LOVE when that happens
☕ Coffee ☕: Ingredients, Roasting, Grinding, Brewing, and Tasting
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LOVE when that happens
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
Had some Sumatra this morning. I'm hit or miss on it, but the wife loves it. This one smells like weed (weird), and has an interesting acidity at first, followed by what I would describe as wet moss.
Yum, eh? It's a nice change of pace I suppose.
Yum, eh? It's a nice change of pace I suppose.
OP
OP
I've found the secret (for my taste buds) is to roast light-medium then use a lot of grounds. All the character of the bean leaps out, without the bitterness that you get from dark roasts. Might be obvious to some here, but I'm a slow learner.
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
Do you weigh your beans, and if so, what ratio do you use?
I usually stick to 1:16 but every time I use more coffee I love the flavor. Not sure why I don't make it a habit to use more.
OP
OP
That's almost exactly what I use. A scoop (my scoop) of unground beans is 14g. I use 1 scoop per cup. A cup is 226g. That's 1:16.
I use 15.3 ratio for drip, whole beans measured on a digital scale with hundredths precision, and water measured on a digital scale (or volumetric flask for 1L pots only).
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
OP
OP
Oh yea? I count molecules to be sure. If you're interested, start with Avagadro's number and work up.
J/K, I don't actually weigh anything. Scoops into grinder, eyeball water, drink it, smile, get amped up on caffiene.
UndeadFred
Well-Known Member
I completely rebuilt my Behmor today, and upgraded to the plus panel. I am so glad I only do that every other year. 
View attachment 1446942152432.jpg
View attachment 1446942152432.jpg
UndeadFred
Well-Known Member
Is that purple color a trick of the camera?
I completely rebuilt my Behmor today, and upgraded to the plus panel. I am so glad I only do that every other year.
Looks great. My roaster is due for a good cleaning as well
I was at Target shopping for stuff today and there is a Starbucks there. I saw that on their pre-packaged whole bean coffee pouches that there is a best by date, but no roasted on date. Anybody know the formula they use to determine the best by date or in otherwords if you can back calculate the roasting date (sort of like with the White Labs yeast dates)?
RH
RH
I would think it's in months, 3 or 6, Peets is the only large roaster I see putting a ROD.
Reminds me that i need to do another batch, lets give another Colombian a try
UndeadFred
Well-Known Member
It is indeed. CCD cameras I think see a little more of the UV than we do. I have pictures of me brewing (and at least one of me using an Ibrik to make Turkish coffee) on my flat top stove that look purple too. It's not realistic, but it does look cool...
Ordered 5lbs of Amaro Gayo this morning. I've roasted this coffee several times over the years and it is ALWAYS exceptional. Notes of strawberry and sparkling acidity are prevalent. In costs a bit more than I'd expect to pay at a coop but I think it will be worth it.
If you need a good dry process Ethiopian I'd jump on this one.
http://www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com/index.php?topic=19621.0
If you need a good dry process Ethiopian I'd jump on this one.
http://www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com/index.php?topic=19621.0
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
Just ordered the Brazil Conquista from Green Coffee Coop. Should make some darn fine Christmas gifts for the family this year.
Maybe I should roast and give some of that away. When I ordered I saw that shipping was the same for 10lb as it was for 5lb, so I ordered 10, which is an awful lot of coffee at my consumption rate.
1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
Who here uses a popcorn popper to roast? Tips/tricks/words of caution would be greatly appreciated. Can't swing $200 for even an entry level roaster right now, but I'd sure like to give it a shot.
BrewinHooligan
Well-Known Member
I use a $20 stovetop whirley popper after burning up a couple air poppers. It's a great way to get into things at a low cost in case you find you don't care for it imo. If you have a temp probe thermometer that helps a great deal so you can pre-heat the popper before adding the green coffee to roast. I will be upgrading asap but that won't be for a few months yet.
1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
Stovetop would be a no go since my vent hood vents back into my kitchen. Guess I could go camp stove or use my grill burner though.
Great, now I have more to think about there. Way to make me think more.
Great, now I have more to think about there. Way to make me think more.
^never used a popper, but I have used a heat gun and read quite a bit about poppers
- I have read that a long extension cord can help slow the roast and give you more control
- use a scale to weigh your beans. Record this and find the sweet spot for your machine. Use the same weight every time moving forward.
- stir the beans to start the roast as they are heavy when wet and the air doesn't move them. This will promote an even roast.
- start with "harder" beans as they will be more forgiving. I'd suggest guat's or similar.
- I have read that a long extension cord can help slow the roast and give you more control
- use a scale to weigh your beans. Record this and find the sweet spot for your machine. Use the same weight every time moving forward.
- stir the beans to start the roast as they are heavy when wet and the air doesn't move them. This will promote an even roast.
- start with "harder" beans as they will be more forgiving. I'd suggest guat's or similar.
OP
OP
Whirley Pop works great. There's a version of it that has metal gear on the top. that's what I'd go with. My first one, the vinyl gear on the top fell apart one night while roasting. The metal one is better in a lot of ways. If you're interested, I'll post the model I bought.
I did it in the kitchen a couple of times, but there's some serious smoke generated between 1st and 2nd crack. A LOT of smoke. (smells awesome though). You can use a whirley popper on a grill, but you have to use gloves because your hands are in there spinning the beans the whole time. I posted a video of me doing just that (over coals) somewhere in this thread.
I've never used a hot air popper.
1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
I have a little stove burner on my grill. That's the plan for now, I think. I have scamp stove stowed somewhere but it's a bear to light and hates breezes.
1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
OP
OP
When it's done roasting, pour the beans back and forth between to metal pots, colanders, anything metal. If you can do it outside and there's any breeze, the chaff will blow away. I have a fan that I just turn on when I do this (outside). The chaff is almost entirely gone after about 30 seconds of this.
BTW, I don't use the whirley popper any more. I've been using a kludge made up of a bunch of oddball stuff. Works better than the whirley pop because it's all electric and stirs itself.
OP
OP
This keeps popping up on my Swingle Singers pandora station (you have to really like acapella / barbershop 
). I remember it as an Ink Spots song from a long time ago. Thought somebody here might like.
). I remember it as an Ink Spots song from a long time ago. Thought somebody here might like.
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Brewed some Kenya nyeri gutitio (? Probably not recalling the right spelling) that I got at SM. Wow! I don't know if there is any left, but this is a great coffee in my opinion. It's a peaberry. Only about 36 hours rested since I roasted and the brew tastes slightly over extracted, but I can't wait to try this again later this week. I think I did a real good job at managing the roaster which helps too. Dropped just after end of 1C. Peaberries are difficult to hear cracking throughout the process and might have gone a bit past end of 1c.
Notes of strawberry was in descriptor and I think that you can definitely taste that.
TD.
Notes of strawberry was in descriptor and I think that you can definitely taste that.
TD.
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
I have something of a dilemma. Someone I know wants to buy some coffee from me to give as holiday gifts this December. They want it ground.
I just hate hate hate to grind it ahead of time, especially if some of the recipients may not need it pre-ground. But it's not like he can really ask them ahead of time, so he's wanting them all ground.
I just hate hate hate to grind it ahead of time, especially if some of the recipients may not need it pre-ground. But it's not like he can really ask them ahead of time, so he's wanting them all ground.
OP
OP
Grind it then vacuum bag it (if you have one). As long as you remove the O2 it'll stay fresh. Fresh enough, anyway.
If you don't grind it, they'll need to buy a grinder to grind the beans. Even if its a cheap blade grinder. How much can those cost these days anyway.. $20 or less?
If you have to grind them, SMs has those plastic valve bags that you could vac-seal (if you have a snorkel type sealer) to remove the oxygen, and if freshly roasted, the CO2 released would purge the remaining O2 in the bag.
Either way would still be tons better than the probably many months old 3 pound can of pre-ground coffee that most people buy...
TD
If you have to grind them, SMs has those plastic valve bags that you could vac-seal (if you have a snorkel type sealer) to remove the oxygen, and if freshly roasted, the CO2 released would purge the remaining O2 in the bag.
Either way would still be tons better than the probably many months old 3 pound can of pre-ground coffee that most people buy...
TD
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