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

[pshankstar]

Coffee is bagged & heading out tomorrow morning. Tossing in a 22g sample for 12oz of brew.

Profile for reference:
View attachment 604484

Awesome and thanks again for doing this!

 

[TallDan]

I'm overdue for some grinder and espresso machine maintenance, so I'm ordering up some parts for my Rancilio Rocky and Silvia. Since I'm making a list, i thought I'd share here and see if anyone has any suggestions on other things I should consider.

Definitely:
Rocky:
burrs (don't think there are any good aftermarket burrs for rocky, is there?)
feet (mine is missing two of the rubber feet)

Silvia:
Seals, gaskets and spring for steam wand
Group gasket
Group screen
Steam tip (mine got scratched up)
steam handle clip (mine is broken)

Maybe:
Steaming thermometer (do ALL of these suck?)
knock box

Rocky:
Replace base with new model that has removable grind tray

Silvia:
Replace group screen with improved precision aftermarket model
replace group gasket with aftermarket silicone model
replace group diffuser (mine is chromed brass, the chrome has come off in places, which seems to attract buildup, newer ones are brass)
replace group cover (chromed plastic, and the chrome is staring to bubble on the bottom, not visible yet, so will probably wait with this one)
Multi-hole steam tip? Any of you have opinions on this?

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I did a Frankenstein blend of left over beans, roasting Sumatra, Burundi, and Timor all at the same time. I took it to 25 percent development to make sure everything was roasted enough and to mellow out the earthiness from the Sumatra.

My sister in law poured a cup of it and said, "it smells like mildew". That was accurate. Turns out it was the mug somehow, but with a fresh mug it tasted pretty good actually. I didn't really care for any of those beans on their own but blended together it was darn good.

 

[Inkleg]

Color me weird, but I like the earthiness from a Sumatra coffee. I always had before I started home roasting and now I'm really enjoying what I can bring out.

 

[pshankstar]

Hearing all of this makes me want to try a Sumatra bean.

 

[pshankstar]

Thanks @jammin the coffee arrived safely! Can't wait to roast some of it up. Anyone have any suggestions on how to roast it on the Behmor?

 

[jammin]

No prob. The Behmor in my limited experience is a very forgiving roaster. Give that sample a try and that will give you heads up if you want to take it darker or longer past 1C

 

[pshankstar]

No prob. The Behmor in my limited experience is a very forgiving roaster. Give that sample a try and that will give you heads up if you want to take it darker or longer past 1C

Awesome, thanks bud! I will do that for sure!

 

[applescrap]

Thanks, Apple!

I'm starting to dabble more with roasting, but the heatgun method is crude--a machete, like you say. And I think it bakes out the beans somewhat. I might go with a whirl-a-pop. Someone mentioned having good luck with that, early in this thread. Not ready to delve into coffee-roasting machines yet.

Has anyone tried one of those reusable K-cup holders to use your own coffee in a Keurig? Do they work OK? I'd like to move away from buying k-cup coffee and start using my own.

BTW, this is the Clever I mentioned. It sits atop a coffee mug. Insert filter, put in ground coffee, pour hot water over it. Drains into the mug.

Welcome! Coffee roasting is a tough egg to crack if ever. I find it way more fascinating then beer. Had some keurig today. My fil beloved lake and lodge from green mountain roasters. I can now say with certainty that the coffee had a fresh roast taste. The taste was mostly carbon and char but fresh. I know this flavor well. With some cream or something not entirely unpleasant. That foil top does keep some freshness in and I see this coffee as tasting better than most coffees in the store. I can see why he likes it. Then I had my Brazilian. Much sweeter in the cup and tasted like carmel popcorn. Meh, really, but much nicer to drink black and has some dynamic flavors and sweetness.

I toyed with and have used a keurig fairly extensively. The easiest and one way to reuse the cup is to take the foil out and clean the cup. That filter in the bottom is good for a lot of brews. Maybe 20 or more. Heavy duty foil is best. This method can be hit and miss and could clog the machine up a little. Reuse the bottom hole. I think its a clever brewer and was just saying today we could make some.

The way it works is one hole on the bottom, right, so the cheap reusable all screen keuring cups fail that design. Its my understanding that if you cut the brim off of a cup it will then fit inside that cheap all screen cup perfectly. Thus preserving the design of the coffee flowing out one hole. Iirc that same fix, cut the brim off of a cup, works in the reusable design they sale. You put the cut off cup in and the one hole out is preserved. An option that I think has come to the fore front at least while I was in the game are caps that snap onto old cups. So clean cup and filter, let dry, fill, and snap this little plastic cap on. Think they were called my k caps, or something like that. Final option I know of is to buy empty cups, filters and caps and make your own cups. Nevere tried that but like the idea of it.

I want to go back because I feel like it could save coffee for me, as I can only make what I need. At work I use a small 4 c mr coffee and home, my wife makes it in the morning or we have been setting timer. Might try brewing huge pitchers of cold brew. You brew it strong and dilute. Except I dont dilute . Lasts for a couple weeks I think off the grinds.

 

[applescrap]

The variable hg with 5 power settings and 2 fan settings gives lots of options. But roasting outdoors I have found the temperature outside and wind to play a role. Learning how to judge all that and make it work just takes time. No matter what your rig is, it takes time to get perfect roasts, and if you can already do that then you cut your teeth on an a different rig. And if you have nailed every roast since day one, thats amazing. Haha, lmao, I think I thought a lot of my bad roasts were good. @MaxStout are you using a bread machine?

@TallDan sounds sweet hope you share pics. I love work like that.

The Guat and Brazilian dont really do it for me. I am not surprised, they didnt before, but I got some for christmas to give as gifts and the guat with the kenyan yirgacheffe burman deal. Never roasted a Sumatra any good so need to re try it. I know that top lots are going in and out of Burmans but I will be ok with the 10 pound bl gr 1 natural deal. That coffee is top class.

 

[MaxStout]

@MaxStout[/USER] are you using a bread machine?

Don't have a bread machine. We got one as a gift in the '90s, used it a few times, gave it away later. I've heard of people using them to roast coffee. (I now bake bread in a dutch oven, but that's another story--and thread).

I've done a pound of Guat using the heat gun. I roast 1/4 lb at a time. Been kind of mixed, trying to learn to read the sounds. I think the key is keeping the nozzle close to the beans and maintaining temp. One batch I moved around too much, pulled the gun away, inadvertently let it cool a few times in-process. The heating and cooling probably dried them out. It turned out meh. But the 3rd batch wasn't bad. I know I'll have to move on to a better system, but not ready to go down the rabbit hole with dedicated roasters. Some day. I'm a DIYer do or die and want to see what I can turn out with a popper. I have one in my Amazon list. 30 bucks. Next order.

As for the Keurig, it's one of the old-gen models, and there are tons of reuable inserts for those made with ss mesh. Might buy a couple and see how it goes.

It's closing in on midnight here. Broke out the champagne already, not to mention a few bottles of EdWort's Apfelwein tonight. Yikes. Happy New Year, all!

 

[applescrap]

Sry for the trifecta. Here is a pic of those caps and also it looks like they have a whole new system to make your own cups. Opps that kit is for nesspresso but there are some good options out there.

 

[applescrap]

Happy new year! Need to try that edworts recipe and pappys pub cider. Here is a shameless plug for my new cider recipe daddys orchard. Wanted to call it daddys juice but wife squelched that and it does sound weird, haha. Its basically cider backsweetened with organic black cherry juice. It is so good.

I roast a full pound at a time in the bread machine. If you dont drink much the air popper could work or a nesco air roaster. I am a huge fan of air roasting and would like to have a massive air popper so to speak. Not sure hg counts as air roasting but its close enough for now. Sivetz is the modern pioneer of air roasting and has written a great deal about it. The ability to roast a pound at a time effectively in 10 to 15 minutes for very small price is a plus with the hg/bm. You cut a few wires and the bm spins when you plug it in. Works awesome. Jammin walked me through this on this thread a ways back. I feel very confident that only an expensive upgrade would be a move up. Someday I hope to make that move but there is more reasons than just roast quality. Pride and joy of ownership, batch size, explicit coffee software, easy to use tester/viewer are some upgrades I would be looking for. With the correct thermometer probes installed a hg/bm is a fairly solid set up. Inbetween roasters jammin used one and detailed its setup a ways back on this thread. He has also helped me but I am lazy and cheap, and havent installed thermometers yet. Probably about time for better, repeatable roasts.

I moved to this from the whirly pop, cheap and had on hand, but turning that thing sucks. Also the direct heat will tip the roast. Also smoke in the house is unpleasant to some, me included. With a little dewalt clamp I hold the gun above the machine. Unless you only need a little at a time, in which case the air popper or nesco are intriguing options, rigging up that bread machine and getting after it is the way to go imo.

To be sure I am only sharing information that I have gleened from this thread. And I remain grateful to pp, jammin, td, htb and all of you for bringing me in and teaching me all this.

 

[NeilMac]

Happy New Year!!

With all those fancy expensive gismoes, I found the priority is the color, if you don't see the color then you don't know how its going to turn out, thats why I love the popper, yes too bad its limited to 3oz and I have to wait 5min between roast so the unit does not burnout but "4min" roast from batch to batch dont always give the same result. Unless you have a voltage regulator the line voltage can change during the day depending on how many people are cooking or at home and that will change your roasting outcome, I learned that when first roasting, sometimes 4min, sometimes 5min for the same result.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

@applescrap I vote yes for "Daddy Juice".

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Thanks @jammin the coffee arrived safely! Can't wait to roast some of it up. Anyone have any suggestions on how to roast it on the Behmor?

Try to go to Cool about 15 sec after 1c ends. The Behmor retains some heat in the drum so going to cool that early gives you a chance to really retain those fruit flavors.

 

[TallDan]

Try to go to Cool about 15 sec after 1c ends. The Behmor retains some heat in the drum so going to cool that early gives you a chance to really retain those fruit flavors.

I often hit cool as 1c is winding down.

...my last batch is also pretty vegetal.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Don't look now, there's a handful of Bullets on SM's site... https://www.sweetmarias.com/aillio-bullet-r1-roaster.html

Once those are gone, I would guess they get another batch in a afew months. Then I think they'll be rolling out the slightly more upgraded version probably later in 2019.

 

[Kealia]

$2,656.00

I guess it's like any other hobby - you can spend a whole lot of money pretty easily.
I'm sticking with my Behmor!

 

[pshankstar]

Don't look now, there's a handful of Bullets on SM's site... https://www.sweetmarias.com/aillio-bullet-r1-roaster.html

Once those are gone, I would guess they get another batch in a afew months. Then I think they'll be rolling out the slightly more upgraded version probably later in 2019.

Let me know when you are ready to upgrade again. HAHA I know you just got yours a few months ago so this won't happen anytime soon.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Let me know when you are ready to upgrade again. HAHA I know you just got yours a few months ago so this won't happen anytime soon.

LOL! It's definitely going to be a while. If I upgrade I've gone too far down the rabbit hole

 

[Br3w4u]

I just roasted my first batch on the stove with a popcorn popper last night. Yay new obsession, I mean hobby!

 

[MaxStout]

I just roasted my first batch on the stove with a popcorn popper last night. Yay new obsession, I mean hobby!

Whirlipop? I'm thinking of going that route, so curious to hear how your batches turn out.

 

[Br3w4u]

Whirlipop? I'm thinking of going that route, so curious to hear how your batches turn out.

I went with the zippy pop popcorn popper.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Zippy-Po...ss-Lid-4-Quart-Capacity-zip-00011-01/45050219
It has a glass lid so you can watch your beans without letting the heat out and the gears are supposed to be better from what I have read. I roasted 1 pound of some Kenya beans that came in the 4 lb sampler from sweet Maria’s. I think I went a little too light. Next time I will go darker, I just didn’t want to end up with burnt arsehole coffee aka Starbucks.

 

[MaxStout]

Cool. Does that glass lid stay in place while you're cranking the handle, or do you need to hold it down?

 

[Br3w4u]

Cool. Does that glass lid stay in place while you're cranking the handle, or do you need to hold it down?

It stays in place. I wasn’t cranking it very hard. Hold on loosely stroke it gently ok I’ll stop now.

 

[TallDan]

 

[MaxStout]

I might have to get one at Wally World. I've heard the weakness of the Whirlypop is the gear assenbly. This one looks better, and inside is viewable.

 

[Br3w4u]

It’s Teflon lined too. I have read that is better than shiny pots but idk if it matters.

 

[jammin]

Skip the poppers. Buy a heat gun & blast it into an SS dogfood bowl. There is no greater bang for the buck. Plus you can upgrade it with a bread machine later