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Hello from eastern PA
KnittyBrew
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Posted on 09/15/2024 8:40 PM
Just a quick introduction. I’ve just entered into the home roasting gig. I have a Fresh Roast SR800 that I’ve modified to take a thermocouple hooked to a Mastech and using Artisan to record roast profiles. I’m a retired chemist so this isn’t different from some of the reactions I’ve run. I’ve only been through a dozen roasts so don’t have a wide enough experience to have a favorite but the Mocabe HG I’ve been playing with (Chiapas, Mexico) is fairly tasty.

I’m just absorbing as much information as I can for now.
Knitty Brew
New Home Roaster
Fresh Roast SR800
 
allenb
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Posted on 09/16/2024 9:02 AM
Hi Knitty Brew and welcome to HRO! Good to hear you're getting good results with your SR800 and the Mocabe. Once you've gotten down the various rabbit holes, would love to hear your thoughts on the development stage of the roast. There's been gobs of coffee professionals talk for ever on the reactions happening from the onset of first crack till end of roast but has been woefully lacking in applying all of it to how we control the roast through that phase to get the best outcomes. There's been lots of generalizations about optimum % this phase should occupy out of the total roast time but all seems to be voodoo guesses. With your chemistry background, maybe you can take the discussion to a more practical level where we can improve our roasts.

Good to have you on board! smile
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
KnittyBrew
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Posted on 09/19/2024 11:20 AM
allenb, thanks for the greeting. The conversation around what is happening chemically is beyond my understanding and probably beyond most. There’s around a 1000 chemicals at varying ratios depending on the variety and growing conditions. Generalization may be made but I think roasting is more art than science. The roaster’s experience with a particular bean is key to get a good cup of coffee.

Sorry to let you down.
Knitty Brew
New Home Roaster
Fresh Roast SR800
 
allenb
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Posted on 09/22/2024 9:33 AM
I think most of us are aware that there's a huge number of reactions but that isn't where I'd like to see more on the subject. Where it would be nice to see more coverage on the topic is around what kind of profiles within the so-called development phase of the roast are preferred and how/why it is preferred. Most of us have heard the repeated advice from many experts that stretching the phase from start of 1st crack until end of roast will increase "sweetness" and shortening will cause bitter compounds to remain but from my experience, that hasn't been the case. In fact, some of my experience has been that dropping anywhere lower than 6 or 7 F/min during this phase will many times cause baked flavors with little sparkle so for me, there's a limit to how far I can stretch it. Anyhoo, I realize just because ones background is in chemistry doesn't necessarily mean one is able to dissect the hugely complex topic of what goes on during this phase of the roast but if you ever stumble on something practical that gives real roasting advice for best development curves, would love to hear more. ThumbsUp
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
jkoll42
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Posted on 09/27/2024 5:17 AM
A little late here but welcome - also from eastern PA!
-Jon
Honey badger 1k, Bunn LPG-2E, Technivorm, Cimbali Max Hybrid, ECM Synchronika w/ Flow Control
 
oldgrumpus
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Posted on 09/27/2024 8:09 PM

Quote

KnittyBrew wrote:

I’m a retired chemist so this isn’t different from some of the reactions I’ve run. I’ve only been through a dozen roasts so don’t have a wide enough experience to have a favorite but the Mocabe HG I’ve been playing with (Chiapas, Mexico) is fairly tasty.

I’m just absorbing as much information as I can for now.


Welcome to the forum! When I saw that you have a technical background and want to learn more, I immediately thought of Coffee-mind Academy. Here's a link to a YouTube video that is introductory: https://youtu.be/...WUWIcMy5C-

I spent $35 a couple of years ago and took their online course for roasting basics. It was money well spent. I highly encourage you to consider it. It will inform you of how roast phases affect flavor and how much variance in a roast profile is actually noticeable in the cup. They did blind taste testing with trained tasters to get the results so this isn't subjective or speculative.

https://coffee-mi...
Clever Coffee Dripper
Grinder: Macap M4
Roaster: Completed drum roaster project photos shown here:
Photos https://goo.gl/ph...Da6K4wfqw5
Videos https://www.youtu...Bd1NrdpSUH
Build thread https://homeroast...post_38189
 
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