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MaxStout said:
I have a grinder that develops a lot of static and holds in some coffee. I use a small brush to clean it out. I want to get every bit out. :)
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I generally accept that some coffee will be lost in the process and there will usually be some grounds in, on, and around the grinder.

Do have to be diligent about some semi-regular cleaning of the grinder though. I used my rocky for years before taking it apart to clean the first time. It was a memorable experience, and not in a good way. For my use, it seems like once a year keeps things in good shape.
 
This reminds me, I should probably clean my grinder.

On another note, I keep making this mistake of drinking a lot of coffee to get me going and productive on some house renovation work. The mistake is I drink too much coffee before I mud the drywall and I can't keep the knife straight, or I screw up my corners from being too jittery and shaky. Ugh. It does work well for the sanding part though..
 
HarborTownBrewing said:
This reminds me, I should probably clean my grinder.

On another note, I keep making this mistake of drinking a lot of coffee to get me going and productive on some house renovation work. The mistake is I drink too much coffee before I mud the drywall and I can't keep the knife straight, or I screw up my corners from being too jittery and shaky. Ugh. It does work well for the sanding part though..
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Remember, it's never a mistake, it's texture on the wall. ;)

83082185-surface-of-the-wall-with-a-decorative-light-beige-plaster-textured-concrete-wall-with-vertical-lines.jpg
 
Seeking input from the group here, since we all come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.

My state recently changed cottage food laws to allow coffee to be sold at markets. I've given a lot of thought to opening some sort of coffee roasting business and selling at farmers markets under the new cottage food laws could be a good way to get my foot in the coffee roasting door without having to roast in a certified kitchen.

Being that I'm in IL and nothing is easy here, there are various certificates, courses, and requirements in order to get set up (more than is required in some other states). Then there is the application to be a part of a market - I already reached out to one market and they weren't interested in having me. It's not going to be easy.

That said, it has me thinking - is it worth it? After all the legal stuff is taken care of, then it's a matter of roasting coffee each week, loading it up and driving to the market, setting up a booth and the displays, selling people on your coffee, presumably giving out samples (haven't figured out if it's legal to provide hot coffee samples yet), and packing it all up. What if you didn't sell all the product you brought? Then you are stuck with what could be a sizable amount of inventory that you could maybe sell the next week, but you risk selling a not-so-fresh product.

So, is it worth it? Has anyone done anything remotely similar to this (maybe something other than coffee), and did it work out?

I like the idea of doing something like this while I'm retired. Problem is, I'm not retired. It could be exhausting working a normal job all while trying to roast and sell coffee on the side, and I'm afraid I might end up hustling hard just to make a couple grand.
 
HarborTownBrewing said:
Seeking input from the group here, since we all come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.

My state recently changed cottage food laws to allow coffee to be sold at markets. I've given a lot of thought to opening some sort of coffee roasting business and selling at farmers markets under the new cottage food laws could be a good way to get my foot in the coffee roasting door without having to roast in a certified kitchen.

Being that I'm in IL and nothing is easy here, there are various certificates, courses, and requirements in order to get set up (more than is required in some other states). Then there is the application to be a part of a market - I already reached out to one market and they weren't interested in having me. It's not going to be easy.

That said, it has me thinking - is it worth it? After all the legal stuff is taken care of, then it's a matter of roasting coffee each week, loading it up and driving to the market, setting up a booth and the displays, selling people on your coffee, presumably giving out samples (haven't figured out if it's legal to provide hot coffee samples yet), and packing it all up. What if you didn't sell all the product you brought? Then you are stuck with what could be a sizable amount of inventory that you could maybe sell the next week, but you risk selling a not-so-fresh product.

So, is it worth it? Has anyone done anything remotely similar to this (maybe something other than coffee), and did it work out?

I like the idea of doing something like this while I'm retired. Problem is, I'm not retired. It could be exhausting working a normal job all while trying to roast and sell coffee on the side, and I'm afraid I might end up hustling hard just to make a couple grand.
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Man that’s a hard choice. Being from NY I understand all of the headaches with doing something like this.
If it was me, I would wait til or near retirement like you mentioned. It’s seems like right now the little bit of return you would get is more of a headache than anything else.
What about doing an online thing instead like Etsy. Although I’m not sure Etsy is the right place but something like that.
Just my quick two cents.
 
HarborTownBrewing said:
So, is it worth it?
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my 2 biggest fears:

1. dealing with customers. i cannot apologize for not having decaf, 18 different syrups, nonfat milk, dark roasted coffee, i didn't make your coffee the way you're used to having it.. etc .. etc

2. running a business. probably not that bad once you figure it out, but not my strong suit.


that said, running a coffee cart @ the farmers market sounds like a great time.
 
Yeah, serving drinks would be a whole set of different challenges im not ready to tackle. I'm thinking of selling by the bag.

So instead it might be "I wanted a French press grind!"
 
Hell yeah, I support that fully. I was listening to Joel Osteen two weeks ago and I am not very religious or Christian and he was talking about how his father took that step, that step forward for his family, becuase he wanted more. He spoke about the doubters and saftey minded in his ear. But he reached out for his family and did something great. I agree, I am so safety minded that I never took any chances. In 1993 I told my mom that I wanted to buy things in bulk and sell them out of the garage on the internet. She said nobody would ever shop online and I listened. She was afraid or wanted a college path for me, but it wasnt from a bad place. Later, haha, I came up with another great idea and didnt follow through only to see commercial products come forward. Even thought about copyrighting the idea, but my brother a copyright lawyer found snapple beat me to it. My son asked me why I dont cook for a living and the sad answer is I dont want to work that hard. I say go for it, step out.

We talked about roast vs liquid coffee business before and I recall your passion was in roasting. I ran the numbers for myself once and it was a lot of pounds but broken up weekly, daily it wasnt that much. If you really got after, a family business, online, farmers markets, etc... who knows. I am not even sure I would roast it. My father in law who is wealthy and are all his friends, has changed my thinking. With his thinking, I would maybe find someone to roast it for for a cut in massive quantity and then pay people to run farmer market carts in the whole state. Kinda funny, all I would do is manage the biz, not involved in the roasting at all, the passion. The way I think I own a food truck, and make my living cooking. His vision I have ten trucks that I oversee and never touch a pan. Whoa, I am way out in the weeds now, sry, go for it bro.
 
My whole family has always done the traveling merchant thing. It works out well for them but sometimes it doesn’t. I always saw the trouble my mom and aunt would go through “ hauling around trailers of merchandise and shelving, display racks, tables.” Having to set up shop and then tear down only to pack it up go home and unload then do it again for the next gig. I have no interest in doing that but the idea of a stationary store front sounds great. One where everything is already in place and all you have to do is come in and run the place and keep it stocked. The main foreseeable problem with the roasted coffee business is that coffee is perishable so yeah you might do great and not have losses sometimes and other times you might do ok and be able to cover your losses but business has ups and downs and the downs could be bad enough sometimes that you may not be able to cover your losses. Not trying to discourage you by any means but that is a reality you will have to deal with. Here in Oklahoma it would be super easy to just roast up some coffee and go to a local farmers market. We have plenty and they are easy to get in to. You would also have to keep in mind your local competition. Starbucks, grocery stores, and local coffee roasters would all sell roasted coffee too. I think a business similar to a local home brew store for coffee would be great. You could sell your roast and get new people in your area hooked on home roasting then sell them the equipment and supplies. That’s my long drawn out thought sorry for rambling.
 
For those of you who have ordered beans from Burman, how do you know the quality/score of the beans? Sweet Maria’s has nice charts and score for their beans, but for the life of me I can’t seem to find anything comparable on Burma’s site. If anyone knows can you please point me in the right direction? Thanks!
 
Minky said:
I just ordered 5 lbs. each of 4 different coffees from SM. One of them was the Finca Cabrejo Yellow Bourbon. Can't wait to try some.
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right on! what else did you get & what kind of roaster are you using? looking forward to sharing results after we get to roast some:mug:
 
pshankstar said:
For those of you who have ordered beans from Burman, how do you know the quality/score of the beans? Sweet Maria’s has nice charts and score for their beans, but for the life of me I can’t seem to find anything comparable on Burma’s site. If anyone knows can you please point me in the right direction? Thanks!
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Those two brothers are rock solid. They give plenty of info and their roast and tasting notes are spot on. Dont worry about scores. To be sure, imo, their coffee is among the best. Those gr 1 natural top lots they are always posting have proven stellar. I cant say enough about them. Their customer service is meh, as you somewhat allude to, but its real simple business. I buy beans they send them. Iirc they have been in business a long time and I suspect they have very good connections and very discerning taste. The best way to get in touch with them is by email. Tell them what you are looking for and when it will be in, thats what I have done. It is tough to get them on the phone. They are sharp cats. Gladly I won't be needing them for a while because I didnt f around when bodhi offered strawberry tasting gr 1 natural yirga for 4.60 a pound. Dont forget to get some of their amazeballs tea while you are at it.
 
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jammin said:
right on! what else did you get & what kind of roaster are you using? looking forward to sharing results after we get to roast some:mug:
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I also ordered the Nicaragua Dipilto Finca La Laguna, the Sumatra Gunung Tujuh and the El Salvador El Caracol Pacas. They should be here by the middle of the week.

I tend to prefer the Central and South American coffees. I suspect it may be that they are more forgiving to roasting in a popcorn popper, which is what I'm doing. I've tried the Africans and felt that they were maybe a little too bright and thin-bodied. I should probably give them another try.

I am seriously considering the purchase of an actual roaster, but haven't decided which way to go with that. The Gene Cafe is one that's at the top of the list right now, but I could even go for a Hottop. Whatever I end up with, I don't see myself getting as geeky with it as some of you guys are! No computer hookups for me!
 
I had a Hottop to start off with - head first into the deep end. I bought it from Sweet Marias as an impulse buy. Fantastic little roaster & immediately, like most, was blown away that the coffee i roasted was way more than just drinkable. I ended up drilling a hole in the rear wall & installing 1/16" thermocouple so I could monitor bean temp. This proved to be a big step up but I think the newer models have reliable instrumentation that is plug n play
 
jammin said:
I had a Hottop to start off with - head first into the deep end. I bought it from Sweet Marias as an impulse buy. Fantastic little roaster & immediately, like most, was blown away that the coffee i roasted was way more than just drinkable. I ended up drilling a hole in the rear wall & installing 1/16" thermocouple so I could monitor bean temp. This proved to be a big step up but I think the newer models have reliable instrumentation that is plug n play
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That’s the upgrade I’ve considered over the behmor. The + model has BT and ET probes and is pnp with artisan. Seems like the best option between what I have now and the bullet.
 
TallDan said:
That’s the upgrade I’ve considered over the behmor. The + model has BT and ET probes and is pnp with artisan. Seems like the best option between what I have now and the bullet.
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Is that the 2k+ model? I have nothing but good memories of roasting on the Hottop. Very fun to roast on & a user friendly machine. Factory installed probes is BIG upgrade IMHO. The only gripe I had with it was the built in safety stuff. I have little to no patience at times & waiting on cool down for a follow on roast or accidentally getting a roast dumped by hitting the wrong button grinds your gears.

At $1,600 new for the HT I think the Quest M3 is a very attractive competitor. They are built like tanks & everything can be easily replaced and parts are readily sourced from Sweet Marias. A VERY IMPORTANT FEATURE OF THE QM3 IS THE RHEOSTAT HEAT CONTROL. There is an ohmmeter & you simply set power by amperage. The Hottop goes off percentage so 80% power is 80% of whatever line voltage is that day or time. If your AC in the house kicks on etc it can have real affects on the roast. By turning a dial with amperage, you always get the same power delivery. I ran my Hottop connected to Variac with a Kill-a-Watt to guarantee the exact power delivery every roast & it really helped (i strongly encourage Behmor users to do this as well).
I think used Quest M3's tend to come up once a month or so for about $1,200 and usually have some accessories. Here is a reallllly cool one that just sold:
https://www.home-barista.com/buysell/quest-m3-w-hopper-t56211.html#p628488

Another cool new option that is gas is the Cormorant CR600. They are hand built in England and look very promising. Seems like 1lb batch size is no problem & they come in just under $2k to your door with the options etc:
https://cormorant-roasters.business.site
 
Ok, finally got around to roasting the mystery beans from @pshankstar

Roasted on the Behmor

IMG_2399.JPG


IMG_2400.JPG


IMG_2401.JPG


Based on the bean, how it roasted, and the whole bean aroma, my first guess for region is Colombia or Guatemala. I want to say Brazil but I feel like it didn’t move as fast as I’ve seen Brazil beans go after FC.

This may even be a bland of beans based on various bean sizes.

Taste test is tomorrow.
 
jammin said:
If you single dose, the Ross Droplet Technique (RDT) works really well. A quick spritz or 2 of water on the beans prior to grinding will all but completely eliminate static. Kafatek actually includes a small glass spritzing bottle with their grinders just for this.
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HarborTownBrewing said:
Add a couple drops of water, and then when it's done grinding give the grinder a couple pats on the side, or rock it a little bit by lifting the front feet up half an inch and bringing it back down. Gently, but enough to show it who is boss.

There's a chute in a lot of grinders that holds a lot of static bean matter in the winter, and a little knock or rock will drop most of it out.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the ideas. I’ve added a couple of drops of water to the beans the last few days and it’s doing the trick! No more static.

@jimyson, I know you mentioned using the espresso wand but my wife didn’t think that was necessary at this time, seeing how we don’t even own one. Haha
 
Thanks everyone who answered or at least considered my question on the Farmers Market possibility that I asked last week. @applescrap your example got me thinking, maybe I'm thinking about this at too much of a micro level when I should be more macro. Whenever I think of trying something I'm always looking at it like how can I make a little more money here or there? Eventually you run out of time and energy, both are important. A friend of mine is always looking at things the opposite: how many businesses can I buy and oversee, grow, then sell in 3 years. That's really similar to your example (father in law?).

Also, there was mention of the toll of setting up, tearing down, etc. Sounds like a btch. Here you can't just drop a tailgate and sell, you've got to pull up, unload everything in traffic, then go find parking somewhere and run back to your tent.

Probably more fun as side income in retirement. All the more reason to try to retire early ;)
 
pshankstar said:
Thanks for the ideas. I’ve added a couple of drops of water to the beans the last few days and it’s doing the trick! No more static.

@jimyson, I know you mentioned using the espresso wand but my wife didn’t think that was necessary at this time, seeing how we don’t even own one. Haha
Click to expand...
I know that if you keep trying, you will EVENTUALLY get an espresso machine ;) Hey, Christmas /bday is only like what, 11 months away?
 
HarborTownBrewing said:
On a side note, on one of the Facebook roasting pages I follow there is a farmer who posts regularly and has been getting more and more respect from some of the members of the group who have bought his beans. I decided to check it out and ordered 5 lbs of beans from him for a whopping $25 shipped. ($5/lb with free shipping). I haven't roasted it yet but I can't wait to give it a try and I'm hoping it is good. It would be nice to be able to buy directly from the farmer without going through a middle man, though, as such the info is a little less descriptive - no graphs, flavor charts, ratings, etc. Just a simple description. I'll post my review once I get a chance to roast and cup it, hopefully in the next week. https://legacyfarmscoffee.com/
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Quoting a little older post. I'm curious if you've had a chance to try this coffee yet.
 
TallDan said:
Quoting a little older post. I'm curious if you've had a chance to try this coffee yet.
Click to expand...
Funny, I was going to post about that today. I have been drinking this Honduras the last 5 days and I have to say, this is a fantastic coffee. For $5 a pound shipped, I don't think you can beat it. I've never had one at this quality for that price. The chocolate and caramel notes are so strong it is like eating a Rolo candy. I highly recommend you guys pick this one up if you can. I've only roasted it once, and the first few days it was a little harsh and bitter. I dropped my Brew temp a little bit from 203 to 201 and gave it a couple days of rest and that did a lot of favors towards it. It's as smooth as can be. I think I'm going to start keeping this in my rotation permanently.
 
HarborTownBrewing said:
Funny, I was going to post about that today. I have been drinking this Honduras the last 5 days and I have to say, this is a fantastic coffee. For $5 a pound shipped, I don't think you can beat it. I've never had one at this quality for that price. The chocolate and caramel notes are so strong it is like eating a Rolo candy. I highly recommend you guys pick this one up if you can. I've only roasted it once, and the first few days it was a little harsh and bitter. I dropped my Brew temp a little bit from 203 to 201 and gave it a couple days of rest and that did a lot of favors towards it. It's as smooth as can be. I think I'm going to start keeping this in my rotation permanently.
Click to expand...
I was ready to order 5lb when you first posted just to try it out if nothing else, but figured I might as well hold off and see what you thought of it. Strong chocolate and caramel at that price? SOLD! I have 5lb on the way now. Might have went for 10, but with free shipping there's not much benefit to stocking up as long as they don't sell out.
 
HarborTownBrewing said:
Funny, I was going to post about that today. I have been drinking this Honduras the last 5 days and I have to say, this is a fantastic coffee. For $5 a pound shipped, I don't think you can beat it. I've never had one at this quality for that price. The chocolate and caramel notes are so strong it is like eating a Rolo candy. I highly recommend you guys pick this one up if you can. I've only roasted it once, and the first few days it was a little harsh and bitter. I dropped my Brew temp a little bit from 203 to 201 and gave it a couple days of rest and that did a lot of favors towards it. It's as smooth as can be. I think I'm going to start keeping this in my rotation permanently.
Click to expand...

I just placed an order for five pounds based on your review. I'm always looking for a good deal to continue getting my roasting dialed in with the Behmor.
 
jammin said:
Is that the 2k+ model? I have nothing but good memories of roasting on the Hottop. Very fun to roast on & a user friendly machine. Factory installed probes is BIG upgrade IMHO. The only gripe I had with it was the built in safety stuff. I have little to no patience at times & waiting on cool down for a follow on roast or accidentally getting a roast dumped by hitting the wrong button grinds your gears.

At $1,600 new for the HT I think the Quest M3 is a very attractive competitor. They are built like tanks & everything can be easily replaced and parts are readily sourced from Sweet Marias. A VERY IMPORTANT FEATURE OF THE QM3 IS THE RHEOSTAT HEAT CONTROL.
https://www.home-barista.com/buysell/quest-m3-w-hopper-t56211.html#p628488

Another cool new option that is gas is the Cormorant CR600. They are hand built in England and look very promising. Seems like 1lb batch size is no problem & they come in just under $2k to your door with the options etc:
https://cormorant-roasters.business.site
Click to expand...

The Quest and the Cormorant look like great machines and potentially more to my liking than the Hottop. My big concern with the Hottop is the expensive filters, one of which requires replacing every 20 roasts, if I recall correctly. That's an expense I'd rather avoid. Do either the Quest or Cormorant have such regular maintenance costs?

I'd like to have a machine that has the capability to monitor and manually adjust temps and fan speed that is quiet enough to hear what's happening. A sight glass and trier is a BIG plus. My idea is to come up with a few roast profiles that I can easily repeat manually without having to screw around with a computer. I'm sure that I would be surprised how much better my roasts would be once I get away from the popper, but I don't think my tastes require the minute control of the computer graphing.

Are you using a Quest now, jammin'? If so, do you think it would be a good fit for me?
 
I experimented some more with the heatgun method. Bought a cheap stainless bowl and that makes a lot of difference. With the colander it took ~10 minutes to get close to 2nd crack. Losing too much heat and I ended up with beans that seemed a little parched.

This time, with the bowl, it took ~ 5 minutes to get to 2nd crack. I went a little past 2nd crack and tried a darker roast. I pre-heated the bowl with the gun before adding the beans, and I would stir frequently while roasting. The heatgun doesn't move a big volume of hot air (it's a cheap Wagner from Menard's), so I only roast 1/4 lb. at a time. Smelled nice in the garage, and none of that scorchy odor. Beans are sitting in a Mason jar to rest for one more day and I'll try some then and report back.

CoffeeRoasting2.jpg




My "workspace," to keep the wind out when roasting in the garage with the door open. An old metal file cart. I place the bowl inside and roast while sitting in a lawn chair.

CoffeeRoasting1.jpg
 
^^I like the cart. Wow, thats quick, I have never done much smaller than a pound but with the gun right on them it gets after it. Maybe clamp the roaster somehow to that cart and you then only have to stir. The ability to see the beans so well up close is pretty cool.
 
pshankstar said:
I’ll reply with the answer and info tomorrow after the taste test. [emoji6]
Click to expand...

Need another day to taste. I had some at work and that’s never the best way to determine how good a bean roasted or to grab any good profile from it. The nuttiness is strong whole. Once ground I got a hint of acidity but not too much. Brewed on a Bunn commercial drip machine brought a plain old cup of coffee. I didn’t get the nuttiness that I was expecting. I was also unimpressed with the profile that I got from the paper cup that I drank out of.

I am leaning toward a wet process Guatemala for some reason.
 
applescrap said:
^^I like the cart. Wow, thats quick, I have never done much smaller than a pound but with the gun right on them it gets after it. Maybe clamp the roaster somehow to that cart and you then only have to stir. The ability to see the beans so well up close is pretty cool.
Click to expand...

I already had the cart. I use it to move stuff around in the garage. It encloses the roasting operation nicely, and the damn thing isn't going to catch on fire. It also helps contain some of the chaff that blows out of the bowl. Thinking about some way to hold the bowl in place, as it's kind of tippy. Right now I just have a small vise grip on the edge of the bowl so I can pick it up. Maybe I'll just get one of those no-tip dog bowls instead.
 
pshankstar said:
Just give me the word and I’ll reveal the mystery bean. But not till after tomorrow morning when you have had more coffee and given it more resting time. [emoji6]
Click to expand...

Alright...first off THANK YOU for sending these. It's always fun to go through the whole process with a bit of an unknown. I do apologize for taking so long to do this though. Life with 3 young kids. You know...

I prepared this coffee in both the Technivorm and the La Pavoni to see the differences between drip and espresso. I got a ton of earthy/woody aroma from the grind today. It had a slight bit of brightness to it. For drip, it was consistent with the earthy/woody flavor and aroma. A slight bit of acidity to the cup. My wife wants the second half of the beans roasted a bit longer so I will either push it to 2nd crack or just beyond next time. It was a solid cup. For some reason, orange zest kept coming to mind when tasting but I had a hard time actually pinpointing it. It would have been ever so slightly if it were there. The espresso was so much brighter. A bit thin on the body though. I think that was a product of needing a slightly finer grind. Being the first time grinding it for espresso, it just needs dialed in a little more. Everything came out brighter including the earthy/woody flavors and aromas. A bit of cocoa but it was underlying the earthiness. I was hoping for a bit more of that nuttiness that I smell as a whole bean. That was a little disappointing.

With that said, this was all around enjoyable. I'm curious to see what a bit more time on the clock does to the bean. I'm sticking with a wet process Guatemala bean. The only thing that throws me off is how there are some noticeably larger beans scattered in there. I'm not sure if that is just how the beans grew and were screened or if there may be another bean mixed in. I felt like the cup wasn't any more complex than a single origin would have been so I'm steering away from the blend.

So, whats the reveal? How far off am I? :)
 

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