Re: And another first roast.....
The control aspect is quite nice - Im still finetuning, but just a little bit of movement of the tube can have quite dramatic results, in terms of the heating rate, and the agitation (which, in turn, presumably affects the heating rate as well). As soon as I get another power supply Ill tinker a bit more.
Im at the point where it seems a little silly to spend all this time and effort on 80-100g of beans when I could just bite the bullet and get a Corretto, but unfortunately the limited balcony space really limits me to using a popper.....plus, its a challenge.
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And another first roast.....
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Re: And another first roast.....
I did 12 already. :P
With your added setup I could get to 15.
Seriously though, my way (total devastation) was to make the popper less efficient by letting more heat escape.
But then again Im not trying to pop corn.
If we added a thermocouple to watch the temps, your air tube could give the control that mine doesnt have.
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Re: And another first roast.....
Just to update my little "experiments" with increased airflow:
Unfortunately, I havent been on the board for a while, so Ive missed Thundergods progress with the modifications (or should that be total devastation?) of the popper surrounds. Nicely done! If only Id been reading this earlier.....
Anyway - I basically had the same setup as last time:
Breville Quick Popper, with a fan in front of it. Small air pump (used to inflate mattresses etc) with a metal tube coming off the outlet. Insert beans into popper, turn on air pump, stick metal tube into popper chamber. Fan was blowing across the top of the popper, as youd expect, but also straight at the inlet hole of the air pump. Ambient temp was about 19 degrees, (I usually try to roast when its 20 or less)
I used 100g of beans first up, and stuck the end of the tube at about the level of the top of the popper chamber/bottom of the chimney. This not only pumped a lot more cool air into the chamber, but also really agitated the beans - slowed the roast down nicely.
My usual roast times with just the popper/fan setup were about 1:50 to first crack, and all done by about 3:45. That was with 80g of beans. With this setup, and 100g of beans, I hit first crack at 4:30. At this point I lowered the tube a bit further into the chamber to try to slow it down a little more - I was a little worried that at 7 minutes, nothing seemed to be happening, so I pulled it out completely. I ended up pulling the roast about 20secs into 2nd crack, at 7:40. So, a positive result.
Tried it again, this time determined not to remove the tube at all. First crack this time at 4:20 (the popper started out warm), and didnt get 2nd crack until 8:10 - pulled it at 8:30. So its got me almost 5 minutes extra, and theres the added bonus of being able to use the pump to cool the beans pretty quickly after the roast.
Well, at least it was an added bonus. Unfortunately the DC supply died......
So, TG - if we combine all this stuff, whaddaya reckon? 10 minutes easy......
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Re: And another first roast.....
Thundergod,
It definitely has potential - I might need to ramp up the airflow even more (at least to the point where the beans start getting flung out the top of the chimney and over the balcony, if only to get even more curious looks from the neighbours). Will try for a better setup with photos for next time though
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Re: And another first roast.....
Good going varanid99.
Looks like its a goer then.
Ill have to see what kind of pump I can find.
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Re: And another first roast.....
Finally gave the air pump a run today:
Basically, the setup was the same as Ive previosuly tried (Breville Quick Popper, juice can chimney, fan), but with a stainless steel tube (about 1.5 cm diameter) running into the popper chamber. The other end of this tube was hooked up to a small air pump.
(Just a note on the air pump - its nothing too powerful - about a $10 job from an auto store, used for blowing up air mattresses/pool toys etc. All its really doing is mixing a fair bit of cool air into the normal popper air flow).
First trial with 80g of Nicaraguan La Bastilla - used this because Ive got enough data for comparison.
I got first crack at about 2.15, consistent with previous roasts - but with the extra air moving around in there, it did slow the whole process down somewhat - while the initial cracks happened at about the same time these were pretty sporadic, and first crack kept going a bit longer, to about 4.45. I started getting second crack at about 5.10, and pulled the batch at 5.25. So it bought me about an extra minute of roast time, which wasnt a complete failure. Nice and even too. Second batch was a bit quicker - as usual the preheated popper sped things up a bit.
It was still a bit of a MacGyver setup though, with me just holding the tube in the chamber, using it to stir the beans a bit too. Im going to work on this a little more and see it I can squeeze another 30 seconds out of it - just by mucking around with placement of the tube, better use of the fan, etc. Otherwise, I think Im just doomed to small batch sizes until I get something better....
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Re: And another first roast.....
minor delay to the air pump trial - couldnt get hold of the adapter I need, but will have another go tomorrow.
thundergod, will keep you posted, as if it works, it might be useful to both of us at the moment.....
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Re: And another first roast.....
Oh forgot to mention that, no I havent.
So I may end up sticking to 80g max for that bean.
Ive read lots of good reports about it and I roasted tonight to coincide with how much coffee I should have left when its ready to try.
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Re: And another first roast.....
That must of been very frustrating Thundergod with it cutting out like that. Will be interesting to see how the SO blend works out for you. Have you roasted any Monsoon previously?
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Re: And another first roast.....
Im glad you are getting great results.
Let us know how that mod goes, I might need it after tonights effort.
I had a disappointing first roast tonight.
Monsooned Malabar 100g.
Popper got too hot for the first time and cut out at 4:15.
Beans are uneven with a few light and some dark with divots.
Did a 2nd smaller batch of 80g and managed to stretch it to 5:30, about 24secs into 2nd crack.
Ive mixed both batches as was my original intention and well see how they go.
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Re: And another first roast.....
Damn straight. I even had a crack at a single origin blend.....cant wait to check that one out.Originally posted by Coffeechaser link=1163978592/15#16 date=1164581610Yeah this roasting/coffee gig does seem to snowball doesnt it?
that settles it then - off to get an adapter tomorrow - will report on the experiment tomorrow night.Originally posted by Thundergod link=1163978592/15#17 date=1164590269I like the idea of putting some air into the chimney to slow the roast.
what am I going to do with all these roasted beans? could always drink em I guess.
Speaking of which - the Nicaraguan La Bastilla - was smelling good after about 4 hours, so I gave it a shot. Seemed very bright, for want of a better word, and the half inch of brown foam on top made me realise that with this home roasting caper, I can probably pull the crema enhancer out of the sunbeam now.....Tried it again this afternoon (so 24 hrs post roast) and it was bloody fantastic - first shot Ive really got thats just oozed sweetness. Im still developing my tasting skills, but Ive definitely had lots worse.
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Re: And another first roast.....
I like the idea of putting some air into the chimney to slow the roast.
At the moment I also havent got anything practical to try it out.
I need to clean out my old Sadie vacuum cleaner, which Im using for cooling.
I can use its blower function but first have to give the drum a good scrub and dry.
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Re: And another first roast.....
Yeah this roasting/coffee gig does seem to snowball doesnt it? So you are already roasting for others, already built up a good reputation. Is good to experiment with different origins as you have done so you can explore the different characteristics of different origins, both roasting and taste. look forward to seeing more of your roasts.
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Re: And another first roast.....
I think the 900g was a one-off. Did a 250g batch of Nicaraguan La Bastilla for my girlfriends mum, then did a smaller batch of Brazil Sweet Daterra for my mum, then did a batch of Eth Harar for myself, then my girlfriends mum liked the smell of my batch, so i did a little more for her, then I thought, hang on, I havent tried the Brazil myself yet, so did another little bit more for me.....you know how these things go......
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Re: And another first roast.....
So you roasted 900 grams? If you do that on a regulr basis you may be better off going for the corretto or atleast a heat gun and stir like crazy. Glad to see you that you times have stretched out, some.
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