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Need help understanding roast profile and my roasts taste the same

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Discussions > Coffee > Home Roast > Need help...

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russ5679
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Mar 2005
Posts: 26
Location: WI
Expertise: I love coffee

Roaster: IRoast

Posted Fri Oct 26, 2012, 5:30pm Subject: Need help understanding roast profile and my roasts taste the same

I just got my original iroast out of storage. It's been packed away for about 3 years. Still working great. I need help understanding the overall big picture with what I'm trying to do with a roasting profile, and with the iroast specifically. I like to roast to about a full city, full city+, french roast would be to far for me. Do I need to get the beans up to a certain temp right away? What temp, and how long should it stay there? The iroast has 3 roast phases, what is the purpose of that exactly? Why set 3 different temps over a 15 min period, as opposed to say 400 degrees for 15 min and start cooling when the roast looks right? I want to understand the idea behind the profile and the 3 phases, so i can better do my own tweaking. Right now i just don't have a good concept of what exactly I'm trying to do with the profile. Any help with that? Also any suggestion on specific iroast settings for a good full city roast? Thanks.

russ5679
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Mar 2005
Posts: 26
Location: WI
Expertise: I love coffee

Roaster: IRoast

Posted Mon Oct 29, 2012, 7:07am Subject: Re: Need help understanding roast profile and iroast roaster

Ok, so I spent the weekend messing around with this and roasting several batches. Here is my problem, all my roasts taste the same. They are very flat and kind of ashy I roasted with the roaster several years ago and don't remember having this problem at all. What would make all the roasts taste the same? I have roasted Nicaraguan, Brazilian, and Sumatran beans. My roasts (based on color of the roasted beans) has been City, City+, and Full City+ They all tasted flat and ashy. The taste is similar to the smell you get when roasting coffee. I'm using the iroast. 340 for 2 min 400 for 3 min 450 until I hit cool, depending on the roast I'm looking for. So what would make every roast, light or dark, taste the same way? Any ideas?

yakster
Senior Member

Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 1,006
Location: San Jose, CA
Expertise: I live coffee

Espresso: Gaggia Factory / La Peppina...
Grinder: Vario / Kyocera
Vac Pot: Yama 8 + Pyrex Lox-in Rod
Drip: Brazen / Kalita / Chemex /...
Roaster: Behmor

Posted Mon Oct 29, 2012, 1:29pm Subject: Re: Need help understanding roast profile and iroast roaster

How old is the green coffee? Where did you get it from and how was it stored? You could be fighting past-crop coffee issues.

-Chris LMWDP # 272

russ5679
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Mar 2005
Posts: 26
Location: WI
Expertise: I love coffee

Roaster: IRoast

Posted Mon Oct 29, 2012, 2:14pm Subject: Re: Need help understanding roast profile and iroast roaster

The coffee was shipped to me last week from Sweet Marias. So I would think it's not to old. As an update, I will add that I was tasting after 4 hours rest time. After 24 hours now I will say the coffee is less ashy and more real coffee tasting, but my City roast and my Full City + taste the same, so something seems not right about that. And while the coffee is better today, it is still very flat, just a little less ashy. I was roasting in an unheated garage. It was probably 45 to 50 degrees in the garage. Would that make the coffee taste flat and ashy?

strfish7
Senior Member

Joined: 7 Aug 2009
Posts: 174
Location: San Antonio
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: La Pavoni Europiccola,...
Grinder: Vario
Vac Pot: Bialetti
Drip: Technivorm Moccamaster
Roaster: Behmor, FreshRoast 8

Posted Tue Oct 30, 2012, 3:46am Subject: Re: Need help understanding roast profile and my roasts taste the same

I generally roast to a Full City, and I don't think my roasts would taste good at all if I didn't wait at least 5 days to even start consuming them. Some roasts won't even open fully at 5 days. If the beans are overroasted, it probably doesn't matter when you taste them; Starbucks has mastered that particular segment of the market.

russ5679
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Mar 2005
Posts: 26
Location: WI
Expertise: I love coffee

Roaster: IRoast

Posted Tue Oct 30, 2012, 2:10pm Subject: Re: Need help understanding roast profile and my roasts taste the same

Ok, so maybe my problem was just newbie anxiousness. After 48 hours, the beans are tasting much better. I also used filtered water today, and I have no idea why I wasn't using filtered water from the beginning. I'm amazed at how different the beans taste today. From now on I will definitely be letting the beans rest at least 48 hours.

Perked
Senior Member

Joined: 24 Sep 2012
Posts: 30
Location: Ohio
Expertise: I live coffee

Posted Tue Oct 30, 2012, 4:23pm Subject: Re: Need help understanding roast profile and my roasts taste the same

Please let us know how this goes even after the 48 hours as one poster mentioned waiting 5 days.

yakster
Senior Member

Posted Tue Oct 30, 2012, 4:49pm Subject: Re: Need help understanding roast profile and my roasts taste the same

Russ, I'm glad that your roasts are tasting better because beyond age of the beans I didn't see anything jump out with your profile. I thought since your iRoast was packed away for three years there was a chance that you had a green stash packed away too. There's some coffee that I'll drink the day after, but this varies by bean and even individual preference, but some like the Panama Gesha I'll be strict with myself and wait at least five days to sample. Getting back into it it's probably good for your to learn how the coffee changes as it ages... only problem is you may end up drinking up the roast before the week is out if it was a small batch.

-Chris LMWDP # 272

russ5679
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Mar 2005
Posts: 26
Location: WI
Expertise: I love coffee

Roaster: IRoast

Posted Wed Oct 31, 2012, 1:06pm Subject: Re: Need help understanding roast profile and my roasts taste the same

so I can definitely confirm, that my panic was just a newbie mistake. I've roasted some other batches and after waiting an appropriate 24 to 48 hours or more, the roasts are tasting great. Thanks for the responses to my post. I appreciate the knowledge in this community.

Perked
Senior Member

Joined: 24 Sep 2012
Posts: 30
Location: Ohio
Expertise: I live coffee

Posted Wed Oct 31, 2012, 1:33pm Subject: Re: Need help understanding roast profile and my roasts taste the same

Very good to know - Roasting my beans is part of my process to making the perfect cup of coffee

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