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First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

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  • First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

    Hi All,

    Just completed my first attempt at roasting beans with a popper and thanks to all the fantastic information contained here, it worked.  

    Hard to believe that a month ago I was using a $99 Sunbeam coffee machine and now thanks to this forum I have a Giotto Premium Plus, A Kompac grinder and now am roasting my own coffee :-)

    A quick trip to the K-Mart got me a Tempo Popper for $25. I raided the kitchen and found most of the other stuff I needed.  I ordered some beans from BeanBay - the choice (Sumatra Sipangan Bolon)was a little random but I figured you gotta start somewhere and Ill learn how to make an informed choice over time.

    After much reading about the science and art of coffee roasting I decided to (mostly) ignore the science and go for the art.  All the modifications and temperature probes, etc just seemed a little too much for someone starting out.

    I added the same amount of beans as the popper suggested for popcorn, fired up the popper and waited for first crack.

    I had decided in advance to remove the beans just past second crack (or at charcoal if I couldnt tell what the second crack was) so I let the second crack get well underway before switching off and cooling the beans.

    The end result was 50g of very evenly roasted beans that Ill be interested to try in another day or so.  i did two more batches that were slightly less even but I think thats because I tried roasting more beans than the first batch.

    Anyway, thanks everyone for the incredibly useful information contained here. I couldnt have done it without you!

    And for anyone reading this who wants to give roasting a try - my advice is dont stress over the technical details, just go with the basic concepts and give it a go...


  • #2
    Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

    Look mate, dont spread it around. >
    Letting others know how easy home roasting is, just sets up Green Bay for a rush.
    Keep it to yourself, or all the great beans go in a minute or two.

    Oh, and welcome to the addicts corner.

    Greg

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

      Originally posted by 6B6467676A010 link=1248146635/0#0 date=1248146635
      I decided to (mostly) ignore the science and go for the art.  
      Great approach, and

      Originally posted by 6B6467676A010 link=1248146635/0#0 date=1248146635
      And for anyone reading this who wants to give roasting a try - my advice is dont stress over the technical details, just go with the basic concepts and give it a go...
      Great advice!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

        Now I figure Ill taste the beans every day to see how they change over time.

        After 24 hrs the taste is leaning a little toward the sour side but not undrinkable. So far so good, I think.

        The plan is to add some more bean varieties over the next few weeks, spend a month or two with the popper and then tackle the whole Corretto building thing.

        ...or if the tax man is nice to me, something like a Gene Cafe, although Im not sure if its worth it for someone like me who only uses a small amount (150g or so ) of coffee each week.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

          The Gene is probably more suited to your needs because (depending on BM size) the coretto often needs 400g+ batch sizes to achieve an even roast, while the Gene will quite easily do 200g batches.

          That said, I love my coretto!

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

            Originally posted by 2C242B2D257F7A4E0 link=1248146635/4#4 date=1248222381
            The Gene is probably more suited to your needs because (depending on BM size) the coretto often needs 400g+ batch sizes to achieve an even roast, while the Gene will quite easily do 200g batches.

            That said, I love my coretto!
            And as the only coffee drinker in the house, and a moderate one at that, the Gene Café has a place of honour here.

            Greg

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

              Originally posted by 4B434C4A42181D290 link=1248146635/4#4 date=1248222381
              The Gene is probably more suited to your needs because (depending on BM size) the coretto often needs 400g+ batch sizes to achieve an even roast, while the Gene will quite easily do 200g batches.
              Hmm... Hadnt thought or read much about minimum batch sizes :-?

              I can see another conversation that goes along the lines of

              me: "I was just reading the Coffee Snobs forum..."

              wife: "How much this time?"



              Cheers
              Jeff K

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

                Assemble a corretto.....

                Cheap to build and fun to use , plus this forum will help you no end, and your friends will be blown out by your new hobby.

                Remember , even at 400g roasts you still end up with 320g brown bean , so thats just a weeks worth ..

                Go for it...!!!!

                Greg

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

                  Thanks Greg,

                  For me, being the only coffee drinker in the house, 320g is about two weeks worth of coffee but thats ok. If I make more than I can use Ill just have to invite more friends around help me drink it :-)

                  Is 0.8 a fairly standard ratio for roasted vs green weight? I guess it depends on the beans a bit?

                  I have the heat gun and an old tripod I plan to mount it on, so all I need now is the old bread maker. Im still trying to avoid making things too high tech with temperature probes, etc. (which is weird for me casue Im a technology junkie...)

                  Ill give the popper another month or two while I build up a bigger supply of beans and learn from the inevitable disasters, then give a corretto a try.

                  Cheers
                  Jeff K

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

                    Beans will last for two weeks without too many dramas, best usually around day 5-10ish, but definately drinkable from 10-14 generally and remember you can do smaller roasts in a most correttos, i can do as little as 150g with my setup, which doesnt seem to work too well with some BMs but it does with mine, so that will produce around 125g of roasted beans, and 0.8 isnt a bad guestimate for green to roast ratio, but yes it does change with bean type, some of the real roasters here will be able to tell you why this happens :

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

                      Hi Jeff ,

                      There are CSers here that have been doing this for years , me , 3 -4 weeks , and I cant tell you how much fun it is to do, sure you have your duds , but refining the technique is all part of the journey.Plus this forum embraces the newbie....

                      If I look back to what the household consumption was prior to E61 and corretto arriving , its doubled easily within the family and friends.... friends look to see if the machine is on !!!!
                      My wife used to drink 2 cups of flat white per week ( weekends only ) out of our old Saeco.... No more she is now at least 8 Decafs and 4 Full Caff Cappuccinos per week, shes not addicted just loves it...... Beware !!

                      I think green to brown losses are 16-20% for most roasters.

                      From my limitted experience you need a digital thermometer with thermo probe , its not high tech , you dont have to log on a laptop , pen and paper work fine , but you need to know whats happening in the BM basket.
                      Smaller roasts are possible, but at 400g and above there is far more consistency and control.....

                      all the best
                      Greg



                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

                        Originally posted by 1612342D2D2837202F410 link=1248146635/9#9 date=1248306086
                        i can do as little as 150g with my setup, which doesnt seem to work too well with some BMs but it does with mine
                        I have in mind that I would probably roast about 200g at a time - so I guess I should be looking for the smallest volume BM I can find?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

                          Originally posted by 444B4848452E0 link=1248146635/11#11 date=1248313443
                          Originally posted by 1612342D2D2837202F410 link=1248146635/9#9 date=1248306086
                          i can do as little as 150g with my setup, which doesnt seem to work too well with some BMs but it does with mine
                          I have in mind that I would probably roast about 200g at a time - so I guess I should be looking for the smallest volume BM I can find?  
                          Yer usually the smallest is around the 750g mark. As a guide, people suggest that you should be utilising about 60% of the bucket. But as WSully said, you can do quite small batch sizes. You are probably just compromising a little on control of the roast and the evenness of the roast

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

                            My BM would be about 750g and I started off doing 300g greenweight roasts.
                            They were good but eventually I moved up to 600g roasts and found that I got used to those and the occasional 300g roast was a little harder to do.

                            I know the limit of my bm is 700g because I tried 720g once and stated to lose a few over the top and it was also a little difficult to control after being used to 600g batches.

                            I think 200g would be too small a batch..

                            300g nets about 250g roasted weight.
                            Thats the same as a store bought bag; most people are used to buying that much at a time.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: First popper roast a success thanks to the info on this forum.

                              Originally posted by 516D706B616077626A61050 link=1248146635/13#13 date=1248316910
                              I think 200g would be too small a batch..

                              300g nets about 250g roasted weight.
                              Thats the same as a store bought bag; most people are used to buying that much at a time.
                              Agreed

                              I have moved from minimum 250g batches to 300g batches. It makes a noticeable improvement in control for only a small increase.

                              Comment

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