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Roasting help/tips with a few different coffees
ilyash
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Posted on 04/22/2009 1:20 AM
Hi everyone,
I'm new to these forums and very eager to learn.
I am roasting primarily for espresso.

My roaster is a modded Westbend Poppery II.
I have PID'd it with a fuji PXR3 and have also upgraded the power cord to a much larger gauge.

I currently use a ramp/soak profile that was recommend to me by Jim Schulman (An extremely knowledgeable and great guy):

1. 0 Ramp, 1 Soak @ 220F
2. 3 Ramp, 0 Soak @ 295F
3. 3 Ramp, 0 Soak @ 385F
4. 4 Ramp, 0 Soak @ 440F

My thermocouple is in the center of the bean mass.

I ordered 2lbs of Monkey from SM and 2lbs of Liquid Amber (also 1lb of thumbs down just to get the hang of roasting). I finished roasting all of these and had interesting results.

The monkey was very tasty and the liquid amber was kind of ashy tasting.. it was hard to get an even roast
And the thumbs down was VERY interesting.. it tasted like it went through the digestive tract of an animal (we know it would be more expensive this way haha!)

I have recently ordered the following coffees from CCM Coffee:
Yemen Mocha - Matari
Sumatra Mandheling - Balige Estate
Kenya AA (fancy)
Brazil (Natural) ()
Tanzania Peaberry - Mt. Meru
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

in order to experience SO espresso and learn a bit more about the roasting process.

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to roast these coffees (and maybe any tasty blends I could make from them).


Also I wanted to ask about which parts of the ramp/soak profile I should play with.
The Liquid Amber was said to have monsoon beans, and a member on home-barista recommended that I make the drying soak longer, So I increased it to 3 min (instead of 1), but that didn't seem to make that much of a difference in the cup.

Right now the main variable is time. I choose different points to take them out at. So far 1st crack has been at about 400F, and second ~430F, but sometimes it is hard to tell whether first has ended or it is still going (maybe this is why the LA tasted ashy/burnt?) [weird thing is visually it looked pretty good in color compared to say black cat]

Thanks again for your help guys!
 
BoldJava
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Posted on 04/22/2009 5:13 AM
If the coffee is ashy or burnt, you are clearly into second. If it were an incomplete first, your coffee would taste on the sour side.

I keep good notes and listen for 1st. Once I hear it, I am shooting for 3-3.5 minutes before 2nd starts (I rarely go into second). I keep a very close eye on the seams, as well as the color of the bean.

Seeing that you roast for espresso, you will be going more deeply into the bean than I generally do. Ashy? You will find that from taking the Brazil too deeply OR applying too much heat too quickly. That is my experience.

RE: Blending ... there are plenty up there that would complement one another. I would encourage you to really familiarize yourself with each of the origins and what it brings on its own before I would jump into blending.

Welcome to the site.

B|Java
Edited by BoldJava on 04/22/2009 5:15 AM
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Dave Borton
Milwaukee, WI
 
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seedlings
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Posted on 04/22/2009 8:31 AM
ilyash, help me understand how long your PID stays at each temp.

I'd shoot for something like
6 min ramp to 300F
4 min ramp to 400F
4 min ramp to 420F
X min ramp to 460F (and stop at your desired finish)

Does your PID hold the temps rock steady, or do they go up and down?

CHAD
Roaster: CoffeeAir II 2# DIY air roaster
Grinder: Vintage Grindmaster 500
Brewers: Vintage Cory DCU DCL, Aeropress, Press, Osaka Titanium pourover
 
ilyash
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Posted on 04/22/2009 12:32 PM
The PID holds the temperatures pretty dead on.

I seem to notice that after about 410-415F the temperature creeps pretty slowly to 430/440

I have disabled the thermostat, so that isn't an issue.

My total roast times using the profile in the first post have been between 11 and 13min.

The outdoor temp is like btwn 55-65F [maybe it needs to be even warmer?]
 
ilyash
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Posted on 04/27/2009 2:36 PM
I roasted one batch of each coffee on sunday so I will try them out on friday
 
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