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Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

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  • #16
    Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

    Originally posted by JavaB link=1176983699/0#13 date=1177329479
    muppet_man,

    It is interesting how different people view the roasting process...

    I like the "hands on" approach - just like the professional roasters who stay and check the roast as it progresses..... I get great satisfaction out of tweaking the process... the smell of the beans the sounds of the cracks.... the developing colour of the beans.... its almost therapeutic

    I can also appreciate why some people want a "set and forget" solution.... and the GC certainly allows that.....

    Somehow I dont think I could ever become enthusiastic about that style of roasting :-/ :-/
    lol well you can do both 8-) Ask my fiance, I often come to bed with my hair smelling like a roastery because I have had my ear over the chaff collecter listening for cracks. I havent done a roast yet that I have not kept a close eye in the final moments and either added more time, pushed the cool button or watched as it switched to cooling automaticly. I think this is necessary as no two bean varieties are alike and until you have done many roasts and got the same results with the same profile with the same beans they will need to be watched.

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    • #17
      Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

      Originally posted by ozscott link=1176983699/0#11 date=1177324806
      Sounds great Linda.  I am seriously considering an aquisition.  As for the Popper its just a Breville Crazy popper, unmodded except for the basic chimney.  The roast is quite even with no burning and I can easily do 3 roasts of 100-115 grams back to back...it really cranks along.

      Cheers
      One of the best tests for how even the roast is s to watch it just before and after 1st crack. On my Crazy popper my 130-140gm roasts were quite uneven at this stage, but looked much better by the end of the roast.

      Beans that were quite lacklustre in the popper are now showing amasing characteristics from a Corretto roast. Theres no way Id go back to a popper, unless it was highly modified.

      Cheers,

      Mark.

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      • #18
        Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

        Originally posted by mj link=1176983699/0#14 date=1177329803
        Id have to agree with the general view here... Ive only just picked up my GC this weekend but having now done a couple of roasts I found it to be a far easier exercise than using a popper or setting up a coretto. Of course nothing wrong with either of those approaches, but for me the GC is the easier one for a consistent repeatable roast.
        Thats great mj ,

        Im with JB on this one though, love the hands-on approach married with some tweaking on-the-run as it were. Very satisfying and allows me to roast beans very accurately regardless of ambient conditions at the time and I like that aspect of the Correttos process too. As far as setting up goes, not as simple as using the GC or HotTop for sure but still pretty simple. I have everything already organised and ready for a roasting session at the completion of each previous session, so its only a matter of 5 minutes and Im ready to go.

        The most painstaking aspect of the whole process isnt actually the roasting, it is weighing the beans on my recently acquired set of digital scales, mainly because it means hunting through my bean stash to find the beans Im after, weigh each batch, return the beans back to the cupboard and then everythings ready to go. Wouldnt swap it for quids to be honest . I guess my next small job, is to increase the capacity of my cooling station from 300 grams to 600+ grams as this is really the only limitation on my maximum batch size at present. The actual BM can accommodate close to 1.0Kg batch sizes with ease so 600 grams is going to be a mere walk in the park and there arent many domestic roasters around that can do this quantity on a continuous basis and with the degree of finesse that the Corretto allows. As you can guess, Im not looking to upgrade my setup for some time to come just yet :.

        Mal.

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        • #19
          Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

          ....I am wondering whether to go with Corretto....the more I read the more is sounds like a lot of fun...and a damn site less expensive that a retail roaster. Plus if I buy a good heatgun, I have another tool!!!!

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          • #20
            Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

            I have to weigh in on the subject and jump on Mals comments...

            Mal, I "Regularly" roast 600/\/700g on the BM like yours ... what I do is point the gun centre left/\/right at an angle to encourage heat circulation, and have the TC on the opposite side. Only need 1 HG... if you go more than 800g, then a 2nd HG may be needed to "circulation" of heat due to the shape and size of the BM bowl...

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            • #21
              Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

              My standard roast in the coretto is 700-800 grams and I still love the amount of control that I have over the process that i didnt get with a popper.

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              • #22
                Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

                Originally posted by grendel link=1176983699/15#20 date=1177373267
                My standard roast in the coretto is 700-800 grams and I still love the amount of control that I have over the process that i didnt get with a popper.
                I normally do 350-400g but decided to try roasting 800g after seeing other people reckon they can do it ;D. It was 800g of Sumatran Mandheling. Roast time took 18:30 at about 10 seconds into 2nd crack. Looks a bit uneven, a few of the beans are quite light but I think it will be ok :-)

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                • #23
                  Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

                  The Mandheling tends to come out a bit uneven.

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                  • #24
                    Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

                    TG is right, Mandheling isnt the bean to use when trying a new roasting technique, its too patchy.

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                    • #25
                      Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

                      I learned that the hard way.

                      Mandheling was my first Heat Gun roast. :

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                      • #26
                        Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

                        Originally posted by Viviane link=1176983699/15#23 date=1177427836
                        TG is right, Mandheling isnt the bean to use when trying a new roasting technique, its too patchy.
                        Yeah, I know its not really an even roaster but its the bean Ive roasted the most. It still looks pretty good, just a bit more uneven than normal.

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                        • #27
                          Re: Quality Jump - Popcorn -v- Gene Cafe?

                          Originally posted by Thundergod link=1176983699/15#22 date=1177423559
                          The Mandheling tends to come out a bit uneven.
                          Very normal for this bean

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