My Foray into Coffee Roasting

[davecmu]

Well, this finally put me over the top, so I stopped in to our local Thrift Store on my way home from buying the biggest piece of steak you've ever seen and, lo and behold, there was a West Bend Poppery II just sitting there in the small appliances section!

I bought it for $4.00.

Plugged it in at home and it works great. Now I'm off to SweetMarias.com to get some green beans so I can get started roasting at home.

 

[Dripp]

Well, this finally put me over the top, so I stopped in to our local Thrift Store on my way home from buying the biggest piece of steak you've ever seen and, lo and behold, there was a West Bend Poppery II just sitting there in the small appliances section!

I bought it for $4.00.

Plugged it in at home and it works great. Now I'm off to SweetMarias.com to get some green beans so I can get started roasting at home.

Fantastic! welcome to the fold...

 

[JPDyson]

Now I'm off to SweetMarias.com to get some green beans so I can get started roasting at home.

Good luck waiting a week for your beans to arrive. I ended up driving to the next town over to buy some the day my roaster arrived. Just couldn't wait.

NOTHING against Sweet Maria's, I mean - the site and forum has been a superb resource, not even speaking of the products yet (my beans will arrive Monday).

 

[docfitch]

SweetMaria's used to ship the next after an order was placed. but, because of the growth in sales, they don't ship as often. I just got my order yesterday (it took 4 days to get it). Of course, from No. CA to So. CA doesn't take quite as long.

 

[JPDyson]

SweetMaria's used to ship the next after an order was placed. but, because of the growth in sales, they don't ship as often. I just got my order yesterday (it took 4 days to get it). Of course, from No. CA to So. CA doesn't take quite as long.

I'm in NC; I'm pleased with the shipping speed, all things considered, but UPS Ground is what it is.

 

[JPDyson]

Woke up slow this morning - wife took the kid out and the house was quiet. I was really looking forward to the Guatemala SHB Ceylon tasting. As an aside, just like yesterday, I'm measuring out a tick more than 60g on the scale and grinding that. Leads to right at 60g of grounds for my 32oz press. Mind you, not 32oz of water by the time you add the grounds, which has always confused me about coffee recipes. Also, I'm noticing more chaff in the grounds collector with home roasted beans. Maybe commercial roasters are more efficient at removing it.

The first cup is done, and it's leaps and bounds better than yesterday's Timor. Same amount of rest, more or less. The almost sour bitter start is present, but muted - perhaps this is just a fresh roasted coffee flavor. Perhaps it's attributed to my roast methods which are a bit quick, when ideally you'd ramp the warm-up a bit more. I'm already eyeballing an iRoast (my now current top biller for the next step - batch size, duct-ability, programmability).

Oh, back to the coffee - seems to have a tad less thickness/body than Timor, but not thin or weak at all. Good finish, too - chocolate and something sweet. 8th sin claims lemon in there somewhere, but I didn't find it in the first cup.

By the by, I read the tasting notes AFTER the first cup. Sometimes it informs questions I had about flavors I noticed, and sometimes it does what it did today - makes me THINK I taste something in the second one. Namely, the lemon just showed up in the bitter/sour start (which is diminishing as the coffee sits in the press). Body and thickness seem consistent, sweet chocolate finish still there. This one's a winner.

Nothing new until maybe Tuesday or Thursday of next week; my Sweet Maria's sampler arrives tomorrow, at which point I may go ahead and reveal what they sent me.

WAY more encouraged today.

 

[JPDyson]

More Green Coffee! My first package from Sweet Maria's contained:

Java Kumajas Organic Taman Dadar
El Salvador Finca La Florida
Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea
Ethiopia Organic Shakiso Wet Process

Oh, and I ordered an iRoast-2 (got some birthday money early and that put me over the edge). The duct-ability is a big selling point, as is the ability to do a larger batch and general evenness. The Behmor being out of stock saved me from the temptation to buy a more expensive machine which, some folks say, will struggle to do darker roasts at 1lb eventually. Not a HUGE concern, but it does mute one of the selling points for me.

 

[StillShaving]

Looking back at your first roast, it is a little difficult to see from the posted pictures but it appears some faint "tipping" was starting to occur. Which may help explain why you did not enjoy it very much.

Tom at SweetMaria's posted a video called "Macro Mayhem - Home Roasted Coffee Part 1" where he points this out in a roast:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYtvQ6CeCPQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

[JPDyson]

Looking back at your first roast, it is a little difficult to see from the posted pictures but it appears some faint "tipping" was starting to occur. Which may help explain why you did not enjoy it very much.

Tom at SweetMaria's posted a video called "Macro Mayhem - Home Roasted Coffee Part 1" where he points this out in a roast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYtvQ6CeCPQ

Good call. The popper is certainly an aggressive roasting profile, and that batch was probably a tad too large (I originally didn't realize any problems with that, but tipping would be one). Less agitation and aggressive profile spells trouble. I'm going to roast up something I think tomorrow at lunch and then again on Thursday, just to try having an extra day of rest to see what happens.

The iRoast will probably just be a way more even roaster with the "agitation path" the beans follow. Tracking has it landing on Monday (dang it!) so I'm looking forward to noting the differences with the same beans, but not until next week's batches.

 

[davecmu]

Alright, my Sweet Maria's sampler arrived today. Here is what I got:

Leaded -

Papua New Guinea AA Kimel
El Salvador Finca La Florida
Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea
Ethiopia Harar Longberry

Unleaded (SWMBO is pregnant, and why should she miss out on the fun?) -

Guatemala Finca La Maravilla SWP
Brazil Cerrado WP
Ethiopia Sidama WP
Peru FTO CO[sub]2[/sub]

Guess I'll fire up a batch or two tonight to get the feel for the thing. Wish me luck!

 

[joel]

Pic of your roaster?

 

[JPDyson]

Pic of your roaster?

Can-do, but it's identical to the one Tom uses in his popper roasting demo. Maybe I'll do a shot of my "setup" to make it a little more interesting.

I did two more roasts yesterday afternoon, thanks to my wife's graciousness (aka, wrangling the boy-beast while I play with coffee outside). Java Kumajas Organic Taman Dadar and El Salvador Finca La Florida. It was in the mid to low 60's, with a little breeze, and that was enough to slow things way down. 9 minutes in the first roast to get FC, 11 in the second to FC+ (it had cooled outside a little). These two were from my first 4lb Sweet Maria's sampler (I have another one coming w/my iRoast, which Maria was SUPER-gracious enough to make 4 new varieties, which strains gratuity, but they're cool people).

I was tempted to re-try the first two beans I roasted from 8th Sin at different roast levels, but I wanted even more to try new varieties and have a larger sample set (4) to compare via both roasting methods to see how much better the iRoast is. The only thing is, my thus-far preferred roast (hah, out of what, 4?) is to put the breaks on JUST as 2nd crack starts. My understanding is that it'll be next to impossible to hear that w/the iRoast. Anybody happen to have any thoughts on that?

 

[davecmu]

Pic of your roaster?

I know you were talking with JP, but here's mine, too:

My two "homebrewing" projects in the same picture. That's a Bell's Oberon tap handle for my kegerator. Please ignore the messy stainless - there's nothing on tap right now, and my buddy spilled some wood stain while "helping" me with a project.

El Salvador Finca La Florida

I roasted the same one last night and made a pot this morning. I'll reserve my thoughts on it until you get a chance to taste yours. Mine went to second crack in 5:10 and I pulled it immediately, so City+ or FC. It's a beautiful color.

Looking forward to hearing what you think of yours.

 

[JPDyson]

RE: Finca La Florida, no sense in waiting. I won't get the chance until Saturday. In any case, we have different poppers after all... at least, my logo is different. Here's an example:

 

[JPDyson]

Brewed the Java Kumajas today. WOW! Best one so far. It was actually my inaugural brew in my birthday present, a 6-cup Chemex. I just guessed at the grind setting (what my Breville grinder calls medium/plunger, it looks like common drip grind). About 55g of beans to 30oz water, took right at 4 minutes to finish. Only, I poured a little too much water, so it was actually still dripping a bit when I removed the filter.

As for the coffee, it was delicious. As the description goes on SM, it's all body and no acidity. It would make for a great blending component, but I totally "get it" all by itself. Superb cup of coffee.

This is actually turning out to be a great birthday weekend - I got to enjoy this along side some homemade biscuits and gravy. Not only that, but I have a "mystery shu" to write about here in a minute that I found at a local asian food store.

 

[JPDyson]

Round 2 w/the Chemex was El Salvador Finca la Florida. I'm not terribly sure I did a good job roasting these; my notes say it took 13:00 to get what I felt was an FC+, but in retrospect may have just stalled due to lower ambient temps. Really looking forward to the iRoast so I can move this party back inside and duct the exhaust out.

It's bright, acidic, mediumish body - overall a little top heavy. I think it might actually go well if blended with yesterday's Java (which has some serious oomph at the low end). I'm definitely not hating it at all, but it's not my favorite flavor profile.

Edit: On second thought (had about a half-cup left over - my 30oz Chemex yields more drinkable coffee than did my 32oz press) I "get" this coffee a little better, since it's cooled and rested a little. There are some berry notes hidden in the acidic bite; perhaps cherry? Something I didn't notice right away that gives this a little more coherence and balance. Nice.

 

[davecmu]

Edit: On second thought (had about a half-cup left over - my 30oz Chemex yields more drinkable coffee than did my 32oz press) I "get" this coffee a little better, since it's cooled and rested a little. There are some berry notes hidden in the acidic bite; perhaps cherry? Something I didn't notice right away that gives this a little more coherence and balance. Nice.

BINGO! I get chocolate-covered cherry, too! Gave it a run on my drive in to work this morning and could still taste it, so it must not be a fluke. I think the Florida is a good coffee, and better when a little cooled.

 

[Takezo]

JPDyson -- have you tried the iRoast-2 yet? Curious to hear what you think about it.

 

[JPDyson]

The iRoast is a nice machine. Overall, the agitation seems good and the batch size is easily double what I was able to do with my Poppery. This is good, because I can roast enough coffee for the weekend in one batch (a total of 110-120g). If I should choose to roast half-batches, I could easily do that as well. The iRoast stretches out the process over almost twice the time that the Poppery takes, so I think that alone has its benefits - especially for medium roasts. The fact that you can duct the exhaust is a huge plus as well.

So far, the biggest complaint I have is related to noise; It's IMPOSSIBLE to hear 2nd crack. You can barely hear first crack. With the Poppery, this was as clear as day. I sort of miss that, because I don't want to go any further than a Full City + roast (cooling as soon as I hear the first signs of 2nd crack). It's harder for me (with little to no experience) to see that visually vs. hearing it. I guess it's forcing me to learn to judge a roast by sight, which should prove useful down the road.

I've read on Sweet Maria's that they're particular and nitpicky about roasters, to make sure that a machine and an owner are well matched. For my budget (which was $200) I really think I got the best machine for my tastes. The Nesco supposedly takes a long time for dark roasts, and the batch size is smaller. The FreshRoast machines may require some manual agitation. Neither of those had the option to duct exhaust.

 

[JPDyson]

quick shot of my current roasting setup; you can see a fan in the window if you squint