About to start roasting

[jormun]

I'm about ready to start home-roasting. I'm picking up a stainless steel stovetop roaster from Sweet Maria's, their $5 thermometer, and about 6 pounds of coffee so I have room to ruin some. Is there anything else I need to buy? I've been reading through the guides on SM and a few threads on here, and it seems like the most important thing is just practicing and getting the technique/timing down.
I'm probably jumping in over my head with this, so any pointers are much appreciated.

Edit: On a side note, how long does green coffee keep?

[another_jim]

... Is there anything else I need to buy? I've been reading through the guides on SM and a few threads on here, and it seems like the most important thing is just practicing and getting the technique/timing down.

1. Reading glasses. Read up what's out there, no point reinventing the wheel.
2. A log book, keep notes on your roasts and how the coffee tastes. Experiment by tasting different roasts side by side and picking which one you like more.

[steamer]

Find some other roaster near you, also try coffeegeek.com, share you interest with others near by.

[steamer]

Green beans generally last one year from harvest, kept dry and in a cloth bag of sorts is best. Listen to the sounds of the beans, learn the first crack, then the second, mark the time difference, thats the major key to roasting coffee.

[ultrabean]

My only comment would be that while it's possible to roast coffee with a stainless steel stovetop roaster, I wouldn't consider it to be a good idea for beginners. Yes, 6lbs of coffee for room to ruin some is a good idea - and you'd better have lots of spare time also -not just for while you're learning but also in the long run. Part of the problem for a new roaster is that you're reading various descriptions on the web on how coffee should be roasted and how it should look/smell/taste etc -but you may misunderstand all that information, especially since some of it is incorrect. In my opinion, you'd be much better off starting with a FreshRoast or similar dedicated appliance. So if things don't go too well with the stovetop, don't be discouraged - just buy a coffee roasting appliance and learn on that. Save the stovetop for later (it will handle larger batches) and be prepared to spend some time with it.

I should say that I haven't really done stovetop roasting; initial attempts just seemed too difficult and tricky.

Patrick

I'm about ready to start home-roasting. I'm picking up a stainless steel stovetop roaster from Sweet Maria's, their $5 thermometer, and about 6 pounds of coffee so I have room to ruin some. Is there anything else I need to buy? I've been reading through the guides on SM and a few threads on here, and it seems like the most important thing is just practicing and getting the technique/timing down.
I'm probably jumping in over my head with this, so any pointers are much appreciated.

Edit: On a side note, how long does green coffee keep?

[luca]

Here's what I, personally, would advise. Others will doubtless disagree.

(a) If you are roasting for espresso, make sure that you can get relatively consistent extractions that taste good to you before you start roasting. Ideally, you should also be able to discern differences in flavour fairly well. If you start learning how to make espresso at the same time that you start roasting, you will have too many variables to keep track of. If you want to start doing both at the same time, I'd suggest only drinking your home roast through french press and using a commercially available blend until you feel confident at either roasting or extracting.

(b) Get to know one bean really well. It is very tempting to start exploring the immense variety of beans available to you straight away, but if you do everything at once, it will take you longer to develop your technique. If you roast just one origin for a few months, you will be able to track how roast changes affect the cup very clearly indeed. In doing so, it would be great to find a local roaster that had the exact same beans so that you could buy some of that for comparison.

(c) When you develop a bit of confidence, roast a few batches at once. Most homeroasters that I have talked to tend to try to roast one or two batches at once. This means that they are often drinking their coffee at between, say, 2 and 5 days old. It would be fantastic for your own education to be able to work out how your coffee tastes at all stages between 2 and maybe even 14 days old. You might also like to try freezing some home roast for kicks, seeing as Ken has just gone to the trouble of writing a nice article on it for all of us!

(d) As ultrabean said, it might be better to start off using a machine that doesn't give you so many things to think about at once, such as a popcorn popper or a purpose-built roaster.

... and like Jim said, make sure that you keep a good roast log!

Cheers,

Luca

[Fishgod]

I haven't even bought my espresso machine or grinder yet but home roasting really peaked my interest. I picked up a Mastero Plus grinder to use with my new french press and put away the counter top brewer. Listen to the well experienced members. I would also highly recommend picking up the book "Home Coffee Roasting- Romance and Revival" I read it from cover to cover before roasting my first batch of beans. I am now into my 2nd 5lb batch of the same bean. My next bean order will be the same bean if it is still available. Every batch roasted has been better then any bean I have bought locally. I do have to say with each batch of beans that I have roasted the end result has been getting better and better. Take notes so that you know what you did last time and tweek one element of the roasting process so you can attempt to see the difference in the brewed cup.
I decided to build my own roaster, Turbo oven and Salton Popcorn and nut roaster. Very easy to do. I also picked up an inexpensive digital thermometer with thermocouple from Sweet Maria's. I noticed a marked improvement in taste quality when I started reading quasi bean temp"I drilled a hole through the base so that the temp reading could be taken in the bean mass" instead of air temp in the roaster. I have been roasting 2 level cups of greens which ends up approx. 10oz of roasted coffee. Most of all have fun.

I do plan on making a bean orders from a pro roaster when I order my machine. When I can pull a good shot with the pro roast I will have something to compare my roasting process to.

[stevendouglas]

I have been tossing around the idea of home roasting for the last few weeks. Short of spending several thousand dollars (not to mention the cost of a divorce), two roasters seem to come to the surface - the I-Roast 2 and the Hottop. I know there are others, but these are the two I'm considering.

The cost difference is fairly substantial - the Hottop is about 3 times the cost of the I-Roast 2. I could afford the extra cost of the Hottop if it's a substantially better product that: 1) produces superior results, 2) has substantially better durability. The programmable roast profiles of the I-Roast seems to be a big advantage, but obviously I don't know how important that is or whether that makes the I-Roast more comparable to the Hottop.

So, my question for those with experience:

1. If the price were the same, would you purchase the Hottop or the I-Roast?

2. Is the price disparity of the Hottop justified in terms of the end product?

I would use the beans almost exclusively for espresso and espresso drinks.

I sincerely appreciate any advice.

[another_jim]

1. If the price were the same, would you purchase the Hottop or the I-Roast?

The Hottop. Hearthware is a company that produces countertop novelty items. The Iroast is built like one.

2. Is the price disparity of the Hottop justified in terms of the end product?

Yes

[mattwells]

2) has substantially better durability

Just my .02 - I haven't seen an iRoast, but the HotTop is built like a tank. It is REALLY solid.

[cafeIKE]

Never had an iRoast, but did try a couple of iRoars.

The missus, succinct as always, on the first roast with the HotTop:
Wow, that sure is quiet.
Wow. That's an even roast.
Finally, and it's about bleedin' time, drinkable coffee again.