Whats in my coffee roaster this week

[Javaphile]

Yesterday's roasting conditions

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Time to fort up there DBC. The Roos heard you were the one responsible for all the white stuff and now they're coming for you!

Java "Laughing maniacally" phile

[noonar]

Some observations and not very useful tips,

Two polystyrene cups of hot chocolate poured over the heavily frosted screen of an Orange VW Beetle - in a -25C wind chill blizzard whilst taking a break and trying to restore some feeling in the fingertips after driving through 3m high cleared snow drifts, in an attempt to improve the 1cm wide viewing slit in the windscreen which occurred partly as a result of the heat exchangers and washer bottle packing in and the wipers just making it worse, does nothing but create chocolate ice coated glass – rock hard.
So get two more hot chocolates from the automatic machine in the servo – one to help soften the frozen choc ice as you attempt to scrape it off the windscreen and the other to drink to help stave off the onset of hypothermia.
Meanwhile – Very minimal comfort can be taken watching truck drivers, who had also stopped at the same spot for a rest break, lighting fires under their diesel fuel tanks because the fuel had frozen. Could not wait to get outta there!
Earlier on the same day the snow had drifted completely over the front of my Aunties two storey terraced housed (little drifting at the back) covering the roof and drifting through any gaps into the loft space so much that the roof was at risk of collapse, spent 2 freezing hours clearing the loft then most of the roof.
It was a very memorable day.
BTW the auto vending machine only had hot chocolate working and it was running off a generator. Everything else was closed down.

[LeroyC]

Spent a couple of hours at the cafe yesterday roasting some of our delicious Peruvian coffee on the Ambex. Just keeping my hand in really as don’t have time to do much more at the moment. Brought home some of the lighter roast to try.

[Dimal]

Yemen Al-Hajj Boa'an with Indonesia Sulawesi Blue.

A Yemeni blend of a different type this time...

Not up there with the Ismaili but still very nice in the cup.
The gradient average for this batch was held to ~12.0 Deg.C/Minute up towards 1st-Crack.
As per most of my roasts, took this to the cusp of 2nd-Crack then immediately dumped and cooled.
Beautiful aromas coming off the cooler while this was happening.

Should be a good'n so looking forward to some lovely brews in a little while.
Blend info below with profile and post-roast photos attached.

Mal.

Blend Details:
Yemen Al-Hajj Boa'an... 500g
Indonesia Sulawesi Blue... 250g
Roasted Weight... 642g
Moisture Loss... 14.4%

[LeroyC]

This was a pre-roast blend of Burundi Yandaro, Peru Chirinos San Ignacio and Guatemala Los Pinos. It seemed to roast up pretty nicely so I’m looking forward to trying it. Hopefully it’ll be a good all rounder.

[LeroyC]

This was a pre-roast blend of Burundi Yandaro, Peru Chirinos San Ignacio and Guatemala Los Pinos. It seemed to roast up pretty nicely so I’m looking forward to trying it. Hopefully it’ll be a good all rounder.

Every now and then I’m surprised by something that turns out differently to how I expected. I was hoping to roast this blend mostly for espresso to go with my morning cappuccino, but as the Burundi and Guatemalan are getting a bit old I was careful not to over do it in the roaster. It can be easy to go too far in the Behmor and end up with something dark and bitter or baked. So I didn’t push too far past first crack and when it came out I was fairly happy that I’d probably got it about right.
I tried it over the weekend in my morning coffee and was surprised to find it was really bright, sweet and fruity. I can handle a bit of brightness in a milk coffee, but this was too much even for me. So I wondered if would be better for soft brew and I took it to work yesterday to use in the drip filter machine. I wasn’t disappointed as it turned out to be delicious!! Sweet, fruity and nicely balanced. So that’s where it’ll stay and be put to good use. I’m only using an old Breville Aroma (although I use paper filters, pre heated water and a manual bloom), i can only imagine how good it would be in a really good brewer like the Brazen or Precision Brewer.
So there you go, a good result in the end, just not the one I was expecting.

[Dimal]

Sounds like a real beauty Leroy...

Mal.

[LeroyC]

Sounds like a real beauty Leroy...

Mal.

Used it at work again today just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. Pleased to say that it was just as good.

[Sullo]

does anyone else read descriptions and see photos of roasted beans and can almost smell them?

[Dimal]

Blend Details:
Yemen Al-Hajj Boa'an... 500g
Indonesia Sulawesi Blue... 250g
Roasted Weight... 642g
Moisture Loss... 14.4%

This one has indeed turned out to be extremely nice in the cup.
Overall, dominated by a raison/muscatel fruit acidity that has huge body and gobs of lovely rich dark chocolate.
Finish is not huge but still there after about five minutes.

Going to be fun to finish roasting the rest of this bean off with the Sualwesi Blue...

Mal.

[roosterben]

Behmor 1600 Plus / Peru Ceja de Selva A

Did two roasts over the weekend (well 3 actually but the first was a dud, way underdone!) of Peru Ceja de Selva A. Still a total newbie, maybe 15 roasts of which about 4 have been decent, but starting to get a feel for sounds/smells of some stages of the roast.

Roast 1 - 225 grams of Peru Ceja de Selva A, 200 gram setting P2, first crack 6:30, after RC around 8:30 dropped heat to 50%, cooled with door open at about 12:30
Roast 2 - 225 grams of Peru Ceja de Selva A, 200 gram setting P1, first crack 6:30, after RC around 8:30 dropped heat to 50%, cooled with door open at about 12:30

Final weights were 194.4 grams (13.6% weight loss) and 193.8 grams (13.9% weight loss).

Was roasting outside at night on our deck and it was cold about 18 degrees and windy. I did make a coffee from first batch drinkable but a bit bitter and sharp tasting. Will give them a few days to gas out and hopefully they turn out well.

[Dimal]

Keeping good records (including follow-up taste impressions) is key to being able to consistently turn out roast batches that hit the spot for you. Getting there is half the fun...

Mal.

[roosterben]

Behmor 1600 Plus / Peru Ceja de Selva A

Well got busy during the week, so didn't get to taste beans again until day 6 post roast, but been drinking the Peru all weekend. At days 6/7/8 making quite a nice latte, some notes of burnt caramel, bit of smokiness and some underlying choc notes. Maybe just a tad flat overall mouthfeel wise so maybe I need to try and develop them a bit slower. Some beans have a bit of oil coming out so I think I hit a nice dark roast.

[Dimal]

Guatemala Jacaltenango SHB with India Monsoon Malabar...

Another simple blend this weekend...

Have tried this combo a few times including using other Central American beans and a couple of times with Peru Ceja de Selva Estate. All of them work very well as black coffees and in milk coffees too.

Anyway, took the batch to a couple of degrees before the start of 2nd-Crack using a slightly quicker profile than usual, and a short-ish development time. Immediately dumped and cooled as soon as the temp approached 220C (indicated). As always, loved the aromas coming off the cooler...

Blend Details:
Guatemala Jacaltenango SHB... 500g
India Monsoon Malabar... 250g
Roasted Weight... 650g
Moisture Loss... 13.33%

Roast profile and post-roast photos attached below...

Mal.

[Dimal]

Eth.Gambella Ntrls with Indo.Sulawesi Blue and India El.Hills Pberry

The above roast batch turned out to be a real beauty.
Kind of savoury and fruity at the same time, huge body with just the right amount of acidity and a lingering sort of savoury-caramelly finish. Very intriguing and enjoyable...

This week, heading back to an Ethiopian Blend, can never stay away for very long...
Used a more or less standard profile for this batch which was taken to approx. 221.5C, prior to dumping into the cooler. Loads of chaff courtesy of the Gambella which one of our dogs was engaged in trying to catch before they hit the ground.
Wonderful aroma coming from the cooler as always...

Also carried out an annual service and maintenance routine on our Corretto hardware afterwards. Don't want it breaking down half way through a roast.

Blend info with profile and post-roast photos attached below.

Blend Details:
Ethiopia Gambella Naturals... 300g
Indonesia Sulawesi Blue... 250g
India El.Hills Peaberry... 200g
Roasted Weight... 645g
Weight Loss... 14.0%

Mal.