Ok. I got home from work to find my 14 yo son had been checking out my starter pack, and had split and completely spilled one bag and accidentally opened and opened and partially spilled another bag. This left me to start my roasting hobby with a blend of 65% El Salvador and 35% Brazil beans, instead of the single origin I was planning. After threatening to blend his Milo and Strawberry Nesquik in the same way, I made him keep track of the times instead....
So, unmodified Mistral Popper ($17 on special from Target), 80 g of the aforementioned blended beans. I have no workshop or garage, so had planned to roast on my deck, but its bucketing down here atm so I settled for the kitchen next to the window. Switched it on, a few gentle shakes to get the beans moving and off we went. First crack started at 2 mins 14 secs, they kept on cracking away. I expected the cracking to stop before 2nd crack, but this didnt happen. At 4 minutes, they were turning very dark, so I switched the popper off and tipped them into a colander, there was some smoke coming off them at this point. Theyre a fairly even, dark chocolate colour, and they smell roasted, though not very coffeeish. The chaff wasnt as bad as I was expecting, though I certainly had a bit of sweeping and wiping down to do....
For a first roast Im happy - I have beans that I can grind and try tomorrow (as opposed to charred black beans), but Im not certain whether Ive roasted them for long enough. Is there meant to be a break between 1st and 2nd crack?
So, unmodified Mistral Popper ($17 on special from Target), 80 g of the aforementioned blended beans. I have no workshop or garage, so had planned to roast on my deck, but its bucketing down here atm so I settled for the kitchen next to the window. Switched it on, a few gentle shakes to get the beans moving and off we went. First crack started at 2 mins 14 secs, they kept on cracking away. I expected the cracking to stop before 2nd crack, but this didnt happen. At 4 minutes, they were turning very dark, so I switched the popper off and tipped them into a colander, there was some smoke coming off them at this point. Theyre a fairly even, dark chocolate colour, and they smell roasted, though not very coffeeish. The chaff wasnt as bad as I was expecting, though I certainly had a bit of sweeping and wiping down to do....
For a first roast Im happy - I have beans that I can grind and try tomorrow (as opposed to charred black beans), but Im not certain whether Ive roasted them for long enough. Is there meant to be a break between 1st and 2nd crack?






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