Unstopableforce Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2009 Posts: 66 Location: North Vancouver, BC Expertise: Pro Barista
Espresso: Via Venezia Grinder: Burr Grinder Roaster: Poppery II
Posted Sun Jun 28, 2009, 11:25pm Subject: First time home roasting on a Popcorn Pumper!!
and it sucked terribly.
I roasted them for about 5 minutes (I am using a guide from Sweet Marias) but they didn't come out as I had thought they would. A few were still slightly green and they didn't smell that great. They didn't taste very nice either :P.
So I have a few questions to ask you guys!
1) After roasting, can you put them back in to roast longer, even only after a short period of time (<10 minutes) of being out of it? 2) Can you explain what the "pop" and "cracks" i'm reading about sound like? Will they be loud or soft? Will they all kind of 'pop' over a certain amount of time (or should they?)? 3) I'm using a Sumatran coffee (Sumatra is my favorite because I love a bold earthy coffee to dip fresh cinnamon buns in). I know it's best to roast is darker. Any tips for length of roast time?
I'm using a "Popcorn Pumper" that is probably a few years old (picked it up from a thrift store the other day, I couldn't find any popcorn poppers with vents instead of mesh heating.) not 100% sure on the brand since I'm not in the vicinity of it right now.
Posted Mon Jun 29, 2009, 7:05am Subject: Re: First time home roasting on a Popcorn Pumper!!
Unstopableforce Said:
and it sucked terribly.
I roasted them for about 5 minutes (I am using a guide from Sweet Marias) but they didn't come out as I had thought they would. A few were still slightly green and they didn't smell that great. They didn't taste very nice either :P. So I have a few questions to ask you guys!
1) After roasting, can you put them back in to roast longer, even only after a short period of time (<10 minutes) of being out of it?
Yes, you can re-roast and the results are usually acceptable.
Unstopableforce Said:
2) Can you explain what the "pop" and "cracks" i'm reading about sound like? Will they be loud or soft? Will they all kind of 'pop' over a certain amount of time (or should they?)?
You need some reading about basic coffee roasting, but the first crack (1C) usually goes for a minute or more depending on the amount of beans and method of roasting. Do a Google or Bing search on roasting coffee with popcorn poppers and you'll find some very readable and useful advice.
Unstopableforce Said:
3) I'm using a Sumatran coffee (Sumatra is my favorite because I love a bold earthy coffee to dip fresh cinnamon buns in). I know it's best to roast is darker. Any tips for length of roast time? I'm using a "Popcorn Pumper" that is probably a few years old (picked it up from a thrift store the other day, I couldn't find any popcorn poppers with vents instead of mesh heating.) not 100% sure on the brand since I'm not in the vicinity of it right now. Thanks guys :)
You will have to think about getting a long extension cord to increase resistance to somewhat lengthen the roast. But a better fix is to control the voltage directly with a Variac of some kind. Also useful would be to remove the plastic top of the popper and put a soup can (free of label and plastic inner liner) on the top to increase the roast chamber. A tin snip and a little muscle usually gets the can on snug. Some people use glass lantern tops.
But, without any mods you can roast good coffee by adjusting the amount of beans you start with. Around 90 grams or half a cup might work well. Have fun learning this great hobby.
JKalpin Senior Member Joined: 28 Dec 2008 Posts: 242 Location: Thornhill, Ontario Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Aerobie Aeropress Grinder: Baratza Maestro Plus Vac Pot: Yama 5-Cup Drip: Bunn Roaster: Freshroast Plus 8
Posted Mon Jun 29, 2009, 10:54am Subject: Re: First time home roasting on a Popcorn Pumper!!
I started off a bit fancier than you, with a Freshroast+8. Nontheless, I made every mistake possible and drank a lot of mediocre coffee ...!! I almost gave up several times.
But one day I mixed up the ends of 3 varieties of coffee and did a few other 'not-recommended' things (including not keeping a record of what I did) but the roast turned out to be pure magic. Wow ...successs ...but how did I do it?
Anyway, that's what kept me going and now I do roast after roast of really great stuff.
gimpy Senior Member Joined: 8 May 2007 Posts: 148 Location: Flagstaff, Az Expertise: I like coffee
Grinder: Zassenhaus Drip: the AeroPress Roaster: Target Toastmaster hot air...
Posted Mon Jun 29, 2009, 6:53pm Subject: Re: First time home roasting on a Popcorn Pumper!!
Different beans do make different sounding cracks sometimes. Usually, first crack is louder than second crack. Second crack is usually more muffled? What you might do is (and do this outside if you do try it), take a roast all the way through first and second crack so that you can hear the difference. Don't worry about trying to do a city or full city roast with this batch. When you get into second crack and farther, the beans will really smoke/smell, why you should do it outside. You will probably ruin the roast, but it is for experimentation. Try to hear the cracks.
Sounds like you underroasted and did not get into first crack? Which is kind of not normal for an air popper. Usually at the five minute mark, you are well into first and even second crack on most of them. My first of two air poppers was a Walgreens popper (lasted about 500 roasts +/-). My very first roast was with it (brand new) and it took the beans into charcoal (not intentionally, by the way) in about 4 or 5 minutes. I was not paying attention to the beans (was actually looking at the timer trying to time the roast) when my wife walked into the kitchen and yelled at me because of all of the smoke coming out of it. I have not roasted in the air popper in the house since. It cost me, brand new out of the box, $10.00. It gave up the ghost two or three months ago and my second popper is from Target (Toastmaster brand) and it cost $12.00.
So, you should, I would think, be able to find something similar in Canada? I don't know if resting the beans 5 or 6 days would improve the taste, or not, but if you haven't disposed of them, you might try resting them. Something that I use to assist me with my air popper is a temperature probe. I've drilled a small hole down through the plastic rim and insert the steel probe into the area of the vents. The hole size matches the probe diameter to hold it in place. I generally let my beans roast until I get temperature readings in the 430* to 455* readings depending on what level of roast I'm trying to attain.
Sweet Maria's web site has the different temperatures listed for different roast levels. He puts the numbers in the "bean mass" which really helps me determine my levels of roast.
Yes, that's what it sounds like. And that's what happened to me for my first roast, too, because I didn't roast a big enough batch. I had read that one should use as much coffee as the amount of popcorn recommended for the popper. That turned out to be bad advice, because the beans just didn't get hot enough to roast properly. When I increased the batch size from 70 grams (around a half cup) to 100 grams, I was able to get my roasts dark enough (using the Toastmaster 6203 popper).
malkore Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Posts: 210 Location: NE Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Tue Jun 30, 2009, 8:10am Subject: Re: First time home roasting on a Popcorn Pumper!!
first crack sounds a lot like popcorn popping, except sharper.
second crack sounds more like a wood fireplace crackling.
first crack can be a little slower between pops, while second crack is usually a continual sound, especially in an air roaster (which ramps to high temperature quickly for a fast 2nd crack).
there's probably only a 60 second pause between 1st and 2nd on an air roaster.
if you get through 1st crack, the coffee is roasted enough for drinking.
Unstopableforce Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2009 Posts: 66 Location: North Vancouver, BC Expertise: Pro Barista
Espresso: Via Venezia Grinder: Burr Grinder Roaster: Poppery II
Posted Tue Jun 30, 2009, 7:34pm Subject: Re: First time home roasting on a Popcorn Pumper!!
Wow! Thanks guys :) I love this forum so much. So I just finished roasting my second batch (it's realllly busy at my starbucks location right now due to Canada Day and our location for summer) so tomorrow or Thursday I am going to give it a try!
I'm really loving this home roasting business and my manager actually asked me to roast her some coffee to take to her next regional meeting to share with everyone there. Sounds like I might get my foot into a big door ;)
I'm going to piddle around with this 2lbs of Sumatran coffee and then start buying some single-source coffees to mix and match and find a good flavour for.
You guys keep the CoffeeGeek inside of my burning!
Posted Wed Jul 1, 2009, 9:31pm Subject: Re: First time home roasting on a Popcorn Pumper!!
Unstopableforce Said:
Wow! Thanks guys :) I love this forum so much. So I just finished roasting my second batch (it's realllly busy at my starbucks location right now due to Canada Day and our location for summer) so tomorrow or Thursday I am going to give it a try!
I'm really loving this home roasting business and my manager actually asked me to roast her some coffee to take to her next regional meeting to share with everyone there. Sounds like I might get my foot into a big door ;)
I'm going to piddle around with this 2lbs of Sumatran coffee and then start buying some single-source coffees to mix and match and find a good flavour for.
You guys keep the CoffeeGeek inside of my burning!
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