Popper -> Heat Gun Experience

[Javaphile]

Re: Popper -> Heat Gun Experience

5 minutes for a rolling second crack??

Can someone explain why its so fast? my heat gun roasts dont get to first crack until 12-13 mins and second until around 16-18 minutes...

its not a heat bazooka by any chance is it?

Possibly because of his small batch size.

Java "One Bazooka per customer please!" phile

[Lovebite]

Re: Popper -> Heat Gun Experience

5 minutes for a rolling second crack??

Can someone explain why its so fast? my heat gun roasts dont get to first crack until 12-13 mins and second until around 16-18 minutes...

its not a heat bazooka by any chance is it?

[adrian_lovell]

Re: Popper -> Heat Gun Experience

Thanks for all your comments.

I had my second go this morning - 1x250g of Peru & 1x250g Decaf.

I changed my equipment slightly from last time and had mixed results again. I tried the collander in a saucepan method, and tied the heatgun up with string so that it was suspended about 12cm above the beans. I then used a whisk to agitate the beans.

The Peru was first. First crack in 4 minutes, and seemed to proceed straight into a rolling second. Lots of smoke, and the colour looked right, so I called it quits at about 5 minutes. One issue was that the whisk was too short and I was burning my fingers

For the decaf I tried raising the heatgun higher off the beans, but I was still at first crack in about 4 minutes. After reading some of the other threads about roasting the decaf too dark, I didnt want to go too long. But it seemed like second crack had started so I dumped it in the cooler.

Looking at the results now, it seems like theyre both too lightly roasted. Both have some darker beans - its not a completely even roast. So Im guessing some made it to second, but the majority was short.

Should taste okay I reckon, but still room for improvement.

[Lovebite]

Re: Popper -> Heat Gun Experience

Great photos, and good to see visual examples of our efforts. I wish I could be organised enough to do something similar.

Im definitely no expert, having the HUGE sum of about 10 roasts under my belt, but I am surprised by the uneven roast you have obtained. Ive got to say Ive never had that problem.

I noticed the wooden spoon, and I wonder if you might consider using a whisk or similar instead for maximum agitation?

The next question is are you stirring enough? I stir mine constantly, in a spiral motion, against the heat gun airflow, and find the beans move most of the time, and I have lost the little black spots that showed on my first two roasts.

finally the frypan looks pretty shallow? are you finding you beans end up all over the place? I make a mess no matter what, but Ive progressively moved to deeper and deeper pots to say on mess, and allow more vigorous stirring.

does anyone agree, or wish to set me straight?

[Bruce]

Re: Popper -> Heat Gun Experience

Excellent macro photography.
Cheers...
Bruce...

[Framey]

Re: Popper -> Heat Gun Experience

Nice work.
Very similar to the setup I was using this afternoon.The slight charring of the beans doesnt look too bad, especially for your first couple of heat gun roasts. I usually pick through the roast for beans that are a tad overdone or those annoying beans that dont seem to fully roast (unripe, clinkers???).
I was mucking around with my thermocouple today and you get a fairly wide variation in temperature depending on the distance from the nosel. I try to maintain a distance that means the temperature of the hot air hitting the beans is approx 220*C. Im sure this isnt always the case but I try. It is fairly easy to stray a little close to the beans or if you arent stirring the beans and moving the gun constantly you could get a hot spot and possibly a little bit of scorching.
Using 300g of green beans I generally operate on hitting first crack at around 10 minutes and second 4 or 5 minutes later.
Take this advice with a grain of salt as Im not exactly a master roaster myself. Just stuff Ive noticed.


Stephen

[adrian_lovell]

Ive been roasting with popcorn maker for around 12 months now, and after experiencing very quick roast times (5min to 2nd crack), I thought I could justify the $14.88 cost of an XU1.

While I was in Bunnings, I also got the parts for a bean cooler 2000 ($14 exhaust fan and a $4.95 hand bucket). Sitting a $5 strainer from the local discount shop on top I can cool beans nice and quickly now (this lot was done in 30sec).

See below for photos of my first roast. I started the heat gun on the 600 deg setting and was getting black spots almost immediately. I quickly changed to the 300 deg setting, and the roast took 15min (just shy of 2nd crack). I found that the roast wasnt as even as Id like - plus you can see black spots on the close up.

The setup:


The end product:


Closeup (note the black spots):


The bean cooler 2000: