Coffee Roasting Methods Discussion

This is thread died off. I've been roasting. Today was #18 in the Behmor. This is Sweet Maria's Level 3 Espresso blend. 2 min warmup, P1 1lb setting. Taken to the start of 2nd crack at 16:45 then dumped to cooling cycle. I'd call it FC++. I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.

I haven't been able to roast in a while. Maybe this weekend while the SWMBO is at a baby shower and my dad comes over to watch the Saints first preseason game.

Finally got another roast in! This time I experimented with a blend. There's no science behind my blending, I just decided to give it a go to see what happened.

4.5 oz of Costa Rica Helsar (used up the last of my Costa Rica)

7.75 oz of Brazil Santa Lucia Yellow Bourbon.

So 35% Costa Rica and 65% Brazil.

I've roasted the CR before, but never the Brazil. I'm thinking they'll complement each other well. CR is bright and fruity, Brazil should be balanced and form a nice base.

In the picture you'll notice a fancy contraption I call the Stationary Tilt-Increase Cantilever Kickstand (tm). This is the first time I've used it through the entire roast. Once I put my log into excel, I'll find out how much more quickly the beans progressed through the drying phase in the beginning of the roast. I think my last few roast went though a bit slowly, which had the effect of baking.

I used P3 setting, and waited until after starting the roast to add time (this adds time to the last phase of the roast (100% power) instead of the second phase (according to the manual).

With the machine leaning back a bit, the beans were closer to the heat source, and yellowing began about 4.5 to 5 minutes in. My last few roast had yellowing beginning much later.

I don't think you can tell in the picture, but I think the two different beans roasted to different levels. Honestly, I'm not sure which is which though.

I've mixed beans after I roasted them but never before roasting, I've also roasted a few of the Sweet Maria's blends. The blends I've roasted almost always look like your beans Jessy, some dark and some light.

How are you determining when the drying phase is done? And what do baked coffee beans taste like?

I've been using my Behmor for a few years now and I have it dialled in to do every thing I need it to do for different beans. Blending beans before roasting is a blind luck event and almost always ends up with uneven roasts. I have bought green blends before and they roast ok so I am sure that the actual 'blending' requires more knowledge of various bean properties than I have. I've found it easier to simply roast off each batch separetly then blend them in a jar.

My roaster crapped out today. I have a message in to Joe on the SM forum. Cooling cycle is the only thing that runs.

I have a sad.


*Edit* Errrr, nevermind. Started working again. Perhaps operator error

I've had a few issues with my Behmor and their customer service was a pleasure to deal with. I have contacted Behmor through their website and they usually replied to me within a few hours, even on a weekend.
Good luck with your roaster.

Sullybob said:

I've had a few issues with my Behmor and their customer service was a pleasure to deal with. I have contacted Behmor through their website and they usually replied to me within a few hours, even on a weekend.
Good luck with your roaster.

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Thanks, I think it's good to go now.

Dirk-Lerxst-Pratt said:

My roaster crapped out today. I have a message in to Joe on the SM forum. Cooling cycle is the only thing that runs.

I have a sad.


*Edit* Errrr, nevermind. Started working again. Perhaps operator error

Click to expand...

Your roaster might have also been too warm. If it is above a certain temperature it will refuse to turn on and you have to wait for it to cool down enough.

One time I got a little too distracted talking to someone and hurried over to check this bean's appearance to see how yellow it might be as my mental time clock had been reset. But instead of hitting the "light" button I hit the "cool" button instead. (IMO the light button should not be beside the main controls to avoid such accidents.) I had to wait for a good portion of the cool down cycle to run before I could restart and finish roasting the beans. To my surprise the resulting coffee was drinkable.

Latest addition to the modifications is a windshield mount cell phone holder to keep my hottop interface from sliding around on the cart.

Pics say it better than words so this is what it now looks like at Roasterie a la Mick

turtle said:

Latest addition to the modifications is a windshield mount cell phone holder to keep my hottop interface from sliding around on the cart.

Pics say it better than words so this is what it now looks like at Roasterie a la Mick

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Nice!

Hmmm some fancy gear in here indeed.

I've been roasting for 5yrs or so with what they refer to in Australia as a 'Coretto' - which essentially involves using a breadmaker appliance with a heatgun. Hole drilled in the side for a digital meat thermometer and essentially thats it. I've made a lid with an exhaust for the chaff+excess air (thats pushed out by the heat gun). Really couldn't be easier and will set you back under $50 if you can locate the breadmaker via a thrift store etc.

Gives excellent results, very simple to use and easy to replace/fix etc reasonably common amongst home roasters in Oz, still very envious of all the bells and whistles on some great pix in this thread.

Good feedback @NIKKO, I think your setup should produce some good coffee. Someday I hope you will share some pictures of your roaster, to show us how it works.

StillShaving said:

Good feedback @NIKKO, I think your setup should produce some good coffee. Someday I hope you will share some pictures of your roaster, to show us how it works.

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Thank you. Oh my goodness, it's no beauty pageant queen I'll tell you that. Picture a breadmaker that was modded to be one of the props for one of the Mad Max films and you're on the right path. But it's super simple, compact, easy to fix issues/replace parts and does very good consistent roasts with controllable variation in the results. All with change out of $50. Going strong, 3yrs young.

Recently reached roast #100 in my Behmor! Coffee from Costa Rica Tarrazu.

Congrats! Looks delicious!

Inspired by Mick's modifications, I decided to play to my strengths and go in the completely opposite direction:



I'm thinking of modifying the internals of the hot mitts with some kevlar mittens so I can handle the heat without switching hands. Also looking into a slightly thinner whisk if I can find one long enough.

Here's the most recent batch. Just roasted it this morning, but it's all going to a friend. She brought us homemade applesauce in this jar (spectacular, btw) and it would be rude to return it empty.

Nice. This must have been the way it was done at some point in history. I expect if I did this I'd have some wins and some terrible coffee. That being said for the most part fresh roasted and fresh grinding makes a big difference. I guess that all of the roasters I've used do pretty well as I've pretty much liked them all.

Alacrity59 said:

Nice. This must have been the way it was done at some point in history. I expect if I did this I'd have some wins and some terrible coffee. That being said for the most part fresh roasted and fresh grinding makes a big difference. I guess that all of the roasters I've used do pretty well as I've pretty much liked them all.

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Mike,
This is exactly how it was done as recently as the 40's and 50's though much more common before then. I don't have an electric grinder and use a Hario Skerton manual grinder for my coffee. Recently become interested in other manual grinders and what I've seen is that there's a ton of vintage grinders available from all over. Haven't bought any yet as I'm not knowledgeable enough which ones are good and which ones aren't, plus there's a risk of bad burrs in them and none of the sellers take pics of the grinding apparatus.

All that said, it seems as if the quality of coffee is much higher now than in previous days. This is one of the areas in which technology has dramatically improved the quality of the end product. I think our grandparents were used to very heavily roasted coffee that was ground pretty coarse.

Nice looking roast @oakeshott. Looks like you are roasting indoors, do you find that your stovetop ventilation is strong enough? With your lighter roast I imagine it is not a problem but I am curious if you ever go into second crack with your pan roasts.