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

[HarborTownBrewing]

Decided to have another go at some Africans using some of the techniques we've discussed the last 24 hours.

First up, Ethiopia Hambela Hassan. I charged at 185 C, which ended up making this roast go way too fast and I hit 1C at 7:16, about a min earlier than I had planned. Dropped at 12% per Jammin's idea. Weight loss was 12.8%

Next up, Tanzania Tarime. Charged at 180C this time, and slowly and methodically lowered my power each minute after yellowing. This got me closer to where I wanted to be, but I still came into 1C a little earlier than I wanted. I think my charge temp should be a tad lower. This one had 13% development and 12.8% weight loss.

Review of each to follow later this weekend. Looking forward to cupping these.

 

[jammin]

^thats so awesome. Can’t wait to hear how they taste! That Hassan has got some acidity - I've only done 1 drip roast but I was glad I didn't cut it any shorter as it was right on the edge.

11.2% loss, 13.3% development. 1C @ 7:30. Our roasts appear very similar:

 

[ong]

It’s really fascinating to me that one can roast beans using purely sensory cues (I go entirely by sound and aroma and color), or by this extremely data-driven approach (I’m not even sure what the axes represent), and get delicious coffee either way.

I’m doing the Hambela Hassan as well, for what it’s worth, and getting insane amounts of blueberry from somewhere a bit lighter than a City roast.

 

[applescrap]

I like the experimenting and look forward to the results. Seems development and loss are close percents in some of those graphs. Tequila, vodka, coffee are intriguing. Could a tincture of blueberry vodka be made and added?

Is the sr500 a fluid bed air roaster? Fluid air roasting is interesting in its own right. Sivetz, his machines, writings, and works paint a nice picture. I agree, pretty cool that there are many paths up the mountain. http://air-roasted-coffee.com/

 

[jimyson]

Anyone else want to participate before names get picked tomorrow?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/index.php?threads/Home-Roasted-Coffee-Swap.653990/

 

[pshankstar]

I like the experimenting and look forward to the results. Seems development and loss are close percents in some of those graphs. Tequila, vodka, coffee are intriguing. Could a tincture of blueberry vodka be made and added?

Is the sr500 a fluid bed air roaster? Fluid air roasting is interesting in its own right. Sivetz, his machines, writings, and works paint a nice picture. I agree, pretty cool that there are many paths up the mountain. http://air-roasted-coffee.com/

Yeah the SR500 is a fluid bed air roaster. I’ll have to look into that link some later today. I love it and it’s fun, but I can only roast at most about 113g of wet beans (about 4oz) and when the roast is done they weigh anywhere between 94-98g depending on the beans (about 3.5oz +/-). So it takes a while to roast a full pound of coffee since I need to do 4-5 roasts in a row.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Jammin our roasts look freaking identical haha.

I had roasted some Colombian that I brewed in a drip pot over the weekend when my parents were in town. Tasted fine. It was good.

Today I made it at work in my V60 and holy wow this thing was delicious. I had blown through my greens of this one because I used them as a "learning bean" for this roaster. Looks like I finally figured it out...and now I'm all out of them. Man it was good.

 

[applescrap]

Haha, murphys law of course. Awesome to hear you are dialing in the roasts. At 1030 everyday when my buddy and i drink a cup. Thats the moment. Never tastes quite as good. As i finsh the 2nd pound of burmans, it remains fruity and good. Correct me if i am wrong but murphy was kind of a richard and he blaimed his failures on his assistant. Saying anything that could be done wrong that guy will find. The other lab people in response to this and him, coined the somewhat snarky response term murphys law. Hey thats murphys law, blaim someone else.

 

[pshankstar]

Tinkering around with the timer @jimyson shared and roasting more coffee this morning. Just used up the last he sent me too. Thanks again!

Two batches of the same bean. Wet 113g, roasted first batch 97g and the second 98g. Looking at my notes the last few times I roasted this bean was roasted for a few minutes longer. I thought they were really good, so it will be interesting to see how it tastes this time.

I hardly use my pour over b/c my wife and I drink a lot of coffee. So it’s the Bonavita Drip which I think is a pretty good machine. But seeing how someone posted earlier how different a bean tastes between how it’s made makes me want to pull out the pour over and use it more. Maybe when the kids are back in school. I did back the Rite Press from kickstarter, so that should finally arrive in a few weeks. It’s a French Press.

Thanks for another rabbit hole for me to explore!! Haha

 

[jimyson]

Thank you for the link, @jammin.

I’m thinking that this will improve my shots tremendously.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

A few things:
1) Burmans is launching a new site and it's highly improved. Sooooo much better and easier to browse through. They are offering $5.99 shipping as they pre-launch the site, in case anyone is interested: https://stage.burmancoffee.com/

2) I tried the Ethiopia Hambela and Tanzania Tarime I had posted about last week. Per some of your input, I did it much faster than I had been, and I dropped them both at about 13% development. These taste FANTASTIC. It's the best coffee I've roasted in the Bullet by far. My biggest issue is, I like both of them so much I can't figure out which one I want to drink whenever I go to brew coffee haha.

 

[applescrap]

Good problem to have!

 

[pshankstar]

I started using the coffee time @jimyson posted in this thread. How far do you usually want it to develop? I'm sure this is all based on taste and preference, but if you want City to FC so a little after first crack is 20% ok? Too much? I need to read about this some more, but figured I would post here from the fine folks who's input and experience I trust and respect. Thanks in advance!

 

[Inkleg]

I started using the coffee time @jimyson posted in this thread.

I just started using too. In fact my first roast using it is on its way to you. It's the bag with Banko 12% on it. The other Banko is my normal flying by the seat of my pants roasting. Hope you enjoy them both.

 

[applescrap]

My last konga roast started at 1050 and i pulled it at 11ish. Few seconds late. Started to tip! I think increasing batch size actually helps with tipping in my case. A few seconds long and bye bye fruit flavors. Glad you are experimenting with less development time. Seems like initial reaults are already showing fruit character. As joe marraco says 1c is not a magical spot where development starts to occurs. The coffee is developing the whole time up to and through 1c.

 

[pshankstar]

A few things:
1) Burmans is launching a new site and it's highly improved. Sooooo much better and easier to browse through. They are offering $5.99 shipping as they pre-launch the site, in case anyone is interested: https://stage.burmancoffee.com/

I'm running low on coffee and figured I should order some more now b/c I have no idea how long until the new Yirga's get released. Thanks for sharing this information HTB, I ordered 19lbs of various beans and took advantage of their $5.99 shipping.

 

[shelly_belly]

So when do I mark first crack? If I roast (popcorn popper) 3oz, approx. 400 beans, one will usually pop before 3 mins which would only leave 20 seconds or so of development time at 12%. Should I count the first pop, the 10th, 40th (10%)? By 3:30-3:45 I usually have a symphony of pops. I've been roasting for a minute or two longer trying to get some color without burning but that puts me beyond 40% development time if this scales linear to the popper.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

So when do I mark first crack? If I roast (popcorn popper) 3oz, approx. 400 beans, one will usually pop before 3 mins which would only leave 20 seconds or so of development time at 12%. Should I count the first pop, the 10th, 40th (10%)? By 3:30-3:45 I usually have a symphony of pops. I've been roasting for a minute or two longer trying to get some color without burning but that puts me beyond 40% development time if this scales linear to the popper.

"400 beans" The better question is, have you actually counted them!?

I mark it as once the cracks begin to roll. There will usually be a couple outliers about 30-60 seconds before it begins rolling but once I hear 3 back to back to back, I mark that as 1C.

Of course there are always surprises, like the freaking Indonesian coffees that never really start rolling but just pop a few times and next thing you know you are in second crack. I hate roasting those.

 

[shelly_belly]

Ha! I did count them!

 

[jimyson]

I track FC start when I’m multiple cracks in quick succession.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I have an Ethiopia bean I've probably had for 2 or so years. When i first tried it I loved it so I bought a lot more but didn't go through it as quickly as I expected. Over time the flavors have dissipated.

I've also struggled in roasting it the last year. I decided to hit it hard with heat because I've had a hard time catching 1c on this bean lately. So my goal was to get to 1c quick and maybe hear an aggressive crack.

Well, 1c never really came. I got a few pops around the 8 min and 9 min mark but that was about it. I was disappointed.

Tried it this morning and it's actually really good. The best roast I've had on it in the last year without a doubt. Im guessing the age is creating a condition that doesn't allow me to year much of a 1c regardless of how I roast it.

It's turned into a frustrating coffee to roast but it's a good reminder to not buy too much of something, and to not let it sit on the shelf.

 

[TallDan]

It's turned into a frustrating coffee to roast but it's a good reminder to not buy too much of something, and to not let it sit on the shelf.

I'm reminding myself of this lesson lately. Been churning through beans that have been around too long. Down to stuff that I've had for 6mo or less now, except for some decaf that's been around since January 2017.

Just threw away some roasted decaf, it didn't brew well and my wife said it tasted terrible. I knew it had been around for a while; checked notes: roasted 6/22. Yeah, not surprised that it didn't turn out well.

 

[jammin]

@HarborTownBrewing - Did you watch the livestream on from Sweet Marias on the Bullet roaster? I haven't had a chance to watch but since you have one I was curious if you saw it and found anything that stood out?

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Not yet, been on the go the last few days. I'm hoping to sit down an watch it in the next week.

They did some initial videos on the bullet a few months ago, about 30 mins long for each of them. They were good but Tom has a tendency to carry on and get sidetracked. Soooooo, I don't have high expectations haha.

I'll let you know though. Hoping there is good, general roasting info if nothing else.

 

[applescrap]

I roasted two Ethiopians, at 6 minutes or so on both I left them full fan and switch to one bar less power. Surprisingly they only cracked a little past normal. Also surprisingly even though there is a little less tipping I think they look very similar. Makes me wonder.
Pulled the konga right as it started cracking, and othe left a little longer. We are out of filters and I really wanted to taste them. I've seen cupping in videos and have no idea how to do it, but it looked like boiling water was put into grinds. So I ground some up and put them in a cup. Put near boiling water over them, set a timer for 3 minutes. I really enjoyed the way these brewed. Seemed almost like a French press. The fruit flavor was near the same but the slower roasted was definitely richer. The quicker roast as rao speaks to in that video, I perceive as much brighter. The quicker roast is brighter more acidic, and lightly fruity. The slower roast is more rich, caramelized, and nicely accentuated by fruit. I think I smell some green still left in the bean? The roast I let go a little longer is the same but since I know this beam doesn't have a lot of fruit flavor, I think this roast is nice for it. As for the other it I can't decide which one I want. They are both good one is just brighter. Because of the Brewing method I can't be certain too much yet. I feel that fruit flavor in Ethiopians is diminished the longer it cracks. I pull the beans right as those first few cracks really get going and cool instantly.

 

[jammin]

@applescrap -

Ive had a idea/picture in my head for a little bit now about your HG/BM kit. My thought was to make a stand for your HG with black iron pipe. Something that parks next to your BM & is like a holster for the HG. The feature I have in mind next to the convenience would be a temp probe that reads the HG's air temp. The picture I keep thinking of goes something like this: A large T, perhaps a 2" fitting that the nozzle of the heat gun goes into. The side of the T would be connected to the stand. The outlet/bottom part might have a small nipple - maybe 2-3" or whatever needed to create a length of pipe to not only duct the air into the BM, but hold a bit of space to put in the temp probe. The air from the HG would blow right over the probe on it's way to the beans.
I would think you could quite easily adjust the HG's power to fine tune air temp & adjust roast curve.

Does that make sense? Sounds crazy?

 

[applescrap]

Help me understand it more. I have a pretty good clamp system now with the dewalt quick clamp on entertainment cabinet. Can control tip depth well.

 

[shelly_belly]

I stumbled on to this gem the other day. 1929 Jabez Burns Roaster

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

A lot of green beans on the ground!

 

[jammin]

Honey Processed Yrg (in between dry & washed). Anyone wanna share a box? 5lbs each ~ $43 shipped
https://royalcoffee.com/products/cj1228/