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  • Roasting the peaberry question?

    I poppered some peaberry this morning and was confounded at how quickly it roast. The first crack seemed to go on and on and I got a fair bit of smoke and oil residue. I turned the machine off at 9 minutes and I have to say the beans look and taste pretty charred.

    The point is that there is no pause between the first and second crack, or that the rolling crack continues forever and their is no second crack. I can see how a thermocouple could be of value when roasting these little critters.

    Any tips on roasting this sort of bean - or are they meant to be roasted to buggery to taste good????

  • #2
    Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

    I havent roasted a peaberry in my popper since when I first started back in October..
    It was a PNG and I was getting FC at 2.50 and SC at 5.00 minutes.
    No problem distinguishing FC and SC though and definitely not roasted to buggery.

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    • #3
      Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

      I just did a popper roast yesterday with the peaberries. I usually get to 2nd crack around 10-17 munites, but my first roast got to rolling 2nd crack in 5 minutes (no break between 1st/2nd of course) and the batch was promptly thrown into the garden for the plants to enjoy... theyll be hyperactive for weeks . The problem is that the climate is much hotter now than it was a few weeks ago. I just waited till late afternoon when it was cooler to get a decent roast time, but still pretty quick tho. Should have waited until night. The ambient temp really does have a huge effect. If all else fails u can connect extra extension cords or put multiple poppers on the same outlet.

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      • #4
        Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

        Extra extension cords doesnt always work.
        I tried running my popper through a 30m one to slow it down but it made no difference.

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        • #5
          Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

          Originally posted by Thundergod link=1186801421/0#3 date=1186816310
          Extra extension cords doesnt always work.
          I tried running my popper through a 30m one to slow it down but it made no difference.
          Try a double adapter at the end of an ext cord with a fan or something on at the same time as the popper (if you dont have multiple poppers).

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          • #6
            Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

            Originally posted by richy_4000 link=1186801421/0#4 date=1186817417
            Try a double adapter at the end of an ext cord with a fan or something on at the same time as the popper (if you dont have multiple poppers).
            I dont advise this approach..... more likely to run the risk of overloading the power outlet, the extension cord and perhaps the house circuit this is connected to . Far better to reduce your batch size down by 10g at a time until youre getting the sort of roast profile youre aiming for. Better yet, grab a used Breadmaker from an Op-Shop or Cash Converters, a half decent Heat Gun and something to attach it to.... Voilà! You have a Corretto, a great home roasting option ,

            Mal.

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            • #7
              Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

              I find that the Monsooned Indian Peaberry can go very fast from first to second crack if I dont pull the HG temp down just before the first crack...I think it must be that type of bean, which means you might struggle to get much time between the end of the first crack and beginning of the second in a popper.

              Cheers

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              • #8
                Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

                Thanks for the advice everyone

                I purchased a DMM and heat probe today as I would like to try to avoid the sinking feeling I get after overroasting my beans.  

                The ambient temperature (today a mild 26 degrees) seems to be a big issue although I roasted some Indian Tiger Mountain after my batch of Brazil Peaberry and they behaved just as I expected, albeit a slightly faster roast than a few weeks ago.  

                I think the only real way of dealing with the exuberant heating of the Breville Crazy Popper is to put less beans in to slow things down (slightly counter intuitive that less beans means slower roast  [smiley=huh.gif]) .  Next time I will put in about 20 percent less than the usual amount.  I dont weigh out the beans; just use a cup measure.  As the peaberries are smaller I guess that means I might be putting too many in.  I am afraid my next purchase might be some digital scales.... the acquisition trail goes on and on.... [smiley=undecided.gif]

                Jason

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                • #9
                  Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

                  Originally posted by Beanhead link=1186801421/0#7 date=1186825375
                  I am afraid my next purchase might be some digital scales.... the acquisition trail goes on and on.... [smiley=undecided.gif]
                  Gday again Jason,

                  Yep, its a much better idea to weigh your beans per roast batch rather than go by volume for the observation you have already made. There are a couple of good places on the web where you can buy good quality scales for reasonable cost, here for example. All the best mate,

                  Mal.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

                    You can also buy electronic scales for under $40 at general department stores these days - Kmart, Target etc. If youre into precision weighing and/or will also use them for cooking, look for ones that weigh in 1 gram increments. A lot of them are 2g or 5g - not so useful if youre measuring 3g of salt for a baking recipe, or want to know that you have exactly the same 80g of green beans that you had last time you roasted.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

                      I actually drank some of my first peaberry roast yesterday and it was awful. I had to toss my brew and the beans over the balcony .

                      I did another peaberry roast yesterday in defiance. Used about 2/3 the quantity of beans and couldnt manage to get it to the first crack at all. THe beans roasted though. I used the DMM and pulled the roast when the temp got to about 214 degrees and after 14 long minutes staring into the popper, and when the beans looked convincingly dark brown.

                      SO I understand that changing the weight of beans varies your roasting behaviour (the beans that is) significantly so maybe I should get the scales...

                      A question is that can you rely on the temperature reading? Eg if I roasted some beans for 20 minutes with no signs of a 2nd crack and the temp of the beans never rose above say 220 degrees, does that mean that I would not have overroasted beans? Is it a formula based on temperature and roast duration, not just temperature? can you overroast beans by having them roasting for a long time at a relatively low temp.

                      Hope you know what I mean

                      Jason

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                      • #12
                        Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

                        Originally posted by Beanhead link=1186801421/0#10 date=1187005321
                        I actually drank some of my first peaberry roast yesterday and it was awful. I had to toss my brew and the beans over the balcony .
                        Hi again Jason,

                        Yep, these beans are definitely better pulled before the onset of 2nd-Crack in my opinion or at most, just at the onset of the first few snaps.

                        Originally posted by Beanhead link=1186801421/0#10 date=1187005321
                        I did another peaberry roast yesterday in defiance. Used about 2/3 the quantity of beans and couldnt manage to get it to the first crack at all. THe beans roasted though.
                        This is not a bad thing, at least you can do things to control the pace of the roast in this situation. For example, I used to keep a short length of an old hardwood fence paling handy and just sat it across the top of the chimney to limit the volume of air exhausting and thereby control the roast chamber temperature. With your DMM thermometer setup, you can then control the temperature profile quite accurately once you get a feel for whats happening.

                        Originally posted by Beanhead link=1186801421/0#10 date=1187005321
                        SO I understand that changing the weight of beans varies your roasting behaviour (the beans that is) significantly so maybe I should get the scales...
                        Yep, scales are good.

                        Originally posted by Beanhead link=1186801421/0#10 date=1187005321
                        A question is that can you rely on the temperature reading? Eg if I roasted some beans for 20 minutes with no signs of a 2nd crack and the temp of the beans never rose above say 220 degrees, does that mean that I would not have overroasted beans?
                        You could check the calibration of your particular DMM/T-couple by measuring the temperature of boiling water, that would give you a reasonable indication of where its at.

                        I personally dont roast by temperature but a lot of CSers do and Im sure that at least a couple of them can give you good quality data on the temperature range that 1st and 2nd cracks occur. I suppose though, for this to mean anything you would need to ensure that you always have the t/c bead at exactly the same position in the roast chamber because there would most likely be some kind of temperature gradient going on. In the middle of the bean mass would probably be a good place.

                        Regarding your roast above, I dont think the beans will be over-roasted or baked, so long as you are fairly sure that 1st-Crack came and went. You wouldnt want to let them go for much longer than this though, and if the temperature had been just a little higher, you would probably have pushed the beans towards 2nd-Crack. Anyway, give the beans a couple of days to degas properly and try a brew or two, they should be ok. All the best,

                        Mal.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

                          Originally posted by Beanhead link=1186801421/0#10 date=1187005321
                          I

                          I did another peaberry roast yesterday in defiance. Used about 2/3 the quantity of beans and couldnt manage to get it to the first crack at all. THe beans roasted though. I used the DMM and pulled the roast when the temp got to about 214 degrees and after 14 long minutes staring into the popper, and when the beans looked convincingly dark brown.


                          A question is that can you rely on the temperature reading? Eg if I roasted some beans for 20 minutes with no signs of a 2nd crack and the temp of the beans never rose above say 220 degrees, does that mean that I would not have overroasted beans? Is it a formula based on temperature and roast duration, not just temperature? can you overroast beans by having them roasting for a long time at a relatively low temp.

                          Hope you know what I mean

                          Jason
                          Hi Jason,

                          I have found that the cracks of first crack can be relatively minimal when roasting in a popper, sometimes only a very few.
                          As far as temp goes I generally find the first crack is just finished by around 215C, and finish somewhere around 219-224 or so, usually stopping at first sign of second crack, somewhere around 15-18 mins. If you can extend roast time to 5 mins after end of first crack, within these temperatures it usually works well. Note exact times and temps will vary with bean type.

                          Regards
                          Bullitt

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                          • #14
                            Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

                            Oh the joys of popper roasting in the winter.

                            Using a plank of wood to partially cover the opening helps keep hot air in, and quicken the roast. If youre finding the roast struggling, its best to act sooner, rather than later.

                            On colder days, use the wood to get to 1C quickly, then remove wood for a desired amount of time (say 4 mins), then reapply wood to get to 2C.

                            Very effective when temps are down below 15*C.

                            Noting down what temperature 1C occurs and adding 15*C will help estimate the neighbourhood of 2C.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Roasting the peaberry question?

                              Ambient Temperature is very important to the outcome of your roast using a popper.
                              I have found that the best temps to roast at are between 13 - 16 degrees C. I also found that the best time to roast in the hotter weather was early in the morning when there was a bit of moisture still in the air as humidity seems to have some impact on the roast too.

                              It also depends on your popper. My popper is 1100 watts which runs cooler than a 1200 watt or more popper. This I believe makes a huge difference in roasting times. The 1100 watt popper takes a bit longer to heat up so you will get a slower more stable roast.


                              I have done a few experiments lately for the cold weather and will post up my observations/findings a bit later.

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