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

[BrewinHooligan]

Passedpawn, that roaster looks great! Some details on the build would be appreciated if you don't mind... Roasted up some Colombian that was gifted to me from a guy on a cigar forum tonight. I need to tweak my Whirly Popper, I had it tweaked for Indian Peaberry and regular beans tend to like to bind up with how it's set at the moment. This Colombian smells like chocolate covered dark fruits and I'm anxious to try it out. Been recovering from viral meningitis and haven't had any coffee for over two weeks now. Time to end my dry spell.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1437799594.945360.jpg

 

[TrickyDick]

Roasted the Hawaiian Coffee today.
Anybody who has roasted peaberry coffee knows how difficult it is to do, but the peaberry can take a back seat to the Maui beans in terms of difficulty. Holy Sheet!

I'll add the photos later from my camera phone.
BOTH of these roasts I notice some "tipping" which I had never seen before, which is from too hot roaster or slow drum rotation or both. Anyway, I was expecting/planning a slower cooler roast but wanted to get through drying by 5 minutes. I did the Kona beans first, then the Maui beans.

I goofed on the Software with the first roast, and forgot to click "START" before adding the beans. This sort of screwed up the graph.

So the Kona roasted uniformly. The beans were soft and not very dense (pint mason jar full to neck was half pound roughly 400ml). I picked out a few crappy looking beans from the unroasted pile and discarded. Some strange deformed beans with a leaf-like indentation or something. About 2-3 grams. These were marked No 1 grade. They also sold a "fancy" grade, but I couldn't tell the difference, though I understand fancy is a higher grade. I had nearly all of the beans exhibit a tipping defect from roasting too hot. I have never noticed this in other roasts, maybe because I didn't know what to look for, or because it didn't appear. Nice aroma, and overall a light roast, just past 1C mark. Very little chaff with these wet process beans.

The Maui roast was challenging. The beans are very small, probably half the size of the Guat peaberry beans I began with. They are more dense than the Kona beans, half pound filled the mason pint jar to the 300ml mark. They also have a tighter silverskin than the Kona. The produced about double the chaff. I charged the roaster at a lower temp and still had tipping, but not as bad with at least half the beans spared. about 10-25% show variable signs of charred silverskin, another sign of too high temp. I never employed 100% heat to this roast however, and lowered the charge temp a LOT compared to the Kona roast. I'll post some photos soon to show some of the defects. I found a great thread over on home barista
http://www.home-barista.com/home-roasting/coffee-roasting-defects-pictorial-t13587.html. It shows very nicely the defects I was seeing in my roasts.

The Maui 1C was practically imperceptible. I heard literally about 4-6 cracks in total. Visibly, the beans were fractured through the window. I roasted to 390 and dumped, never hearing any additional cracks. The 1c and marks are probably more like guidelines than anything, and I think my next roast, I might add the beans at an even lower charge temp and apply even less heat. The hurdle is getting through drying in a timely fashion though...

Top two pics are the KONA beans - you can see the tipping in the second photo better.
The bottom pic is the MAUI MOKKA beans (rotated) - you can see some scorched silverskin.
I'll let you know how it tastes.

What exactly does tipping do to the flavor of the coffee in the cup? I am guessing, burnt...


TD

 

[BrewinHooligan]

^those look fantastic to me TD! Curious if you think the flavor is worth the expense of the Hawaiian beans when you get to brewing them.

 

[TrickyDick]

I'll let you know. I doubt it is "worth" it, but it will be a novel experience. The other thing I noticed was rather uneven roasting of the Maui beans, and I am curious as to why. Uneven drying after processing? combined or mixed harvests? I can't tell.

TD

 

[passedpawn]

Passedpawn, that roaster looks great! Some details on the build would be appreciated if you don't mind... [/ATTACH]

I started with a Stir Crazy popcorn popper. It has a temperature regulated platter and a stirring bar. It didn't work for coffee since the plate only got to about 300F.

I removed the regulator and tried again. It got WAY too hot, and the stirring wasn't sufficient to roast evenly.

I removed the heat from the plate altogether. The heat is now provided by a convection Turbo Oven. These things are very cheap ( I saw new ones at Home Depot for $35). I threw away the container part and just kept the heating/blowing part. It's pretty nifty (probably cool to cook food with, but I'll never know). It creates a strong air current with an integrated fan. You can control the temperature by a dial on the top.

The air flow really kicks up the chaff. You can't see in video, but it blows like crazy.

The final part of the ghetto assy is a piece of ducting that I picked up at Home Depot. It raises the turbo oven up off the stir crazy.

I know this whole contraption is a bit ridiculous, but it does work really well.

 

[jammin]

I started with a Stir Crazy popcorn popper. It has a temperature regulated platter and a stirring bar. It didn't work for coffee since the plate only got to about 300F.

I removed the regulator and tried again. It got WAY too hot, and the stirring wasn't sufficient to roast evenly.

I removed the heat from the plate altogether. The heat is now provided by a convection Turbo Oven.

so you finally took my advice.... you're welcome.... -_-


edit:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6577153&postcount=267

 

[BrewinHooligan]

The ingenuity of home brewers never ceases to amaze me... That roast looks really solid too. Let us know how the coffee brews! I may have to make a frankenroaster like yours. I'm too cheap for a drum roaster and my Whirly popper is a bit of a pain. What's your max batch size in that?

 

[jammin]

The ingenuity of home brewers never ceases to amaze me... That roast looks really solid too. Let us know how the coffee brews! I may have to make a frankenroaster like yours. I'm too cheap for a drum roaster and my Whirly popper is a bit of a pain. What's your max batch size in that?

that is pure homeROASTER ingenuity there. the homeroasting community is just as savvy and talented pound for pound as the HB crew; if not more so.


edit: if you want to build one, google SC/TO roaster. there are several great guides on builds.

An alternate route would be a BM/HG roaster. I've built a couple and they work great. The stir crazy is a bread machine (BM) in this case, the turbo oven is a heat gun (HG). You'll want a variable heat gun for this application for max control of the roast.

Here is a shot of the HG/BM i was using while deployed to Baghdad. Notice the bean temp probe on the side of the roaster. You can use any cheap BBQ thermometer for that and it add whole new (very valuable) dimension to your kit. This is *slightly* more difficult to install in a SC/TO

 

[passedpawn]

so you finally took my advice.... you're welcome.... -_-


edit:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6577153&postcount=267

Indirectly, yes. We probably have been reading the same forums.

The piece of ducting was my idea though. It was a random find at home depot and worked amazingly well.

 

[jammin]

Indirectly, yes. We probably have been reading the same forums.

The piece of ducting was my idea though. It was a random find at home depot and worked amazingly well.

no, not directly at all. you disregarded my advice when i first gave it to you. fun to look back on it though and see it was spot on and verbatim to what you're finally figuring out 7 months later

 

[BrewinHooligan]

that is pure homeROASTER ingenuity there. the homeroasting community is just as savvy and talented pound for pound as the HB crew; if not more so.


edit: if you want to build one, google SC/TO roaster. there are several great guides on builds.

An alternate route would be a BM/HG roaster. I've built a couple and they work great. The stir crazy is a bread machine (BM) in this case, the turbo oven is a heat gun (HG). You'll want a variable heat gun for this application for max control of the roast.

Here is a shot of the HG/BM i was using while deployed to Baghdad. Notice the bean temp probe on the side of the roaster. You can use any cheap BBQ thermometer for that and it add whole new (very valuable) dimension to your kit. This is *slightly* more difficult to install in a SC/TO

I remember you posting up the BM/HG combo. This thread is full of awesome if you ask me. I have some research to do so I can build something to give me better results. Thank you for the advice and also for your service brother!

 

[passedpawn]

no, not directly at all. you disregarded my advice when i first gave it to you. fun to look back on it though and see it was spot on and verbatim to what you're finally figuring out 7 months later

Hey, back off (WTF?). I didn't disregard anything. I posted links to a Turbo Crazy before your post there.

But yes, you were right, the stir crazy alone didn't work well, but it was the first part I bought and I tried it out. That's how we do it in the DIY world.

 

[passedpawn]

The ingenuity of home brewers never ceases to amaze me... That roast looks really solid too. Let us know how the coffee brews! I may have to make a frankenroaster like yours. I'm too cheap for a drum roaster and my Whirly popper is a bit of a pain. What's your max batch size in that?

I'm drinking it now. It's great! That's a bean from El Salvador.

I do 1# batches in my contraption. I've got the temperature dialed in to give me a very even roast. Right now it is exactly 20 minutes. I'd like to dial the temp up a little and speed it up, but I tried that before that the roast was a little uneven. I'm gonna revisit though.

You can get a good look at the beans and the piece of ductwork at about 3:10 here.

 

[jammin]

Hey, back off (WTF?). I didn't disregard anything. I posted links to a Turbo Crazy before your post there.

But yes, you were right, the stir crazy alone didn't work well, but it was the first part I bought and I tried it out. That's how we do it in the DIY world.

turbo crazy? turbo OVEN is the bottom. stir CRAZY is the top. (to help clarify for those newbies you might be confusing).

in the time period i was referring to, you were only using the S/C and stated you didn't need the T/O.

here is the 2nd time I advised you to deploy a T/O. when you didn't reply (for the 2nd time in a row), i stated that you disregarded my advice (today) as that is what it seemed like.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=452446&page=27


for me, it's annoying when you're passionate about something and try to help somebody (who needs it) and they ignore you. i find it ironic that you could have had the same great results you're boasting about today 7 months ago when originally tried my best to assist you. That is what is the fun part of this forum for me; giving and receiving helpful advice.

 

[passedpawn]

I'm not ignoring you! I'm all over this thread. But I've got my pace. I've got a lot of hobbies/interests (beside my own business and 3 kids in college and a wife and house/yard/pool and dog and cat and fish and the rest of the train I'm pulling all the time). I've got my oldest boy in med school, a girl 3rd yr nursing, and my youngest boy 3rd year pre-med at Univ FL.

So yes, the turbo oven absolutely makes it better. WAY better. I would have done it sooner, but this life of mine only lets me move forward so fast on the hobbies. Anyway, I'm loving this new setup. I think I've dialed it in now. When the kids are all off the dole in a few years, I'll get one of those super roasters. Until then, I'll keep slowly, incrementally improving my ghetto roaster.

Thanks for keeping this thread going with your enthusiasm

 

[Bensiff]

So yes, the turbo oven absolutely makes it better. WAY better. I would have done it sooner, but this life of mine only lets me move forward so fast on the hobbies. Anyway, I'm loving this new setup. I think I've dialed it in now. When the kids are all off the dole in a few years, I'll get one of those super roasters. Until then, I'll keep slowly, incrementally improving my ghetto roaster.

Thanks for keeping this thread going with your enthusiasm

Right there with you. I have had a BCS-462 for I don't know how many months sitting in a NEMA enclosure with a handful of other components waiting for me to get around to figuring out what else I need to buy to start assembling...just no time. I would also like a different roaster that has more bells and whistles. But, for the time being my Gene Cafe has been running solid without a hitch for over 5 years and, while I can probably make better coffee with better temp control, I again don't have the time to deal with researching and buying when I rather enjoy the very consistent results I have now.

 

[TallDan]

Right there with you. I have had a BCS-462 for I don't know how many months sitting in a NEMA enclosure with a handful of other components waiting for me to get around to figuring out what else I need to buy to start assembling...just no time. I would also like a different roaster that has more bells and whistles. But, for the time being my Gene Cafe has been running solid without a hitch for over 5 years and, while I can probably make better coffee with better temp control, I again don't have the time to deal with researching and buying when I rather enjoy the very consistent results I have now.

Personally, right now I don't think it's the roasting equipment that's holding me back. I think it's mostly ape running the roaster. Of course, I'd consider a nicer roaster, but i can't see going for it for a while. A book on roasting or some time spent on some roasting forums would probably get me much farther toward better coffee than a more expensive roaster right now.

 

[Bensiff]

Personally, right now I don't think it's the roasting equipment that's holding me back. I think it's mostly ape running the roaster. Of course, I'd consider a nicer roaster, but i can't see going for it for a while. A book on roasting or some time spent on some roasting forums would probably get me much farther toward better coffee than a more expensive roaster right now.

I guess it all depends on what type of equipment you are using along with your knowledge base. You can have all the brewing knowledge in the world and have equipment incapable of holding mash or ferment temps and not make quality beer for the life of you....or you can have awesome equipment and no knowledge and still get bad results. I think with coffee I'm somewhere in between. The Gene Cafe is pretty fool proof as far as getting a consistent roast for all the beans in the batch. However, my little bit of learning about roasting has helped my roasts some too. If I had the time I would also like to spend some time on a roasting forum...but, I just don't have that much time to invest. Maybe a good book on the subject matter is in order.

 

[TrickyDick]

Personally, right now I don't think it's the roasting equipment that's holding me back. I think it's mostly ape running the roaster. Of course, I'd consider a nicer roaster, but i can't see going for it for a while. A book on roasting or some time spent on some roasting forums would probably get me much farther toward better coffee than a more expensive roaster right now.

I have yet to find that right book. I read the Rao book, and I think that there is some significance of what he writes, but mostly theory with only anecdotal personal experience given as evidence, and with zero practical skill application lessons or guidelines. I'm thinking the willem boot boot camp program may be the best, but certainly too much for me to spend. He has a free mini email boot camp that I joined. Lots of articles from roast and other mags. Some advice is impractical for home roasters (like measuring the moisture content with a $900 instrument). I think that this is all part of the big mystique of coffee roasting, that the information is passed from person to person, and you learn by doing, and by "cupping". I think that there is some good information in this thread too.

As an aside, was searching for some feedback on my Hawaiian bean dilemma. How to complete drying within 5 minutes without scorching....

TD

 

[TrickyDick]

I guess it all depends on what type of equipment you are using along with your knowledge base. You can have all the brewing knowledge in the world and have equipment incapable of holding mash or ferment temps and not make quality beer for the life of you....or you can have awesome equipment and no knowledge and still get bad results. I think with coffee I'm somewhere in between. The Gene Cafe is pretty fool proof as far as getting a consistent roast for all the beans in the batch. However, my little bit of learning about roasting has helped my roasts some too. If I had the time I would also like to spend some time on a roasting forum...but, I just don't have that much time to invest. Maybe a good book on the subject matter is in order.

Again, I don't think that there are many/any definitive scientifically based books, at least not that I could find. I find that the traditional advice to looks, smell and listen just isnt't enough. It can be hard to tell what color the beans are, assuming they can be seen at all. Sounds are muffled, and smell, well... To me is mostly smells like fragrant smoke and difficult to discern discount aromas. More importantly however is, what do you do with that information? How do you translate a perception or temperature display into an action on your part to make adjustments in your roasting process, and also why are you doing that, having knowledge of what it's going to accomplish to the final product.

It is both simple and challenging.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I'm giving a presentation tomorrow, for a class at work, and decided I'd take the opportunity to inform the audience on the effects of roast level in regards to flavor.

Pan roasted a batch of Harrar and dropped beans throughout the process to illustrate unroasted, browning, city, and starbucks...I mean, Vienna roast. Should be interesting.

Roasting in a pan reminded me of my whirlypop days. It's a fun way to really observe the process through sight and smell, but getting a consistent roast is tough.

View attachment 1438116980634.jpg

 

[passedpawn]

I'm giving a presentation tomorrow, for a class at work, and decided I'd take the opportunity to inform the audience on the effects of roast level in regards to flavor.

Pan roasted a batch of Harrar and dropped beans throughout the process to illustrate unroasted, browning, city, and starbucks...I mean, Vienna roast. Should be interesting.

Roasting in a pan reminded me of my whirlypop days. It's a fun way to really observe the process through sight and smell, but getting a consistent roast is tough.

Cool. Let us know how that goes.

BTW, somebody posted a link to a Joe Rogan podcast that had a ton of GREAT information on the history of coffee. I'll see if I can find that. Some great trivia there that might "perk up" your presentation.

[edit] here's the show. BTW, jump to 6:30 to skip the odd herbal snack stuff that Joe hawks at the beginning of the podcast.

 

[Bensiff]

Again, I don't think that there are many/any definitive scientifically based books, at least not that I could find. I find that the traditional advice to looks, smell and listen just isnt't enough. It can be hard to tell what color the beans are, assuming they can be seen at all. Sounds are muffled, and smell, well... To me is mostly smells like fragrant smoke and difficult to discern discount aromas. More importantly however is, what do you do with that information? How do you translate a perception or temperature display into an action on your part to make adjustments in your roasting process, and also why are you doing that, having knowledge of what it's going to accomplish to the final product.

It is both simple and challenging.

I haven't found one either the few times I looked. Completely agreed that looks, sound, and smell isn't enough alone. I can easily see my beans as they roast so I can see the changes so know by looks (based off my handy SM's reference card) where they are at, I then cross that data with my knowledge of how much more the beans will coast when they cool so I can shut it down and reliably get the roast level I want. However even that isn't enough like you said. It would be really nice to have a book that breaks down exactly what is going on in the roasting process, what makes up coffee, how those components are impacted by roasting, and what a roaster should do to maximize/minimize the characteristics of those components when roasting. I see it like trying to brew beer with no knowledge of hops other then if you boil them it makes the beer bitter. Anyway, yeah, someone needs to venture out there and write that first quality book on home roasting coffee.

 

[TrickyDick]

Saw the email from Klatch about the seraphim coffee brewing machine. Tried to look up some details, and seems like it's for professional coffee shops and probably costs a fortune.

TD

 

[jammin]

^ive seen so many new coffee gadgets released over the years. I just roll my eyes now b/c none of them have lasted or lived up to the hype.

The only exception has been the clover, and even that fizzled out due to its outrageous price tag.

I had a Bunn Trifecta HB for a while and that was sweet too... alas I sold it b/c brewing by hand is so much more rewarding


All in all, I doubt anything will ever replace my press pot or chemex... I'm fine with that

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Coffee presentation went well; very very interested group and they loved the four samples. Lots of great questions too, and Ahha moments. Fun to open other people's minds just a bit.

 

[Bensiff]

Coffee presentation went well; very very interested group and they loved the four samples. Lots of great questions too, and Ahha moments. Fun to open other people's minds just a bit.

Ahha moments huh? There's some familiar corporate lingo. Makes me wince every time I hear someone at work say it. Good that it went over well. More future home roasters to be had.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Ahha moments huh? There's some familiar corporate lingo. Makes me wince every time I hear someone at work say it.

"At the end of the day"

"Throwing good money after bad"

"Think outside the box"

And my personal least favorite,

"It is what it is".

I should have thrown all these into the presentation to see if anyone got it. Next time, for sure!

 

[TrickyDick]

Viz a viz
Apropo
Milieu

Three winner words to try to fit into every presentation...

 

[TrickyDick]

Drinking the Kona coffee I bought in HI, roasted. Yuck. Unevenly roasted and tipping and scorching is worse than what I had done to the beans!! Even some craters. It tastes a little like an ashtray.

TD