SparkleMotion Senior Member Joined: 30 Nov 2012 Posts: 4 Location: Chicago Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Fri Nov 30, 2012, 9:25am Subject: Behmor not removing all husks
I've been running a Behmor 1600 for a few months now - generally, I quite enjoy it. I get good roasts of a wide variety, and it is easy to clean. However, I've noticed a certain problem that I seem to be unable to resolve.
Namely: When I roast anything above 1/2lb, about 30% of the beans retain some part of their husk. I find that this does affect the taste, and also the appearance of the beans. Has anyone else run into this problem? Solved it? Is there a way to remove the husks easily after roasting?
Posted Fri Nov 30, 2012, 9:51am Subject: Re: Behmor not removing all husks
I use a pasta strainer and place it on a round, floor fan which is turned so that it is blowing up. Stir the beans around and the chaff flies.. It IS an outdoor activity, to be sure.
Posted Fri Nov 30, 2012, 10:18am Subject: Re: Behmor not removing all husks
SparkleMotion Said:
I've been running a Behmor 1600 for a few months now - generally, I quite enjoy it. I get good roasts of a wide variety, and it is easy to clean. However, I've noticed a certain problem that I seem to be unable to resolve.
Namely: When I roast anything above 1/2lb, about 30% of the beans retain some part of their husk. I find that this does affect the taste, and also the appearance of the beans. Has anyone else run into this problem? Solved it? Is there a way to remove the husks easily after roasting?
Well it also depends on the type of beans you're roasting. Dry process Ethiopian beans, D.P. Brazils etc, will have more chaff. An easy way if you don't have a spare fan around is to just run another cooling cycle in the Behmor. The additional tumbling time should take care of the chaffier beans I'd say.
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 Fri Nov 30, 2012, 10:50am Subject: Re: Behmor not removing all husks
You can also take the drum out when it's cool, holding it by the ends and shake it up and down to help loosen the chaff. I do this before the roast too to get any triberries (wedge shaped beans from coffee cherries with three seeds instead of the normal two) and other small beans to fall out on my bench instead of in the roaster where they'll smoke and burn early.
I also sometimes dump the beans in a steamer basket insert for cooling and agitate them with my hands to loosen the chaff.
Really, though, chaff is pretty flavorless and I wouldn't worry too much about it.
infinus Senior Member Joined: 20 Jan 2012 Posts: 73 Location: Indiana, USA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Cheap POS Grinder: Baratza Preciso Vac Pot: Broken by the cats! Drip: Brazen, Technivorm Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Fri Nov 30, 2012, 11:58am Subject: Re: Behmor not removing all husks
Yeah, my understanding is that chaffe has no impact on taste...... Are you sure it's not another variable you are tasting? With bigger batch sizes in the Behmor your roast profile starts to stretch out and this may be the flavor change you are detecting?
Posted Fri Nov 30, 2012, 12:27pm Subject: Re: Behmor not removing all husks
Larger batches mean slower heating ramp to first crack. Slower ramp generally means less bean expansion. Bean expansion helps to force the chaff off the beans as it does not expand well with the bean. You might check the bean expansion difference between your smaller and larger batches to see if there is a correlation. Like infinus, I tend to think there are other factors in the roast profile impacting taste.
Posted Tue Dec 4, 2012, 1:57pm Subject: Re: Behmor not removing all husks
I have also noticed this with older green beans. Also the dryer the bean the more chaff that sticks to the bean. Another way to remove would be to throw them in a strainer with a damp towel on top and give them a good shake over the sink. Make sure the towel is almost dry though. If the beans get visibly wet just let them air out before storing them.
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 Tue Dec 4, 2012, 3:49pm Subject: Re: Behmor not removing all husks
I've read recommendations to use a microfiber cloth to remove the chaff, but when I tried, the coffee beans stuck to the cloth and it was more of a PITA to pick the beans out than to put up with the chaff. After that, I quit worrying about it so much, especially as I've seen some pretty chaff ridden coffee from commercial 3rd wave roasters.
The old Coffeed site said that the main problem with chaff removal and home roasters is that the roasted coffee isn't handled as much as in a commercial environment where the handling and possibly the volume of coffee naturally loosens the chaff.
Posted Tue Dec 4, 2012, 9:17pm Subject: Re: Behmor not removing all husks
While there are always exceptions, a big clue here is that most of the chaff comes loose from the beans during specific stages of the roast. Older and dryer beans will have this problem for the same reasons.
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