What Green Coffee did you Buy or Roast Today?

[Mick]

A "trick" with the Hottop is if you want to really slow down after 1st crack starts, turn the fan on to 100% then if the temp in the roasting chamber starts to go up more than you want, pull the rear filter up (not all the way out but up). The temp in the roasting chamber will actually start to DROP with the burner still set at 100%. You can really stretch your roast out that way.

 

[Evil4blue]

Thanks gents, I'll keep these tricks in mind for my next roast.

As fr roasting on my range top, I wanted to see if it was feasible. When we had the house built 7 years ago, I put in an industrial vent-a-hood that's vents directly to the outside It has 3 independently controlled fans, that when turned on high, sounds like a 747 taking off. This was good and bad, by the end of the roast I could smell just a hint of burnt toast, but during the roast I couldn't smell what was going on in the roaster. I never smelled the hay smell or the toasted coffee smell. So many of you roast with you senses and I basically neutralized one of mine.

 

[life2short1971]

I didn't think of the noise and its very important to hear the cracks. If you want to smell the roast just put your snout to the back of the roaster with the fa on and you'll get a good whiff. You can also lift the bean chute lid and get a whiff of the steam venting. Also, I open the chute a little bit and rub my fingers together in the escaping heat to get a idea of the moisture level inside.

 

[ltjaw]

I keep the burner on full blast all through the roast and adjust the timing (how long the roast stays at the drying temp and 1st crack temp) by using the fan to draw heat out of the roaster during bean drying and at 1st crack to the end of the roast. I find that the burner is just too slow responding (lowering temp and raising it) to take it off of full except if I want to extend the roast into to the dark side,

Great suggestion, Mick. I gave this a try for the drying phase of my roast last night (Yemen Mokha Ismaeli), and it worked great. I think I will incorporate it into all of my roasts from now on. Having ET and BT probes allowed me to see exactly what I was doing with the fan and lifting the air filter. I ended up with a slower temp rise during the drying phase by modulating air flow and dropping the ET, but was able to ramp up to first crack more quickly by turning off the fan, as the heating element was already at 100%. I'm not sure I need to keep the heating element at 100% through or beyond first crack, though. Supposedly the roast becomes exothermic at this point, and I worry about tipping.

As for my temp probe setup, I pretty much followed these instructions to a T:

http://blog.oilslickcoffee.com/2011/11/28/how-to-install-hottop-et-bt-probes/

Only difference - I only installed two jacks in the back of the Hottop, not four. I am very pleased with the choice of equipment and how everything is working. I'm running it through Artisan on a MacBook Air.

 

[Evil4blue]

I decided to roast another batch of Colombia Concordia Santa Monica to see if I actually learned anything on my first roast. Here's the particulars:

My charge was 239g @ 300F

First Crack was at 8:50mins

Second Crack was at 12mins (just barely the start of the crackling)

Drop was 12:10 @ 422 F

I managed to extend the time between the end of 1C to 2C to about 1:45 mins which is better, but still a little shorter than I wanted. I also extended my drying time by about 1:30 mins. If my first roast was FC then this one is definitely lighter, maybe C+. The roasted beans look a lot more evenly colored too. I can't wait to see how this changes the flavor profile of this bean.

Here's a picture and a pretty chart:





The photo makes the beans look a lot lighter than they are in person. Stupid sony camera.

 

[Evil4blue]

Looks good, how far into First did you go with those?

Also, where did you pick up your Malabar, was it online of a local dealer. I was thinking about picking some up to try it out. Thanks!

 

[Evil4blue]

I appreciate it, thanks! Your photo makes the roast look pretty light, but like you said, different bean, different results. Hope it tastes great!

 

[pejay66]

Very nice. Before I goat married in 2012 I used to roast beans for use with my Rancilio Silvia. Still use Silvia each morning but the roasting is a back in the day thing. Sweet Maria's is the best; there beans were always top dollar for me.

 

[Evil4blue]

Very nice. Before I goat married in 2012 I used to roast beans for use with my Rancilio Silvia. Still use Silvia each morning but the roasting is a back in the day thing. Sweet Maria's is the best; there beans were always top dollar for me.

Why would getting married preclude you from roasting? My wife hates coffee but still lets me do my thing. Oh wait, you guys are still in the honeymoon period. Busy doing other fun married stuff.

 

[pejay66]

We were given a Nespresso as a present and she likes lattes from it. I have a smaller roaster nothing like the one in the pic. And we do other fun stuff ;^)

 

[Mick]

Wheeled the roaster outside today and did 2 half pound batches. It was almost 70 out today.

Hard to believe they are calling for more snow at the start of next week. I'm all set with roasted beans so no big for me.

I'll just stay inside and enjoy the beans I have roasted View attachment 427269

First batch was Colombian Supremo that I got from the local specialty roasting house here in town. Roasted just to the start of 2nd crack (heard 1 bean @ second crack then dumped) Internal temp registered 410º and the roast ran 14 minutes start to finish.

The second batch was Sweet Maria's Donkey blend espresso. Roasted past full city. Internal roaster temp was 420º and well into 2nd crack. 18 minutes start to finish on this roast.

Colombian green waiting to get put in

Coming out into the cooling tray

Finished and in the can

Espresso roast only has a pic of it at the time the beans were dumped into the cooling tray

 

[Mick]

@Turtle, that Columbian looks pretty.

My local roasting house gets some pretty nice beans. I have not found anything that they roast that is the slightest off in color, size, or freshness.

They really don't sell green and do not even have prices for un-roasted listed but they must like me as they are always happy to bag up what ever I want to try that they have in stock. I always give them 1-2 days advance so that they have time to bag up what I want at their leisure.

The Colombian that they have is not your typical generic Colombian Supremo but from the Santa Barbara estate (at least what they have in stock now is).

http://www.santabarbara.com.co/

I need to get some more un-roasted from them but they are off on a buying trip this weekend and they don't let any of their employees mess with the green beans so I must wait until Tuesday or later to replenishment what I am out of stock on.

I don't want to buy more than 4lbs of any origin as I don't want them to think I am hording so I go in once a week or so and get a 2 lb bag and try to stick to only 3 or 4 different origins (6 to 8 lbs of green at a time). It is difficult to decide as they stock and roast so many different types of beans. So far, every origin I have tried has been spectacular. They know what they are doing and more importantly they LIKE what they are doing.

 

[Mick]

The "big" local house here in Phoenix, named Cartel Coffee Lab, has a shocking amount of different beans. I've spoken to the owner/head roaster a couple of times and he seemed friendly enough. I've never thought about buying green from him, but I'm sure he would sell under the condition I wasn't going to resell.

my local roasting house sells me raw at 1/2 what they sell the roasted for which is very competitive with what I can find online and no waiting. I know the quality of beans I will get so no disappointments when a package arrives. Plus I get the "feel good" of supporting a local small business. They only have a single 25 lb batch roaster so I would imagine that they do not produce lots of coffee as I know they do not run 24/7.

Just like with shaving I have come to the conclusion that the different origins are like different shaving products. All of them I have tried are pretty nice so I really should settle down and stick with 4 or 5 single origin beans that I like for a "stand alone cup" (1 African, 1 central American, 1 south American, and 1 Malaysian) and the ones I like to blend for my "breakfast" coffee and espresso machine coffee.

People at work are starting to ask me about my coffee. Good times.

Luckily I have neither "people" nor "work" so the only ones to have ever tasted my roasts are me and SWMBO who at first thought I was bonkers as she could not taste the difference between grocery store pre-ground Folgers coffee and what I was roasting. She is a milk and sugar coffee drinker so mud in a cup properly sweetened and lightened is all she was after. Lately she has started to come around, especially when I do the old Homer Simpson drool and shudder after taking a sip.

Hope you can get started with enough "customers" to get you going as a small artisan roaster. The photos you have posted of your roasts look fantastic and I would imagine that the taste equals or exceeds the photos.

 

[gearchow]

my local roasting house sells me raw at 1/2 what they sell the roasted for which is very competitive with what I can find online and no waiting. I know the quality of beans I will get so no disappointments when a package arrives. Plus I get the "feel good" of supporting a local small business. They only have a single 25 lb batch roaster so I would imagine that they do not produce lots of coffee as I know they do not run 24/7.

Just like with shaving I have come to the conclusion that the different origins are like different shaving products. All of them I have tried are pretty nice so I really should settle down and stick with 4 or 5 single origin beans that I like for a "stand alone cup" (1 African, 1 central American, 1 south American, and 1 Malaysian) and the ones I like to blend for my "breakfast" coffee and espresso machine coffee.



Luckily I have neither "people" nor "work" so the only ones to have ever tasted my roasts are me and SWMBO who at first thought I was bonkers as she could not taste the difference between grocery store pre-ground Folgers coffee and what I was roasting. She is a milk and sugar coffee drinker so mud in a cup properly sweetened and lightened is all she was after. Lately she has started to come around, especially when I do the old Homer Simpson drool and shudder after taking a sip.

Hope you can get started with enough "customers" to get you going as a small artisan roaster. The photos you have posted of your roasts look fantastic and I would imagine that the taste equals or exceeds the photos.

Malaysian grown beans? They haven't had a good reputation in the past, has that changed?

-jim

 

[Mick]

Malaysian grown beans? They haven't had a good reputation in the past, has that changed?

-jim

I should have said Indonesian.... Sumatra to be more specific.

The ones that I roast are:

Sumatran Mandheling
Sumatran Permata Gayo Coop

I have roasted other "Indonesian" coffee but those two are the easiest for me to source locally.

 

[gearchow]

I should have said Indonesian.... Sumatra to be more specific.

The ones that I roast are:

Sumatran Mandheling
Sumatran Permata Gayo Coop

I have roasted other "Indonesian" coffee but those two are the easiest for me to source locally.

I like the change of pace that an Indonesian coffee gives. I am currently drinking a blend of Java and Yemen Mohka. I really like this Java. I bought another 5lbs before it's all gone.

It's the wonder of buying beans from small lot, SO coffee. You might never have it the same way again. I can't say that about corn though.

-jim

 

[Evil4blue]

Did some of this:



Got a 5 minute dry time and 4 minutes from the start of FC to when I dropped (406*F). Came out a nice City/City+.

 

[StillShaving]

...
Just like with shaving I have come to the conclusion that the different origins are like different shaving products. All of them I have tried are pretty nice so I really should settle down and stick with 4 or 5 single origin beans that I like for a "stand alone cup" (1 African, 1 central American, 1 south American, and 1 Malaysian) and the ones I like to blend for my "breakfast" coffee and espresso machine coffee.
...

I agree with your comment in terms of a board outline on coffee flavor and how one might want to approach roasting and drinking. But I think there is enough variation between different farms (farming practices), regional micro climates, and year-to-year weather variation that it is difficult to get consistency with coffee beans as compared to an English soap making recipe. Though if you have a coffee buyer that has relationships with growers to go back year after year, then that should add consistency.

Only thing I can say for sure, is that it is always fun to receive a new coffee shipment and see what it has to offer.

 

[StillShaving]

Roasted some Kenya Muthunzuuni Peaberry for Sunday. Roasted into 2nd crack by accident as I was too distracted watching a NCAA tournament basketball game. But it made a nice cup. A closeup of some of the green and roasted beans:

 

[HydroWVU]

Last Saturday I roasted my first batch of Monsoon Malabar from Burmans. Thank you @hardheart for the recommendation.

In my Behmor 1600, I roasted this coffee mid way through second crack. A little longer than I usually do, but the color wasn't all the dark so I let it go. I roasted it for about 22 minutes on the P3 profile.

Couple of roasting notes, it from first crack to second crack really quickly. And there was hardly any chafe.

Taste. I waited until I had a couple of cups before I posted. Because this is a very unique coffee. The green beans have a different smell, and as @hardheart posted the Un-roasted beans are almost white.

I roasted on Saturday and had a cup on Monday. Way too early, the flavor was way too harsh. So I gave it another two days, and had cups on Weds, Thurs, and today. And the flavor was great. Much more of a spiced taste than the naturals I usually drink. Which are very fruity. I really liked it.

I roasted another pound tonight, half dark (mid to late second crack) and half light stopped right after first crack. I roasted both at the P1 profile, because P3 last time didn't give me an even roast. These second roasts were much better. I will let you know what I think of them next week.




John