Four roasts for me (but then I absolutely do not claim to be any sort of coffee afficionado!).
First roast via HGDB method was over done - probably around CS11 or 12.
Second roast via HGDB method, using a variable temp HG (Bosch 630dce) was better, although took 23 minutes, so was a little "baked"
Third roast was via a Corretto setup. Better again - although I lost my nerve and pulled it at the very start of SC, so it was a little light for my tastes
Finally, the fourth roast (Corretto), pulled it about10-20 seconds into second crack (15 minute roast time). Beautiful.
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I'm on the same page as this, I've run probably between 50-100 roasts through my Behmor, and whilst I get good coffee, nothing compares to the better roasters in my area (seven seeds, auction rooms and Padre), their coffees are another level.Originally posted by Dragunov21 View PostThat's my issue identified then...
Honestly, with about two dozen behmor roasts and about as many popper roasts behind me, I can say that getting it "drinkable" was easy, but getting results that are equal to a high-quality commercial blend like Campos' or 5Senses' offerings still else's me and I've taken to buying roasted beans again.
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I think I was getting some better results here and there with my old popper, but the batch size was so annoying.
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Ain't it amazing, the more you read (and listen) the smarter you get, wonder why that could be.Originally posted by Thundergod View PostOne.
Like Yelta I did a lot of reading on Coffee Snobs before having a go.
All that information guided me to a drinkable first attempt.
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One.
Like Yelta I did a lot of reading on Coffee Snobs before having a go.
All that information guided me to a drinkable first attempt.
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I have not wrecked a roast yet, down to due diligence and CS.I got racked off paying 5 for average/below average coffees everyday, got on the interweb and found this - my coffee mentor site, (months reading later...) bought a decent espresso outfit (as advised here) a decent grinder (ditto) and took more advice from here regarding fresh roasted beans and found a local supplier ($35 a kilo). Again gleamed here that green beans last up to 3years as opposed to roasted at 3 weeks. Bought the intro pack from beanbay, as in "I'll have a go at that" read and read and read about what to look for in a roast, bought a 2000w adjustable Ozito HG $30, got the missus biggest SS colander and a wooden spoon and went for it... months readng flew passed... got a breadmaker and rewired it for continuous stir (again - instructions on this site), stuck with the analogue eyeballing method for a while until CS educated enough (thanks one more time coffeesnobs) I bought a temperature DMM data logger ($69), downloaded some roasting profiles to follow, more simple BM mods and here I am, all within the last 12 months. Best value for money trip I have ever taken and all thanks to my dislike of paying high rates for things mediocre and especially to the people of this site.
Happy Rooster :-)
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Started out with a popper. First batch I did was drinkable to me at the time. Not sure it would compare well these days
As others have said, if you keep notes and do some reading, you will keep getting better.
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It's a fun experiment for me to try out a pop corn popper first and chatting with my local roaster about it on top of reading the posts here in the roast section.
Have since bought a behmor too from Andy and the start up pack was great to test different regions. I've sort of have a basic idea of what to get from different beans now but it's just more trial and error. You will get the OMG it's tasty to WTF was that roast.
But that's the fun of it.
Now I do a single roast of blends I enjoy with a small batch of experimental blend each time so atleast I have coffee for the week.
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I was a member of Coffee Snobs long before I started roasting and read almost everything posted about roasting coffee, I suspect this gave me a real head start.Originally posted by Dimal View Post
Way before I knew about CoffeeSnobs; absolutely carbonised the first batch, the next batch was just black and oily and then the third batch... Wow!
The only way to learn is to have a go and don't worry if you get the first couple or few batches wrong, keep notes of every batch - good or bad
Mal.
This is a pic of my first roaster, pretty basic but taught me a lot.

As Mal says, the only way to learn is to have a go, no matter if you mess a couple of batches up, you'll get there in the end.
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Arcade , I. As a newbie to roasting purchased a Baby roaster from Mark at Coffee Roasters Australia . At their shop I was given a lesson on how to roast by time,heat control,smoke,smell &sight.Having gained all this Mark introduced me to Coffee Snobs for. My starter pack of greens,My first roast was successful and subsequent roasts improved.I still roast by these basics I my KKHG roaster & many kilos of roasts completed and have never had to bin any.Originally posted by Arcade View PostThanks Mal. It seems my fears have been allayed by everyone, I thought I'd be fumbling around for months and months before getting a half-respectable result. I really like the idea of being more involved with my coffee, so will dive in shortly.
I'm also amazed at the variety of green beans available. I had no idea until I looked into it.
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I'm the dunce here... but in my defence (got to protect the ego) I did purchase a fully manual roaster. It took me a few weeks to get going (I was doing up to six roasts per session) but within a month I was getting really good results. I really enjoyed the learning process and get a lot out of roasting at home. I posted on my first few roasts (don't read the post if you are easily discouraged).
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All great advice above for you Arcade. If you are thinking of the Behmor the payback time alone simply from buying greens vs browns is pretty quick, which makes it a pretty risk free endeavour (assuming you buy greens from here and are paying $35-$40 p/kg for retail browns).
If it took you 2 years to settle on a blend you obviously know what you like (and fair to say not satisfied if you don't get it, justifiably so!), however, the fun/joy/mystery/excitement of home roasting will quickly blur the lines of an average roast to a good roast. Believe me, when you taste that first cup and say "oh yum, I roasted that!" it makes any average tasting roast disappear from memory and you continue to chase the better roasts. The good-but-not-amazing roasts will still taste good and for the most part all be easily drinkable, just put them down to experience.
My hot tip for if (when!) you get a roaster...start reading all the descriptions on the greens in beanbay, read the tasting notes from the forum and simply pick things that sound yum. Copy the profiles/settings others have used with success, its a good place to start and you'll be learning more than you think just from sitting hunched peering through the glass watching the little fellas hypnotically roll around.....I think I'm gonna go roast some coffee!!!
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Thanks Mal. It seems my fears have been allayed by everyone, I thought I'd be fumbling around for months and months before getting a half-respectable result. I really like the idea of being more involved with my coffee, so will dive in shortly.
I'm also amazed at the variety of green beans available. I had no idea until I looked into it.
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Welcome Arcade...
Way before I knew about CoffeeSnobs; absolutely carbonised the first batch, the next batch was just black and oily and then the third batch... Wow! This is great! I have been getting better at it ever since but still learn something pretty well every time I have a roast session. Never gets dull and boring plus you get to consume some wonderful coffee from CS BeanBay while you're doing it.
The only way to learn is to have a go and don't worry if you get the first couple or few batches wrong, keep notes of every batch - good or bad - and try to improve with each batch you do. Heaps of info to be found here on CS and heaps of willing helpers to assist getting you on to the straight and narrow road towards coffee nirvana.
Main thing, is to have fun...
Mal.
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Just 2 for me also (but I have only done 6 roasts in total
- brand new behmor just before christmas).
I stuffed up the first roast because I was too impatient to wait until I had a set of scales and badly underestimated the weight I was roasting. That lot went in the compost but the 5 since then have been good. I had anticipated having to bin a large proportion of the 2.5kg bag of beans that Andy supplied with the roaster, but have been delighted with the results so far.
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