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

[TrickyDick]

yeah i sold my Quest to a dude in canada and picked up a TJ-066 from MillCity Roasters. It is rated for 500g and can handle it easily. I roast 454g batches to keep the bags sold by the pound even. I think I've put close to 40lbs through it so far and am just now starting to get my chops but def. need more practice. It is way more capable/versatile than anything I've experienced.

Like I need another roaster, but wait! This one is gas!
What kind of pressure does it require? What is BTU rating?
what did it cost?
has cooler built in like hot top and can control via artisan (gas control too?)

Thanks for sharing the tip about paper filters and DP ethiopians.
TD

 

[jammin]

^no prob - the guys at Coava dialed me in on that last year. I've been using that advice and have to agree after several cups. I recently got their Kone filter for my Chemex and it's now my favorite brewer.

The TJ-066 can run on a tank of propane (the way I'm using it now) or natural gas. I think the max BTU rating is 5,500 so a standard 5g propane tank lasts a really long time. It has a manometer so you can see what pressure the burner is getting. I rarely go above 40% pressure which is telling about how much power it has. The rear wall is perforated and allows for easy transfer of convection heat from the fan. Again, I rarely go above 60% on the fan as it is also overpowered. Drum speed is variable and I keep that at around 70% or so.

It comes with a Phidget device that connects to your laptop via USB and directly interfaces with Artisan; this was a must have make/break for me. It has a stand-alone cooling tray that has its own fan so you can roast & cool at the same time.

I would have rather bought a USRC or San Franciscan but the price on this unit could not be ignored. It has more control & greater performance for several thousand less. I think the cost shipped is about $3,300 but I've heard they are planning on it increasing it - no time frame on on when or how serious they are about that. Customer support is top notch. They have a whole forum dedicated to their roasters and severa YouTube videos for instruction on use. These are the reasons I settled on this particular unit. Buckeye Coffee Roasters offers a similar unit in price & performance and is worth considering if you get serious about taking the plunge

 

[TrickyDick]

^no prob - the guys at Coava dialed me in on that last year. I've been using that advice and have to agree after several cups. I recently got their Kone filter for my Chemex and it's now my favorite brewer.

The TJ-066 can run on a tank of propane (the way I'm using it now) or natural gas. I think the max BTU rating is 5,500 so a standard 5g propane tank lasts a really long time. It has a manometer so you can see what pressure the burner is getting. I rarely go above 40% pressure which is telling about how much power it has. The rear wall is perforated and allows for easy transfer of convection heat from the fan. Again, I rarely go above 60% on the fan as it is also overpowered. Drum speed is variable and I keep that at around 70% or so.

It comes with a Phidget device that connects to your laptop via USB and directly interfaces with Artisan; this was a must have make/break for me. It has a stand-alone cooling tray that has its own fan so you can roast & cool at the same time.

I would have rather bought a USRC or San Franciscan but the price on this unit could not be ignored. It has more control & greater performance for several thousand less. I think the cost shipped is about $3,300 but I've heard they are planning on it increasing it - no time frame on on when or how serious they are about that. Customer support is top notch. They have a whole forum dedicated to their roasters and severa YouTube videos for instruction on use. These are the reasons I settled on this particular unit. Buckeye Coffee Roasters offers a similar unit in price & performance and is worth considering if you get serious about taking the plunge

Thanks for the info. As you know, I bought the Bullet R1. there are a few annoying things about it - notably the lack of artisan support - for now. it has its own software that is not as easy to figure out, and has far fewer features and control that I can see. pseudo PID functionality. Biggest issue I'm having is VERY hard to hear the onset of 1C. That said I probably had one of my best ever roasts out of it so there is great promise. Can do 1 kg which is nice though I try to do 1 lb per week. I can also start sharing or start a business with this. Not really sure what to do with the tryer it has other than periodically sniff the coffee.

Really hoping somebody ports it over to artisan. I have a friend who could do if I buy him one to use for this purpose.....

TD

 

[applescrap]

So I ended up over roasting that Bodie leave Ethiopian been. Tasted it today after three days rest it it's OK but not what I had hoped for or who I still have a 2nd pound. Still learning the inns and outs of the new roaster I guess. This is a picture of that GCBC Coffee. Large. For a peaberry .

My friend was curious what your favorite ethiopian is. Man sorry to hear about over roast. How far did it go, or maybe how long. The roaster looks awesome. No more dz for test batches

 

[TrickyDick]

Yeah. My previous roast I did great with. Must've heated too high and roast went too quickly. I was trying to follow another roasters profile but had to guess their charge temp.

Next time will lower that.

My favorite coffee or at least one of them was a Ethiopian natural process from Hambela region or estate. Not really sure what that designates. Got in 2015 through gcbc or gccoop don't recalll. Had awesome blueberry flavor.

 

[jammin]

^estate is like wine; single farm. region would be the general area kinda like Bordeaux in France. You also have micro-lots which are a single group of shrubs; usually all the same varietal and picked in a single harvest - I think they do this in wine too but I'm not sure what's it's called.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I'll see wineries do this type of micro lot picking, and they'll label them, "Hill number 7"or wherever they got them from. Typically also note on the bottle how many total bottles were produced - at least at the more quality controlled places.

Don't see that sort of attention to detail quite yet with coffee

 

[jammin]

I knew I was getting into deep water talking about wine haha

 

[jammin]

Nice Q&A video from Tim Wenelboe. Long - but lots of good info. Maybe throw this in your ear buds or instead of background music during your work day (no need to watch the video). Funny to hear him call George Howell a legend.. I was "you're no slouch yourself" haha.

[ame=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoIoLxKIJ_8][youtube]HoIoLxKIJ_8[/youtube][/ame]

 

[BrewinHooligan]

^no prob - the guys at Coava dialed me in on that last year. I've been using that advice and have to agree after several cups. I recently got their Kone filter for my Chemex and it's now my favorite brewer.

The TJ-066 can run on a tank of propane (the way I'm using it now) or natural gas. I think the max BTU rating is 5,500 so a standard 5g propane tank lasts a really long time. It has a manometer so you can see what pressure the burner is getting. I rarely go above 40% pressure which is telling about how much power it has. The rear wall is perforated and allows for easy transfer of convection heat from the fan. Again, I rarely go above 60% on the fan as it is also overpowered. Drum speed is variable and I keep that at around 70% or so.

It comes with a Phidget device that connects to your laptop via USB and directly interfaces with Artisan; this was a must have make/break for me. It has a stand-alone cooling tray that has its own fan so you can roast & cool at the same time.

I would have rather bought a USRC or San Franciscan but the price on this unit could not be ignored. It has more control & greater performance for several thousand less. I think the cost shipped is about $3,300 but I've heard they are planning on it increasing it - no time frame on on when or how serious they are about that. Customer support is top notch. They have a whole forum dedicated to their roasters and severa YouTube videos for instruction on use. These are the reasons I settled on this particular unit. Buckeye Coffee Roasters offers a similar unit in price & performance and is worth considering if you get serious about taking the plunge

I don't have the funds, but have eyeballed buckeye roasters equipment as they are across town from me and it seems their customer support is pretty good, especially for someone local. I have considered opening a small shop but have too many irons in the fire as is and not enough knowledge or capitol. That and the market is getting flooded. I do know that the coffee I'm roasting at home is better than anything I'm buying locally, but try to convince the brainwashed masses.

 

[TrickyDick]

Anybody have this grinder? Spendy and large for a manual it seems to me.
https://www.amazon.com/finum-BEAN-ME-UP-black/dp/B01C46BOJS/ref=b2b_simh_a1_0_p?ie=UTF8&pf_rd_i=b2b-desktop&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=efcbfc54-2d47-49f8-b515-6e62f9efba35&pf_rd_r=YY9C67Z66ENV0WNYQE0A&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_t=B2BGateway&refRID=YY9C67Z66ENV0WNYQE0A

New book on coffee from roast magazine folks coming out covers harvest to starting a coffee business and everything in between supposedly.

RH

 

[TallDan]

That looks like something other than a coffee grinder...

 

[ChefRex]

That looks like something other than a coffee grinder...

Dual purpose?

 

[applescrap]

@jammin thanks, i watched some of the video and I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to listen to the rest. I have a long drive so I like to listen to this stuff on my way to work. when he was talking about light roast, he mentioned that it's possible that there's still some green bean flavor in the middle, yet it can be lightly roasted on the outside. I fear that I may be roasting too quickly then. I noted that you used less power than me with your heat gun setup. Wondering if I should try to lengthen my roasts from 10 minutes or so to 15 minutes or so.

 

[jammin]

^good to hear. i really like finding stuff like that I can dig into while going about my day. i wouldn't worry to much about having under-roasted "rare" beans unless youre roasting double-A kenya or the like (big, dense beans). the hardest part about heat gun roasting is not scorching the beans by blasting them with air thats too hot. i think finding a good charge weight is helpful there - too much & the heat required in order to roast in a timely manner will scorch. Too little and there isn't enough mass to buffer/absorb the heat. Getting good agitation is also helpful - augmenting the stirring arm is a good trick to improve your roasts although far from required.

curious how you're 10 minute roasts are tasting. what kind of beans and how are you brewing them? how quickly are you hitting first crack?

 

[applescrap]

@jammin I listen to the experimental brewing, basic brewing and beersmith podcasts a lot. But surprisingly to myself I might be more interested in roasting videos. Roast a pound every Saturday pretty much. My bm whips the beans super fast compared to my buddies that I set up. Pretty much only Ethiopian beans from bl and that yc from sm. Have brewed plenty others though and less since my buddy got a new job. Have 3 pounds left of cheaper ethiopian right now. Just bought 3 pounds bl organic Mexican sale this week at 2.95 a pound, but couldn't succumb to more, because i just want to take it dark as a try for espresso. All my espresso is light roast ethiopian and i dont know wtf I am doing, so figured i would try going darker with cheap beans. Dont know if i like the chocolate milkshake or fruity bright with the Ethiopians but lean light. The rest have been very unappealing to me light, but then i drink them darker, I think, well, i guess light is better. I got 2 pounds of ethiopian nitsu ruz too, which is almost as good as the drima zede, maybe better. Shipping doubles after 5 pounds so order in 5 pound lots and got mexican so cheap didnt mind 2 pounds of the good stuff.

After your last video have worried less about temp figuring the vision of the curve shape is more important than ultimate final temp. This winter hitting 1c. at 10mim for almost every bean. 1030 for solid 1c. and pulling roast about a minute after that for light roast ethiopian. Stopped heat all winter at 1030 and coasted last minute. I cool with beans sandwiched between two colanders and a blower on low. It cools in like 2 min in winter, so figure it locks in flavor. I cant count on any drift, but wonder if a little drift isn't bad for development. For darker, have been trying to take it to the silence between 1c and 2c. That spot seems like a good place. Now that its warming up hitting 1c at 930 almost every time. After a few seconds more once crack gets more exothermic I turn heat down and let it crack a little more , but rarely take ethiopian to the silence in between. Brewing in old Krups pro brew now, mr coffee died. Taste is almost always bright, if not tangy, and heavy fruit flavor except from the cheaper ethiopian, which tastes cheaper. The other types have a myriad of flavors light, none of which have I would describe as great imo. Have a Brazilian, I think, forgot to mark bag when i shared with friend, that i took between 1 and 2c, that i am going to try today. It looks nice. So thats where I am at. Welcome any thoughts of course.

 

[TallDan]

Scale suggestions for pourover? It seems our kitchen scale is flaking out, so I might as well get something good for my most frequent use.

 

[jammin]

You can barely find a YouTube video on coffee without seeing the Acai Lunar. I can't justify the cost but it's something to look at I guess:
https://prima-coffee.com/equipment/acaia/lunar


I bought this one about 9 months ago for pour over and like it:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NX47YP4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

As an aside; I switched from weighing my brew water by the ounce and have converted to grams. Now I just multiply the grams of beans I am going to use by 17 for how many grams of brew water I need. Now I can weigh my beans without switching units on the scale. Also easier to change the brew ratio as 15-18 is about the spectrum that works.

 

[jammin]

Speaking of pour over; baratza released their new(ish) Sette 30. It's based on the Sette 270 but with a new burr set designed for pour over. It will have 30 grind settings narrowing it down from 270 making it easier/faster to adjust for P/O coffee. Price should be $249 and out in June. *Probably* gonna sell my Vario W & big Ditting and pick it up.

 

[TallDan]

You can barely find a YouTube video on coffee without seeing the Acai Lunar. I can't justify the cost but it's something to look at I guess:
https://prima-coffee.com/equipment/acaia/lunar


I bought this one about 9 months ago for pour over and like it:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NX47YP4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

As an aside; I switched from weighing my brew water by the ounce and have converted to grams. Now I just multiply the grams of beans I am going to use by 17 for how many grams of brew water I need. Now I can weigh my beans without switching units on the scale. Also easier to change the brew ratio as 15-18 is about the spectrum that works.

Yeah, maybe at a quarter of that price i could see buying that first one, but the second is much closer to what i was thinking.

I also do all of my pourover measurements in grams. It seems a little illogical since i measure for roasting (and basically everything else in life) in US units, but is certainly easier for that specific task. I've always been doing a 16:1 ratio.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I was in Europe for a couple weeks recently and am getting back in the swing of things here but id like to make a post of the different coffee styles I found there. Maybe you guys may find it interesting. Ill try to get one up the next couple days

 

[TrickyDick]

FYI I learned a trick for cooling beans nearly instantly. Takes a little work, but relatively easy. Need a homer bucket and lid, a large kitchen strainer, either mesh or colander type that has holes small enough to keep beans from passing. Need a shop vac. Need a hose and connectors for the hose.

carve a hole in the bucket lid that will allow your strainer/colander to rest in the hole - ideally tightly so it won't come loose. Should select a strainer large enough to contain the roasted beans as they come out of your roaster. Carve a hole at the bottom sidewall of the bucket. Connect the hole in the bucket to your shop vac with appropriate hose/fittings (since you're homebrewers I'm sure you can all figure this out). Turn on the shop vac and dump the beans in out of the roaster. Stir with a spoon. Cools them near instantly. Beware could potentially melt the vaccum tubing so consider a metal flex hose.

TD

 

[jammin]

^i used that method for years with my HG/BM & Quest M3. Works amazing! Added benefit of quick roasting kit cleanup when you're done

 

[TallDan]

Definitely melted the hose on our house vacuum cooling coffee in the behmor.

Seems like the additional air volume in the bucket would mean cool enough air to not melt the hose though. Tempted to give this method a try if I start roasting somewhere conducive to it.

 

[applescrap]

I put the beans in these two colanders and hold the blower with one hand. SodaStream is filling in for the blower here. You could also put a cutting board on top of any of these three strainers i suppose and do the same. You could vacuum with your Shop-Vac or you could blow. Plenty of air flow. The blower does a nice job of cleaning up as well. I assume you guys use your behmors outside. In that case you could just open it up and hit the drum with the blower, no?

View attachment 1493684934371.jpg

View attachment 1493684944721.jpg

 

[TallDan]

I use the behmor in the kitchen. Had slow temp rise when I used it outside.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Alright, here's a quick overview of a trip I recently took - related to coffee.

Berlin: Berlin's an interesting city - very "hip" and young. That said, of all the places I visited they had the most...refreshing coffee scene. Lots of coffee shops offering loads of different things. It's easy to get a brewed cup of coffee here, as it is throughout Germany (to a degree). But it was also easy to find 3rd Wave places which were brewing with V60's, Aeropresses, and Chemex's based on the coffee's you selected. At one place I got a bean from Rwanda, my wife from Columbia. Mine was made in V60, the Columbian in an Aeropress after the barista's talked over which ones they liked for which coffees.

I got talking with the barista's at one place and learned they had moved to Berlin from Australia, and were trying to bring some of their Australian coffee viewpoints with them to Germany. I soaked up as much brewed coffee as I could while I was there, because I knew I wasn't going to find it anywhere else I was going.

Italy: With that, my next stop was Italy, in the Naples area. Just about every shop serves either Kimbo or Illy brand coffee, always in espresso. Not that great, either. I tried many shots, and many cappucino's, and nothing really stood out anywhere. Considering the Italians talk a big game about espresso and make some of the best espresso equipment, the coffee scene here is just sort of...boring. I don't believe I had a single cup that tasted unlike any others.

Greece: I spent a few days in Athens, at a nice but conservative hotel - nothing fancy. Having no ideas what the Greek coffee culture is, I got to the room and found a hot water kettle (good sign!) accompanied by packages of instant coffee (oh, the humanity!). At that moment I think I got a good idea of their coffee culture...they don't focus on it too much.

Again, lots of Illy and Kimbo, but I did find a couple places doing pour over in Chemex and V60 with "fresh roasted beans". It'd been about 9 days since I had a good cup of brewed coffee, so I jumped at the chance to get some fresh beans in a V60. Unfortunately, you can have all the tools, but it doesn't work if you don't know how to use it. They used the V60, but also used water which I'd estimate was only heated to 175...bad. So, again, not the greatest.

At one time I tried to order a "Drip Coffee"...she didn't understand. So then I asked for an "American Coffee" but they didn't have a clue what I was talking about. She said, "I can make Greek coffee" and I said, "what's that?" "It's Greek, I don't know!" So I tried it. What they did was put coffee grinds into a frothing pitcher, added water, and used a steam wand to heat it up. Then poured it all into a mug - like a poor man's Turkish Coffee. It was absolutely disgusting. In fairness to Greece, I have read that this is the improper way to do it.

Istanbul: I had a stop in Istanbul and found a fancy little Turkish Coffee shop in the airport, so I tried Turkish coffee for the first time. I didn't care for it, but I'm sure that's just me as I have many friends who enjoy the style. The beans were super lightly roasted, so I was really optimistic I'd get some fruit flavors and acidity, but it just tasted muddy.

Anyways, just some interesting thoughts on the different cultures and availability. When I got home, I brewed some Kenyan that was about 3 weeks old but it tasted SOOOOO good.

 

[TallDan]

Yikes! Just realized that I'm down to two pounds of regular coffee. Any good stuff out there right now I should stock up on?

 

[applescrap]

Thanks harbortown for the awesome notes and recap. I enjoyed reading this and you always inspire me to go out and get a cup of coffee. I assume here in Denver we have a good coffee shop or two and it makes me sad to think many of you could tell me where to go, yet i couldnt tell anyone where a good cup is. I was hoping for an Amsterdam review as I think they have good coffee in their "coffee shops". Which I think other factors help the taste either way thanks again for the thorough review.

 

[applescrap]

Yikes! Just realized that I'm down to two pounds of regular coffee. Any good stuff out there right now I should stock up on?

Yeah, nitsu ruz and my friend said derar ella from bodhi leaf. They are out of drima zede. I noticed they have some 19 dollar per pound geisha, I need to buck up and buy some already dammit. At 8 plus a pound its hard to stock up, but those coffees are nice.