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

[MajorJC]

This morning I roasted 1/2 pound of CBC Blend: Ferdelance
This time I did get a pause of about sixty seconds between the end of first crack and the beginning of second crack, where I hit the cool down button to stop the roast.
This time I think I hit a good medium roast, maybe just a touch into medium-dark territory.

 

[Henbrew]

This morning I roasted 1/2 pound of CBC Blend: Ferdelance
This time I did get a pause of about sixty seconds between the end of first crack and the beginning of second crack, where I hit the cool down button to stop the roast.
This time I think I hit a good medium roast, maybe just a touch into medium-dark territory.

I have some Ferdelance that I roasted medium dark, just before second crack. Both my wife and I really enjoy it, the chocolate notes really come through. So far we've just used it with the drip coffee maker but I'm going to try it with the moka pot later today.

 

[redrocker652002]

Just started reading this thread and I will admit that I did not go thru all 180 plus pages. I am thinking of giving this a try. From what I have gathered it can be done on a stove top with a pan and medium heat. Am I oversimplifying it? I am already way too deep into my brew hardware to ask for a roasting machine, and to be honest, I like the idea of doing it all myself instead of letting a machine do it, if that makes sense. LOL. Anyway, what advise, if any, would you all give a new roaster? RR

 

[pshankstar]

Just started reading this thread and I will admit that I did not go thru all 180 plus pages. I am thinking of giving this a try. From what I have gathered it can be done on a stove top with a pan and medium heat. Am I oversimplifying it? I am already way too deep into my brew hardware to ask for a roasting machine, and to be honest, I like the idea of doing it all myself instead of letting a machine do it, if that makes sense. LOL. Anyway, what advise, if any, would you all give a new roaster? RR

I personally have never roasted coffee that way but I’ve seen videos and read posts about people having success. I believe you have to be constantly stirring the beans so they don’t get scorched. So a very manual thing.

No pressure but I’ll be selling my old Behmor 1600 roaster soon. It’s been a great workhorse for me and I know it was too for @HarborTownBrewing before I bought it from him. I’ve used it on a weekly basis if not more sometimes.

Fresh off the UPS truck! Now I need to finish up work and open up my new roaster!

 

[Henbrew]

Just started reading this thread and I will admit that I did not go thru all 180 plus pages. I am thinking of giving this a try. From what I have gathered it can be done on a stove top with a pan and medium heat. Am I oversimplifying it? I am already way too deep into my brew hardware to ask for a roasting machine, and to be honest, I like the idea of doing it all myself instead of letting a machine do it, if that makes sense. LOL. Anyway, what advise, if any, would you all give a new roaster? RR

I started with a cast iron pan and also used a Whirlypopper back when I started. I got some really good roasts using both before moving on to my Behmor roaster. People even have setups using heat guns which can work well too.

Tips:
Roast outside as it will smoke a lot.
Start with ~8oz of beans and buy some cheaper green beans until you get the process down.
Preheat the pan, add beans, keep the beans moving. This is why the Whirlypopper works well but a whisk works great with a cast iron pan.
Roast by sight and sound: the beans will go through an audible first crack (light-medium roast transition), and then a more rapid second crack (dark roast)
I'd aim to hit first crack within 8-10 minutes if possible.
Cool fast once done roasting, use a baking sheet and fan. There will be a lot of papery skin that will come off the beans called chafe, another reason to roast outside.

 

[redrocker652002]

I personally have never roasted coffee that way but I’ve seen videos and read posts about people having success. I believe you have to be constantly stirring the beans so they don’t get scorched. So a very manual thing.

No pressure but I’ll be selling my old Behmor 1600 roaster soon. It’s been a great workhorse for me and I know it was too for @HarborTownBrewing before I bought it from him. I’ve used it on a weekly basis if not more sometimes.

Fresh off the UPS truck! Now I need to finish up work and open up my new roaster!
View attachment 814108

Let me know when and how much. I have a roof to put on the house and a tax bill to pay, but if it is a bit I might be interested. Rock On!!!!!!!

 

[pshankstar]

Let the unpacking begin!! I purchased four other beans too (not pictured) 10lbs each. Hopefully I’ll be set for a while.

 

[pshankstar]

Let me know when and how much. I have a roof to put on the house and a tax bill to pay, but if it is a bit I might be interested. Rock On!!!!!!!

Give me some time to think it over this weekend. It’s busy with my oldest having a volleyball tournament and coaching my youngest’s basketball game this weekend.
I’ll be in touch for sure!

 

[MaxStout]

Just started reading this thread and I will admit that I did not go thru all 180 plus pages. I am thinking of giving this a try. From what I have gathered it can be done on a stove top with a pan and medium heat. Am I oversimplifying it? I am already way too deep into my brew hardware to ask for a roasting machine, and to be honest, I like the idea of doing it all myself instead of letting a machine do it, if that makes sense. LOL. Anyway, what advise, if any, would you all give a new roaster? RR

Look into the "heat gun and dog bowl" method. You just need a heat gun from the home center store, a stainless dog bowl or mixing bowl, and an old spoon to stir the beans. I have used that method for several years and still do. I make decent coffee. Here's a good YT video on the process.

Another vote for roasting outdoors or in the garage, unless you want the smoke alarms to go off. In addition to some smoke, roasting also produces a lots of chaff from the beans, which flies all over.

 

[redrocker652002]

Give me some time to think it over this weekend. It’s busy with my oldest having a volleyball tournament and coaching my youngest’s basketball game this weekend.
I’ll be in touch for sure!

Take your time, as I said, I am not in a position right now to make any large or even medium purchases. LOL.

 

[TrickyDick]

Chaff filter on the bullet cleans up beautifully if you get an ultrasonic cleaner with plain water and a splash of simple green it comes out looking new - keep meaning to post a pic of this. I have a Hornady cleaner (I am a reloader too) and it'll fit that model.

 

[MajorJC]

Let the unpacking begin!!

 

[pshankstar]

Unfortunately I won’t be able to season the drum until tomorrow night.

 

[passedpawn]

View attachment 814143View attachment 814144View attachment 814145Let the unpacking begin!! I purchased four other beans too (not pictured) 10lbs each. Hopefully I’ll be set for a while.

wow!

 

[pshankstar]

Tonight I did two season roasts on the Aillio Bullet. Thankfully @Ruint was free to field some questions I had and put my mind at ease with some questions I had. Thank you! I hope tomorrow night I can do two more seasoning roasts and then start roasting coffee to drink Tuesday night.

Hopefully I can make some room on my bench to use the Bullet so I do not need to put it on the floor in the garage. I will have to say it's insane how much smoke this roaster puts out, especially with seasoning it. Thankfully I had it near the fully open garage door. I'll continue to report back throughout the week as I use the Bullet more!

 

[MajorJC]

I'm not sure my palate is refined enough to tell the difference between different coffees.
On the 4th I roasted 1/2 pound of Haiti Savanne Zombie. This is my lightest roast so far with my SR800 roaster. I was shooting for a medium roast and I think I hit it.
I chose this coffee because of all the sample packs I bought, this one was supposed to be the lowest acidity and I wanted to see if I could detect the difference in a low acid vs high acid coffee.

Sadly, I may not be able to detect a difference in the acidity of coffee.

This coffee was very good and I tasted the nutty, buttery flavors that this coffee is supposed to have. I think I even tasted the flowery flavor listed in this coffee's attributes, but I don't think I would have noticed it if I had not been looking for it.
So far, all of my coffee roasts have been strongly in the chocolaty, nutty range. For my next roast I'm going to try the Ethiopia Shantawene G1 to see if I can taste the raspberry jam, plum, tropical, spice flavors that it is supposed to have. I'm assuming I should shoot for a medium roast level for this coffee?

 

[pshankstar]

Good morning @MajorJC & welcome to this rabbit hole of a hobby!! I love seeing this thread become more active again.

I am no expert with coffee but I’ll give you my two cents. First I’ve only been roasting coffee for a few years now and still continue to learn. 99% of my coffee is brewed with our Bonavita Connoisseur given our busy mornings.

My blanketed high level / general view of beans:

• African beans have the most acidity to them and usually a lighter body. Fruit forward more than other varieties & sometimes floral or even a hint of spice or chocolate notes too.
• Island beans (India, Sumatra, Caribbean Islands, etc…) tend to be more earthy, rustic and woody. Usually tend to have the heaviest/fullest body to the cup too. I tend to like these blended with other beans and not by themselves. Although I do drink them by themselves to see what I think before blending.
• Central & South American beans chocolate & nutty characters with various subtle characters to go along with it (floral or sometimes fruit). These too tend to be medium to a full body coffee.

Like beer or even food everyone’s tastes are different and the power of suggestion can play a factor too. What I may get out of a cup of coffee may be in line with your or someone else, or it could be completely different. I do all the cooking in the house and I think that’s why I really enjoy coffee roasting and brewing beer (although not as much as I would like). It’s an art and I find it fun! Especially when you can talk about it with others who are enthusiastic about it too.

I guess what I’m saying is keep up the great notes and have fun! I should try to organize another mystery coffee bean exchange with the folks here. I think you would truly have fun, enjoy it and maybe learn from it too.

 

[TallDan]

I'm not sure my palate is refined enough to tell the difference between different coffees.
On the 4th I roasted 1/2 pound of Haiti Savanne Zombie. This is my lightest roast so far with my SR800 roaster. I was shooting for a medium roast and I think I hit it.
I chose this coffee because of all the sample packs I bought, this one was supposed to be the lowest acidity and I wanted to see if I could detect the difference in a low acid vs high acid coffee.

Sadly, I may not be able to detect a difference in the acidity of coffee.

This coffee was very good and I tasted the nutty, buttery flavors that this coffee is supposed to have. I think I even tasted the flowery flavor listed in this coffee's attributes, but I don't think I would have noticed it if I had not been looking for it.
So far, all of my coffee roasts have been strongly in the chocolaty, nutty range. For my next roast I'm going to try the Ethiopia Shantawene G1 to see if I can taste the raspberry jam, plum, tropical, spice flavors that it is supposed to have. I'm assuming I should shoot for a medium roast level for this coffee?

View attachment 814406
View attachment 814407
View attachment 814408

I see that your weight loss for this batch is 15%. I’m not sure how well that translates between roasting methods (I have a drum roaster) but that’s toward the higher end of what I usually roast and I consider all of my roasts to be medium. I’d suggest going lighter to try to get some acidity. That’s going to depend a lot on the coffee, however. Some just don’t have great flavors to pull out in the roast.

Additionally, how long are you letting the coffee rest between roasting and brewing? I try to give most of mine a week but that doesn’t always happen.

 

[pshankstar]

I see that your weight loss for this batch is 15%. I’m not sure how well that translates between roasting methods (I have a drum roaster) but that’s toward the higher end of what I usually roast and I consider all of my roasts to be medium. I’d suggest going lighter to try to get some acidity. That’s going to depend a lot on the coffee, however. Some just don’t have great flavors to pull out in the roast.

Additionally, how long are you letting the coffee rest between roasting and brewing? I try to give most of mine a week but that doesn’t always happen.

All very solid advice!

 

[MajorJC]

I guess what I’m saying is keep up the great notes and have fun!

So far this has been a lot of fun. I told SWMBO to take notes on each coffee as we go through the samples that I bought. I printed her a bunch of these pages to make notes on. This morning as we were drinking coffee she turned to me and said, "So far, everything just tastes like coffee." I told her to at least give each one a star rating so I could look back and see what to buy again and what to avoid. We are having fun with this though, and she has been way more interested in the coffee roasting than she is with my brewing. She's perfectly happy with her Miller Lite when it comes to beer.

- I had to pour it down the drain
- I was able to drink it, but don't buy it again
- It's ok.
- Mmmm, this is really good.
- Quick, order some more of this before they run out.

 

[MajorJC]

I see that your weight loss for this batch is 15%. I’m not sure how well that translates between roasting methods (I have a drum roaster) but that’s toward the higher end of what I usually roast and I consider all of my roasts to be medium. I’d suggest going lighter to try to get some acidity. That’s going to depend a lot on the coffee, however. Some just don’t have great flavors to pull out in the roast.

Additionally, how long are you letting the coffee rest between roasting and brewing? I try to give most of mine a week but that doesn’t always happen.

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about equating the percentage of weight loss to a roast level. I will try stopping my next roast closer to first crack and see what the difference in weight loss is. I have another 1/2 pound of the Haiti Savanne Zombie and I think I'll go ahead and roast it again, but lighter, to see if I can taste a difference.

So far, we've only been letting the coffee rest 24-48 hours before starting on it. We've been using about 80 grams of coffee in 1200ml water in our French Press each morning so each half pound sample will give us two days coffee and then about 30 grams left that I've been blending with the leftovers from other batches, or using in our smaller French Press for single cups of coffee. I guess I need to roast more often to give it a chance to rest longer.

 

[pshankstar]

@MajorJC, My wife is the same way, she hasn't complained about the coffee at all but says it tastes like coffee. What she has admitted to is that I have now ruined coffee for her. She does not enjoy it out and about like she used to before my roasting days.

I hope now with the Bullet and using their inventory system to keep track of beans is that I can track my coffee easier moving forward and look to buy the same lot again the following year if possible.

 

[pshankstar]

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about equating the percentage of weight loss to a roast level. I will try stopping my next roast closer to first crack and see what the difference in weight loss is. I have another 1/2 pound of the Haiti Savanne Zombie and I think I'll go ahead and roast it again, but lighter, to see if I can taste a difference.

So far, we've only been letting the coffee rest 24-48 hours before starting on it. We've been using about 80 grams of coffee in 1200ml water in our French Press each morning so each half pound sample will give us two days coffee and then about 30 grams left that I've been blending with the leftovers from other batches, or using in our smaller French Press for single cups of coffee. I guess I need to roast more often to give it a chance to rest longer.

Oh boy, I've seen this story before! Oh wait that's me!! LOL I started with a Fresh Roast coffee roster, then upgraded to a Behmor 1600+ and now the Aillio Bullet.

 

[TallDan]

So far this has been a lot of fun. I told SWMBO to take notes on each coffee as we go through the samples that I bought. I printed her a bunch of these pages to make notes on. This morning as we were drinking coffee she turned to me and said, "So far, everything just tastes like coffee." I told her to at least give each one a star rating so I could look back and see what to buy again and what to avoid. We are having fun with this though, and she has been way more interested in the coffee roasting than she is with my brewing. She's perfectly happy with her Miller Lite when it comes to beer.

- I had to pour it down the drain
- I was able to drink it, but don't buy it again
- It's ok.
- Mmmm, this is really good.
- Quick, order some more of this before they run out.

View attachment 814422

The trouble I run into is trying to discern whether I don't like the bean, or don't like the roast. If it turns out great, I know I liked both, but I don't like it, it's hard to know, especially early in the roasting game when you're not sure if you're even doing it right.

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about equating the percentage of weight loss to a roast level. I will try stopping my next roast closer to first crack and see what the difference in weight loss is. I have another 1/2 pound of the Haiti Savanne Zombie and I think I'll go ahead and roast it again, but lighter, to see if I can taste a difference.

So far, we've only been letting the coffee rest 24-48 hours before starting on it. We've been using about 80 grams of coffee in 1200ml water in our French Press each morning so each half pound sample will give us two days coffee and then about 30 grams left that I've been blending with the leftovers from other batches, or using in our smaller French Press for single cups of coffee. I guess I need to roast more often to give it a chance to rest longer.

Percentage weight loss can be better to compare just because it's less subjective. If you and I roast the same bean and take pictures, the color will be dependent on our cameras and lighting. You can tell the degree of roast by looking closely at the texture of the beans as well, but even that can be hard to compare.

Of course, this is all about finding what you like too, so try some lighter and darker batches. I am typically dropping and cooling right at the end of first crack. Most of my weight loss is in the 13-14% range, but I've had outliers from 10-16%.

Based on your timing, i'd try to get to first crack more quickly if I were you, maybe starting with a slightly smaller batch size.

And you don't actually need to roast more often to get more rest, you just need to roast more upfront to build up some resting stock, then maintaining it takes the same amount of roasting.

My wife also doesn't pay as much attention to coffee as I do. Her weekday coffee is from the technivorm drip machine and she pollutes it with some flavored creamer stuff. I make myself a pourover with a chemex and the able kone metal filter, or (more often in the summer) espresso.

 

[pshankstar]

First off thank you @Ruint for stopping over tonight! He provided me some amazing insight with the bullet and suggestions! Such as start preheating the bullet a good 30 minutes before you plan to roast. HAHA

We did two more seasoning roasts, then he helped me with my first 1lbs roast of Brazilian beans. Wow this roaster makes quick work roasting the beans once the unit is preheated! Since the unit was warmed up I decided to roast one more batch of Kenyan Peaberry beans after he left. I cannot wait to get more and more comfortable with this roaster and have fun with it!

The first graph was from the Brazilian beans and the second was the Kenyan Peaberry beans! Oh and no beans prematurely falling out either! Woohoo!

 

[TallDan]

I’m surprised the bullet needs that kind of warmup time. I would have thought that would be an advantage over my mill city.

 

[pshankstar]

I’m surprised the bullet needs that kind of warmup time. I would have thought that would be an advantage over my mill city.

It's probably due to it being 31 degrees fahrenheit outside, maybe even a little cooler.

 

[pshankstar]

Trying my hand at 2lbs batches. I promised some friends some coffee as an excuse to roast more this week.

 

[Sbe2]

Just started reading this thread and I will admit that I did not go thru all 180 plus pages. I am thinking of giving this a try. From what I have gathered it can be done on a stove top with a pan and medium heat. Am I oversimplifying it? I am already way too deep into my brew hardware to ask for a roasting machine, and to be honest, I like the idea of doing it all myself instead of letting a machine do it, if that makes sense. LOL. Anyway, what advise, if any, would you all give a new roaster? RR

I use a flour sifter, heat gun, cordless drill, and a modified charcoal chimney. I bought the sifter and heat gun for about $40 total. Had the drill and chimney. My toes have been dipped in for a few years and might go the automated route, but the Ebrewery comes first.

 

[MaxStout]

Over in the How Many Pounds of Coffee Roasted thread I mentioned my trusty heat gun dying the other day, mid-roast. I usually roast 8 oz batches in a stainless steel mixing bowl. I have a second heat gun, a cheap one from Amazon. I used it to finish up the batch, which turned out OK. But I discovered the new gun struggles to get through 8 oz of beans, despite its claims of 1800W (doubtful--I need to put it on an ammeter one of these days to check). Anyway, I used the newer gun on 1/3 lbs. of green this morning. Worked great. The times to brown, then 1st crack, and finish at light roast were about the same as with the old gun. I ground and brewed some of the test batch, tastes fine.

A table top roaster is not in the cards right now, but maybe I will some day and plunk down the $500 for a Behmor.

 

[pshankstar]

I’m curious does anyone have any suggestions on charging/preheating temperatures for various beans? African, Central American, South American, Island, etc…

For example African beans I’m guessing the hotter the better. Hit them hard and fast to roast quickly while keeping the fruity notes they may have. Maybe Island beans you would want a lower charge/preheat temperature and gradually rise the temp.

Maybe I'm off base but wanted to ask if people have different temp ranges they preheat with or not. If they do can you share the details and why you do this?
Thanks in advance!

 

[TrickyDick]

I’ve been enjoying all the great third wave coffee from that local shop so much that I haven’t roasted in months!!

The bullet takes getting used to. The 1C sounds are muted compared to my first roaster ( hot top). I dislike their proprietary roast software and inventory and even their social network setup. I’d prefer to go back to artisan which I believe is supposed to be supported now but not sure.

Does new bullet come with a exhaust nozzle for connecting some tubing or pipe? I recall needing to order that from a 3D printing company.

I found was easier to control roast using 1 lb rather than 1 kg

TD

 

[pshankstar]

I’ve been enjoying all the great third wave coffee from that local shop so much that I haven’t roasted in months!!

The bullet takes getting used to. The 1C sounds are muted compared to my first roaster ( hot top). I dislike their proprietary roast software and inventory and even their social network setup. I’d prefer to go back to artisan which I believe is supposed to be supported now but not sure.

Does new bullet come with a exhaust nozzle for connecting some tubing or pipe? I recall needing to order that from a 3D printing company.

I found was easier to control roast using 1 lb rather than 1 kg

TD

Thursday night I was roasting 760g of greens in each batch. No matter which bean I roasted 1C was very muted. The previous roast sessions I could hear 1C very easily. Granted they were all different beans so that proves each bean has different sounding 1C.

I’m not sure about artisan and the bullet. I’ve only had it for less than a month and only used their software. Just like anything else I’m sure both have pros and cons but I don’t know.

I believe they offer the files to 3D print the exhaust vent and some other items but it doesn’t come with it. For the cost I would think they should include those items. Maybe it’s the old man in me getting angry. Haha

 

[Ruint]

LMAO @pshankstar !! You're still a pup!! You even 40 yet????
I have not found that changing my preheats helps any one bean more than another. It will change your roast times and put a variable of how the bean's progression occurs. I have mostly stuck to batch size, when changing preheats. The more the batch weighs, the hotter the temp, as you need to bleed heat thru more mass. I'm sure you could attempt to learn that technique, but it might be costly. No guarantee that, say, all Ethiopians will do better at this preheat temp, at this weight. It's the ability of how you can manipulate the phase of roasting you are in, IMO, that will have the best effect on any bean, from anywhere.

 

[TrickyDick]

If you have muted 1C this is what I learned.
When I began roasting I had been led to believe green beans don’t go bad, but living in FL need to keep them at comfortable room temp and humidity. I had amassed such a huge supply and then I learned they do indeed get stale and difficult to detect 1C. What I then did was put them into Mylar bags with an oxygen absorbing packet and the. Vacuum sealed them (Shinbo brand can do it but not the food saver brands). Then I froze them. 1 pound per pack or as close as I could get.

When I would roast them I would do one or two batches of fresh greens first then one pack from freezer. I’d take it out of freezer for the preheat. What I found was that this oxygen absorber and freezing process somewhat rejuvenated the beans and I could hear 1C again!

Currently I’ve been working so hard and stressed from that all I want to do once I get home is play video games and forget about everything. When I get the chance I do intend to freeze all my beans this way even fresh ones unless I plan to roast them within a week or two.

I bought a Cheap stethoscope and used a silicone type gasket for triclamp fittings cut to fit and glued to the end to protect the diaphragm from the heat and get a good seal and I put that to the charging port and listen once I think I’m getting close to 1C. Helps a little bit.

TD

 

[bleme]

My mom has been volunteering at a charity thrift store and they were just gifted a brand new Magister Stella Professional PID Espresso Machine. She asked me how much she should sell it for. Well, I know that the most she is going to get for it in THAT store is about $200 but I think she can do significantly better listing it online. Anyone here know anything about Magister?

 

[TallDan]

Don’t know much about them specifically, but it’s an e61 HX machine. If I saw one for $200, I’d probably buy it even if I couldn’t test it and someone told me it didn’t work.

I’d definitely list it online, at least on FB and CL. If it’s really brand new, you should be able to get 75% of retail or more.

 

[bleme]

She told me it was new but I see some wear on some of the labels and it doesn’t look like the current Stella model.

 

[TrickyDick]

View attachment 814669Trying my hand at 2lbs batches. I promised some friends some coffee as an excuse to roast more this week.

Nice DIY "bean chute" It throws them everywhere. I made one with sheet metal. It should come with one.

 

[TrickyDick]

Other advice on learning the bullet:

Change one thing at a time. Until you feel you got a handle on things, stick with same charge weight/mass on every roast (if possible).
Then begin fiddling with the variables, like preheat temp, preheat time, and other variables.
I HAVE noticed that if I roast three batches back to back to back, that by the time the third roast is going, that the heat soak into the roaster is definitely noticeable and seems to me to make the roast behave differently. I guess that itself is also a variable to consider. If I roast two fresh beans, and the third past crop (from my freezer), I'll usually save the one from the freezer for the last since It typically is perhaps not completely warmed to room temp by the time I'm ready to roast it.

Planning to roast today after several months hiatus.
TD