☕ Coffee ☕: Ingredients, Roasting, Grinding, Brewing, and Tasting

Awesome passedpawn. Thats how you do it. So I did my first roast. What a comedy of errors. I thought I heard first crack so I decided to turn it down but then accidentally hit the power off button. Which sent it into its cool cycle. And then made that mistake a bunch more times of course. Then decided to try to roast it darker and I'm not sure if it just eventually got dark or completed first crack or what. It started to melt the sides of the lid top. So I just held it in place. No big deal. A separate hole for the chaff is definitely needed or a fan behind you blowing it away. Little worried all the chaff is going to get into the heat gun and shorten its life.

So then I took it out and f****** dropped it. Upside down of course. I try to get what I could. Haha LMAO.

Regardless this heating method is clearly a great way to roast. Got the Wagner gun because the Harbor Freight is just disgusting. It had a little burn off smell but nothing like the other

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Second batch went way better. Having adjustable was awesome. Hit 1c. at 730 then went to 3/4ish power full fan, then 1/4ish full fan and finished at 930. A city roast without any scorching. So happy. It smells so good. Thanks again jammin.

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applescrap said:

Second batch went way better. Having adjustable was awesome. Hit 1c. at 730 then went to 3/4ish power full fan, then 1/4ish full fan and finished at 930. A city roast without any scorching. So happy. It smells so good. Thanks again jammin.

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Bro that is so awesome! Be sure & let us know you're experiences in the cup between the 2 roasters. I have a feeling you're in for a treat

So awesome, cant wait to discuss temperature readings and thermometer mounting etc...but for now just going to kick back and enjoy. You were so right about direct heat. The coffee smells so different. That are caramel and chocolate notes coming forward

Drum roll please...... the results are amazing. Couldn't resist breaking into it this morning. Unbelievable, night and day difference, my wife thought that it was darker roasted. She was saying she loved the dark roast. This roast by color is half as dark as what we have been drinking, but it is so much more rich and developed. It's smoother, tastes better, and it's really just a much better roast. The lighter roasts I had been doing were way underdeveloped. And the darker roast were way over developed. Honestly it tastes like I went to a super duper expensive coffee shop and got a cup of coffee. Based on this I would recommend an air popper before a Whirley Pop.

You're tempting me to try a bread machine even though I have the behmor. [emoji2]

Now the hard part-replicating your success each roast!

I go through phases where everything I roast tastes amazing and I can roast while quite buzzed on bourbon. Then I'll go through a phase where every roast is sub par. Who knows. Fortnately the good outweighs the bad by far.

HarborTownBrewing said:

Now the hard part-replicating your success each roast!

I go through phases where everything I roast tastes amazing and I can roast while quite buzzed on bourbon. Then I'll go through a phase where every roast is sub par. Who knows. Fortnately the good outweighs the bad by far.

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Yeah but even the subpar destroys Starbucks or anything you can buy in a grocery store.

My buddy bought stir crazy. Will it roast without the turbo oven? Seems like he can stick a heat gun in the top?

What if you used a heat gun with a stir crazy

Aristotelian said:

Yeah but even the subpar destroys Starbucks or anything you can buy in a grocery store.

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So, thought of this post when I was in the grocery store today. Coffee aisle had:

Big Shoulders
Two Brothers
Metropolis
Intelligentsia

Seems like I'm not remembering one or two, but there are some great coffees there. Or at least, there was some great coffee, freshness can certainly be an issue.

Just checked my email. Local craft beer store apparently just started stocking Dark Matter coffee. Which reminded me: Grocery store also had Dark Matter. Also reminded me that LHBS carries freshly roasted coffee from a roaster that the store owner likes.

TallDan said:

Just checked my email. Local craft beer store apparently just started stocking Dark Matter coffee. Which reminded me: Grocery store also had Dark Matter. Also reminded me that LHBS carries freshly roasted coffee from a roaster that the store owner likes.

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Sure sounds like Brew and Grow/Intelli to me

I've had Dark Matter and was really unimpressed - just another dark roast.

I was at an Italian grocery store this weekend and they had Lavazza. Freshly roasted... In April.

HarborTownBrewing said:

Sure sounds like Brew and Grow/Intelli to me

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Nope, don't remember the roaster, but there isn't a b&g near me, I was referring to perfect homebrew supply.

I tried my quicker roast on the Ethiopian Fara Sala today. Hard to get a good taste from an insulated cup but it was much improved from my slower roast version. This one has a sort of lemon flavor with some berry.

I'll give it a better go on Wednesday after its had a couple more days rest and I can give it a good sip n sniff from a mug.

My buddy seems certain that he can roast in a stir crazy without any mod. Hoping somebody will chime in here. I know the main mod is usually a turbo oven but it seems that a hgun would work too, and well?.

applescrap said:

My buddy seems certain that he can roast in a stir crazy without any mod. Hoping somebody will chime in here. I know the main mod is usually a turbo oven but it seems that a hgun would work too, and well?.

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Let him get some roasts in - nothing wrong with that. Everyone has to start somewhere. He'll start off loving life (as we all do) and as the newness wears off he will want to upgrade much like the rest of us.

At that time you can share your experiences when relying solely on direct heat & what a difference convection makes (how your HG works & why you don't use the heating element in your BM). You can then tell him that all he needs to do is disconnect the heating element on his SC & add a TO on top of it for incredibly improved results. Like you, he can add a BT (bean temp) sensor by drilling a hole in the bottom of the SC & shallowly inserting a sensor.


Edit: one easy mod he should do right away is to improve the stirring fins. Extend them by any means to increase agitation of the bean mass

jammin said:

Let him get some roasts in - nothing wrong with that. Everyone has to start somewhere. He'll start off loving life (as we all do) and as the newness wears off he will want to upgrade much like the rest of us.

At that time you can share your experiences when relying solely on direct heat & what a difference convection makes (how your HG works & why you don't use the heating element in your BM). You can then tell him that all he needs to do is disconnect the heating element on his SC & add a TO on top of it for incredibly improved results. Like you, he can add a BT (bean temp) sensor by drilling a hole in the bottom of the SC & shallowly inserting a sensor.


Edit: one easy mod he should do right away is to improve the stirring fins. Extend them by any means to increase agitation of the bean mass

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Word.
This is so good.

applescrap said:

My buddy seems certain that he can roast in a stir crazy without any mod. Hoping somebody will chime in here. I know the main mod is usually a turbo oven but it seems that a hgun would work too, and well?.

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No mod = not hot enough. Been there.

Opening the SC, bypassing the thermostat = VERY hot (probably a fire/melt hazard), still didn't work well (been there too ).

Like jammin says, you need hot air blowing.

Fara Sala Update: It's good.

Very soft, well rounded cup - just like you'd expect out of a good Ethiopian. The slightest hint of acidity just to round out the cup. There are definitely some fruit flavors in there but I just can't pick them out, which isn't something I usually struggle with. Maybe it's because it's complex, maybe because I didn't roast it well. I don't know.

I dropped this roast at the very end of 1C, and I think next time I'll take it about 20 seconds longer to see if it develops a bit more. Overall I'm happy with it.

HarborTownBrewing said:

Fara Sala Update: It's good.

Very soft, well rounded cup - just like you'd expect out of a good Ethiopian. The slightest hint of acidity just to round out the cup. There are definitely some fruit flavors in there but I just can't pick them out, which isn't something I usually struggle with. Maybe it's because it's complex, maybe because I didn't roast it well. I don't know.

I dropped this roast at the very end of 1C, and I think next time I'll take it about 20 seconds longer to see if it develops a bit more. Overall I'm happy with it.

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Did you keep it at high heat until the start of 1c with the behmor? (i think that's what you last posted) That's what I did with my first roast of it a few days ago as that's my go-to roast profile.

TallDan said:

Did you keep it at high heat until the start of 1c with the behmor? (i think that's what you last posted) That's what I did with my first roast of it a few days ago as that's my go-to roast profile.

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Yeah, I did 8 oz, "P5, D" (which is 100% power with a faster drum speed - for those without a Behmor). I kept it there until it began browning, when I pulled back to P4 (75% power) for about 40 secs, then back to P5 (100% power) until 1C. At 1C I went P1 (0% power). And finished the roast like that, dropping it right as 1C stopped.

HarborTownBrewing said:

Fara Sala Update: It's good.

Very soft, well rounded cup - just like you'd expect out of a good Ethiopian. The slightest hint of acidity just to round out the cup. There are definitely some fruit flavors in there but I just can't pick them out, which isn't something I usually struggle with. Maybe it's because it's complex, maybe because I didn't roast it well. I don't know.

I dropped this roast at the very end of 1C, and I think next time I'll take it about 20 seconds longer to see if it develops a bit more. Overall I'm happy with it.

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My ghetto system is far different than yours, so it might be impossible to draw any conclusions, but I found that the darker roasts had more of that acidic "brightness", which I don't like. I roasted to 5 different levels, and the second level (second from the left in the pic I posted previously) was the best one for me.

The only one that had any "fruit" was the 4th in the picture.

The 5th batch, the darkest, had predominant roastiness that covered any other more nuanced flavors.

In the pic, batch #1, the lightest, lacked any complexity and was a little too light on flavor for me. It also had an odd chalkiness or earthiness that I didn't like, and had a viscous mouthfeel that was odd.

Here's the image again to make it easier to follow what I'm saying:

HarborTownBrewing said:

Yeah, I did 8 oz, "P5, D" (which is 100% power with a faster drum speed - for those without a Behmor). I kept it there until it began browning, when I pulled back to P4 (75% power) for about 40 secs, then back to P5 (100% power) until 1C. At 1C I went P1 (0% power). And finished the roast like that, dropping it right as 1C stopped.

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I always do 1lb p5, standard drum speed. (only 8oz of coffee in there, but the 1lb setting). Since on the 1lb setting the fan kicks in 7:30 into the roast (usually right before what i consider the browning phase) that effectively lowers the temp some.

I won't comment much on what I think of the coffee though. I'm drinking it right now and enjoying it, but I ran out of chemex filters last week so i've been brewing mostly french press with it. Hard to comment when i'm using an entirely different brewing process than I'm used to.

TallDan said:

I always do 1lb p5, standard drum speed. (only 8oz of coffee in there, but the 1lb setting). Since on the 1lb setting the fan kicks in 7:30 into the roast (usually right before what i consider the browning phase) that effectively lowers the temp some.

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I forgot to mention that, but yeah I do the same. I actually like the timing of it, even though it's a pain to get used to for a while. It's saved me on a few roasts that were getting away from me, with the fan kicking in just before it got out of control.

So after reading ~60 pages of this thread I have acquired a whirlypop and 4 lbs of beans from Sweet Marias sampler pack. I am going to roast on my gas stove. Any advice you guys have from your whirlypop days? How many beans is the sweet spot for this method? Thanks!

Limbrizik said:

So after reading ~60 pages of this thread I have acquired a whirlypop and 4 lbs of beans from Sweet Marias sampler pack. I am going to roast on my gas stove. Any advice you guys have from your whirlypop days? How many beans is the sweet spot for this method? Thanks!

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You read the whole thread? Holy cow!

I did 1/2# and 1# in there no problem. The 1/2# might be best at first, while you're working out the process (might screw up!). 2# was a bit of an issue, but I can't remember why ( I probably posted here about it, don't remember).

Prepare for intense smoke for the last couple of minutes. Kitchen will smell strongly of coffee for about an hour. If there are others in your household, consider sending them on an errand during your roasting time.

Under-roasting is far better than over-roasting. And, if you really really under-roast, you can put them back on the heat for a little bit. I know when the smoke comes, it can be hard to assess where you're at in the bean color, so use some caution there. If the beans are oily when they cool, you over-roasted.

Have a timer of some sort handy so you know exactly how much time you need. That way next time you can hit your mark without two heating cycles.

You probably know that the whirley isn't the BEST way to roast, but it's probably the most accessible and cheapest way to get into this hobby. Good luck. Let us know how it went.

Thank you for the tips! I will definitely post about my results. I'm very excited, I just now am getting into quality coffee. I'm a little concerned that it will turn into an expensive addiction like beer brewing haha. I just bought a Chemex today too!

Cheers!

So for like a breakfast blend how far past 1C would be typical? I know it's dependent on a ton of variables but anything in the ball park would be helpful. I accept that I may mess up the first few roasts but I sure would love not to ha

Limbrizik said:

So for like a breakfast blend how far past 1C would be typical? I know it's dependent on a ton of variables but anything in the ball park would be helpful. I accept that I may mess up the first few roasts but I sure would love not to ha

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Haha, if you know what 1C is on your first roast, you're way ahead of me. I was WELL into 2C before I realized what was going on.

I think only about two minutes with the whirley. It was a while ago, but from memory I think I hit 1C at about 7m, and I was pulling it off and cooling it at 9:30. And that got me to a light roast that I liked.

Limbrizik said:

So for like a breakfast blend how far past 1C would be typical? I know it's dependent on a ton of variables but anything in the ball park would be helpful. I accept that I may mess up the first few roasts but I sure would love not to ha

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When it starts smoking take a peek inside. First time I had better luck judging by color. That whirley pop is awful loud so it can be hard to hear 1c to an untrained ear.

I would use 8oz or less first time, that way if the roast doesn't go well it's not a big deal.

So I ended up roasting 8oz and I think I initially started to burn the beans so I turned the heat down. I may have turned it down too low because it took 14 min to get to first crack. I let the beans go after first crack for about 2 min and they started to smell really good. I took a picture of the beans but I am unsure how to post it. I'm excited to brew this!

Limbrizik said:

So I ended up roasting 8oz and I think I initially started to burn the beans so I turned the heat down. I may have turned it down too low because it took 14 min to get to first crack. I let the beans go after first crack for about 2 min and they started to smell really good. I took a picture of the beans but I am unsure how to post it. I'm excited to brew this!

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?

How are you viewing the forum: computer, mobile browser, mobile HBT app?

Limbrizik said:

So I ended up roasting 8oz and I think I initially started to burn the beans so I turned the heat down. I may have turned it down too low because it took 14 min to get to first crack. I let the beans go after first crack for about 2 min and they started to smell really good. I took a picture of the beans but I am unsure how to post it. I'm excited to brew this!

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You should put it in a baggie and leave the beans for a couple of days. I don't know if it's my imagination or not, but it seems to change a lot a few days after roasting.

[nevermind] Well, go ahead and use the immediately, but see if you notice a difference over several days.

passedpawn said:

My ghetto system is far different than yours, so it might be impossible to draw any conclusions, but I found that the darker roasts had more of that acidic "brightness", which I don't like. I roasted to 5 different levels, and the second level (second from the left in the pic I posted previously) was the best one for me.

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I am not a big fan of acidic coffee and found I usually get more acid in my lighter roasts and less in the darker roasts. Do you find your other coffee have more acid for darker roasts too or just this one?

ba-brewer said:

I am not a big fan of acidic coffee and found I usually get more acid in my lighter roasts and less in the darker roasts. Do you find your other coffee have more acid for darker roasts too or just this one?

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This is the only time I've roasted the same coffee to a bunch of different roast levels at the same time. I have a pH meter, but I didn't think about doing that. It's not obvious to me that pH is really what my mouth is detecting, but it might be.

Most of the coffee that I brew is not dark roast, and I'm certain (I drink a lot of coffee) that none of it is objectionably acidic. But although I want to make a science of all this coffee stuff, I'm also roasting for sustenance, so there are many times when I roast just to get through the next week, and the spectrometer and the pH meter aren't a part of the process

passedpawn said:

This is the only time I've roasted the same coffee to a bunch of different roast levels at the same time. I have a pH meter, but I didn't think about doing that. It's not obvious to me that pH is really what my mouth is detecting, but it might be.

Most of the coffee that I brew is not dark roast, and I'm certain (I drink a lot of coffee) that none of it is objectionably acidic. But although I want to make a science of all this coffee stuff, I'm also roasting for sustenance, so there are many times when I roast just to get through the next week, and the spectrometer and the pH meter aren't a part of the process

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There's something to be said for keeping it simple, no doubt.

You can't deny that you're roasting/tasting experiment didn't improve your process a big step forward though ... i hope

ba-brewer said:

I am not a big fan of acidic coffee and found I usually get more acid in my lighter roasts and less in the darker roasts. Do you find your other coffee have more acid for darker roasts too or just this one?

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Acidic flavor is a characteristic of certain beans - Kenya being the most extreme example of this I'd say. You can light roast a Columbian and not taste the acidity (or an Ethiopian in my opinion).

And fwiw (not saying you said this, but more a disclaimer to everyone): acidity flavors in coffee is not the same as acidity in a spicy food for instance.

Anyways my point is a light roast doesn't always expose acidic flavors - that's just more a flavor profile of some coffees (just like a mossy Sumatran or a blueberry Harrar).

When I said "acidic", I meant a sharp metalic edge to the flavor. Put a piece of foil in your mouth and you might see what I mean. It's sorta like that.

Your description gave me heartburn, passed

HarborTownBrewing said:

Acidic flavor is a characteristic of certain beans - Kenya being the most extreme example of this I'd say. You can light roast a Columbian and not taste the acidity (or an Ethiopian in my opinion).

And fwiw (not saying you said this, but more a disclaimer to everyone): acidity flavors in coffee is not the same as acidity in a spicy food for instance.

Anyways my point is a light roast doesn't always expose acidic flavors - that's just more a flavor profile of some coffees (just like a mossy Sumatran or a blueberry Harrar).

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I agree that there some types of coffee that are more acidic then others, but to me I do pick up on the acidity when I roast lighter with most any coffee. Maybe it is just a perceived change due to the lighter body and the other flavors present in light roast I dont know as I have never actually measured the pH. I do know I have reduce the acidic bite in some coffee in the past by roasting darker. When I say darker I mean full city or full city+, like just before second crack.