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

[BrewinHooligan]

Guess what fellas?! I roasted coffee in a bread machine! Had a few hiccups, learned some things and have some tweaking to do, but I have an even roast. First, heat gun placement was too close to the control panel initially and I had a high heat shut down. This will be remedied by rewiring the machine, but moving the gun away from the control panel proved to be a workable solution. Second, I went from first crack to second crack way faster than anticipated and have a darker than desired roast, but it's no Starbucks ashtray roast. I'm pretty damn excited to get a thermocouple installed and start logging more roasts

 

[jammin]

^great work. Sounds like bypassing the control & direct wiring the motor for continuous stir is the next step.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

^great work. Sounds like bypassing the control & direct wiring the motor for continuous stir is the next step.

You are exactly right. What thermocouple and thermometer combo would you suggest? Not being able to see the temp really gave me anxiety

 

[jammin]

I bought a cheapie combo on amazon for the last kit I built. I probably still have them around somewhere... Its less than $30 though and they worked quite well:

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I bought a cheapie combo on amazon for the last kit I built. I probably still have them around somewhere... Its less than $30 though and they worked quite well:

Thank you!

 

[applescrap]

Awesome! [emoji109]

I was able to remodel my buddies bread machine on my break in our office with a screwdriver and some electrical tape. If you're not sure on what to cut then give us some pictures of the guts and we can guide you. Mine and his had some tabs, that need pressed in to release the electronics. I posted pics of my wiring which I based off jammins awesome advice. If you can go back a little on the thread there is links to some good info to.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I seriously can't believe I've been sitting on two bread machines for over a year and haven't done this yet.... I just ordered the thermometer and thermocouple and am still under $60 invested. With just the heat gun I was under $20 and had a workable system. I'm so jazzed if I had a need for more roasted coffee I would have knocked out another roast tonight. Rewiring doesn't seem necessary, but I'm still going to do it just to be safe so I don't get shut down mid roast again.

 

[pshankstar]

I’m no expert when it comes to coffee but I brewed a pot of this Kenyan coffee and wow!!! It’s not bitter at all. It definitely has a citrus character on the tongue. Even though I’ve enjoyed roasting my own coffee since December this one has blown me away where as all of the other beans I’ve roasted have been good to great, but this one just knocked it out of the park.

I may place another order and get #5 of it this weekend if it’s still available. Just had to share this one with the group.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I’m no expert when it comes to coffee but I brewed a pot of this Kenyan coffee and wow!!! It’s not bitter at all. It definitely has a citrus character on the tongue. Even though I’ve enjoyed roasting my own coffee since December this one has blown me away where as all of the other beans I’ve roasted have been good to great, but this one just knocked it out of the park.

I may place another order and get #5 of it this weekend if it’s still available. Just had to share this one with the group.

View attachment 559221

That sounds ridiculously good. I've never tried a Kenyan. Guess I should change that...

 

[applescrap]

Yeah I have seen people have good results using the dough setting. How long does that spin for just out of curiosity? Do you have to stop it and then restart the setting. By rewiring you plug it in and it automatically turns on. I noticed you did not get the variable heat gun. I was reluctant to get it too but I'm really glad I did. It has five or six settings for heat and 2 fan settings. Without it you can raise the gun up and down I imagine to get similar results. There is also a potentiometer I think you could plug it into and that would give you a very strong variable adjust. I normally go full heat and finish my roast at around 10 minutes 11 minutes in the winter and before that in the summer. That last roast I dragged out to 20 minutes. So you can see right away that it gives you a lot of room to play. It's not quite a fluid air roaster but I think that it creates a very nice roast because of the air flow. My buddies bread machine did not spend very fast mine really whips them around. 2 lb was too much but I think I can do 1 and half pounds but I normally do only one. I built a tryer with a stick and a measuring cup cup duct taped at the end. Come to think of it a tablespoon measure would probably be better. Anyways I also use that to give a stir here and there I don't actually stir I just put it in there too redirect some of the beans ensuring even a better roast. Anyways yeah so glad you got your bread machine out and put it to good use. I have seen small commercial operations where they run 3 or 4 at a time. I roast outside in front clean up I just get the cordless blower out and blow the mess away. I use a clamp on the door of the entertainment center to hold the heat gun. Can't wait to see what else you come up with. I need to pay for the thermocouple I don't know why I haven't.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Yeah I have seen people have good results using the dough setting. How long does that makes for just out of curiosity? Do you have to stop it and then restart the setting. By rewiring you plug it in and it automatically turns on. I noticed you did not get the variable heat gun. I was reluctant to get it too but I'm really glad I did. It has five or six settings for heat and 2 fan settings. Without it you can raise the gun up and down I imagine to get similar results. There is also a potentiometer I think you could plug it into and that would give you a very strong variable adjust. I normally go full heat and finish my roast at around 10 minutes 11 minutes in the winter and before that in the summer. That last roast I dragged out to 20 minutes. So you can see right away that it gives you a lot of room to play. It's not quite a fluid air roaster but I think that it creates a very nice roast because of the air flow. My buddies bread machine did not spend very fast mine really whips them around. 2 lb was too much but I think I can do 1 and half pounds but I normally do only one. I built a tryer with a stick and a measuring cup cup duct taped at the end. Come to think of it a tablespoon measure would probably be better. Anyways I also use that to give a stir here and there I don't actually stir I just put it in there too redirect some of the beans ensuring even a better roast. Anyways yeah so glad you got your bread machine out and put it to good use. I have seen small commercial operations where they run 3 or 4 at a time. I roast outside in front clean up I just get the cordless blower out and blow the mess away. I use a clamp on the door of the entertainment center to hold the heat gun. Can't wait to see what else you come up with. I need to pay for the thermocouple I don't know why I haven't.

I think the manual says for the longest dough setting it will go for 25 or 35 minutes, something like that. It really whips the beans around and 1lb was no problem at all. I think at the speed it spins if I try to increase that I will start to loose beans over the edge. I probably should have invested a little more in the heat source and didn't pay as much attention to time as I should have last night. I figured if I totaled my bread machine I didn't want to be out a whole lot on the project. Now that I know it's workable, I can always upgrade. I have another bread machine I can tear into as well if I want to but this one has a more steady stir and a smaller opening in the shielding so it was faster/easier to get operational.

 

[pshankstar]

That sounds ridiculously good. I've never tried a Kenyan. Guess I should change that...

Ugh I just checked and you can't even find it on their website anymore. It's not even showing as an out of stock bean.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Ugh I just checked and you can't even find it on their website anymore. It's not even showing as an out of stock bean.

I just checked too and saw the same... None of the offerings really excite me for the cost and I'm actually really enjoying the cup of what I roasted last night. 12oz guat/4oz Tanzanian peaberry co-roasted. I will give it another days rest for final judgment, but initial concerns on the bean quality is starting to fade.

 

[shelly_belly]

I’m no expert when it comes to coffee but I brewed a pot of this Kenyan coffee and wow!!! It’s not bitter at all. It definitely has a citrus character on the tongue. Even though I’ve enjoyed roasting my own coffee since December this one has blown me away where as all of the other beans I’ve roasted have been good to great, but this one just knocked it out of the park.

I may place another order and get #5 of it this weekend if it’s still available. Just had to share this one with the group.

View attachment 559221

Although not as spectacular as the Kenya Nyeri Kiaguthu AA the Kenya Nyeri Thageini AB is very similar and ranks 3rd of the 15 varieties I have tried so far.

 

[pshankstar]

Although not as spectacular as the Kenya Nyeri Kiaguthu AA the Kenya Nyeri Thageini AB is very similar and ranks 3rd of the 15 varieties I have tried so far.

I’m tempted but I shouldn’t since I just received #7 of beans a couple weeks ago. I’ll probably pull the trigger in the morning knowing me. Haha

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Although not as spectacular as the Kenya Nyeri Kiaguthu AA the Kenya Nyeri Thageini AB is very similar and ranks 3rd of the 15 varieties I have tried so far.

I’m tempted but I shouldn’t since I just received #7 of beans a couple weeks ago. I’ll probably pull the trigger in the morning knowing me. Haha

Do I need more green beans right now? No. Do I want more? Of course. Am I going to order more? Most likely. These are over my typical price range but the flavor description is pretty hard to say no to

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Sweet Maria's just emailed a couple new Kenyans today that both sound really good, fyi

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I just ordered 5lbs of Kenyan. Sounds like a berry bomb and I'm hoping I can do it justice.

Update on the coffee from the local roaster. Today's cup was pretty good. It's not very complex but the quality seem decent. I don't feel it's worth the $7/lb price. It is convenient, but if I order in larger quantities from Sweet Maria's to offset shipping costs per pound I can get better coffee for less money. I'll be watching the group buys more closely here too

 

[jammin]

Which one did you order? That AB @ Sweet Marias sounded good. Kenyans are a good fit for convection style roasters. They can take high heat & are still good if you overshoot the roast a bit.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Which one did you order? That AB @ Sweet Marias sounded good. Kenyans are a good fit for convection style roasters. They can take high heat & are still good if you overshoot the roast a bit.

The Kenya Nyeri Kiama AA. I think it is one of their newer ones.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Time to get back into roasting! Picked up the 7 lb sampler pack from happymug. Hope they pick out some good stuff! $39 after shipping.

 

[pshankstar]

I did it! I had to try those two new Kenyan beans. Ordered two pounds of each, plus two pounds of two other beans that looked interesting as well as some cleaning supplies. This rabbit hole is just like brewing! I'm already thinking of upgrading my roaster to something that can roast 0.5-1.0 pounds at a time. I've only had this Fresh Roast SR500 for two months. I love it, but didn't think I would need/want something that could do larger amounts at a time. Live and learn...

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

The nice thing about this rabbit hole is the time it takes to roast a batch is minute compared to brewing, and you save some serious money roasting your own coffee. Sure there are gadgets and toys but the money you save buying your own beans makes up for it.

At least that's what I tell my wife haha.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I have a new recipe for you all

Poor man's Blueberry-Bomb:

1) Get a mediocre coffee
2) Roast it
3) Brew it
4) Drink it and eat blueberries between sips

Works every time.

 

[applescrap]

For real?

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

For real?

Yeah!

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I got a Baratza Vario a few days ago, used, which has been a different beast than my old Encore. The tough part to me is, I knew exactly where to put the Encore for everything I brewed. The Vario has about 8 times the grind settings as the Encore, so it is taking me a little time to figure out where I should be grinding at.

Every grind I get a little bit closer though, and today I hit the 4:00 mark on a Kone pourover, which is right where I usually am. Now I have to figure out how to grind for espresso with it.

That all said, I continue to be impressed at the quality of products made by Baratza, as well as the instructional videos they have posted online. Between the parts they sell and the videos, they basically give you the ability to repair just about anything on the grinder on your own, which is pretty cool to me.

 

[TallDan]

Ugh, you're going to end up making me buy a vario-w. I just know it.

 

[jammin]

Mystery roast tonight. Had a vac sealed bag in the fridge for MONTHS that I foolishly didn't label.

Anyways, it was a fun roast. I charged @ medium temp (350*) & turned up the heat a bit when coffee still looked a little green & smelled a bit grassy later than it should have. FFWD to 1C the roast was slowed to a good pace but the aromas were very subdued. It was exciting to take the subtle clues when to drop the roast. Overall it was a good eye opener to rely more heavily on my senses vs expectations/biases.

Here's the graph fwiw -

 

[applescrap]

I made a second slow roast, 16 min to finish. not sure what to think yet. It has been more touchy working with the beans once they dry.