I-Coffee roasting experiences

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Tried again tonight.

150g of the same beans.

In with timer on 9. 6 minutes later, restarted and continued.
S1C 17min, E1C19min, S2C 22min

Beans are probably (dont have a card) around CS8.

Still a really long time, but this time the colour matched the sound I was expecting.

.

These times are longer than most of mine, but if you look back through this thread to early posts by Jaybee and others, this timing is consistent with their early roasts.

[Captain_Starfish]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Yeah, seems long but its heading back to sane. Tried those really dark beans this morning. Opened the bag and the smell warned of what was to come - and the taste of delicately burnt dog poo was no surprise.

The ones I did last night are already pretty nice, will be interesting to see how they go.

My missus is going to laugh at the spreadsheet/log Im about to print up and put with the roaster - date, variety, weight in, weight out, times to S1C, E1C, S2C, S2C+, CS?, notes on roast and a separate tasting notes for a week afterwards on each variety.

But it will be interesting to track this stuff over the next few months...

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Yeah, seems long but its heading back to sane. Tried those really dark beans this morning. Opened the bag and the smell warned of what was to come - and the taste of delicately burnt dog poo was no surprise.



My missus is going to laugh at the spreadsheet/log Im about to print up and put with the roaster - date, variety, weight in, weight out, times to S1C, E1C, S2C, S2C+, CS?, notes on roast and a separate tasting notes for a week afterwards on each variety.

..

Yeh, I got some strange looks when I explained that I have one spreadsheet generated automatically by the Roast Monitor, a jpeg version of the final Roast Monitor graph and a summary spreadsheet (with basically the same fields as yours) to wrap things up. Oh, yeh my 250g KJM blend this morning did take quite a while, but looks great.

[Captain_Starfish]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Woohoo!

Threw 150g of Monsoon Malabar (sp?) on tonight, got given it to have a try.

1C 12.30-13.30, 2C 14.30
Came out about a CS6-7, going by the photos...

Im loving this little roaster, I gotta say. The 6min + reset and babysit is a PITA but its soooo much less attention intensive than my previous rig. I can set it up, wander off, come back now and then and check progress.

It means that rather than being a once a week chore, roasting is now a daily "lets try and see what this is like" experiment and a lot more fun. Best $4?? Ive spent in a long time.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Im loving this little roaster, I gotta say. The 6min + reset and babysit is a PITA but its soooo much less attention intensive than my previous rig. I can set it up, wander off, come back now and then and check progress.

Im not even sure you really need the 6min reset if doing 150g (partic. from warm start). I forgot once and the beans turned out beautifully. Going to try it one day with the datalogger and see exactly what happens (theres a post on another thread somewhere that has already done this....cant find it).

[capnstoobie]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

I am sure any settling in smell will dissapear with use.

Also the beans do not have much of a smell immediately after roasting- just kind of toasty but try this test: and tell me if the smell is not good: do a roast that looks just like the one you pictured above- let the beans rest for a few hours and then seal them in glass jars with good lids stored in the dark.... leave them for 3 days- open and sniff: if the smell isnt superb, fresh and strong- send the roaster back and get your money back! Ill pay the postage.

I am not sure of the science involved: but it seams different roast methods result in different bean aging times...

But I do know that after a few days rest the I-Coffee produces coffee with a very GOOD smell.  : and good in the cup too. Try leaving a few jars for a full 6 days or more before opening... some beans just get better and better for up to 12 days or maybe even more... (they rarely make it past that time with me around)

Thanks for your help - Im not looking for a refund, Im trying to work it out

Ill put my next roast in glass jars as you recommend, although in the past I have used good Tupperware containers that have a great seal.

Recently, the beans still have no smell (after 6-7 days) however they do make good coffee, so Im not as concerned.  As Ive read elsewhere, the taste is more mellow and full bodied than the popper roasts.  Visually, the pour looks very nice too.  Im just surprised Im not getting a smell out of the beans.  Time may tell!

[sorrentina]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Have you checked your nose lately? :-? I am worried for you: because my coffee smells (like good coffee)... You should be getting some good smells- along with the good pours and tastes :

I really like using ordinary glass jars as you know for sure if you have a perfect seal: when you open them there is the pop and hiss as the gas escapes.

I did read on here once that it is not good for the beans to be trapped in with their gasses. I am not sure if this is true- but I now normally let my roast sit in the open for a few hours before I jar them...

[Bernsbrew]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Hello, I have roasted three 150g lots of Peru "HG" Chanchamayo beans since buying this machine on Wednesday - the sum total of my experience with coffee, other than drinking the stuff.

Being the enthusiastic beginner, I have logged the data in a spreadsheet as per above posts. I didnt time the first roast, set at 7, but pulled it well after the first lot of crackles because it looked to be burning, with lots of smoke.

Next roast, set at 5, cracked at 10m 30s for a duration of 1m 25s and was promptly pulled on second crack at 14m 23s.

Third roast was set at 4, and run on fully auto. First crack started at 10m 37s for a duration of 1m 3s; second crack at 14m 30s, not sure of the duration or when cooling started, but auto cycle ended at 23m 09s - 8m 39s after 2CS.

Roast 3 looks and smells the best, which brings me to the point, isnt this machine designed to remove the guess work - basically set and forget, why try to override the auto roasting by manually trying to "trick" the roaster. In other words, an auto roast on setting 4 is likely to deliver the same or a better result than a manual roast on setting 7 - and with less mucking about. The reason I bought this roaster was because it appeared to take some of the guess work and mess out of the process. Still, if your having fun, why not, but whether you can actually better the machine ... Well lets see.
Cheers
Bern

[trentski]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

The numbers on the dial are just a timer. Every bean is different so if you want the best results you need to stop the roast at the appropriate roast level, I usually pull mine at second crack or say 30 seconds into second crack.

There isnt a roaster in the world that can automatically stop when it sense the beans are roasted to your taste.

[Bernsbrew]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

Also, I am storing the roasted beans in sealed glass jars - old pasta sauce ones. My only concern is the inside of the lids still retain a remnant smell of condensed tomato. Who knows, it may enhance the bean. I remove the lids daily to air the beans, and so far they arent too bad on the nose, the third batch smelling the best. The first two could be charcoal.

Secondly, a previous poster mentioned pulling the power supply as a way to stop the roast progressing. This may shorten the machines life by causing componets to overheat. I suggest the roaster is purpose built to allow a fan-controlled cooling process, as much to protect components, as to aid roasting. if you must cut the power, at least blow cool air into the unit from an external fan. Many heat machines keep fans and other parts running for several minutes after the element or heat source has powered down. Just a thought.

[Bernsbrew]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

The numbers on the dial are just a timer. Every bean is different so if you want the best results you need to stop the roast at the appropriate roast level, I usually pull mine at second crack or say 30 seconds into second crack.

There isnt a roaster in the world that can automatically stop when it sense the beans are roasted to your taste.

Yes, but pulling a roast early in the cycle indicates a shorter time cycle is required, does it not?. So on the next batch, instead of say setting 7, take the switch back some notches to say 4 or 5. The settings change the ratio between heat time and cooling time, taking into account that thermal mass will continue to roast the beans into the early stage of the cooling part of the cycle. Thats what I understand the manufacturer intended with this machine - in a sense roasting for dummies, by changing heat from a complex variable to a simple but graded constant. I think the idea is to find the cycle that suits a particular bean you have purchased. Run a batch, if the cycle is too long, and you pull the roast early, then take the setting back on subsequent roasts until you get the optimum setting. Then it becomes set and forget - let the machine run its full auto cycle. If I have misunderstood the makers intent, then I may well have bought the wrong machine.

[Captain_Starfish]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

That would be nice, and may be possible if youre keeping your green beans sealed + weighing them out + using the same batch/variety + starting from same temp every time.

But as soon as you grab a different bag of even the same variety, it all goes out the window.

Also, the faster you stop the cooking the better once youve gotten to where you want to be. A long tail of gradual temperature drop does weird and nasty things to your roasts taste. There is so much thermal mass in the iCoffee that its little fan takes forever to cool down the roast - you really do benefit from pulling the beans and cooling them outside the machine. And, for that, you need to be there.

Things have settled down a bit on my machine. On the old drum roaster I was using you couldnt see the beans so S2C was the clue to pull them and use a vacuum based airing chamber to chill them fast (about a minute from drum to room temperature). I miss it but it is an outside only rig, the little computer fan iCoffee blower is cool to sit under the kitchen stove fan.

Now Ive printed out a little colour chart and am going off that - looks like I just wasnt hearing the signs over the noise of the roaster and fan before. Oddly enough, S1C at 12-14min now most of the time, E1C a minute later, and S2C between 30 and 120 seconds later depending on the variety.

Whats nice is the colour chart (yes, using a torch as well) mentions "onset of S1C" etc and its all bang on - now that I know much better when to expect to hear something I am hearing it

I need to go through about 8 varieties over the next couple of weeks and try them again, turns out the longer roast was pushing into Vienna territory where it all just tastes a bit charcoaly for my liking and its nigh on impossible to tell the difference from one variety to the next.

Roll on that light city happiness!

[Bernsbrew]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

That would be nice, and may be possible if youre keeping your green beans sealed + weighing them out + using the same batch/variety + starting from same temp every time.

But as soon as you grab a different bag of even the same variety, it all goes out the window.

Also, the faster you stop the cooking the better once youve gotten to where you want to be. A long tail of gradual temperature drop does weird and nasty things to your roasts taste. There is so much thermal mass in the iCoffee that its little fan takes forever to cool down the roast - you really do benefit from pulling the beans and cooling them outside the machine. And, for that, you need to be there.

OK. I was referring to beans from the same bag, say a kilo, with a test run of 150g to establish your desired machine setting, the remainder being auto roasted based on this. Im assuming beans from the same bag have a consistent profile, and that ambient factors dont vary too much.

Also why bother having time settings at all, I dont see the point here - unless the manufacturer intends the machine to use thermal mass to do most of the work during the slow cooling part of the roast cycle.

[Captain_Starfish]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences

That would be more consistent. And its exactly what I was hoping to be able to do, too. But you still have a way-too-slow cooldown at the end if you leave it in there.

I reckon the mfr intended it to be used exactly as youve described.

But I dont think it will work. Gotta get those beans out.

One day Ill look at a little more automation but its going to be a while. But Im thinking of something like:
1) a Rasberry Pi with a USB camera, watching the colour of the beans, plus hardware to cut through the buildup and smoke in the glass;
2) a temperature probe and independent control of fan/heater element;
3) supercharging the internal cooler.

This would mean you could control the roast profile - especially being able to drag E1C to S2C, have it automatically stop at about S2C (based on the colour) and properly cool inside the pot.

But a fairly massive project to get working, I imagine!

[SniffCoffee]

Re: I-Coffee roasting experiences


The best cooling method is to get the extra fan cooler, and use it with a small sieve, rather than transferring the roasting pan to the fan cooler.

A $3 sieve from my local shop and a chopstick has meant I can cool the beans to room temp in about 3 mins!

Sniff