Home Roasting

mikegm

Have been roasting my own beans now for a few months. This afternoon I have roasted an Indonesian Bali Kintamani & an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Both a Medium Roast @ 210°C The Indonesian 14 minutes while the Ethiopian 30 minutes. Does anyone know why the difference in time for roughly the same outcome. Does 30 minutes seem too long. Or is it just that different beans take different amounts of time? Please see Uploaded photo. Thanks

Doram

mikegm Have been roasting my own beans now for a few months. This afternoon I have roasted an Indonesian Bali Kintamani & an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Both a Medium Roast @ 210°C The Indonesian 14 minutes while the Ethiopian 30 minutes. Does anyone know why the difference in time for roughly the same outcome. Does 30 minutes seem too long. Or is it just that different beans take different amounts of time? Please see Uploaded photo. Thanks

As InfamousTuba asked - the first thing is how you are roasting, to make sure the conditions haven’t changed between roasts. For example, when I roasted with a gas bottle, as the gas bottle deflated the roasts time were longer. Different quantity of beans can also affect the time, and of course different coffees take different times to roast.

However, I normally don’t get such a huge variation in time. My roasts always complete within less than 16 minutes, so 30 does sound excessive, especially that the other roast took 14 minutes.

You say both are medium roasts, but in the picture they look quite dark to me. How do you gauge the roast and decide when to stop? Usually it is done relative to first and second cracks, I think.

LMSC

mikegm IMO, the left is a medium light and the right is medium dark - The chaff lines on the left are a lot of lighter than on the right. The lighting can be misleading, but, the beans look somewhat unevenly roasted.

Edit:

I don’t roast. :-)

InfamousTuba

What equipment are you using? 30 minutes does seem like an awfully long time for a roast to take. Different beans do definitely take different times but that feels like maybe the heating isn’t sufficient for the amount of coffee used

Rob1

They do look like medium roasts, though the one on the right seems to show some getting close to second crack or scorched, could be more towards medium-dark. Judging roast by the colour tends to be done with grounds rather than the whole bean because the outside colour doesn’t necessarily match the inside colour. I was quite surprised to find some of what I always thought were well into medium roasts coming out as light and light-medium when I used a roast colour analyser just because I’d only ever been able to look at pictures on an uncalibrated monitor to compare.

Whatever roasting method you’re using is obviously causing some problems getting an even roast. Yes, 30 minutes is too long and the reason for the difference (assuming no defects like improper drying) are going to be due to density of the beans, though I am surprised there’s THAT much of a difference.

Is that just a 210c flat profile? As others have asked, what are you using the roast?

mikegm

Thanks for all replies. I’m using temperatures advised, but how accurate the machine is, is another thing. As roast time goes I tend to go on colour.

Doram

mikegm As roast time goes I tend to go on colour.

Do you hear the cracks? I think that tends to be a better indicator than colour, easier to use and more accurate/consistent.

MediumRoastSteam

mikegm - You should hear first crack at least. The beans will pop, pretty much like pop corn. Just google coffee roasting first crack and you’ll understand.

Wait 30s-45s seconds until all the cracks finish and then start the cooling process to stop the roasting.

No idea how your roasting apparatus work, so can’t comment on that.

Good luck!

mikegm

Thanks all, yes I do hear first crack, always a good indicator, then I know I’m pretty much there.

For the money & a ‘start’ into roasting The machine itself isn’t too bad. About 5 days to de-gas then enjoy a fresh roast.

Doram

mikegm Thanks all, yes I do hear first crack, always a good indicator, then I know I’m pretty much there.

For the money & a ‘start’ into roasting The machine itself isn’t too bad. About 5 days to de-gas then enjoy a fresh roast.

The roast in the pictures looks uneaven, with signs of scorching on some of the beans. This is probably due to the equipment used, but I don’t think it’s right to say that anyone who can’t/doesn’t want to spend a fortune on equipment shouldn’t roast at all. You are probably not going to win roasting awards with this pan, but relative to the alternatives you are coming from, which could be anything, and the way you brew the coffee, there is no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy it (as it sounds is the case). If, down the road, you will want to pop your head into the rabit hole, I’m sure many here will be happy to help you get rid of considerable amounts of money. :)

Rob1

The roaster is not likely to be capable of good roasting. I’m surprised you managed to even get a 14 minute roast out of it. It’s a design inspired by the “turbo crazy” DIY hacked up design using a stir crazy popcorn popper and a halogen oven lid for enough heat. If you can turn the roaster up to a hotter temp you might be able to get a reasonable roast time for the Ethiopian but not sure there’s anything you can do about the uneven roasting.

If you enjoy the process of roasting my advice is to move to a more capable machine as soon as possible.

tompoland

Rob1 didn’t want to rain on the parade but you wrote exactly what I would have written. There is no getting around it unfortunately. The unevenness of the roast is a concern.

mikegm

Doram, Oh yes I could have jumped straight in and spent ££££, but, as I say I just want to try my hand. Yes this particular roast (the Indonesian Bali) was a little un-eaven:and moving towards a dark. Some roasts are better than others. I always listen out for ‘first crack’ & more or less stop there. To be honest, the flavour I think, is superior to ‘over the counter Coffee’ It’s fresh and far cheaper.