dspear99ca Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2013 Posts: 88 Location: BC, Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Coffee Grinder: Mazzer Mini
Posted Sun Feb 10, 2013, 12:52pm Subject: Just roasted first batch but
Not sure if I did it right. I used a popcorn popper and 85g of beans. For the first ~4 minutes or so it was just an occasional pop like you might hear when popcorn starts to pop. It increased in frequency and chaff was coming out into my bowl quite a lot. I figured I was hearing the first crack. At about 6 minutes things got crazy. The beans started to smoke and the popping went from a gentle cooking sound to a barrage of cracking seemingly immediately... Like over the course of 5 seconds. I stopped it about 30 seconds later. The beans were a medium dark chocolate color, a color you'd expect to see in a commercial dark roast but not oily. Haven't ground any yet. Is my roasting experience typical? I've read a lot of posts that talk about a 6-8 minute first crack. Maybe I'll do the next batch outside and let 'me go for awhile to see what happens.
Posted Sun Feb 10, 2013, 2:30pm Subject: Re: Just roasted first batch but
dspear99ca Said:
Not sure if I did it right. I used a popcorn popper and 85g of beans. For the first ~4 minutes or so it was just an occasional pop like you might hear when popcorn starts to pop. It increased in frequency and chaff was coming out into my bowl quite a lot. I figured I was hearing the first crack. At about 6 minutes things got crazy. The beans started to smoke and the popping went from a gentle cooking sound to a barrage of cracking seemingly immediately... Like over the course of 5 seconds. I stopped it about 30 seconds later. The beans were a medium dark chocolate color, a color you'd expect to see in a commercial dark roast but not oily. Haven't ground any yet. Is my roasting experience typical? I've read a lot of posts that talk about a 6-8 minute first crack. Maybe I'll do the next batch outside and let 'me go for awhile to see what happens.
dspear99ca Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2013 Posts: 88 Location: BC, Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Coffee Grinder: Mazzer Mini
Posted Sun Feb 10, 2013, 4:06pm Subject: Re: Just roasted first batch but
I followed Mark Prince's popper how-to as a guide. I think I just need to experiment a bit to become familiar with how to identify first crack, second crack, etc. My observations on the beans I roasted are: they are roughly the same color ground as they are unground. Looks like any medium-dark roast. Taste was... Odd. Not terrible, but there was a taste in there that I felt did not belong and others that were missing. Almost tastes chocolatey. Beans are Sumatran. Oh, the weight dropped 17% and volume increased about 40% when beans were roasted.
I had planned to wait, but curiosity got the best of me. I only ground enough to pull a shot, so I'll give the rest some time to mellow. As for roasting outside, yeah, I made a mess with the chaff and filled a good part of the house with smoke... ;-)
GROSSR Senior Member Joined: 27 Dec 2012 Posts: 11 Location: Jersey Shore Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Tue Feb 12, 2013, 11:06am Subject: Re: Just roasted first batch but
I do the popcorn thing all the time. First it sounds like you got a good roast. If you go outside note the temperature. I have a much harder time roasting outside in the winter than during the summer. If you are concerned with timing use less beans and see what is going on. What works for me is 1 full handful. I have taken beans to Full City and also burned the daylights out of them to see what is going on. Also, the popper popper needs to rest after each roast. Both of my poppers won't 2 roasts in a row. I have to roast on popper 1, then do a second roast on the other popper. Wait an hour and start again. Go cheap, get cheap.
As far as indoors, I do it under my oven exhaust fan, I put the popcorn popper in a box (copier paper box) and hold the box top about 3 or 4 inches above the popper so the chaffe goes into the box and the smoke out the exhaust.
Cool them quickly, I put them outside during the winter, actually on the BBQ grill on a real plate. Remember these little guys are still at 350 degrees and will melt any plastic products. Then let them rest a couple of days.
fun part is try a grind after 4 or 5 hours, then after 1 day and after 2 days and so forth. See how the beans change in flavor.
Take notes of what you are doing so you can recreate the process.
dspear99ca Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2013 Posts: 88 Location: BC, Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Coffee Grinder: Mazzer Mini
Posted Tue Feb 12, 2013, 12:54pm Subject: Re: Just roasted first batch but
GROSSR Said:
I do the popcorn thing all the time. First it sounds like you got a good roast. If you go outside note the temperature. I have a much harder time roasting outside in the winter than during the summer. If you are concerned with timing use less beans and see what is going on. What works for me is 1 full handful. I have taken beans to Full City and also burned the daylights out of them to see what is going on. Also, the popper popper needs to rest after each roast. Both of my poppers won't 2 roasts in a row. I have to roast on popper 1, then do a second roast on the other popper. Wait an hour and start again. Go cheap, get cheap.
My kids have already put me on notice that I better not hurt the popper, and their popcorn better not taste like coffee!
GROSSR Said:
As far as indoors, I do it under my oven exhaust fan, I put the popcorn popper in a box (copier paper box) and hold the box top about 3 or 4 inches above the popper so the chaffe goes into the box and the smoke out the exhaust.
I will try the fan idea. I used a really big bowl for chaff, but in addition to what was caught in the bowl there was quite a bit of lighter stuff floating around in the air. It's been getting warmer lately, yesterday was +6 or +7C (mid-40's F) and sunny so outside is definitely an option.
GROSSR Said:
Cool them quickly, I put them outside during the winter, actually on the BBQ grill on a real plate. Remember these little guys are still at 350 degrees and will melt any plastic products. Then let them rest a couple of days.
I put my heaviest baking sheet into the freezer for half an hour. When the roast was done, it went onto the cold metal which cooled things down pretty quick.. especially with only 70g of roasted beans to cool.
GROSSR Said:
fun part is try a grind after 4 or 5 hours, then after 1 day and after 2 days and so forth. See how the beans change in flavor.
Take notes of what you are doing so you can recreate the process.
I filled up the hopper on my grinder with other beans, should be able to sample the new roast later this week. One thing I noted and that was that the freshly roasted beans made crema like no tomorrow... better than anything I've ever seen!
Jmanespresso Senior Member Joined: 18 Jan 2009 Posts: 2,108 Location: Westchester NY Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Alex Duetto II Grinder: Compak K10 - Vario Vac Pot: Yama-SY5/SY8/TCA5 Drip: V60, Beehouse, CCD Roaster: Hottop B
Posted Wed Feb 13, 2013, 3:28pm Subject: Re: Just roasted first batch but
If this is your first foray into fresh coffee(roasted by your, or a roaster), dont be alarmed when the coffee doesnt taste like "coffee".
Sumatras can be wonderful. I enjoy them. But some people despise them. It definitely a love it or hate it, and youll know right away. You can find notes of chocolate, nuts, spices, oak, cedar, all sorts of darker flavor notes.
Other coffees, like washed centrals, will be bright and lively, having notes of citrus, flowers, teas, fruits, all sorts of good stuff. I remember a Helsar de Zacaro Costa Rica I roasted a while back tasted like sweet lemonade, literally, in your face, couldn't miss it lemonade.
If there is one comment I dont like from people who aren't into coffee, its "why doesn't this taste like coffee?" My answer is usually, "what, you mean burnt, flat wood with a hint of cocoa powder?".
Even more so with home roasting, the flavors you are going to find in different coffees will amaze you. And dont sell yourself short if you think you cant tell a difference. If you can tell the difference between pepsi and coke, that is much more subtle then the difference between say, Sumatran and Kenyan.
Follow Your Bliss
Coffee makes your constantly overcome your prejudices and re-evaluate your own "received wisdoms" when it comes to judging cup flavors. -Tom Owen, SweetMarias
dspear99ca Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2013 Posts: 88 Location: BC, Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Coffee Grinder: Mazzer Mini
Posted Wed Feb 13, 2013, 8:36pm Subject: Re: Just roasted first batch but
Jmanespresso Said:
If this is your first foray into fresh coffee(roasted by your, or a roaster), dont be alarmed when the coffee doesnt taste like "coffee".
Sumatras can be wonderful. I enjoy them. But some people despise them. It definitely a love it or hate it, and youll know right away. You can find notes of chocolate, nuts, spices, oak, cedar, all sorts of darker flavor notes.
Other coffees, like washed centrals, will be bright and lively, having notes of citrus, flowers, teas, fruits, all sorts of good stuff. I remember a Helsar de Zacaro Costa Rica I roasted a while back tasted like sweet lemonade, literally, in your face, couldn't miss it lemonade.
If there is one comment I dont like from people who aren't into coffee, its "why doesn't this taste like coffee?" My answer is usually, "what, you mean burnt, flat wood with a hint of cocoa powder?".
Even more so with home roasting, the flavors you are going to find in different coffees will amaze you. And dont sell yourself short if you think you cant tell a difference. If you can tell the difference between pepsi and coke, that is much more subtle then the difference between say, Sumatran and Kenyan.
Thanks for the insight... I guess I was surprised not to taste, well, the same mix of flavorings found in 99% of commercially blended coffees. As I said, the Sumatran flavor was definitely NOT bad, it was not bitter or sour, in fact I'd call it smooth, it was more surprising than anything else. I can see how this particular roast would integrate really well into a blend with some sharper flavors, acidity maybe? and... maybe it's good on its' own once I ditch the preconceived notions of what it "should" taste like before I evaluate it on its' own merits. The terms you used, chocolate-nuts-spices, etc. resonate with me after having tasted the coffee... the chocolate is in-your-face present, I will savor another cup tomorrow and see if I can differentiate any other distinct flavors. I'm going to try french pressing it.
Really enjoying the start to this ride... something tells me I'm going to be on it for a L-O-N-G time....
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