Whats in my coffee roaster this week

[solace]

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted in here! There have been roasts since my last post and some modifications to the KKTO.

In the roaster today was a Colombian from Hacienda Casablanca in Santander. A lovely washed Castillo that is full of sweetness and spice. Was just mucking about to find a good ‘can be brewed any old way’ profile and filter specific profile to later move into production roasts.

Using a new airflow mod on the KKTO, I have attached a 120mm 12v fan to a controller where I can adjust the speed of the fan as well as turn it on/off. The fan is pushing external air into the
top of the drum body with the idea that the turbo oven fan then pushes that cool air down onto the beans.

Seemed to work really well and partners perfectly with the death switch (switch that bypasses the turbo oven thermostat allowing me to turn the element on/off at will).

As for the roasts themselves, the filter was taken to almost the end of FC with a drop at 209 and 12% DTR whilst the espresso (pictured) I pushed to somewhere between FC and SC with a DTR of 18%.

[simonsk8r]

India Monsoon Malabar Gold

4 separate batches on the popper, combined for a total of 280g


Beans in the colander, for some comparison some CS roasted beans on the right & P&R Porto on the left

Beans look great mate! And awesome to see some popper action here too, I quite enjoyed my popper sessions back in the day

[shauno]

Beans look great mate! And awesome to see some popper action here too, I quite enjoyed my popper sessions back in the day

Yeah I thought I’d give it a go for a few weeks/months & see if it’s something I want to do long term, before getting a Behmor or similar

[simonsk8r]

Been awhile, but trying out this ol Ethiopia Sidamo Kilenso Mokanisa natural, has proved tricky. This time as suggested I went a bit gentler and did a slower ramp up, starting the roast at P3 (50%) for the first 2 minutes, P4 (75%) for 3 minutes, and then P5 (100%) (the 5 minute mark at this point).

Seemed to work well, ended up being a fairly long roast though (the longest being about 19 minutes :s ) but still had a little trouble round the FC/RFC phase... always with this bean hehe.

I knew that it really takes off fast around the end, so I tried P2 (25%) at FC, then P3 (50%) at rolling FC so it didn't stall. Ended up still slowing riiiiight down! Even on my third roast I lowered the batch weight a little to see if it helped this but it still almost stalled.

I actually reckon that maybe dropping to P2 at FC and P3 at rolling FC isn't needed because of the slower ramp up... and there's less "momentum", so next time I might just go straight to P3 at FC. (My first time roasting this bean it went way too fast when I did P3 at FC, but for those roasts I did full heat from the very start).

That's my theory anyway haha. The beans still look really nice! Uneven-ish but expected that for these naturals. Supposed to be for espresso, they're relatively light (15%, 15.29% and 15.54% weight losses), so see how they taste in about a week.

Cheerio!

Nnnnnope nope nope... tried today (day 7 postroast), just don't think it's ready yet hehe. Taste was quite underwhelming (but I am pleased the first roast wasn't too lightly roasted, didn't have any sour/grassy notes), but going a full notch finer on my grinder for the second shot yielded pretty much the same output, which usually happens when a bean is still too fresh and volatile. Loads of crema.

Will try on day 11

Just curious, how long do you guys find for an Ethiopian natural to settle in terms of taste and consistency after roasting?

[solace]

Just curious, how long do you guys find for an Ethiopian natural to settle in terms of taste and consistency after roasting?

For the Yirgacheffe natural, 3 days post roast and it is settled and consistent.

Much the same for a Sidamo natural that I have.

Would have thought after 7 days you roast would well and truly have settled down, but the large volume of crema you describe suggests otherwise.

Perhaps this is a bi-product of your lengthy roast times which are way too long IMO, can you try shortening by half of the current time? I find Ethiopian naturals are optimal in quick roasts and really shine when DTR is somewhere around 10-14%

[Dimal]

Really depends on many variables Simon...

Some Ethiopian beans, that are more dense, seem to benefit from a slightly quicker profile (for my palate) while those that are a bit softer seem to do better if the profile is more gentle. Only way to know if you're nailing it, other than how it tastes, is to check whether a random sample of roasted beans reveals an 'even' roasting result throughout the bean. I do this with any batch that hasn't produced the results I was expecting and then adjust the profile to suit...

Mal.

[simonsk8r]

For the Yirgacheffe natural, 3 days post roast and it is settled and consistent.

Much the same for a Sidamo natural that I have.

Would have thought after 7 days you roast would well and truly have settled down, but the large volume of crema you describe suggests otherwise.

Perhaps this is a bi-product of your lengthy roast times which are way too long IMO, can you try shortening by half of the current time? I find Ethiopian naturals are optimal in quick roasts and really shine when DTR is somewhere around 10-14%

Really depends on many variables Simon...

Some Ethiopian beans, that are more dense, seem to benefit from a slightly quicker profile (for my palate) while those that are a bit softer seem to do better if the profile is more gentle. Only way to know if you're nailing it, other than how it tastes, is to check whether a random sample of roasted beans reveals an 'even' roasting result throughout the bean. I do this with any batch that hasn't produced the results I was expecting and then adjust the profile to suit...

Mal.

Thanks guys. I was purposely going by advice that Ethiopian naturals I need to go a bit more gentler, and the last time I roasted it faster it shot through FC etc too quickly. Usually I would think it was a fairly dense bean and needed a higher heat/faster roast.

Not really sure how to halve the roasting time without applying too much heat, lower the batch weight maybe..my roasts have been fairly long for awhile now anyway, it's been cleaned regularly, maybe time for another clean up anyway..

[LeroyC]

Thanks very much for that mate, very interesting and makes a lot of sense...
You'll have to come back now with your 'in the cup' impressions....
From what I've been able to find out about the beans, you should end up with a very sweet and jucy result, with wonderful acidity, especially with that profile.

Looking forward to reading your impressions...

Mal.

Well I can’t really give a definitive report on this roast as I’ve had a ripper ear and sinus infection for the last couple of weeks so the taste buds have been a bit subdued. I’ve had a few brews of it and none of them have been bad, but I haven’t really been able to discern if there’s been much else going on. However I had an Aeropress of it today that definitely displayed a bit more sweetness and fruitiness. The mouthfeel was quite juicy actually considering I used a paper filter, but I did sense just the hint of over extraction. I’ll see if that shows up again cause if it does then I’ve probably just given the coffee a nudge too much development. It’s still really enjoyable though and might be worth a try as an espresso I reckon.

[solace]

Not really sure how to halve the roasting time without applying too much heat, lower the batch weight maybe..my roasts have been fairly long for awhile now anyway, it's been cleaned regularly, maybe time for another clean up anyway..

Decreasing batch size will do the trick for reducing the roast time.

Naturals in general, I find, require a little finesse with heat application in drying phase. The Ethiopian naturals I have roasted have taken a belting of heat after a short soak and this seems to be a winning formula thus far on my setups. Behmor’s are a world of their own so that formula may not work out - worth a crack though

[Dimal]

Well I can’t really give a definitive report on this roast as I’ve had a ripper ear and sinus infection for the last couple of weeks so the taste buds have been a bit subdued. I’ve had a few brews of it and none of them have been bad, but I haven’t really been able to discern if there’s been much else going on. However I had an Aeropress of it today that definitely displayed a bit more sweetness and fruitiness. The mouthfeel was quite juicy actually considering I used a paper filter, but I did sense just the hint of over extraction. I’ll see if that shows up again cause if it does then I’ve probably just given the coffee a nudge too much development. It’s still really enjoyable though and might be worth a try as an espresso I reckon.

Bugger re: the Sinus troubles mate, hope you're completely over that soon. My lovely lady gets sinus troubles quite a bit and it really knocks her around so I can empathise with your situation.

Regarding the outcome, that sounds really promising mate and I guess if you had to err re: development time, slightly over always seems better to me than not enough. Certainly gives you room to play with it a bit...

Thanks for the feedback Leroy, appreciated.

Mal.

[divins]

The weekend started with a quick 200gm of Ceja De Selva (Peruvian) as I wanted to give it to a friend who is visiting on the weekend, it wont be ready to drink for a few days, however they are travelling and wont be home until med week, so should be just about ready when they get home

[LeroyC]

Spent a couple of hours at the cafe yesterday roasting some delicious Peru Chirinos San Ignacio. I brought some of the medium roast home to try. Looks good-

[skeevs]

First order of them delicious Colombian Volcan Galeras beans that went into the Behmor on Sunday. Just roasted slightly past rolling 1C. Feels like I have high expectations of these beans. Can't wait to crack the bag open in a few days [emoji4]

[DesigningByCoffee]

Howdy all.

I haven't posted for a while – not too much new to report! But out of interest, the last few weeks I've done a number of roasts minus the 'Seattle dip' (dropping to 5-6°/m RoR between 150-160°) plus added a slightly faster ramp over all (50° steps instead of 40° on the gun at 75/100/125/150° points).

These roasts have been nicely flavoured, not underdone as I thought might happen with the shorter time overall. I guess the higher, more consistent temperature input 'cooks' them through more aggressively.

But holy smokes I've had trouble dialling them in! Choke, then too fast, fresh bean gushers, channelling — back and forth and round and round. To put this in context – I've hardly varied the grind of the Robur more than 5mm in the last 5 years, no matter what the beans were. Very, very consistent. But these last few have been an absolute nightmare.

So, I'll be heading back to my happy-place profile next time I reckon!

Have a great weekend

Matt


(a couple of profiles for those interested)

[Dimal]

Hiya Matt...

Your results replicate my impressions using this sort of profile (a while ago) and is also why I've gone back to the Seattle Dip.
End results are much more consistent in the cup; but one has to experiment, I believe, to ensure that what one is doing still satisfies the final criteria of taste.

Ditto re: your weekend too mate...

Mal.