What's new

Coffee Roasters

ouch

Stjynnkii membörd dummpsjterd
In order to authenticate your experience, you'll have to post pics of the cat.
 
the recommendation on the label at the market for the civet coffee that I go to said to use a French press. Since I don't have one, I am reluctant to buy a 100 g. jar for 15 bucks, so I will hold off on that purchase for now..:wink: however, at $68.10 per pound, thats less than 1/4th the cost of the list pricing I have seen in articles....
 
Even at less than $70/lb, still too pricey compared to other beans I love. There are some other rare beans that are held in very high regard at cg, but I think you have to be a 'super taster' to appreciated them. FWIW: I have two different Moka pots and two different french press pots, but the Aeropress has put them into storage.



Wayne
 
yeah, that seems a bit steep compared with the great coffee i can get here for a couple bucks a kilo.... I need to try that aeropress..
 
Just found another almost new West Bend Hot Air Popper while thrift store spelunking yesterday. Took it home and loaded it up with some Kenya AA beans. Evidently it runs much hotter than my older West Bend popper because within 5 minutes it reached second crack and was putting out enough smoke to set off the alarms and the toy fox terrier! I shut it down and cooled the beans as quickly as possible. I prefer a Full City roast but I popped one of these oily dark beans into my mouth to test it and it tasted rich and flavorful, a nice dark French roast. This morning I will grind some up and put it in the French press. Maybe I will become a dark roast enthusiast.
 
I've just been roasting beans in my oven in a glass Pyrex dish.

450 F, let them go for 10 minutes, give them a stir, then watch them carefully after that.

Not the most controlled heat environment, but the end product still tastes better than the store-bought stuff.

Mind you, if I wanted to get fancy, I would go here.
 
Here are a few pictures of the roast I did today.

I chose this Mexican Single Origin because SWMBO likes it, so........

This roast will be a Full City with a 19 minute time and the maximum temperature will reach 471 degrees.

-Scott-
 
Here is how the story ended this afternoon. My garage now smells real nice...

Feel free to PM any questions.

-Scott-
 
Just found another almost new West Bend Hot Air Popper while thrift store spelunking yesterday. Took it home and loaded it up with some Kenya AA beans. Evidently it runs much hotter than my older West Bend popper because within 5 minutes it reached second crack and was putting out enough smoke to set off the alarms and the toy fox terrier! I shut it down and cooled the beans as quickly as possible. I prefer a Full City roast but I popped one of these oily dark beans into my mouth to test it and it tasted rich and flavorful, a nice dark French roast. This morning I will grind some up and put it in the French press. Maybe I will become a dark roast enthusiast.

Hot Air popper....
tell me more.
Vurra interesting :cool:
 
Here is the popper
proxy.php

proxy.php


Looking down into the roasting chamber
proxy.php


Notice that the hot air vents are around the lower sides of the chamber. VERY IMPORTANT!! If you use the kind with the hot air vent coming up directly from the bottom center of the chamber, you will destroy every roast you attempt!

Put in about a half-cup of green beans, no more than that. Depending on the type of beans, first crack should occur at about 2 minutes. Then watch the roast and shut it off when you reach your preferred darkness. Full city roast at about one and a half minutes after first crack and a dark roast at about two to three minutes after first crack, again depending on the beans. Get the roasted beans outta there as quickly as possible and cool them. I use a colander and a wooden spoon and go out on the back porch where it's cold. I keep stirring them until I can comfortably scoop up and squeeze a handful.
The more I experiment the better I get. The best part...the popper cost me five bucks at a thrift store!
 
:cool: Hey Rich..
did some research on the hot air "roasters"....
Have you modified yours in any way?
or do you use it "as-is"?
Some of the creations I ran into were VERY complex.
Not sure I'm ready to go that far.
Cool idea .....if I can just buy one and start roasting. :cool:
 
:cool: Hey Rich..
did some research on the hot air "roasters"....
Have you modified yours in any way?
or do you use it "as-is"?
Some of the creations I ran into were VERY complex.
Not sure I'm ready to go that far.
Cool idea if I can just but one and start roasting. :cool:
I haven't modified the popper at all. I have two of them. The one pictured runs hotter than my first and roasts the beans about twice as fast. If you decide to try one of these machines you'll obviously need to experiment with roasting times.
 
I use a similar 1200watt popper, and early on discovered that if I turned it on and let it go 'until done' it would do a very poor job. I ruined a fair amount of coffee until I learned to slow down the roasting process.

I turn it on, 45sec, off 15sec for the first two minutes. Then on 30sec, off 30 sec. I stir frequently. A half-cup batch of green beans takes 7 to 8 minutes to city roast, (past first crack and not to second) depending on bean type. The results are much more satisfactory. I don't roast very dark; the lighter roast that results is much more flavorful. Of course everyone's milage varies. :sleep:

I found that if I was just pouring the heat to the beans, they could turn to 'over-done' very rapidly. So I adopted the on/off routine above.

-- John Gehman
 
I use a similar 1200watt popper, and early on discovered that if I turned it on and let it go 'until done' it would do a very poor job. I ruined a fair amount of coffee until I learned to slow down the roasting process.

I turn it on, 45sec, off 15sec for the first two minutes. Then on 30sec, off 30 sec. I stir frequently. A half-cup batch of green beans takes 7 to 8 minutes to city roast, (past first crack and not to second) depending on bean type. The results are much more satisfactory. I don't roast very dark; the lighter roast that results is much more flavorful. Of course everyone's milage varies. :sleep:

I found that if I was just pouring the heat to the beans, they could turn to 'over-done' very rapidly. So I adopted the on/off routine above.

-- John Gehman
Thanks for the tip John. I'm definitely going to experiment with the on/off idea.
Does your popper have the side airvents like the West Bend that I'm using?
 
Thanks John !!
I am starting my quest for a popper this week.
Any vendor you would recommend to buy GREEN beans from ??
I checked out Sweet Maria's website......there is A LOT of info there !!
 
Thanks for the tip John. I'm definitely going to experiment with the on/off idea.
Does your popper have the side airvents like the West Bend that I'm using?

Yes.

Thanks John !!
I am starting my quest for a popper this week.
Any vendor you would recommend to buy GREEN beans from ??
I checked out Sweet Maria's website......there is A LOT of info there !!

Sweet Maria's is a good vendor, their website is a great resource of info. I've bought beans from them in the past, but not recently. Recently I've been buying beans from this place.

If you order from ccm, don't order through the web interface, as it is screwed up. Always call the order in. There is a nice Latina who answers and she has been batting 1000 on my orders.

-- John Gehman
 
John/Rich: I am intrigued by hot air roasting as well. There was only one popper at my local wal-mart. The side air vent is the key, not the brand? Also, the batch size should be 1/2 cup with quite a bit of experimentation with respect to time etc. for the raost. Do certain types of beans work better for this method than others? I prefer med. roasts and look forwared to using my aeropress when it arrives. Thanks in advance for the help and or suggestions. Cordially, Bradley I plan on saving alot of money, just like my DE shaving.:biggrin:
 
There was only one popper at my local wal-mart. The side air vent is the key, not the brand?

Yes, that's right.


Also, the batch size should be 1/2 cup with quite a bit of experimentation with respect to time etc. for the raost.

With popcorn poppers, restrict batch to 1/2 cup of green beans. As they roast, the beans shed moisture, become lighter in weight, and expand in size. Don't cheat and use a 'heaping' 1/2 cup. 1/2 cup of green coffee beans will expand by 2/3rds in size, and end up slightly over 3/4 cup in volume after roasting.


Do certain types of beans work better for this method than others?

I don't know if some are better than others, but the hot air popcorn 'roaster' is suitable for roasting any coffee.


Cordially, Bradley I plan on saving alot of money, just like my DE shaving

Riiiiiiiiiight. :wink2:

-- John Gehman
 
WellWellWell....
Tried my hand at roasting this morning.
I must say it was, a disaster.
Bought a brand new Toastmaster hot air popper and my green beans arrived yesterday.
Today I loaded up the popper with 2/3 cup of beans and went to town.
I tried the 45 sec. on / 15 sec. off technique.
After a cuppa minutes, smoke started filling up the house ( yes, I had the hood on)....chaff was flying everywhere and my coffee....my coffee was roasted at about 5 different levels.
Oh yeah.....now my popper wont turn on. I think I killed it.
:confused:
Help please.
 
Top Bottom