I-Coffee roasting experiences

[chylld]

I should have read Jack's description of the new model, particularly the bit where he mentions settings 9-12 are too long. Rolling SC @ 12 minutes left so I hit the power button to skip to the 9 minute cooling cycle, by the time that was done I ended up with CS12!



Did it again on setting #5 and this time only put the beans in after preheating had finished. Ended up with what I think is CS 9! SC started 2 minutes into the cooling cycle and happened very slowly all the way through to the finish.



Moved from the bowl to a cs bean bag and closed it when it was cool enough to touch... or should I let it cool down to room temperature before sealing the bag?

[Mariner]

Wow, great test JayBee. I just armed up my new iCoffee 4 days ago. Used the temp probe in the top. Wonderful profile out of the box.

[jaybee]

Well, I never got to do the re-match. Too tempting, I drunk the lot! The iCoffee profile roast mellowed and was delightful. I think the flavour profile might be that of a darker roast than the colour suggested so I need to play more. The batch pulled at 226 was splendid.

Looking forward to the shared experiences of Mariner and chylld with the new machine. I think its an absolute cracker of a unit. The addition of the temp adjustment rounds it off perfectly!

BTW Chylld, The beans come out of the cooler at around 165 degrees which is cool enough to stop the roast, but still too hot to bag. This is where the optional cooler comes in and does a good of taking them down to room temp. Whatever way you chose to finalise the cool, even if it's putting them into a steel dish and leaving them on the side for a while, bag them as soon as you can to minimise contact with the air; but don't bother getting paranoid - that coffee will be drunk faster than it can stale

[Stuffa]

Hey Mariner, Good to see your happy with your new roaster. I'm lucky as I changed the resister on my old roaster and now have two great roasters. I didn't have any stoppage problems with my old one and now with the resister changed it takes about 1 min longer to roast 150 gm than the new one. I usually run both machines at the same time and blend the two. I am sure there is a way to wire in a new controller on your old machine just need someone who knows what he is doing.

Wow, great test JayBee. I just armed up my new iCoffee 4 days ago. Used the temp probe in the top. Wonderful profile out of the box.

[chylld]

BTW Chylld, The beans come out of the cooler at around 165 degrees which is cool enough to stop the roast, but still too hot to bag. This is where the optional cooler comes in and does a good of taking them down to room temp. Whatever way you chose to finalise the cool, even if it's putting them into a steel dish and leaving them on the side for a while, bag them as soon as you can to minimise contact with the air; but don't bother getting paranoid - that coffee will be drunk faster than it can stale

Thanks for the tip, did another 150g batch last night at the same setting (5) and it's almost too easy!



Cooled on a baking tray for a few minutes then bagged them, this morning they were smelling too good to resist so I pulled a shot and HOLY CREMA. Tasted great both as a shot and as a latte. Need to go a bit finer on the grind but it is the best coffee I've had in ages, pretty sure I won't be buying any more roasted beans when it's this easy. Really well-designed machine, quiet in operation (can easily hear FC/SC) and doesn't smell very much and chaff cleanup is a piece of cake. A friend was interested in getting a Behmor but has now decided to get one of these instead

[chylld]

When you start the roaster: for 3 minutes exactly the timer display will spin around- this indicates pre-heating phase and does not count to the overall roast time. After preheating is done the timer will start.

After some experimentation I have found that the roaster is more intelligent than this. It is designed to take into account the pre-heating and assumes the beans are in there during pre-heating, no matter whether the machine is warm or not from a previous batch.

I'm using setting 4 for my Peru now. Starting my machine from cold, it will pre-heat for 3 minutes and then start the timer at 19. If I abort at this point and start the machine again, it will preheat for a few seconds and then start the timer at 21. I noticed this behaviour as I thought I needed to preheat the machine before adding the green beans but I was wrong; it's designed to take the green beans at the start and you only have to press the button once, regardless of the starting temperature.

Awesome little bugger

[chylld]

Setting 4 didn't come out quite a nicely as 5, so for the next batch I decided to try 6.5. Dumped the beans in from cold and let the machine do its full warmup/cooldown cycle. (6.5 is the divider between 6 and 7 on the roast dial)

Tasted it today after 3 days' rest, and what can I say - best. coffee. ever. A match for my favourite brown so far (brazil from pine tea & coffee) and even now 1 hr after drinking I can still taste a bit of that roastiness.

I'm not sure if it'll still be as good in say a week's time; I've bought some browns that were good for the first day or two then dropped off a cliff after that, which sucks when you're buying 500g or more at a time. However roasting beans myself gives me fresh beans all the time - wow. I knew a good grinder was a necessity when I was starting out, but now I believe a roaster is a necessity too!

[headinclouds]

I've got one of the original machines. I've had to use the dial to the left trick for most of the time I've had it. The roast times have been getting longer and longer so today I changed the resistor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTRXk9LtZDM) and it's worked a treat. Thanks Jaybee!!

First time I've had a roast with clear first and second cracks in a long time and the 250g roast was done in 17 mins (vs nearly 30 prior). It's given the roaster a new lease of life. Thanks for the info!

[Hildy]

I'm wondering if my iCoffee is on the hot side; set on 4 (ie 22 minute roast times) my beans are well and truly on the way to CS12 with 2 minutes left.

Bean is 200gms of monsoon malabar from MG.

[chylld]

maybe you need to tweak your potentiometer screw? (in that little hole... instructions posted somewhere in this thread)

I roasted decaf wow on the mid setting (6.5) and they came out quite dark. Not glossy but dark. Tastes a bit funny, not sure if that's the decaf taste or if I just burnt it Will roast lighter next time.

This morning I roasted some brazil pn on setting 6 and from the start it made a 'click' noise every second or so. The motor pitch also seemed a bit funny. The cooldown cycle stopped after only 2 minutes had passed, accompanied by a single beep and a 'clunk' sound. The beans looked quite ok so no loss there, however I found 2 small beans and a small fabric string stuck in the outer and inner vents respectively. Looks like I'll need to filter out the green beans more carefully.

[Juvv]

Hey guys I'm looking at getting into roasting at home and this machine has caught my eye. I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions!

is the machine big? Eg, compared to a microwave? It looks presentable enough to keep out.

Does it smoke much? Does it need ventilation or need to be out side?

Is is the second gen out now and available?

Cheers!

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Hey guys I'm looking at getting into roasting at home and this machine has caught my eye. I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions!

is the machine big? Eg, compared to a microwave? It looks presentable enough to keep out.

Does it smoke much? Does it need ventilation or need to be out side?

Is is the second gen out now and available?

Cheers!

The i-coffee is a little bigger (and more cube-ish) than a decent sized toaster. I used to use mine inside but under a range hood with no problems (mine old model doesn't work too well anymore.....roasts too slowly...but that has apparently been fixed in the new model). The afterburner is quite effective in limiting smoke. And yes, the second gen in now available. Got great use out of mine while it worked.

[Juvv]

The i-coffee is a little bigger (and more cube-ish) than a decent sized toaster. I used to use mine inside but under a range hood with no problems (mine old model doesn't work too well anymore.....roasts too slowly...but that has apparently been fixed in the new model). The afterburner is quite effective in limiting smoke. And yes, the second gen in now available. Got great use out of mine while it worked.

Ahh great. Thats not a bad size compared to the others. It sounds like its probably the smallest out of the lot? the behmoor is much larger isnt it? I dont think I need something that big, i dont want to roast that much coffee at a time because it will take a long time to go through it

[chylld]

Mine sits in the very corner of the drinks-making corner

[Juvv]

chylld you legend, thanks for taking that pic, it really puts it in perspective. thats the perfect size compared to the others ive seen.

Do you roast inside mate?