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Had some 2018 Konga I put into freezer with vac seal mylar bag and oxygen absorber. You know what? It kind of revived it a bit. The second crack is less muted than before I froze it some time ago, in fact not muted at all. Nice bit of blueberry going on too.
You took konga to second crack?!
 
You’ll have to let me know about that monolith. I’ve never really experimented with espresso before. Had a cheap unit I was given, saeco? I gave to workplace friends when I moved on. Be interested in how a nice eyc light roast berry bomb turns out as espresso.
So monolith 3200
Espresso machine?? Sky is the limit? Seriously what would be a great beginner through expert espresso machine under 10k including the grinder?
The MRAD is $4k ish not counting accessories or optics.

Light roasted espresso is killer. I drink them with ice, milk and sugar in the summer. It's quite a drink, I am using a 40 dollar espresso machine with the pressure porta filter removed and an old baratza virtuoso. There are 99 ways to skin this cat and most of them work. The rancilio silvia and a quality baratza could get you started fairly well for around a 1000. Tall dan had a Silvia or has a silvia, maybe he could chime in. Hope you give something a try.

After pku, I see you have a lot of the info you seek. I'll leave my comments for the good of it. I see you have a vario, that and a silvia or something will get you going until you upgrade imo.
 
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Ugh, the bl dry process Ethiopians I got are ok at best. Wish I wouldnt have got them, which I knew when I bought them. I will wait for a more appealing coffee next purchase for sure.

Sounds like you got the good fruity pebbles I was seeking Shelly, awesome. I love the stuff, man wish I would have gotten some. That's cool harbortown, you are on your way! That smell, ooo that smell, sry just came out, hope that box was on it's way here. Sight unseen haha, sweet.
 
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The coffee from Vietnam I got through Bodhi Leaf is fantastic. Chocolate creme like biting into one of those light fluffy chocolate pies. I get honey and toffee out of it as well. Seems to be a lighter viscosity or thinner than some of the other coffees I have been enjoying. Really like this one!
Sounds delicious!
I might pull the trigger on some of this coffee too. Are you getting these notes from pulling a shot of espresso, V60, aero press, drip or some other way of making coffee? Curious minds would like to know. 😉
 
The coffee from Vietnam I got through Bodhi Leaf is fantastic. Chocolate creme like biting into one of those light fluffy chocolate pies. I get honey and toffee out of it as well. Seems to be a lighter viscosity or thinner than some of the other coffees I have been enjoying. Really like this one!

I got some of this as well, roasted over the weekend, and am also enjoying it. Did you notice that it likes a LOT more heat during roasting than other beans?
 
Sorry for the long delay in answers. Have not tried the Vietnam coffee thru the bdb, have done it with pour overs and the mochamaster numerous times, and can't really see any difference between them, just that it is a very drinkable and tasty cup!!
@Lax coach, I will check my logs to see if it did, as I don't recall anything way out of whack as most roasts go for me. It didn't really grab my attention at least. I roast a lot by sight, sound, and aroma more than the graphs. I will compare successive roasts via the graphs, but usually do so afterwards. It's funny though, as most my comparisons are so close to one another with the same coffee bean, but differ a bit with a different varietal. Just my observation....
 
PNG Carpenter Estates from Burman. It is delicious. Full bodied, nice balance of chocolate, caramel, and a little nuttiness. If you are ordering from them any time soon and they still have it, I'd give it a recommendation.
 
Saw a note over on h-b and figured i'd share here:

Royal is now offering crown jewel coffees in 1lb bags:
https://royalcoffee.com/product-category/sample/
Honestly, prices are kinda high. The 22lb boxes are much cheaper. Having the option to order a 1lb sample of a bunch of crown jewel coffees is pretty nice though.

I saw that recently, but the option for the 1lb samples seems to be limited selection and pretty short lived. Currently shows no offerings in the 1lb sample size.

PNG Carpenter Estates from Burman. It is delicious. Full bodied, nice balance of chocolate, caramel, and a little nuttiness. If you are ordering from them any time soon and they still have it, I'd give it a recommendation.

Ordered from Burman for the first time recently, and got a couple pounds of that (the Sigri peaberry). Did you get the same, or the Sigri AA, or the Bunam? I might try to roast some of it tonight. Need to roast something, almost out after starting a big batch of cold brew for the wife this morning.
 
I did get the Sigri AA actually (man you are keeping me on my toes!). I personally stay away from peaberries because they have p-d me off enough times. First crack is tough to hear with them usually, and I think it would be really tough in the Bullet.

Let us know your review, very interested to hear.
 
I did get the Sigri AA actually (man you are keeping me on my toes!). I personally stay away from peaberries because they have p-d me off enough times. First crack is tough to hear with them usually, and I think it would be really tough in the Bullet.

Let us know your review, very interested to hear.

Yeah, peaberries can be a real PITA to roast, but I've had a few where the result was totally worth the PITA factor. Or maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment.

I'll let you know how it comes out though. Also got a bunch of the Mexican Altura and some Hawaiian Mokka Natural in that order, will probably roast some of those too.
 
worst I've ever seen was the tiny Kona coffee I got a from Maui in a free sample. So small that the beans would never roast in my roaster, let alone trying to hear the 1C. I think they were all less than 1cm in size. I am not sure what I did with them.

TD

Maui Mokka beans
 
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We need to have some sharing of roasting tips in here from time to time.
I feel like many of my roasts suffer from too fast drying/yellowing (always less than 4 min for me) and too fast progression, most roasts last less than 10 minutes (1pound charge) with weight loss less than the "experts" say is ideal with many of mine in the 11%-13% range, rarely higher. My roaster tends to lose a few beans inside itself during the roast which is not possible to account for and might skew the weight loss percentages to higher than they truly are (meaning I'm doing worse than what I can calculate). I like to emphasize the light roast flavors especially fruits and any floral components for most coffee but I think I may not be taking my roasts far enough. I rarely buy central or southern american beans anymore, almost only african origin, esp dry process ethiopian. I do record final bean temp, but maybe need to make that a end point marker also rather than as an aside. I've never seen target final bean temp recommendations for what those are worth. I try to shoot of ROR less than 5 when I drop, while attempting to maintain a steadily decreasing ROR. Its hard to achieve, especially near end of roast there is often a bump up, which I think can minimized by steadily lowering heat and airflow throughout the roast, which I am doing, but it is difficult to master.
Curious what others experience is.
TD
 
I did get the Sigri AA actually (man you are keeping me on my toes!). I personally stay away from peaberries because they have p-d me off enough times. First crack is tough to hear with them usually, and I think it would be really tough in the Bullet.

Let us know your review, very interested to hear.

Roast was a slight disaster. The beans are actually quite a bit larger than most peaberry I've encountered previously, but also much less dense. I think my charge temp was way too high and my heat was also too high to start, I blew through the drying way too fast and never really recovered. Dropped maybe 15 seconds past the end of FC. Just tried a cup, and it's interesting, but not a great cup. I'm getting moderately full body, strong herbal tea notes, nuttiness, and a hint of a vaguely fruity acidity. Will try again with a much lower charge temp, slower overall roast, and take it darker.

worst I've ever seen was the tiny Kona coffee I got a from Maui in a free sample. So small that the beans would never roast in my roaster, let alone trying to hear the 1C. I think they were all less than 1cm in size. I am not sure what I did with them.

TD

Maui Mokka beans

Yep, got 2 lbs of microscopic Maui Mokka peaberry from SM about ~5 years ago. Probably ruined over half of them trying to roast them in my heavily modified popper. The line between blowing through the roast way too fast and completely stalling the roast was so thin it was nearly impossible to hit. The few times I got it right the coffee was amazing though.

We need to have some sharing of roasting tips in here from time to time.
I feel like many of my roasts suffer from too fast drying/yellowing (always less than 4 min for me) and too fast progression, most roasts last less than 10 minutes (1pound charge) with weight loss less than the "experts" say is ideal with many of mine in the 11%-13% range, rarely higher. My roaster tends to lose a few beans inside itself during the roast which is not possible to account for and might skew the weight loss percentages to higher than they truly are (meaning I'm doing worse than what I can calculate). I like to emphasize the light roast flavors especially fruits and any floral components for most coffee but I think I may not be taking my roasts far enough. I rarely buy central or southern american beans anymore, almost only african origin, esp dry process ethiopian. I do record final bean temp, but maybe need to make that a end point marker also rather than as an aside. I've never seen target final bean temp recommendations for what those are worth. I try to shoot of ROR less than 5 when I drop, while attempting to maintain a steadily decreasing ROR. Its hard to achieve, especially near end of roast there is often a bump up, which I think can minimized by steadily lowering heat and airflow throughout the roast, which I am doing, but it is difficult to master.
Curious what others experience is.
TD

I've been using my new junkyard roasting contraption for a few months now, and thought I was just starting to get it down pretty good. But then I hacked my heat gun to gain air flow control. I can now roast larger batches, but it feels like I'm starting over learning how this thing works. One of the toughest things for me has been avoiding flicks and crashes in my ROR right near the beginning of FC.
 
My other cup this morning was an Ethiopian Guji natural from Burman. It's quite good, more unambiguously strawberry flavor and aroma than any coffee I've had, along with some nice chocolate notes.
 
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Placed an order with Bodhi Leaf the other week while I was out of town. Can’t wait to roast some later tonight. @Ruint the Vietnam Lotus sounds delicious based on the description and your feedback here so I could t resist ordering some. Thanks!
 
I want to say 240C is my charge temp.

I ordered three new greens today:

Burundi Dry Process Kibingo
Ethiopia Dry Process Genji Challa
Ethiopia Sidama Damo

sound like solid coffee to me. Anyone else get any or have suggestion?
 
Ordered:

2 Lbs Kenya AA Nyeri Boma
3 lbs Ethiopia Sidamo Durato Bombe
2 lbs Mexico Chiapas Tzeltal Tzotzil


All from Captains Coffee so we’ll see...I bought on @Ruint recommendation. I am fairly new and have never roasted a Mexican origin, so I was intrigued.
 
@TrickyDick, my preheat in Celsius is about 224 degrees (436 F). I use this temp for everything except for the real fragile beans that need gentle heat at the start. Guatemalan, Colombian, Honduran, Ethiopian, Kenyon, you name it... All get the same, except low grown and maybe an occasional peaberry. The real difference is the power settings thereafter, and drum and fan speed.
 
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There was a change at some point, I can't recall if it was a control board, IBITS, or the software, but I do believe preheating above 200C for around a 1lb roast would be way too much. @TrickyDick i know you had one of the original roasters, and mine was one of the first thousand so I believe we are running on the same ish platform as I haven't upgraded mine yet. If I preheated as high as you mentioned, I would absolutely blow through a roast.

Just wanted to throw it out there. @Ruint i think we might be on a slightly different platform than yours, as I know I'm preheating lower than the people who have newer versions. Just wanted to throw that out there.
 
Tried the bourbon soaked bean method I'd seen mentioned in here, and am just now drinking some of it that I roasted Friday evening. Had a little over a pound of ~5yr old dried out stale Guatemalan beans. Put half of them in a mason jar with a 1/2 Tbsp of good local whiskey, shook them up every day, and let it soak in for 2 weeks (only took a week to soak in, but took me another week to get around to roasting them). The other half I wanted to try another method I'd read about, where the beans are misted with bourbon after roasting, during cooling. Used about twice as much bourbon since I figured a lot wouldn't actually get on the beans.

The misting method didn't seem to do much of anything. There's just a hint of bourbon in the aroma, and I can barely taste it at all. The soaked method resulted in a nice aroma and pretty subdued flavor, which comes out a lot more as the coffee cools. Might use just a touch more next time.

Not sure it's something I'd do routinely, but seems like a great way to add character to some really old or really boring beans. I still have about 1.5lb of equally old assorted Ethiopian beans. Might try some spiced rum or more whiskey with some of those.
 
There was a change at some point, I can't recall if it was a control board, IBITS, or the software, but I do believe preheating above 200C for around a 1lb roast would be way too much.

Been thinking about this more, and I finally had a moment to look this up to see if I was making things up. Lower Power Settings After IBTS and R2 upgrade? Some good info there, including from Jonas, one of the owners. In summary, if you have a Bullet with IBITS you will preheat substantially higher to move your roast along. That said, if you don't have IBITS, you need a much lower preheat. So, there's a big different in numbers which are being put out there by roasters who do and do not have IBITS.

I know I have not upgraded to IBITS yet, @TrickyDick have you? If you haven't, definitely try preheating sub-200C. I am usually around 175C to 180C for 1lb batches.

@Ruint does your roaster have IBITS? Or if not, what weight are you loading into the roaster at 225C?
 
I do have IBTS on my roaster. It came installed already. Most of my roasts are over a pounds' worth. If I am roasting anything less, it's usually because that was all that was left of that particular varietal.
 
I have the IBST upgrade.
I will try some roasts this weekend.
Last roast is a dumper... tastes terrible.
I had a conversion table I wrote on a piece of paper taped up near where I roast that suggests the charge (bean mass) to charge temp for the original roaster hardware and what it similar value in with the new IBST. I'll try and post it here.
I'll checkout that article in the meantime. Thanks.
Gotta say I still haven't gotten the hang of roasting on the Bullet.

Also, just got back from Knoxville. Excellent pourover coffee brewing at Highline Coffee on Gay St. Highly recommended. I think they get their beans from a roaster in Brooklyn, NY. I went three days in a row. They only had Ethiopian varieties, three single origin, and one blend of two different Ethiopian. Barista uses the Kalita Wave pourover 20.0:300 ratio
Yum!
TD
 
My serial number is 1554 on my bullet. All of the roasts I have done, other than the first 5 for seasoning, have been drinkable, if not down right very enjoyable. Sorry to hear your not having that good of a go at it @TrickyDick. I think that you might want to change your charge temperature, and power up to 9 from drop. You have a lot of control with the bullet, regardless of whether or not it is an earlier model or not. My charge is 428 F. I let it preheat a little long, then drop my beans in, and power up to 9. Sometimes when the temp is a little low outside, it takes a little longer on the phases to hit their mark, but it's fairly predictable. I don't have much difficulty on hearing first crack, and I don't normally go to 2nd, but roasts that I have gone that long are still audible. Use that Trier!!! A couple seconds after you have 1st crack rolling, take that trier out and smell. Do it for every 10 seconds. You will be able to catch the changes. Drop the roast when you really like the aroma! Fine tuning from there is user preference. Really want to hear some good news from you on roasting!!!!!
 
My serial number is 1554 on my bullet. All of the roasts I have done, other than the first 5 for seasoning, have been drinkable, if not down right very enjoyable. Sorry to hear your not having that good of a go at it @TrickyDick. I think that you might want to change your charge temperature, and power up to 9 from drop. You have a lot of control with the bullet, regardless of whether or not it is an earlier model or not. My charge is 428 F. I let it preheat a little long, then drop my beans in, and power up to 9. Sometimes when the temp is a little low outside, it takes a little longer on the phases to hit their mark, but it's fairly predictable. I don't have much difficulty on hearing first crack, and I don't normally go to 2nd, but roasts that I have gone that long are still audible. Use that Trier!!! A couple seconds after you have 1st crack rolling, take that trier out and smell. Do it for every 10 seconds. You will be able to catch the changes. Drop the roast when you really like the aroma! Fine tuning from there is user preference. Really want to hear some good news from you on roasting!!!!!
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try putting them to use today.
What charge bean mass do you typically roast? I try to stick to 454g or 1lb unless I have some generous bags from SM's and its the last of the bag, they often contain up to 50g more than what I purchased.
I think my Bullet is one of the earlier models, but not from the very first couple of batches, because there was a molex connector on the board for when I did the IBST upgrade. I'd like to get the power module upgrade also, but so far has been unavailable.
Regardless, I think part of my trouble has been my overstocked situation when I got the bullet of past crop beans. When I began roasting, I had read green beans stay good for over a year. Well I store mine in my basement in FL which has temp control but it is set much warmer than the rest of the home and is slightly more humid. The beans began to age more rapidly and the 1C noises were muted. I thought it was the roaster for a long time, but turns out was the beans making it hard to hear. Been using fresh beans and keeping strict low supply of green beans to prevent this. Might be time to forget everything I think I know and go back to the drawing board. Probably ought to start cupping and taking some reasonable notes also. I'm fairly awful at making tasting notes however.
 
LoL!! I am not the greatest note taker either!!! I have found that older beans are muted with first crack sound as well. Do you not use Roastworld when roasting? You can find your SN with it easily. When roasting, the screen that is logging your roast has icons in the upper right corner. Choose the one with the lower case i in it, and you'll see fan speeds, power supplied to roaster, the serial number and other miscellaneous things. I normally divide 5 pound bags by 3, which equals 760 grams. One is usually over because most coffee bean suppliers (read as good, reputable) will put a slight overage in, cause they offset the weight loss when drying, both as the weighed beans dry and as we the consumer lose weight as we roast. Kind of a win, win situation for them. I occasionally do 900 plus gram roasts, but I find they are not as easy to manipulate as the 760 weighed ones are, and at a 1 pound increment you should be able to control that like crazy!!!
 
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I prefer Artisan but have so far not used it with the Bullet. I will check on Roast World what my SN is.
I use 1lb roasts typically losing 13% ish in mass and typically dropping at the end of 1C or shortly thereafter.
I typically preheat using the IBST upgrade to 240º C and let it sit for an hour if I have time on I begin the preheating before charging, even though the bullet lady says I can charge well before that. My cooler is a modification of the stock tray which I put in the top of a homer bucket with a high power shop vac connected to the base of the bucket to draw massive air across the beans, cooling them in well under a minute. Makes me wonder if the rapid cooling is a culprit in my flavor or not.
TD
 
I would say your cooling method is not the culprit. All it does, providing air flow, is stopping the beans from cooking more. When you drop, those beans, they should be right where they need to be. Have not seen a cooling bin actually ruin a roast..... It is a rough approximation, but each phase before 1st crack should take you around 4 to 4.5 minutes, being you are roasting at a steady 1 pound increment. My normal if roasting that weight, is 3.8 to 4.3 minutes to yellow, at about 7.5 to 8.5 minutes 1st crack, then if I am lucky enough to extend my development for 2 minutes, my total times are 10 to 12 minutes from start to finish. I made a box that will hold the cooling tray bowl from the stock cooling tray that has a computer fan on opposing sides, both of them pulling air through the bowl and blowing outwards. Not as powerful as your set up, but in a minute the beans are cool enough to handle. My weight loss is any-wheres from 12% to 16%, those being rare (most fall between 13 and 15).
 
Sounds like I'm not too far off track. Most of my roasts are under 11 minutes, some under 10. I think my yellowiing is always under 4 min, which I think is hard for me to achieve 4 minutes or more. I will try cutting power when I charge and add power after turning point or 1 minute mark, whichever is sooner (I don't think TP usually more than 35-45 seconds at the most).
 
So I tried cutting power after charging and adding heat only after the TP (pretty close to 1 minute mark). Seemed to help to elongate dry phase and gave me a bit better control going into 1C. I was unfamiliar with the roast momentum however, and normally I'm trying to slow it down a bit, and this change made my roasts behave differently so I did have a bit of a struggle getting a good looking ROR curve without stalling out the roast too much. Will be a learning experience for sure, but I think its a move in the right direction. Forgot to jot down the S/N.
Roasted three beans last session and so far haven't cupped them, will shoot for today.
TD
 
Don't know about anyone else here, but, I do not always follow the golden rule of waiting for a day or so before sampling the beans I have roasted. I have enjoyed experiencing the changes that occur with some beans. I have noted that not all get better or even change in flavor with the longer wait in off gassing. The recent order I got of the Ethiopia, Sidama Durata Bombe, is a very fruity, smooth cup. I get an even blueberry with a slight nuance of pineapple and a little sweetness. Can't pick up the plum flavor, but I didn't really choose this coffee for that. Very enjoyable! I hope anyone else that chose to get some, experiences the same, or close to it. :coff4:
 
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