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Coffee

What started as a curiosity for me has now taken a turn to the dark side. I have graduated from the popcorn poppers to an actual coffee roaster and at least 50 pounds of beans. I also picked up cheap Chinese airpress to complement my other makers. I’m starting to get some very good results but I’m far from being a pro.
 
50 pounds? I don’t know if I’ve bought 50 pounds of coffee over my lifetime!
 
CBLindsay said:
What started as a curiosity for me has now taken a turn to the dark side. I have graduated from the popcorn poppers to an actual coffee roaster and at least 50 pounds of beans. I also picked up cheap Chinese airpress to complement my other makers. I’m starting to get some very good results but I’m far from being a pro.
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What roaster did you get?
 
Spider said:
50 pounds? I don’t know if I’ve bought 50 pounds of coffee over my lifetime!
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yeah, it’s a bit much but I’ve been able to pick up 5 and 10 pound bags for the same price as 1 or 2 pounds of roasted coffee from the local roaster. At some point i’ll Decide which ones I like most and sell or PIF the rest.

The Monkey said:
What roaster did you get?
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i got a fresh roast SR500. It does about 2/3 of a cup at a time and I tend to do 2 batches at a time which gives me enough for 5-7 days of coffee. I usually do a pot at the office and 1 or 2 cups at home. The coffee tastes best after it rests 3 days or more.

i had been using a simple popcorn popper with an added “chimney” to allow more movement and agitation. The popper made decent looking roast but the taste was flat and basic. The SR500 can be controlled a bit more and I’m starting to achieve some very enjoyable coffee.
 
First off you're welcome
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And I like to get a solid 5-10 seconds into second crack for the best flavor. That can be hard to hear with the popper. I'm gonna have to look up that roaster
 
I’ve found going too/through second crack results in the best flavors. With the SR500 I can control how fast the process takes. I’m still playing with how fast or slow I should go through the stages. I can go from start to dark and oily in 4 or 5 minuteS OR slow it down and take 10 minutes to get to a darker but oily roast.

The short answer John is I am going to second crack and then some but not usually all the way to super dark. I don’t get very good results if I stop before second crack but I have had decent outcomes when I go all the way to dark.
 
CBLindsay said:
I’ve found going too/through second crack results in the best flavors. With the SR500 I can control how fast the process takes. I’m still playing with how fast or slow I should go through the stages. I can go from start to dark and oily in 4 or 5 minuteS OR slow it down and take 10 minutes to get to a darker but oily roast.

The short answer John is I am going to second crack and then some but not usually all the way to super dark. I don’t get very good results if I stop before second crack but I have had decent outcomes when I go all the way to dark.
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I usually try to hit the end of second crack at about 12 minutes. Too fast and the flavors haven't developed. I'll go quickly to first crack and then slow it down and stretch things out to second.
 
The Monkey said:
I usually try to hit the end of second crack at about 12 minutes. Too fast and the flavors haven't developed. I'll go quickly to first crack and then slow it down and stretch things out to second.
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that sounds reasonable. I can definitely say that a slow ride to first crack doesn’t help the flavors or aroma. I’ll have to draw out the time between first and second crack as long as I can and see how it changes things.
 
CBLindsay said:
that sounds reasonable. I can definitely say that a slow ride to first crack doesn’t help the flavors or aroma. I’ll have to draw out the time between first and second crack as long as I can and see how it changes things.
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Quick to first and slow to second. You'll notice a difference.

What beans are you using? Single bean or a mix? I like a 60% Sumatra, 30 Brazilian and another 30% another SA. After second crack has a nice caramel rich flavor. African Single bean tend to do better with lighter roasts. It allows the fruitless to come through (though I find single bean coffees sort of flat).
 
My preference is single bean purely to enjoy each coffee for what it is but if i do want to do a blend i roast them separately and then mix the roasted beans since each variety handles roasting a little differently. Plus i get my beans in a sampler format of 5 bags of 1lb each of different areas.

I try not to let my beans get to the point they are oily. I go for a matte look on he outside with just a bit of the skin still in that crack on the bean. That way all the oils are still inside the beans and stay fresh longer but if you really like a slight char flavor you kinda have to get to the point of oily beans.
 
Looks great Kyle. You are using open fire and a basket right?

This is a mix of two roasts I did about 5-7 days ago. Both beans were roasted to a slightly darker roast and taste great separately and mixed.
 
Looks good. And yeah it's a perforated steel roasting pan over an open flame. In this case the gas stove in the kitchen. Just has to do a lot of clean up after.
 
I made a video I intended to share but the resulting roast was super inconsistent. I did a second roast stopping just after first crack and the result was very tasty ...but not captured on video.
 
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