I-Coffee roasting experiences

[sorrentina]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

I would say the whiter the light the better. I roast in my kitchen and under the fluorescent room light the beans look a touch darker than when you shine in a torch. My torch seems to have a whiter light.

As a rule I would say the beans often look slightly more roasted than they actually are. When you remove them and observe in bright light a very dark looking roast (in the roaster) suddenly appears to be one notch lighter than you thought. So using this rule I usually roast until the beans do look quite dark- but if I start to see oil spotting I know I am ready to cool as quick as I can...

Another note for I-Coffee users who use the bean cooler. I modified mine with a piece of riveted sheet metal. I basically made a tube the same diameter as the bed of the cooler and about 20cm long. I then fitted it to the machine (holding it in place with scrunched up alfoil). Now I can dump my beans direct from the roast pot into the tube on the cooler- this cools the beans quicker as you dont need to worry about cooling the roast pan as well- and the beans are sitting directly on top of the fan with more airflow than if you just put the roast pot on the cooler. A similar mod would be to find a large tin (tinned peaches?) of the correct diameter and cut off each end.

I can post pictures of my cooler mod here if anyone is interested.

[oldbeamer2]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Second crack on the decaff is REALLY hard to hear. I dont think I ever have.

However, you dont have to go on color or sound, if you do a roast till its VERY well done, youll see that many beans have popped, so theyve broken open in what seems to be a violent way. They look almost like the start of a coffee bean explosion.

Thats the way some beans look after second crack. So if you look at the beans roasting, when you see some popped ones you know youre in second crack.

[TC]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Second crack on the decaff is REALLY hard to hear.  I dont think I ever have.

However, you dont have to go on color or sound, if you do a roast till its VERY well done, youll see that many beans have popped, so theyve broken open in what seems to be a violent way.  They look almost like the start of a coffee bean explosion.

Thats the way some beans look after second crack.  So if you look at the beans roasting, when you see some popped ones you know youre in second crack.

In my experience, it seems to be best to roast it to 2nd -5^oC (give or take). I feel it doesnt work as well when taken to 2nd.

[trentski]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

I roast 250grams at a time in mine and by the end of first crack the beans have expanded so that I cant see the top of the stirrer. So even if I cant hear the cracks I can generally tell by the way the volume has changed.

I use a LED head torch to see how the roast is going in mine as I roast outside at night mainly.

[trentski]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

This is what I do my cooling in. It is a small seive thing I got as part of a set of 7 sieves for $10 from my local foodworks




and after a 250g roast of 200g Tanzania Uru and 50g PNG eastern wilds


Cools the beans down in a couple of minutes, much quicker than trying to cool them in the pan

[MrDerrickC]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

I cool exactly the same way! ;D

[sorrentina]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

This is basically the exact same mod I made- only much neater. It works very well- the beans start to cool immediately and are completely cool in a few minutes.

I used a piece of riveted sheet metal - but a good option would be to find a tin can of the correct dimensions and cut off either end- or drill hundreds of holes in the bottom. A tall tin would be good actually as the metal walls draw heat out of the beans very quickly and effectively. Also you could shape a pouring spout at the top end for pouring the beans out after you are done...

[cruza52]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

I didnt purchase that accessory with mine as I just use the home made bucket bean cooler I use for my coretto. Very simple matter to just dump the beans straight in. bonus is that the 200gm I roast in the iCoffee is speard out in the sieve and allows for good circulation and a very quick cooling process.

[wonder]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Just roasted 2x250 batches of green beans (CS9-10) both in under 20 mins, after having some slight issues with my I-coffee... Got great service from Jack and could not recommend the roaster or Sorrentina coffee high enough..

I also cool my beans down with a home made cooler..

[Mariner]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Good Day All,
Just roasted 150g of the Columbian Volcan Supremo. It roasted really easily as per Andys beanbay description. I took it all the way up to start of second crack but before any spotting was/is visible.

Commenced roast 11h58m25s
SFC 12h06m00s
RFC 12h06m50s
CFC 12h08m50s
SSC 12h10m15s - roast pulled at a solid CS9 but not quite CS10. Really it doesnt matter about the times, I just put them up to show how consistent this great little roaster is.

My cooling method is two decent strainers which fit the area of the iCoffee cooler very closely and to just dump and swirl the beans over the cooler, changing collanders every 20 seconds or so. The beans were cool to touch in about 2 minutes. I was looking to devise a plan to use a cake tin or fruit tin etc but dont think that I will bother as I am still only doing 150g batches for now.

Now, I am looking to start some blending as I wish to invent the perfect southcentralamerican (like the way that word is blended - thats going to be the name of my blend) blend. My question is this...... Because of the small parcel sizes of the iCoffee would I be best off doing a post blend or painstakingly measuring and pre-blending? I will be looking at doing a 3-4 bean blend depending on taste, luck of the roast and virtually no skill or general idea of what I am actually doing so the blend will be just swell no doubt....

Regards, Frank (Mariner).

[sorrentina]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

I invent a new blend virtually every time I roast...  8-)

I usually blend after roasting as single origins will tend to roast more evenly than a blend for the obvious reasons. However having said that: I have a bag of mixed beans- basically whenever a green bay bag is down to its last 100 grams or so it goes into the blend bag. I believe my blend bag has over 20 varieties in it at least. Every now and again I roast 150 grams out of the bag- and am surprised both by how well these roasts go- and how truly amazing they usually taste. I actually like the way the different beans reach different stages and the final mongrel roast.  So roasting pre-blends certainly works and is worth exploration.

Perhaps you could make 2 versions of your Southcentralamerican one pre-roast blend and one post roast. Then compare side by side! ;-)

[Mariner]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

I invent a new blend virtually every time I roast... 

I usually blend after roasting as single origins will tend to roast more evenly than a blend for the obvious reasons. However having said that: I have a bag of mixed beans- basically whenever a green bay bag is down to its last 100 grams or so it goes into the blend bag. I believe my blend bag has over 20 varieties in it at least. Every now and again I roast 150 grams out of the bag- and am surprised both by how well these roasts go- and how truly amazing they usually taste. I actually like the way the different beans reach different stages and the final mongrel roast.  So roasting pre-blends certainly works and is worth exploration.

Perhaps you could make 2 versions of your Southcentralamerican one pre-roast blend and one post roast. Then compare side by side!

Hi Jack,
Wow that sounds fun - what a way to drink and discover a delicious roast. Using this same method you may stumble across what could well be the greatest roast ever in the world....but just once, never to be replicated again!! Outstanding!! That sounds like my kind of roasting technique. In the name of science I may just have to give it a go...

Anyway, I just roasted another 150g batch, this time of the Peru Segunda Wilds.... a wild bean indeed! They looked rotten going in but quite grand and evenly roasted coming out - another testament to how good this little roaster is.

Commenced Roast: 15h23m20s
SFC: 15h32m00s
RFC: 15h32m35s
CFC: ??
Oh Crap already into SC: 15h35m30s
Pulled roast and cooled beans.

Well, luckily plan A & B is always to monitor colour first. Beans are a solid CS9 edging towards CS10 but again the roast is very even and looks really good. No spotting of any kind. This bean is very difficult to hear the completion of FC and smokes a ton right through the roast cycle. SC had already well and truly started by the time that I realised and pulled the roast.

I will commence sacrificing these brave little beans in the name of science on Sunday morning with some pancakes and maple syrup, have no idea how they are going to taste....TBC

[trentski]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Ive pre-blended four beans at 60 grams each a number of times and have got great results.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

OK. So my i-coffee and sample beans (thanks Jack) arrived last week and I decided to get things running yesterday. Have never roasted before (even in a popper). Decided to try 250g of the Peru Seja de Selva (largely b/c I have some of these roasted by Andy with which to compare). I followed the order of operation suggested by Jack on p3 of this thread, ie no preheat, set dial at 9, press go, then about 7 minutes in hit start button twice to reset timer.
Initially I thought I might have got to 1st crack at about 12 minutes, but I suspect I was just hearing beans rattling against each other, because at 15 minutes there was obvious loud cracking, which continued for around 3 minutes. Im not really sure whether I correctly identified end of 1C, because at around 19 minutes what might have been 2C (or continuation of 1C?) got going and I quickly pulled the beans and cooled as quick as I could.
Was very even roast but close to CS12....a fair bit darker than I had intended (and a fair bit darker than Andys). Im using a combination of 2 handled collanders and the i-coffee bean cooler presently.

Does the 15 minutes to 1st crack sound plausible given a 250g load, about 23 degrees ambient temp (I was on back porch out of sun....other half was using kitchen to make Thai beef ribs)?

I then waited 45 minutes and did a batch of 250g Ethiopian Gunna Limu, bearing in mind that the 1st batch went darker than intended. This time I reached what I think was 1C at 14 minutes and ended out pulling the beans at 17:40. Not as dark, but a fairly motly bunch of beans (some of them had small chunks blown off them, and much more chaff in the beans). Is this one notoriously ugly?
Great fun.

Cheers
BOSW

[sorrentina]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Hello there,

second crack can be hard to identify- and it sounds like you may have gone well into it on the Peru beans? Was there any sign of oil spotting? If not i would say you will find that will be a nice roast. If there is a very little oil spotting it should still be OK- but if they are very oily it could be too far...

as for the Ethipian from memory they are a fairly uneven bean? and a mottled result is to be expected- and a lot of chaff. Still good in the cup though.

let us know how the taste testing goes.