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I have a good thermos travel mug with a click top to seal things up between sips that keeps 16 ounces toasty hot longer than it takes me to drink it. Which when I'm working takes a few hours most days. Maybe not super fresh towards the end but it's still very good coffee, good enough for my picky self at least.
 
Here is a question for you guys:
How important do you find water quality to be to your coffee tasting? And if your tap water doesn't do the trick, do you have any bottled water suggestions?

I ask because we all know, as brewers, that water quality is important.

I was speaking to a roaster recently, and in touring their facility I saw they have a very big water treatment setup to make sure their water is optimal and consistent. The roaster told me he can't even make coffee at home because his water is horrible for coffee.

When I make coffee at my parents house, using their well water, I can't get a great cup. I'll get a good cup, but never great.
 
This is a great question. It came up in another unpopular thread without any significant response. We need AJ or Martin to help out here! I wonder, as if for beer, if the similar flavor ions sulfate and chloride, contribute significantly to coffee.
Would need to conduct an experiment. From what I've read, you don't want mineral free water, or it won't taste great.
Beyond that I don't know.
My treated tap water, (ion exchange with charcoal prefilter) is unsuitable for brewing all but the darkest beer due to high RA. I use RO and build from there. I've never tinkered with coffee water chemistry. I asked a college friend, now a chemistry professor, and he was clueless. I guess we are on our own.

TD
 
This helps a tad bit: the SCAA Water Brewing Standards, http://www.scaa.org/?page=resources&d=water-standards

As I understand, the SCAA guidelines are the ones being followed for the roasting facility I mentioned.

I'd really like to know if there is any bottled water which is good for brewing at home. It's frustrating for me to take coffee beans to my parents place and make okay coffee, but then take the same beans 30 mins up the road and brew fantastic coffee.
 
What about using a brita filter or buying one to keep at your parents place?

Interesting article! I need to review my water report when I get home!
I am not familiar with the term calcium hardness. Might need to ask ward lab how to derive that from my report. However, given my very low Mg, I suspect that the total hardness would be a suitable surrogate, if in fact it isn't the same.
 
Did you really expect it wouldn't see that big huge box getting delivered? What did you buy this time and why didn't you want me to know?

Fun times! I got the full scowl and hands on hips. Time for a 10.1% dopplebock homebrew.

But think of all the money I'll save on shipping fresh roasted coffee over the years vs buying green beans
 
Did my first roast.

Had the Guatemalan heat ten an go or whatever is called beans as my 5# freebie with the roaster.

So, I think error #1 so far and counting is that I plugged it in, and somehow missed the selection between auto and manual.

Couldn't figure it out so I proceeded.

For some reasons it chooses a pre charge temp of 167°. I couldn't figure out how to change on the auto mode.
So after it heated, and then shut down when I didn't add beans, I finally added the beans (in auto mode) 227g, with set temp 428 )seems to require intervals of 2 for temp setting). Marked the pre charge temp at 167. I didn't see a way to change this, ams seems like I might be an issue...

Initially temp dropped. Took 3 minutes to rise back to 165"
Here is rest of pen and paper roast data

Time temp
3. 165
3.5 177
4.0 194
4.5 210
5.0. 224
5.5 237
6.0 252 ish (lost attention)
6.5. 262
7.0 275. Saw smoke/steam around this point
7.5 285
8.0 296
8.5 307

At approx
10 min hit 340 and cut power to 50%
I think I had hit 1C but hard to tell since I wasn't sure what I was hearing, damn spring break badgers next door!!
Certainly 1C started at about 10-20 seconds from the 10 minute mark. Could be that it began as early as 9:00 mark
Hit Eject at 384° and that was approx 3 minutes after 1C.

Need a digital timer I think.

Beans look uniform and evenly roasted. Will take a pic in a couple days before I brew with.

Anxious to brew tomorrow, but i hear are best at 2-3 days after roast. Seems I can brew 4 pots with the one roast load, so I might just roast up a pot tomorrow for the heck of it to see how I like.

TD
 
HarborTownBrewing said:
Here is a question for you guys:
How important do you find water quality to be to your coffee tasting? And if your tap water doesn't do the trick, do you have any bottled water suggestions?

I ask because we all know, as brewers, that water quality is important.

I was speaking to a roaster recently, and in touring their facility I saw they have a very big water treatment setup to make sure their water is optimal and consistent. The roaster told me he can't even make coffee at home because his water is horrible for coffee.

When I make coffee at my parents house, using their well water, I can't get a great cup. I'll get a good cup, but never great.
Click to expand...


I had the same question and the owner of Sweet Maria's dismissed the need for adding salts to build a specific profile. He said good pure filtered water makes the best coffee.
 
^TD - congrats on your first roast on the new machine!

What temp did you hit 1C at?
(I like to call 1C start when it actually gets going a little. You'll often hear a few "vanguard" beans start sounding the alarm - after that you'll just know when the true 1C begins)

I totally forgot there are a few pre-progammed roast profiles on the manual version. They are crap haha. You do need to switch over to MANUAL during pre-heat.
 
I hit 1C at 9:23 PM as best I can tell.
I hit 341F at 9:22:20 So I am guessing that I hit 1C around 345-350 ish? I was marking temp and time every 30 seconds until I hit 300 then quit until I hit 340 and marked that shortly after I hit the first crack. I need to be more attentive to the roasting process and mark when the cracks start - darn spring break kids at the neighbors were distracting!!

Keeping notes!!!

The beans were "peaberry" smallish beans, so I am not sure if these results will be worthwhile for larger sized beans.

I have cooled the beans and let rest till room temp and then sotring in a vented canister. If I can avoid using them, I will plan to try my first brew for this Friday morning, to allow 3 fulls days rest.
it is going to be killer to resist
TD
 
^thats good you wrote down what time/temp you hit 1C

I'll say this though, peaberry's are a devil of a bean to roast. They hit 1C early and easily and can transition to 2c at the drop of a hat if your drum temp is too high.

In short, PB's are terrible for learning on (although they can be delicious!). Don't get too frustrated with them if they misbehave and be sure to cut them some slack by easing up on the power heading into and through 1C.
 
TrickyDick said:
I have cooled the beans and let rest till room temp and then sotring in a vented canister. If I can avoid using them, I will plan to try my first brew for this Friday morning, to allow 3 fulls days rest.
it is going to be killer to resist
TD
Click to expand...


Pish posh, try your first batch tomorrow. Some do great quickly, some really want some rest. Knowing how the bean ages is not much different than trying your beers as they condition. Some are ready right off the bat, others need some time to fully mature. And sometimes you really need coffee and you know if you roast it, cool it, and brew it, even though it will be pretty rough from only being out of the roaster for 30 minutes it is still better than most coffees.
 
Ok then! I used some Peet's coffee this morning, tomorrow I'll try the home roast.

By the way, I know there are plenty of ways to roast the beans, but in general, should you always want to get to the second crack?

Made first cup using aero press today in afternoon, Peet's again. Impressive, even when using beans ground in morning.

TD
 
jammin said:
^nice looking roast, Dan. Looks like City range
Click to expand...
Thanks!
If you're judging primarily on color, at least on my screen it looks a bit lighter in the picture than it does in person. I'm actually a bit unsure of what degree of roast I'm getting, I think it's mostly City+, but don't trust my own judgement. I should probably take 1/4lb and sacrifice it for educational purposes so that I'm more confident in what second crack sounds like and what the coffee looks like when it's into Vienna territory.
 
^i judge on bean structure. Your roast has tight seams and sharp edges with a slightly wrinkly skin - city/city+ sounds just about right to me.


Pro tip: find the "sweet spot" of your roaster and always stick with it. Each roaster behaves best with a specific amount (mass) of greens. My roaster loves 227 grams of coffee and I use a scale to weigh that out for each roast.
 
Fully surprised that some of the best home-roasting info I've seen has come from a homebrewing forum. As a former professional roaster in a competitive CA Bay Area market, you guys/gals are on point. Though personally I think roasted coffee needs a couple days to degas and mellow out a bit, that's about the only thing I've been a stickler with. Keep up the good info!
 
maffew222 said:
Fully surprised that some of the best home-roasting info I've seen has come from a homebrewing forum. As a former professional roaster in a competitive CA Bay Area market, you guys/gals are on point. Though personally I think roasted coffee needs a couple days to degas and mellow out a bit, that's about the only thing I've been a stickler with. Keep up the good info!
Click to expand...


I agree. But idealism won't stop me from drinking fresh roasted coffee if it's between that and the emergency coffee my wife keeps on hand for when I forget to roast :)
 
maffew222 said:
Fully surprised that some of the best home-roasting info I've seen has come from a homebrewing forum. As a former professional roaster in a competitive CA Bay Area market, you guys/gals are on point. Though personally I think roasted coffee needs a couple days to degas and mellow out a bit, that's about the only thing I've been a stickler with. Keep up the good info!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I'd be too surprised. Home brewers are an inventive and curious bunch; we yearn for experimentation and studying/modifying the processes.
 
jammin said:
^i judge on bean structure. Your roast has tight seams and sharp edges with a slightly wrinkly skin - city/city+ sounds just about right to me.


Pro tip: find the "sweet spot" of your roaster and always stick with it. Each roaster behaves best with a specific amount (mass) of greens. My roaster loves 227 grams of coffee and I use a scale to weigh that out for each roast.
Click to expand...

Even looking at the pictures from Sweet Maria's and others, I'm having a hard time picking out those details to judge degree of roast. So thanks, that helps me. :)

I don't know that I've really found the "sweet spot", but other than some of the first runs that I did 4oz batches, I've been sticking with 8oz (so, same as you) every time. This is really a decision based on practicality, a half pound is a good amount of coffee for me to consume while fresh without having to roast too frequently.

I've also been sticking to the same roaster settings on the behmor for almost all of the roasting i've done. (1/2 P2 B) That said, i think this works because most of the coffee that I've roasted has been similar types. (Except the decaf)

Bensiff said:
I agree. But idealism won't stop me from drinking fresh roasted coffee if it's between that and the emergency coffee my wife keeps on hand for when I forget to roast :)
Click to expand...

That's my situation today. :) I've been trying to keep my supply such that I can give all beans a 48 hour rest before brewing, but yesterday morning i realized that I didn't have enough coffee for today, so I roasted last night. (Giving away 1/4lb to my sister over the weekend threw me off.) Today's coffee is about 25% Colombian that was roasted Saturday, and 75% Guatemalan roasted last night. Honestly, it's not very good, coming across as astringent, I'm guessing that will settle down over the next day or so.
 
TrickyDick said:
Ok then! I used some Peet's coffee this morning, tomorrow I'll try the home roast.

By the way, I know there are plenty of ways to roast the beans, but in general, should you always want to get to the second crack?

Made first cup using aero press today in afternoon, Peet's again. Impressive, even when using beans ground in morning.

TD
Click to expand...

Should we always want to get to 2c? Of course not! I think??

It depends. Depends on the bean, your mood, and the cycle of the moon. Sometimes I really want a darker columbian taken to 2c, other times I want a light roast ethiopian.

Lately I've been taking my guatemalan about 3 pops in to 2c because it was tasting a little green.
 
I haven't roasted to 2C in years.

I aim to hit 1C in 8-9min and stretch another 1-3min depending on the coffee.

Dense, acidic beans get a longer stretch while softer/dry process beans get a short stretch.
 
Swapped the ceramic burrs on my Vario last night to steel burrs. What a PITA! Also, the non-tooth side of the steel and ceramic burrs aren't milled the same. There is a rim which is higher on the steel burr. The effect I think is going to be that coffee grounds will fill the crack in over time between the bottom of the burr and the burr retainer/base spilling old grounds into the bin over time. It's probably a 1-1.5 mm gap, maybe 2 mm. The rim is visibly higher on the steel burr set than the ceramic burr.

Also, the hopper now needs to be manual held while grinding because otherwise it loosens itself and the safety switch contact shuts off the motor.

Question to those ordering from sweet maria, how do you know when they get new coffee without having to check their page daily?
 
^TD - call baratza or get on YouTube about your burr install. Your hopper shouldn't behave like that - nor do you want to fight it every day. Baratza customer service is top shelf - don't hesitate to get a hold of them.


I follow SM's on Facebook so they show up in my feed. I also check their page almost every day out of boredom when surfing the web. Unfortunately (fortunately?) they don't have an email update list about new beans.
 
Interesting thing about SM's I noticed last night: if you are going to the "Green Coffee" tab at the top, and looking for a specific country, they don't always have a link to all countries they have in stock.

Last night I was looking for some Ethiopian, but there was no "Ethiopian" choice under the African area. But they still had 4 or so Ethiopian coffees if you navigated to it another way. I see this morning they now have an Ethiopian choice. I kind of felt like I was ordering off the secret menu last night ;)

I roasted up a bunch of Brazil to make Irish Coffees with this weekend, using Buena Vista's recipe. If you haven't tried this before, give it a go. The Irish coffee is good, but with home-roasted coffee...it's faaaaantastic. Here is the recipe: http://www.thebuenavista.com/home/irishcoffee.html
 
Thanks! I am now following SM on FB.

Turns out the burrs are just fine and supposed to be different like that. I'm waiting to hear back on the hopper issue. Not sure what kind of warranty they have, mine is at least 5 yrs old.
TD
 
Seemed strange as a NooB that it stalled at 360 for so long, and I heard minimal cracking, though the beans have definitely cracked.

I guess time will tell how this turns out...

Brewed a few cups with that AeroPress and I must say that I am very impressed.

TD
 
Peaberry beans are soooo hard to hear crack. They are really tough to learn with.

My first batch ever was a ethiopian yirg peaberry, on a whirly pop out on my grill above a busy street. I never heard 1c; lucky for me that coffee somehow turned out fantastic and got me committed.
 

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