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Behmor Plus - Roasting Approaches

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  • #16
    Back on to the Brazils again, last week I roasted up a bunch of old bits and bobs Brazil naturals that I had laying around. Following some advice garnered from this forum I rebagged all the scraggly leftovers of old bags into a single bag for a week or two to let the moisture content equalise. Again slow and low with a 200 g batch on P5 D auto, ambient temp at 16 deg.
    It was windy as hell on my balcony. Slow start to FC at 15:45, didn't start rolling til 16:45. Given this slow start I was worried about a dull result with no smell/oil, what I call baking, and didn't really even know how these beans were going to roast so I held the heat up in auto mode for another minute til 17:45 then powered down to P1.
    At 18:15 I hit P3 held heat there at half stick until I saw smoke then P1-cool to hear just a couple of SC snaps as I opened the door during cool and pulled out the chaff tray.

    Good smell after a couple of days. No visible roast defects, and passed the single bean post roast taste test.

    Drinking now as a double espresso one week later and really enjoying the smooth, sugary taste, with just a touch of acidity, enough so that it isn't flat. Reminds me of an Italian espresso.

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    • #17
      I accidentally left the chaff tray out on my #6 roast (PNG Mt. Ambar) and we've just enjoyed a fabulous pour-over of it. I wonder if the air circulation is less hindered by the omission of the tray?

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      • #18
        Behmor Plus - Roasting Approaches

        That is something I've not experimented with, but thanks for the tip. The only time I did remove the tray was for a chaffy bean when I ought to have had it in (!) during the roast the chaff accumulated at the back of the roaster and started catching fire as I was finishing the roast. As I went into cool, the embers really got going, and I think the neighbours thought a back burning operation was underway. But kept a cool head and remembered the advice not to open the door and introduce more oxygen. Soon enough it died down, but the resulting roast was a little smokey!

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        • #19
          Originally posted by sprezzatura View Post
          I accidentally left the chaff tray out on my #6 roast (PNG Mt. Ambar) and we've just enjoyed a fabulous pour-over of it. I wonder if the air circulation is less hindered by the omission of the tray?
          The chaff tray has been changed modified and developed over time to do a great job of catching the chaff, keeping it away from the elements and not to hinder air-flow.

          Don't roast without it!

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          • #20
            Okey-doke! Just curious.

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            • #21
              I stopped roasting because i consistently got dark results. i always aimed for rolling SC. i typically used P2 and B program. i'm not sure where to begin really and i'm a bit overwhelmed by info here and on this site. keen to get back into it.

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              • #22
                Originally posted by mikeandkel View Post
                I stopped roasting because i consistently got dark results. i always aimed for rolling SC. i typically used P2 and B program. i'm not sure where to begin really and i'm a bit overwhelmed by info here and on this site. keen to get back into it.
                Maybe start by not aiming for rolling second crack. You need to be about 20 seconds ahead of what is going on in the roaster. I try to hit cool just before second crack start. Watch for an increase in smoke at the appropriate time. For instance, if you have a 400g load and there is usually 3:10 between 1C and 2C, then I would normally hit cool somewhere around 3:00 or even earlier. It is also helpful to get a torch to help view the beans.

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                • #23
                  That’s an interesting thread. Thanks for sharing your experience with the Behmor Plus!

                  As anyone tried to preheat the roaster more than the usual 2 minutes ? I’ve read that hard beans can absorb a lot of heat in the early stage of the roast.

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                  • #24
                    Hi there

                    I haven't simply because of the safety cutoff, as you may know if you go much longer than 2 minutes, you can't roast immediately afterwards. I think it is determined by a cutoff temp on one of the thermistors. You can fool the sensor as described here https://www.reddit.com/r/roasting/co...e_behmor_1600/, but I haven't bothered.

                    The reason I haven't played much with the preheat is that you lose so much heat when you open the giant door and fumble around for a minute putting the basket in like I do, and this will be a random amount of heat let off every time, leading to inconsistency. I've got enough inconsistency with ambient temperature, and all of my sloppy weighing/timing as it is.

                    I think the motivation behind a lot of the people doing the preheat, especially on CG/HB/Reddit is to try and play pretend commercial roaster at home. But my guess is you will never get near a commercial drum turn temp on the Behmor, could be totally off the mark here, but thinking of the heat carried by that giant mass of steel versus the heat held by the little Behmor toaster oven, can't really compare.

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                    • #25
                      Yeah I agree with the fact that trying to replicate a commercial roaster profile with the Behmor is kind of a nonsense.

                      However I've been able do bypass the cutoff by putting in the drum without stopping the roaster (with heat gloves, of course!). It's actually easier than it looks with a bit of practice. That way I was able to preheat the roaster until B325 (I think the cutoff is at B330). I think the reason is that as the timer doesn't restart the fan kicks in not long after the the drum is charged into the roaster and from there the B temp starts to go down even if the beans temp goes up.

                      With this little trick I am now able to have faster ramps. I can now roast up to 340g of coffee in the 11:00-13:00 minutes range.

                      I was curious to see if others have tried this method and what were their results.

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                      • #26
                        I'm in Queensland and lately the weather has been 23° with 63 - 73% humidity. Haven't needed to preheat at all and I'm guessing that the profiles were set for optimum room temperature (21°?).
                        The profiles are about bang on for weight.

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                        • #27
                          Has anyone tried P2-manual during the stretch as in here: Sweet Maria's Web Forum • View topic - Roasting from Joe Behm.

                          If I don't hear back I will try this approach next roast.

                          Bunkmil: do you find you get any tipping on those roasts with the faster ramps ? The reason I slow the Brazils down so much in the Behmor is I find they are prone to tip. Ethiopians not so much.

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                          • #28
                            Originally posted by pyrmontboy200 View Post
                            Has anyone tried P2-manual during the stretch as in here: Sweet Maria's Web Forum • View topic - Roasting from Joe Behm.
                            That's funny.
                            I don't know who the author mldavis2 is but I do know the guy in Australia that Joseph Behm watched doing 50+ roasts over 3 days this year.


                            That method is posted all over this site in Behmor threads.

                            200 grams of coffee

                            Press:
                            [200]
                            [P1]
                            [Start]
                            At first crack press [P2]
                            When ready and prior to second crack, press [Cooling]

                            The variation to that is:

                            200 grams of coffee

                            Press:
                            [200]
                            [P1]
                            [Start]
                            At first crack press [C] <--- reset the timer with Rosetta Stone
                            At first crack press [P2] <--- 25% heat, manual.
                            When ready and prior to second crack, press [Cooling]


                            It's the method I use at MICE and CafeBiz and other public demo sites where I'm roasting all day, talking and distracted and still every roast is beautiful. Give it a go.

                            I should also say...
                            be careful what (and more importantly, where) you read. Our friends in America use a different roaster, different voltage and what works here won't work the same there. In the USA on a 120v roaster the temperature drop when you hit [P2] (25%) is too much, they would need to press [P3] at the same point to get a similar roast.

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                            • #29
                              Thanks, well I can't really argue with that! I'll give P2-manual during the stretch a shot.

                              I wonder if p1 auto might be a bit hard and fast for softer beans though...

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                              • #30
                                I wonder if p1 auto might be a bit hard and fast for softer beans though...
                                Try it and then you will know!


                                As for hard/soft don't get too hung-up on it. The fact you are quoting it makes me think it also came from a site that wasn't coffee snobs and was possibly just regurgitated by someone who heard/read it somewhere (even in the Behmor manual!)

                                Nearly all arabica is grown in the same altitude-band and will behave similar in the roaster. Robusta and Island coffee (Australia, Hawaii, Jamaicia) will roast differently and a change in roast weight will fix the profile (less beans for Robusta, more for Island).

                                Do whatever works for you but I think if you settle on a roasting profile (like [200],[P1],[Start],[C],[P2],[Cooling] ) and just adjust the bean weights I think you will enjoy the results.

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