it can do.

As they say in their manual, don't try to take roasts out to Vienna, Italian or espresso (dark). It is designed to be a good roaster in the city, city+, and full city range. Go past that and you risk trouble as they will over heat faster than you can react.
 
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The Columbian Supremo was today's coffee. It was much more lively of a cup. Nice brightness that was almost too much by the time it cooled. Not sure if that means I need to roast a bit darker?
My comment may not apply or correctly address your taste perspective, but it might also be that the coffee needs to rest longer after roasting.

I used to drink coffee just a day or two after roasting but now find that it is better after waiting 4-5 days. That way it is less "harsh"...which is an imprecise way to describe it, but a flavor that might be confused with brightness is reduced in my opinion. Of course brewing method and water temperature make a difference as well.
 
Yesterday was a good roasting day. Had to move my setup to the garage as it was in the 40's for the high.

Roasted 3 half pound batches, 1 of each Columbian Supremo, Columbian decaf, and Brazil Conquista. Tried to finish at end of 1C for all to compare them at similar roast levels. They are very different beans though, as there was about a 4 min (12-16) window they finished in.

Brewed the Conquista this morning in my auto drip due to time and wished I would have done pour over. Couldn't pick out many flavors but it produced a nice clean cup of coffee. At least it is balanced with that method. My wife picked up a peanut butter scent off the fresh roasted beans with no prompting. Here is the description from the website.

Brazil Conquista
The Conquista Estate is in the southern region of Vitória da Conquista, Bahia at an
altitude of 2700 feet. The high altitude microclimate of the Conquista region provides growing conditions that stimulate clarity, balance, along with an outstanding bouquet and sparkle in the cup.
This year the Conquista had an exceptional flowering which made for very uniform harvest. In the cup there is a complex aroma of toast, cinnamon, caramel. Smooth acidity (explained as low acid), creamy body with a great milk chocolate and sweet Peanut Butter flavor with a long dry finish.

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Just finished roast #11 with a half pound Brazil Conquista. Results are below.

Preheated, 1/2, P3+2 mins, C at 1st crack
1st crack at 13:55, done at 14:30
Finished at 16:00

Not quite sure if I'm mistaking 2nd crack for final pops of first crack. I started hearing louder pops shortly after a min into first crack but never got to the crackling sound I know I heard on a batch of decaf I roasted.

Either way the P3 setting was no where near done at 12 mins. From what I could tell it just started browning at 9 mins in.

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Ran a 2nd batch shortly after the last one with Columbia decaf.

PH, 1/2, P2
1st crack at 11:49, done at 12:45
Finished at 13:55 just as 2nd crack began

This was similar to the last batch of decaf I roasted. I'm convinced 1st crack is just running long on my regular beans as there was a good minute between end of 1st and beginning of 2nd here. I think the next decaf roast will be on P3 or P4.

The decaf beans are clearly darker but that's what my in laws are looking for. Still not so dark that they are oily but enough to bring out the sweetness.

I'm also going to give this batch a few days to rest as recommended. I should have enough from last weekend's roasting to get me to Monday!

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Grab this roasting log sheet that I've attached to this post and make some copies of it.

It is a PDF file so you can scale it to an 8x10 sheet of paper.

It will help you with your recording of roasts and allow you to compare a group of roasts on a single page.

I started out using this and after all of the years I've been roasting coffee I still find it useful when I don't want to take the time to setup and run my laptop to record a roast and save it as a graph. I find it much more useful to have a group of roasts in a row so that I can see things in "the big picture"
 

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Have fun , but the best advice i will give is always clean out the chaff and never leave it unattended. I never had a problem, but have seen way too many pics of fires.


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linty1

My wallet cries.
Its been a joy reading your journey with the behmor, I am working off my little cache of store bought beans before making the splurge for one myself.
 
I've roasted a few one pound batches and am hitting 1st crack around 19 mins. Not sure if that's too long. Have also tried cooling faster with a fan and cracking the door.

It's getting colder in the garage (right around 60) so not sure how that will affect it. Also wondering if I need to check the outlet I'm plugged into since the chest freezer is plugged in there as well.

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I've roasted a few one pound batches and am hitting 1st crack around 19 mins. Not sure if that's too long. Have also tried cooling faster with a fan and cracking the door.

It's getting colder in the garage (right around 60) so not sure how that will affect it.

19 minutes is long to first crack. Is the coffee tasting flat/baked? Long roasts tend to lose flavor and flatten out. I try to hit 1st crack around 8-9 minutes in then take the roast to the end of 1st crack around 11-12 minutes where I finish.

Lower your bean volume to 12 oz and still use the 1 lb setting. See if that gets you back down.

Do you have a laptop? You can run artisan manually and record the points (drop, start dry, end dry, start 1st crack, end 1st crack, start 2nd crack, end 2nd crack, end of roast). Once you have the roast logged you can then view the time in dry, maillard, and development. This will help you decide where to lengthen/reduce time at each stage.

You can download artisan from the GitHub site (it is freeware)

GitHub - artisan-roaster-scope/artisan: artisan: visual scope for coffee roasters

Been a while since I manually ran artisan logger but I believe you can grab your temps at wall and exhaust and use those. Artisan will keep track of the time, you just enter temp and event along the timeline.

When I use my Behmor I only use a timer and record time/temp manually based on what I see and smell. I use a sheet of paper with vertical columns to record the time/temp at an event (columns denote events).

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60 degrees is nothing. When it gets down below 32 you might think about supplemental heat.

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Also wondering if I need to check the outlet I'm plugged into since the chest freezer is plugged in there as well.

sharing an outlet can be a problem if you are not getting consistent voltage. Check the voltage at that outlet when the freezer is running.

Never use an extension cord, even a 10 gauge 20 amp one. I'll use an extension cord to run my laptop charger/supply but the roasters "belly up" to the outlet.

I put in a dedicated 20 amp 120vac circuit for my smaller roasters and a dedicated 30 amp 230vac for my larger electric.
 
A: 19 minutes is long to first crack. Is the coffee tasting flat/baked? Long roasts tend to lose flavor and flatten out. I try to hit 1st crack around 8-9 minutes in then take the roast to the end of 1st crack around 11-12 minutes where I finish.

Lower your bean volume to 12 oz and still use the 1 lb setting. See if that gets you back down.

B: Do you have a laptop? You can run artisan manually and record the points (drop, start dry, end dry, start 1st crack, end 1st crack, start 2nd crack, end 2nd crack, end of roast). Once you have the roast logged you can then view the time in dry, maillard, and development. This will help you decide where to lengthen/reduce time at each stage.

You can download artisan from the GitHub site (it is freeware)

GitHub - artisan-roaster-scope/artisan: artisan: visual scope for coffee roasters

Been a while since I manually ran artisan logger but I believe you can grab your temps at wall and exhaust and use those. Artisan will keep track of the time, you just enter temp and event along the timeline.

When I use my Behmor I only use a timer and record time/temp manually basted on what I see and smell. I use a sheet of paper with vertical columns to record the time/temp at an event (columns denote events).

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60 degrees is nothing. When it gets down below 32 you might think about supplemental heat.

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C: sharing an outlet can be a problem if you are not getting consistent voltage. Check the voltage at that outlet when the freezer is running.

Never use an extension cord, even a 10 gauge 20 amp one. I'll use an extension cord to run my laptop charger/supply but the roasters "belly up" to the outlet.

I put in a dedicated 20 amp 120vac circuit for my smaller roasters and a dedicated 30 amp 230vac for my larger electric.

I'll go through these in order
A: It is definitely very flat tasting, I had been wondering about the lack of fruity/bright notes. Was thinking with larger batches having longer times to 1st crack was normal, but it sounds like 8-9 min to first crack no matter batch size is the goal

B: I do have a laptop. Have been monitoring with a roast log for now until I figured out something that produced good/consistent results. Downloaded RoasterThing this morning as I was browsing forums for suggestions, haven't dug into it but it looks very in depth

C: Not exactly sure what to check, assuming I need a multimeter for the outlet. I may be able to move the freezer to the other wall of the garage since I'd like to keep the roaster close to the window/door for cooling. Have not been using an extension cord per the instructions.

The last two 1 pound batches that hit at 19 min were brazil conquista and columbian decaf. Ran similar programs with 1:30 preheat, then 1lb, P3+1min, and C at crack. Should I be using P1 or trying the manual setting to get up to heat quicker?

The brazil I roasted turned out pretty well as espresso after a week but was not great in the pour over cone. It has been smooth/easy to drink but I'm not able to pick out any flavor notes that were suggested by the sellers.

On another note, Amazon had a great deal on the Behmor Brazen Plus so I ordered one. Was wondering if my lack of skill in pour over was effecting the cup and the Brazen would provide better repeat-ability. Sounds like it may just be the roasting but at least I have a new coffee toy to play with.

I feel like I'm still learning the roast process and have lots to learn with the Behmor.
 
You can check voltage at the outlet using a DMM.

If it is below 116 vac you may need to take some things off of that circuit. Voltage drop can be caused by a number of things besides too many appliances on a circuit. The distance between the breaker and outlet may be excessive which will cause voltage to drop.

a 3 volt drop from 120vac is a 5% reduction in voltage so check the outlet you are using.

The circuit I put in for roasting runs 6 feet from the breaker to outlet and only has 1 outlet.

If voltage is low and you can't fix it by taking draw off of the circuit, you may need to grab a variac to get voltage back up to 120vac.

Try reducing your weight and keeping the roast settings the same.

I find it best to adjust the roast weight and run the roaster at max, full pound, full roast heat setting (P-1). I'd recommend lowering weight before getting an expensive variac as you will need at least a 15 amp continuous output (20a peak) and they are NOT cheap.

.
 
I can't specifically comment on your non-P1 profiles on the 1600+.

I typically use the P1 profile on my non -plus model 1600. I roast outside and preheat for roughly 1:15. If it were c
 
I think the Behmor takes some minutes to really heat up and begin roasting. I have the non-plus 1600 model and most often use the P1 profile, 1:15 of preheating, 15.3 ounces of beans. After starting the roast I make note of the time in order to come back about 14 minutes later. Since I rarely reach the start of first crack in less time than that, I walk away and do some other household chore that is short and non-distracting in the meantime.

Depending on the bean, outside temperature, bean load, etc, I usually reach first crack 15-16 minutes after starting but it has taken longer. I am happy with the result though I don't have a gas grill powered or hot air popper to compare it against.
 
Just finished two 12 oz batches (Conquista and Decaf). Hit 1st crack around 15 & 10:50 respectively. 1st crack finished at 16:30 & 12:20. Finished them at 17:15 & 12:25. Didn't hit 2nd crack on either so I'm thinking they are both City+.

Went with manual mode tonight and learned about err2. Somehow I was able to recover and start roasting again on a lower setting to keep it below 330F. I was sitting right by it so didn't miss more than 15 seconds.

I remembered advice I read to get it to 300 and try to stay there until 1st crack and that seemed to work we'll on the decaf.

Cooled it with a small fan blowing into roaster after the first 1:30 of the cooling cycle.

Here is a small sample or batch 1, 2, and a Guatemalan from Mission coffee I had.
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You can download artisan from the GitHub site (it is freeware)[/QUOTE
I am looking at the Hub site and am overwhelmed. I very freely admit that I am not very computer savvy.

When I go to the download page, version1.1.0, there are a lot of different Linux versions, one for Mac and one for Win (Windows?) Plus source code downloads.

My laptop has Windows 10. Can you guide me to which I should load? I've a feeling that I'm going to have to ask one of the younger, more computer savvy co-workers to help me.

Also, thanks for the roaster log. All my roasting the last few years with my Behmor was simply sight and sound. The paper log gives me something to do for 15-20 minutes, which actually makes the time go by quicker, logging each minutes temp.
 
Turtle, I'll move this discussion back here as it was most likely off topic for the green coffee forum.

Pour over blends are best kept simple. African and Central/South American. Kenya and Costa Rica are nice together. Ethiopian (washed) and Colombian (supremo big beans) are also nice and will be more like what American store coffee taste like.

For espresso I like to blend African, Central American, and Indonesian with a little robusta tossed in (5% or less). If I can't find/source robsta, I'll see if I can find some monsooned Indian.

I like pour overs and espresso but they are primarily using a Jura super auto. It's setup for a little bit of milk, then espresso with extra water added to fill a cup, basically turns out like an Americano with milk. I have their espresso button programmed to taste good but I don't care for the other settings
I'm tempted to start buying Lavazza super crema to mix with some decaf beans as they liked that blend.
The problem being we bought into the roaster together in order to get costs down, so either I need to buy out his share of the roaster or find a good blend [emoji3]

I have the Brazil Conquista I picked up for an espresso base and have been looking at the Sumatran, then picking an Ethiopian to go with it. Might just try one of the espresso blends they sell as an easier option.

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I am working from home today so got to test out the latest batch of Conquista and Decaf. All shots pulled on my modded Oscar, ground with Baratza Vario with 18g coffee.

1. 50% blend Conquista/Decaf - total weight 50g in 19 seconds - bright almost sour note
2. tightened grind 3 notches, 50% blend Conquista/Decaf - total weight 39g in 20 seconds - less sour, still bright but more balanced
3. tightened grind 1 notch, Conquista - total weight 36g in 40 seconds - No sour, nice sweeter, thick/creamy consistency, almost choked the machine.
4. same grind, Decaf - total weight 39g in 19 seconds - Slightly sour, brighter than blend

So it seems I need to find a new Decaf for the half caff blend. This batch was roasted to the finish of first crack so I'm going to finish this bag by going to 2nd crack to draw out sweeter side. Maybe an Ethiopian or Sumatran decaf would be a better mixer to avoid getting a "citrusy" acidity.

One question for checking the voltage at my outlet...is it better to get a multimeter to test it or go with a kill-a-watt device so I can check it while roasting? I'm going to have to buy something either option I go with. I was looking up kill-a-watt on amazon and noticed these two models but wasn't sure if they were right or there is a recommended model.

P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor
P3 P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor
 
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