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

[ba-brewer]

At one point I used to track the temp data for my roasts, but really never went back to review them so I quite.

I only started keep track the roasts again this years after I seen the how many pounds of coffee roasted thread.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/how-many-pounds-of-coffee-roasted-in-2019.661111/

I do have a coffee spreadsheet to keep track of inventory so I can keep a good mix on hand and make sure they don't get too old.

 

[applescrap]

I roast a pound a week, plus presents, decaf and trips. I am guessing 70.

I would love to hear how much everyone roasted in 2019 - if you have some numbers or guesstimates, throw em up!

 

[pshankstar]

At one point I used to track the temp data for my roasts, but really never went back to review them so I quite.

I only started keep track the roasts again this years after I seen the how many pounds of coffee roasted thread.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/how-many-pounds-of-coffee-roasted-in-2019.661111/

I do have a coffee spreadsheet to keep track of inventory so I can keep a good mix on hand and make sure they don't get too old.

I need to update this with my counts b/c I’m way behind. Maybe later this week now that I have some time off from work.

 

[jammin]

one thing I was pondering last night about capturing my 2020 year in roasting is a Artisan graph compilation.
It would be neat to see every single roast overlaid onto a single chart. One could really see how their roast profiles averaged out.

I roast a pound a week, plus presents, decaf and trips. I am guessing 70.

that’s kinda how I’ve gauged it, too. I’m guess 100lbs is close for me. I think more importantly to a good degree though, is how many batches. Experience is key & what allows you to continually develop & refine your skills. One of the reasons like my Quest M3 & it’s half pound batch size. Since I roasted 1lb at a time, I probably roasted about 100 batches. I have to wonder how much I would have learned if that was 4 or 500!

 

[TallDan]

Speaking of the quest M3, saw one for sale at a decent price on h-b for anyone who is in the market.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Yeah I definitely average 1lb per roast. I've been doing more and more 1.5 lb roasts though, and a few 2lb roasts as well. I think I had 125 roasts in 2019.

A relative got me this for Christmas, it's a hand grinder, metal filter, pourer, and cup in one. Made of metal with a nice case, it would be great for people who camp because it's durable and small. The only thing it doesn't do is (obviously) heat water, which is really unfortunate because that would be the real package for me. When I go fishing I'm on a boat for 12 plus hours straight and it would be great if I could brew a cup in the afternoon. Either way, it's a fun toy and will be nice for travel.

 

[ba-brewer]

I have a quest, it was a nice upgrade from the behmor, much more control over the roast and simple to use. It has a limited batch size but a half pound roast is fine for me.

I normally do 6 half pounds roasts of 6 varieties per roast session, that is enough coffee for 10days to 2 weeks. Normally a DP Ethiopian or two at the end of the session when I have a feel for how the roaster is working that day(I roast out side so things work slightly depending on weather).

I see many of here buying 5lb of coffee at a time which seem like a lot a single origin for me, that is why I have not jumped in on the royal splits(regret some of those the coffees sounded great). I guess I could roast 3lb in one session doing different profiles then use the one that works best which leaves only 2lbs to use later.

 

[Ruint]

Just the roasts done on the bullet this year, I have roasted a hair over 365 lbs. I have done batch sizes all over the spectrum of what the roaster is capable of. My opinion on best batch size is 600 to 800 grams. Very nice responses to input changes at those weights. I did roast a good bit from January to March with my heat gun bread machine rig, but have apparently misplaced my logbooks so I can't give any accurate numbers for that....

 

[applescrap]

Yeah you could go nuts tracking. Make an excel sheet, track amount, roasting notes, tasting notes, graphs etc. I think this is a joy for many, not so much me. Yeah, good point too. No doubt, you are going to learn from 400 batches, quite a bit. Reminds me of the old tai chi master push hands saying. He said if I let you beat me 1000 times who has advantage on 1001 attempt. Edison failed thousands of tine iirc, when asked he said, I havent failed I just found 10k ways that don't work or something like that.

How about that mill city roaster for 5k that did 240 pounds an hour. I am still thinking about it. That 240 pounds represents what my wife earns in a year.

one thing I was pondering last night about capturing my 2020 year in roasting is a Artisan graph compilation.
It would be neat to see every single roast overlaid onto a single chart. One could really see how their roast profiles averaged out.



that’s kinda how I’ve gauged it, too. I’m guess 100lbs is close for me. I think more importantly to a good degree though, is how many batches. Experience is key & what allows you to continually develop & refine your skills. One of the reasons like my Quest M3 & it’s half pound batch size. Since I roasted 1lb at a time, I probably roasted about 100 batches. I have to wonder how much I would have learned if that was 4 or 500!

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Just the roasts done on the bullet this year, I have roasted a hair over 365 lbs. I have done batch sizes all over the spectrum of what the roaster is capable of. My opinion on best batch size is 600 to 800 grams. Very nice responses to input changes at those weights. I did roast a good bit from January to March with my heat gun bread machine rig, but have apparently misplaced my logbooks so I can't give any accurate numbers for that....

Crap that's a ton! I can't remember, but you must be selling it? Either that or you never sleep.

 

[Ruint]

I have tempted some to enjoy a better cup of coffee, yes! I consume a bit also, as I have a double double shot of espresso, along with 36 ounces of drip brewed coffee before 9 a.m. on most days, and lately have been enjoying 6 - 8 ounces of undiluted cold brew at lunch.


Btw...my dashboard in my roast analysis and graph charting software also tells me that I did 241 roasts and I believe 165.63 Kilos for roasts. I will be roasting in the very near future and I'll see about getting a screenshot of it.

 

[ong]

I pretty consistently roast 20 oz a week, so probably 65 lbs in 2019. This is the second year I’ve roasted all my own coffee, so it’s become a pretty familiar routine.

 

[Ruint]

Screenshot from Roastworld, you can see my numbers are just slightly different from previous post, as I just completed a 700 gram roast....

 

[TrickyDick]

Man, Kudos to you. I just can't seem to get into the swing of RoastWorld.

I finished with three roasts: Kenya, Ethiopian, and another Ethiopian. So far tried two of them, and tasting great.
Still on bullet learning curve after almost 3 years, but one and half of which I was trying to learn on stale ass beans!
In other news, planning to brew this weekend after nearly 5 year hiatus from brewing. Wish me luck!
TD

 

[Ruint]

All the luck I can throw your way my friend, is in bound!!! I will be happy to help you with anything I can. Love helping, especially when it is beneficial to someone! Have a few roasts done, maybe even a couple pointers to share.....let me know bro.

 

[Ruint]

Roast world is easy. Just view it as the encyclopedia of your coffee info's, like what beans you have or have done. That's all I use it for....does fantastic as totals done...will automatically update your roast information and pulls it from roast time as you go.. no extra on your part....mostly,. If you have more specific questions you can pm me and I do my best

 

[applescrap]

Burmans has a gr 1 washed kochere on sale for 6 a pound. A natural gr 1 top lot, and a gr 3 banko. Also a grade 2 konga iirc. I really wanted the sale coffee, haven't had a washed in so long, curious, but i ended up getting 4 pounds of this yemen on sale. It sounds good.

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

 

[Inkleg]

Morning boys! Hate to have kept y’all in suspense, but I knew December was going to be super busy and I’d have limited time for the roaster which ended up being no time.
Finally got the elbow which put the pipe almost touching the ceiling so I rearranged a few things. I may take the elbow off and just run the exhaust from there. Plan is to exit the wall with a vent, but I just had to burn some beans! Completed two very smoky seasoning roasts yesterday per MCR and have a few more to do. Not sure what I’m doing yet, but had fun playing with all the knobs and switches and Artisan.

 

[applescrap]

What do you all think of this? Not the sifter his method. 5 min past 1c for half pound. Guess he keeps heat low?

https://legacy.sweetmarias.com/library/thomas-meeks-diy-flour-sifter-roaster/

 

[applescrap]

I admire people like you, I could use patience like that. Looks like such a beautiful room to roast in. Sounds like you are on your way now.

Morning boys! Hate to have kept y’all in suspense, but I knew December was going to be super busy and I’d have limited time for the roaster which ended up being no time.
Finally got the elbow which put the pipe almost touching the ceiling so I rearranged a few things. I may take the elbow off and just run the exhaust from there. Plan is to exit the wall with a vent, but I just had to burn some beans! Completed two very smoky seasoning roasts yesterday per MCR and have a few more to do. Not sure what I’m doing yet, but had fun playing with all the knobs and switches and Artisan.
View attachment 660365

 

[Inkleg]

Another batch burned. Going to do the recommended 5 seasoning roasts before doing a real roast. As much fun as I’m having that might be today.

 

[TallDan]

Another batch burned. Going to do the recommended 5 seasoning roasts before doing a real roast. As much fun as I’m having that might be today.
View attachment 660384

Even though jammin commented on what a pleasure his MC was to use long before I got mine, it surprised me how nice it is to use. Especially since roasting with the Behmor had been feeling like a chore for a while.

Getting close to a year of roasting with the MC and I’m still happy to start roasting when it’s time.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Even though jammin commented on what a pleasure his MC was to use long before I got mine, it surprised me how nice it is to use. Especially since roasting with the Behmor had been feeling like a chore for a while.

Getting close to a year of roasting with the MC and I’m still happy to start roasting when it’s time.

It's funny, I love the Bullet but sometimes I miss how quick and easy the Behmor was to get going and roast on. I like both - they are just different and special in their own ways.

 

[jammin]

As always, the price is above avg. at Roastmaster's but a nice sounding Ethiopian Natural:

Ethiopia Gedeb Wuri Natural Grade 1

Cup Characteristics: Rhubarb, blueberry, red grape, thyme, cocoa. Milk chocolate aroma. Sustained flavors with some citrus zest as a background note. Acetic acidity. Complex cup.

 

[applescrap]

You know I am curious, thanks man. Dang it, forgot about roastmasters. I bought the yemen from Burmans. Man that looks good. If ten of us split a 50 pound sack would be amazing deal. Speaking of the Yemen, itty bitty coffee comitte chair of the board. Some very little beans like the good natural yirgs. Fairly dramatic size variance though to, want to say more so than ethiopian dry yirgs. Pungent, want to say the most pungent coffee I have ever noticed. In a not to bad way too. How many bags does one have to sniff to find green coffee pleasing? 100.

As always, the price is above avg. at Roastmaster's but a nice sounding Ethiopian Natural:

Ethiopia Gedeb Wuri Natural Grade 1

Cup Characteristics: Rhubarb, blueberry, red grape, thyme, cocoa. Milk chocolate aroma. Sustained flavors with some citrus zest as a background note. Acetic acidity. Complex cup.

 

[Minky]

It's funny, I love the Bullet but sometimes I miss how quick and easy the Behmor was to get going and roast on. I like both - they are just different and special in their own ways.

I've been experimenting with the Behmor for about 6 months now. I started with programmed roasts and they just didn't get it for me. I have ended up with a basic roast that I do for all the high-grown coffees I prefer that is basically pre-heating to 200, then running manually on high power while monitoring the temp.

My unit will shut down at 331, so I will just run it up as high as I feel comfortable (~315) then back off on the heat until it hits that temperature dive, then I turn the heat back up. It will usually back off to about 290 then creep back up and on in to 1st crack. Even doing that, I'm usually finishing up at about 13 minutes or more.

I think it would be a much better machine if it would reach higher temp levels, but I'm thinking they may have capped it there to avoid chaff fires!

Overall, I'm liking it better than my corn popper, but it does leave me wanting something better. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Ruint]

There are several members here that are intimate with the operation of the Behmor, and I am sure they'll share tips and tricks with you once they see your inquiry. From posts I have seen in regards to the Behmor, it seems like a very capable unit, though it is restricted somewhat on batch size. At it's upper batch size limit, it seems to struggle somewhat for control
of roasting and maybe even completion, but most owners just avoided doing batches that large.

 

[TallDan]

Yep. I stuck to half pound batches with the behmor and had good results. It's a capable roaster. The controls and safeties did get a little frustrating. For the price (or even double the price), I don't think you can beat it.

 

[TallDan]

Been doing some chemex/able kone brews this week after a bit of a hiatus from manual brewing. @HarborTownBrewing I know you have a baratza vario with steel burrs and a kone, what grind setting do you use? I've been all over the place with it this week, with the coarse adjustment from 4-7 and haven't really found a sweet spot.

 

[Minky]

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't really want to get all technical and run computer profiles and all that. I basically just wanted a more sophisticated machine than my corn popper with higher capacity and more control. I think the Behmor fills the bill pretty well in that regard and does do a pretty decent roast. I bounce back and forth between 1/2 and 3/4 lb. batches and use the 1 pound setting. I'll probably just stick to the 1/2 lb. batches.

Maybe if I were the ultimate connoisseur seeking those elusive fruit flavors and precise control I would move up, but I'm getting a good cup of fresh coffee...and that's what I want.