Faddy, not sure how youre progressing with the Gene. I am 3 weeks into it and getting closer to cracking the code. I thought Id share a few recent inisights. Its still early days for me. Keen to hear your insights (and those of others BTW).
I found (finally) recognising the 2nd crack and adopting the Avacuppa profile real breakthroughs. Earlier, most of my roasts were underdone as I found myself mistakedly shutting down mid / latter way through the 1st crack. Results were average. Now (as I have learned to ID SC) I am stopping at start of 2nd crack and getting much better results.
Another breakthrough was finding a good storage solution. Early roasts were stored for 4-7 days in plastic zip locks...but with (as it happened) very poor results. Lately heat sealed bags with one way valves are producing far better results.
The guy who sold me the Gene swore by freezing a very fresh (cooled to roon temp) roast as a means to delay the maturing process - if needed. I followed this on the w/e and am yet to try the results.
Another simple innovation was using the vacuum with a funnel and a basic (large) strainer attached (fitting neatly into) - in which I empty a new roast directly - I can cool a new roast in a minute or two. From what I have read, this helps get better results, but I have no real comparison due to the poor quality of the early roasts and poor storage.
Oh, an early personal favorite blend (thus far) is:
25% Sumatran Mandheling and the balance an even split of Ethiopian Yirg / Kenyan Peaberry.
Still very much a good way to spend an early sat /sunday morning before kids and wife awake. The passion continues to grow...



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