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

[Br3w4u]

thanks for the tip, perfect timing I was in need of more coffee so I gave it a shot. Also ordered the Yirgacheffe Gr. 1 Koke Co-Op Honey Processed, Indonesian RFA Org. Balinese Kintamani Natural and Mexican Org. Terruño Nayarita Washed.

Those Yirgacheffe are excellent! I have some of the Indonesian that I haven’t got around to roasting yet but I am really hoping it isn’t anything like the Sulawesi I have.

 

[ba-brewer]

The burman site said this years Bali natural is closer to a Sumatran coffee and lower fruitiness, but I gave it try any ways. I have had some in the past that was very fruity, nice apricot flavor. I see they also have the Blue Moon washed version too which is like a cleaner Sumatran(less earthy). If this years natural was more fruity I might have gotten the blue moon too as they are same beans just processed differently.

 

[Br3w4u]

The burman site said this years Bali natural is closer to a Sumatran coffee and lower fruitiness, but I gave it try any ways. I have had some in the past that was very fruity, nice apricot flavor. I see they also have the Blue Moon washed version too which is like a cleaner Sumatran(less earthy). If this years natural was more fruity I might have gotten the blue moon too as they are same beans just processed differently.

I have a pound of the blue moon. I might roast that tonight. Trying to decide between blue moon or Brazil. The Brazilian was like $4 so I am not expecting much from it but you never know.

 

[TallDan]

Well, if I ever need green coffee fast, I know where to order from. Order placed with Burman 39 hours ago with $7 SpeeDee delivery and it was just delivered.

 

[Br3w4u]

Well, if I ever need green coffee fast, I know where to order from. Order placed with Burman 39 hours ago with $7 SpeeDee delivery and it was just delivered.

They are fast. I ordered yesterday and it is expected to be here tomorrow.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Oh no I think my typing wasn’t in sync with my mind. I was recovering after my first ride on our new Peloton bike while typing that message.
I really enjoyed the Ethiopian beans I bought a few weeks back from you. It’s those Ethiopian beans and the recent Mexican beans that have been my top two beans to date since I started roasting 14 months ago.
Sorry if I came off the wrong way on that in my last post. It seems like you and others here have great knowledge of what to look for when buying beans. I want to be there soon myself. I know I’ll continue to jump in on those group buys in the future.

Hold up. You got a Peloton instead of an espresso machine?! We're going to start questioning your priorities, sir!

Speaking of fitness, I need to get back into that... Yeah, maybe this week, or next...

 

[applescrap]

cool story isnt. Glad you ordered some ba-brewer. I want to really but need to see how much guji maho yirg I have left. Just kind of strapped right now but looks good ahead.

 

[applescrap]

my mom gave us this one, she had never used it. Actually enjoying tooling around. A gift from heaven, family friends gave us a lifefitness x 5. Haha never use it. F im lazy.

What level do you guys roast indonesian too?

 

[applescrap]

Jammin did you try this Yemen? In the description they talk about knowing bob and max from royal coffee. This coffee sounds nice.

https://burmancoffee.com/product/coffee/yemen-haimi/

 

[pshankstar]

Hold up. You got a Peloton instead of an espresso machine?! We're going to start questioning your priorities, sir!

Speaking of fitness, I need to get back into that... Yeah, maybe this week, or next...

It was something for both the wife and I. You know a joint gift. Plus it’s a lot cheaper than a boot camp membership. [emoji6]

 

[Inkleg]

Morning fellas. I’ve been roasting on my Behmor over a year now and this roaster talk has got me itching again. I’d like to step up in batch size and control. Why shouldn’t I buy a Bullet R1?

 

[jammin]

^i think the Cormorant is the nearest competition but by all accounts, the R1 is pretty sweet! It seems to live up to the hype & offer greet control/batch size. a real game changer

 

[applescrap]

Is that Japanese roaster fully automated? Basically just put some beans in and turn it on

 

[TallDan]

Morning fellas. I’ve been roasting on my Behmor over a year now and this roaster talk has got me itching again. I’d like to step up in batch size and control. Why shouldn’t I buy a Bullet R1?

I'm there with you, only with more than 4 years with the behmor. I think the cost is the only real deterrent for me with the bullet, but I've kinda decided that my wallet is open for coffee here lately.

I think I've backed off of wanting to increase batch size. I blame the behmor for making me think that's the issue. It isn't. With the behmor, you have to run a full warmup, roast, and lengthy cool-down cycle for every batch. THIS is the problem, not as much batch size. You could pull the drum instead of running the behmor's cooling cycle (which i've done), which would help this a lot, but it's messy, the chaff will go everywhere. That and I'm ready for some more control than the behmor offers.

And there are many great options out there.

@TrickyDick has his hottop 2k+ for sale, which is a big step up in control and automation from the behmor, and with control comes repeatability. Artisan control right out of the box, and bonus, as i understand, you can do back-to-back roasts when you use artisan control instead of the built-in programs. Cooling is also much improved over the behmor.

And consider the quest m3. Again, you're not directly increasing batch size, but you can roast back to back batches all day long and cool one as you're starting another. At first glance, it seemed very bare bones to me, but like the millennium falcon, "she's got it where it counts, kid." Total control right out of the box. Automation isn't there, at least out of the box, but with a little homebrewer ingenuity, you can have full artisan control.

Then there's the ikawa. It seems like a move in the wrong direction with batch size. But with total automation and repeatability, it's a much more hands-off process. It's like a picobrew Z for coffee. If you can drop the coffee in and walk away, you can roast coffee while you do anything else around the house.

Make sure you look at the huky and kaldi fortis. I'm reluctant to go with gas heat, but there's there's a lot of merit there. All manual like the m3, so again, total control and back to back roasts if you want.

@jammin already mentioned the comorant. Gas and it really looks beautiful. Or you can follow his lead and go crazy with a real gas sample roaster. The sky's the limit.

The bullet sure does look good though. The best electric roaster you can buy right now, I think.

 

[TallDan]

...did i mention that I've been down some rabbit holes?

 

[Br3w4u]

I made straight espresso and a latte this morning with the Sulawesi. I had to shoot the espresso and chase it with some cereal milk LOL. The latte was pretty good though. I added just a few drops of bakers vanilla extract and it tasted like a burnt marshmallow.

 

[jammin]

^THE most memorable shot of espresso I ever had was a Sulawasi. Public Domain in downtown Portland, OR.
They pulled it on a Synesso & I can’t remember the grinder (Robur I think?). The overall impression of the coffee was creamy, light, sweet and punctuated with a ripe Honeydew melon flavor. Absolutely incredible.

 

[Br3w4u]

Not mine. It was more...chain smokers ash tray with super black coffee and maybe a hint of herbal notes. Similar to Starbucks straight espresso.

 

[TallDan]

^THE most memorable shot of espresso I ever had was a Sulawasi. Public Domain in downtown Portland, OR.
They pulled it on a Synesso & I can’t remember the grinder (Robur I think?). The overall impression of the coffee was creamy, light, sweet and punctuated with a ripe Honeydew melon flavor. Absolutely incredible.

Most memorable espresso for me was the first one I had at Intelligentsia. I had ordered espresso at a few bad or mediocre coffee shops before and thought I could understand the appeal, but it didn't really light my fire. One shot changed that instantly. It's unlikely that it's the best shot I've ever had, but that "eureka" moment makes it the most memorable.

 

[TrickyDick]

Espresso is the ultimate in chasing the rabbit. Not for me. I also swapped steel burrs into my vario, whereupon I discovered a chip in the original ceramic burrs [emoji35]. Haven’t bought much coffee in 2018, because I’m still working through stuff from 2015 , 2016, and 2017!! I overbought in like 15 pound lots and a bunch of stuff.

I will say that the learning curve for me on the bullet has been a struggle. Difficult to hear the noises of first crack, but I think I’ve finally solved it!
And just cam out with a new temp sensor! I will install it this weekend and do a few roasts to see how I like it.

Read about it here! https://medium.com/@aillio/the-start-of-something-39aa01d08fa9

Also, they are releasing a v2 induction board for my roaster sometime soon, that has more Powah!! It seems that plan to come out with another roaster also, 2kg capacity called the bullseye.

 

[TallDan]

Espresso is the ultimate in chasing the rabbit. Not for me.

...says a guy on a homebrewing forum.

 

[TrickyDick]

Gotcha! Lol! I recall seeing the Brew your own (maybe was zymurgy) with the Brutus build and thinking that was too extreme nobody would build. 2 years later I built my own. So far I’ve been able to resist spending money on an espresso machine. I was actually gifted a saeco model several years ago. I got an awful caffeine headache while I was experimenting with it after I first got it. I left it at a former place of employment and haven’t looked back.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Morning fellas. I’ve been roasting on my Behmor over a year now and this roaster talk has got me itching again. I’d like to step up in batch size and control. Why shouldn’t I buy a Bullet R1?

I think the first question is, how much money are you okay spending?

The second question is, how do you want to power it?

Around these parts (where we apparently love regulation...), it's illegal to have a tank of gas in your home. Regardless of legality, I am not a fan of having a tank in my house. So instead of having a propane tank, you could plumb in a natural gas line to your roasting area which you could hook up to a gas roaster (as I believe @jammin has done). The reason I mention this is because the Commorant and a few other profile-esque roasters require gas, whether it's natural gas service within your house or a propane tank. If you're going to roast in a shed or garage, that should be a piece of cake. But not all of us can do that (we've had a cold winter in Chicago).

I thought about it a lot and decided not to have a natural gas line run for my roaster into my roasting room because I don't know how much longer I'll live here. Instead I went with the Bullet because you can plug it into any 110v outlet and boom - you're roasting. Actually, it requires less energy than a Behmor due to the infrared heating system. If you care enough to look at how much it costs to operate it, Aillio has performed studies and proven that it's the least costly roaster there is (gas and electric included).

I roast 1lb at a time and can EASILY roast 4lbs an hour at that rate. It's rated for up to 2.2 lbs/charge, some people do 2.5 lbs. You could roast 8-10 lbs an hour on the roaster without too much heartache. The only real drawback is I give it a good 40-60 mins to heat up. It will be "ready" in about 15 to 20 mins, but if you want the roaster to really be preheated and ready to go, it takes 40+ minutes. That really isn't a big deal though, because once you get going it's a matter of charging the roaster, roasting about 9 mins or whatever, dropping the beans, giving it about 4 mins to be ready for the next batch (while the latest roast cools simultaneously), and then charging again. Repeat. Like I said, 15 minutes per batch from charge to cool and charging the next batch.

Finally, and this is going to be true of anything, it helps if you have some understanding of how things work. Brewers seem to get this naturally, but I'm astonished how many people on the roasting FB pages can't understand basic how-to items. So, you see a lot of people complaining "I don't know how to tighten the belt...wahhhh". Freaking crap - turn a screw, dude. Every roaster that has moving parts (including whirley pops!) will have issues from time to time and you'll have to figure it out but that should not be a surprise to anyone (yet somehow it is). /end rant

So, basically if you are okay dropping $2700 it's a fun roaster and will keep you busy. If you don't like learning new things and trying new things when it comes to roasting and profiles and whatnot, and making occasional basic repairs - it's probably not something you'd benefit from. But there are tons of different settings you can mess with (drum speed, power, and fan speed) that can change your roast in a variety of different ways - which can be fun or frustrating depending on the day.

If you get one, I'd suggest going through SM's because there's no import duties and sales tax depending on where you live.

 

[TrickyDick]

I think the first question is, how much money are you okay spending?

The second question is, how do you want to power it?

Around these parts (where we apparently love regulation...), it's illegal to have a tank of gas in your home. Regardless of legality, I am not a fan of having a tank in my house. So instead of having a propane tank, you could plumb in a natural gas line to your roasting area which you could hook up to a gas roaster (as I believe @jammin has done). The reason I mention this is because the Commorant and a few other profile-esque roasters require gas, whether it's natural gas service within your house or a propane tank. If you're going to roast in a shed or garage, that should be a piece of cake. But not all of us can do that (we've had a cold winter in Chicago).

I thought about it a lot and decided not to have a natural gas line run for my roaster into my roasting room because I don't know how much longer I'll live here. Instead I went with the Bullet because you can plug it into any 110v outlet and boom - you're roasting. Actually, it requires less energy than a Behmor due to the infrared heating system. If you care enough to look at how much it costs to operate it, Aillio has performed studies and proven that it's the least costly roaster there is (gas and electric included).

I roast 1lb at a time and can EASILY roast 4lbs an hour at that rate. It's rated for up to 2.2 lbs/charge, some people do 2.5 lbs. You could roast 8-10 lbs an hour on the roaster without too much heartache. The only real drawback is I give it a good 40-60 mins to heat up. It will be "ready" in about 15 to 20 mins, but if you want the roaster to really be preheated and ready to go, it takes 40+ minutes. That really isn't a big deal though, because once you get going it's a matter of charging the roaster, roasting about 9 mins or whatever, dropping the beans, giving it about 4 mins to be ready for the next batch (while the latest roast cools simultaneously), and then charging again. Repeat. Like I said, 15 minutes per batch from charge to cool and charging the next batch.

Finally, and this is going to be true of anything, it helps if you have some understanding of how things work. Brewers seem to get this naturally, but I'm astonished how many people on the roasting FB pages can't understand basic how-to items. So, you see a lot of people complaining "I don't know how to tighten the belt...wahhhh". Freaking crap - turn a screw, dude. Every roaster that has moving parts (including whirley pops!) will have issues from time to time and you'll have to figure it out but that should not be a surprise to anyone (yet somehow it is). /end rant

So, basically if you are okay dropping $2700 it's a fun roaster and will keep you busy. If you don't like learning new things and trying new things when it comes to roasting and profiles and whatnot, and making occasional basic repairs - it's probably not something you'd benefit from. But there are tons of different settings you can mess with (drum speed, power, and fan speed) that can change your roast in a variety of different ways - which can be fun or frustrating depending on the day.

If you get one, I'd suggest going through SM's because there's no import duties and sales tax depending on where you live.

Fellow bullet roaster! I didn’t know! You get the new sensor yet?
Supposedly eliminated need to clean germanium glass too!
I think the heat source is induction, not infrared. The temp sensor is infrared. I could be wrong. Induction uses magnetism to heat the drum itself as far as is my understanding.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Fellow bullet roaster! I didn’t know! You get the new sensor yet?
Supposedly eliminated need to clean germanium glass too!
I think the heat source is induction, not infrared. The temp sensor is infrared. I could be wrong. Induction uses magnetism to heat the drum itself as far as is my understanding.

Ahh yes you are correct, it's induction. I always mix up the two!

You haven't been around the page much lately - I thought you quit on us!

Haven't gotten the sensor yet, I'm going to wait a little bit; hoping Sweet Marias carries it shortly so I can add it on to an order from them instead of buying it straight from Aillio and paying shipping. I can't get the existing glass clean so I will pay the $50 or whatever to not have to mess with it.

Side note: Another good thing about Aillio is they improve the roaster and make all new upgrades backwards compatible to the existing roasters they've already made. Typically at a very low cost.

 

[TrickyDick]

Ahh yes you are correct, it's induction. I always mix up the two!

You haven't been around the page much lately - I thought you quit on us!

Haven't gotten the sensor yet, I'm going to wait a little bit; hoping Sweet Marias carries it shortly so I can add it on to an order from them instead of buying it straight from Aillio and paying shipping. I can't get the existing glass clean so I will pay the $50 or whatever to not have to mess with it.

Side note: Another good thing about Aillio is they improve the roaster and make all new upgrades backwards compatible to the existing roasters they've already made. Typically at a very low cost.

I just got my sensor this week haven’t had time to use it. I tried to clean my glass but I could get it cleaned. That’s the main reason I decided to upgrade.

IT at work began to filter HBT on me, so that is the main reason I haven’t been online, no access. Somehow I’m no longer blocked by the filter anymore though. I can even see sites that they otherwise block also (Sadly I think I’m turning into a “gun nut”. Want to talk about expensive hobbies..)

Anyways, hoping to be more active now. Also have not brewed any beer in like 3 years. Can buy good beer just about everywhere now! Plus that calories of drinking 10 gallons of homebrew, And none of my friends are very big beer guys. Mostly wine or liquor.

I have a couple recipes I want to brew in the next couple of weeeks though. My homebrew club President is opening a brewpub soon in a local watering hole too, so there’s that. We thought about opening our own commercial brewery, but no land to build on was biggest problem.

TD

 

[jammin]

Been craving a PNG lately so had to scratch the itch. I've bought more weird coffees lately than ever which is a sign of the times if you ask me. This month alone I bought a DP Kenyan and now this Honey PNG... please lord send us some blueberry-bomb Ethiopians!

 

[applescrap]

Did you see that micro lot from near banko at Burmans Jammin?

I can roast 4 pounds an hour on my ghetto setup. I dont preheat bm, (maybe I should?) I put the beans inbetween two ss colanders and use my ryobi cordless blower to cool the beans near instantly. Also it cleans the bm and mess. I would love a new roaster too. I will probably show up with some old drum dog I got on cl someday.

Induction, is that like the air fryers. Its a heating element coil with a fan blowing above it. Got me thinking. Would an air fryer roast coffee well, hmm.

To speed up the behmor could you use it outside. Open it up and blow it out to clean and cool quicker. Also no mess/smoke inside

 

[TallDan]

To speed up the behmor could you use it outside. Open it up and blow it out to clean and cool quicker. Also no mess/smoke inside

I’d have to move. Roasting outside in the winter here won’t work.

 

[jammin]

Scrap - I’ll give that Yemen a look. Those are always fun coffees!

Roasted some Natural Processed Brazilian today for Espresso. Can you spot the hitch-hiker?

Here’s the curve