The cheapest and simplest way to improve your roasts

[another_jim]

I've answered the question "how do I get a better roast out of my xxx?" many times. Sadly, the proper answer is to spend a lot of money on controls or on an off-the-shelf roaster that has them. However, many people starting out don't know whether they want to invest the money or time for this. Quite sensibly, they want to taste a great roast before they commit big bucks to getting it. So I've been busting my head for an improper, quick and dirty, way to get better roasts. Then I remembered a long ago post by Barry Jarrett and I had it ...

Use Less Beans

People were boasting on alt.coffee, like they still do, on how much their roasting setup could do. You had (at the time) 3/4 pound alps, 1/2 pound P1s, and 1/3 pound Rostos. I am ashamed to say I boasted that I could get 3 ounces in my freshroast (instead of 2) speed up the roast doing this, and get in 6 to 7 roasts an hour for a whopping full pound per hour throughput. Barry replied that he used about 1.5 ounces in his sample Freshroast, and that it took around 8 minutes to get to the first crack. Nobody got it ...

Fewer beans usually means a better roast. The problem with many home drum roasts is that they are too slow. Using less beans speeds it up and gets a more vivid cup. The problem with many airroasters is that they are too fast, the beans are uneven, perhaps even charred, at the first crack, and one cannot get a good light or espresso roast. Using less beans slows down an airroaster, since the higher airflow reduces the blow-in temperature.

So experiment with reducing the amount you roast. Do some homework, try the alternatives side by side, and see which one you like best.

For airroasters, there is a gotcha. This is especially true for poppers using no chaff collector. If you reduce the load so the beans are moving freely at the start of the roast, the air flow will get so fast that the roast may stall around the first crack (this didn't bother Barry since he was doing sample roasts, he sized his load to stall at the end of the first). The solution is a tin plate and a drill (or even a hammer and nail). Knock a few holes into the tin, and at the end of the roast place it over the popper or airroaster. This will slow down the airflow enough to maintain the temperature.

Total cost of this mod -- less than $1.

[KarlSchneider]

I love Jim's posts. Some are so on target it is hard to imagine a better.

Some are so worth disagreeing with I love the argument.

This one seems to me wholly on target. When I first got my Alp I filled it to capacity and was consistently disappointed. Finally in desperation i tried using fewer beans and only then had success.

{The university professor in me cannot avoid pointing out that it is fewer and not less beans) Almost all grocery stores make this grammatical mistake in their speedy checkout lanes.

When I switched to my Hottop I had the same experience. I now use no more than 225 g and get far better roasts.

My first roaster was the Melitta. I was always disappointed. I never had the imagination to reduce the amount.

Jim is either right on target or well worth arguing with. He is on target here.

KS

[another_jim]

I love Jim's posts. Some are so on target it is hard to imagine a better.

Some are so worth disagreeing with I love the argument.

...

{The university professor in me cannot avoid pointing out that it is fewer and not less beans) Almost all grocery stores make this grammatical mistake in their speedy checkout lanes.

Thanks.

How small do the beans have to be before it becomes "less?" Perhaps fewer Supremos, but less peaberries

[miKe mcKoffee]

{The university professor in me cannot avoid pointing out that it is fewer and not less beans) Almost all grocery stores make this grammatical mistake in their speedy checkout lanes.}

OTH (for the sake of argument ) depends if (A) counting the beans to get fewer beans or (B) weighing the beans for less weight or (C) measuring the volume of beans for less volume. Since I suspect either B or C most common method of determining greens for a roast batch size I'd say Jim was gramatically correct.

[Dogshot]

The problem with many airroasters is that they are too fast, the beans are uneven, perhaps even charred, at the first crack, and one cannot get a good light or espresso roast. Using less beans slows down an airroaster, since the higher airflow reduces the blow-in temperature.

So experiment with reducing the amount you roast. Do some homework, try the alternatives side by side, and see which one you like best.

Thanks for these tid-bits, Jim. Some guidelines really help promote experimentation.

The i-roast may be an exception. The maximum recommended roast is 150gm, which in my experience roasts to rolling second crack considerably slower than a 100gm or or 125gm load. The difference in roast times becomes much more meaningful as the 150gm max is approached.

In the i-roast, the beans are heated in the air column, and are then blown into the chamber portion, where they queue up for their return to the air column. I suspect that smaller loads roast faster because a smaller bean load spends less time in the lower heat environment, and more time in the direct air flow. I also suspect that a too-heavy load will spend too much time cooling in the chamber portion, and wind up tasting baked.

Any other i-roasters share the same experience?

Mark

[another_jim]

In the i-roast, the beans are heated in the air column, and are then blown into the chamber portion, where they queue up for their return to the air column. I suspect that smaller loads roast faster because a smaller bean load spends less time in the lower heat environment, and more time in the direct air flow. I also suspect that a too-heavy load will spend too much time cooling in the chamber portion, and wind up tasting baked.

I had an Iroast, but it never worked right and didn't know that. It almost sounds like an automated Heatgun/Dogbowl roaster.

[JR_Germantown]

{The university professor in me cannot avoid pointing out that it is fewer and not less beans) Almost all grocery stores make this grammatical mistake in their speedy checkout lanes.

Okay. I used a popper, but after switching to the GG/UFO, I now use the popper much fewer.

Jack

[DigMe]

I roast one bean at a time in a drum-roaster I constructed from a thimble and a zippo.

bc

[miKe mcKoffee]

I roast one bean at a time in a drum-roaster I constructed from a thimble and a zippo.

bc

And here's grinding and brewing devices for your roast

[prof_stack]

Back to the subject (GREAT humor, btw),

One way a popper can be improved to better retain heat is to gently wedge a soup can (free of labels, natch) on top and increase the roasting chamber.

When I used the can opener I left the top on with the ability to swing it up to allow more or less hot air to escape. So the chaff gets blown out and the beans get roasted more uniformly. It also leaves room for the temperature probe to hang in the chamber so I can adjust the voltage (via Powerstat) to get the "proper" profile for the roast.

[luca]

One way a popper can be improved to better retain heat is to gently wedge a soup can (free of labels, natch) on top and increase the roasting chamber.

Yep, some of the Aussie homeroasters use chrome exhaust tips.

I think that I might get rid of my heat gun for a popper, just for sport.

Cheers,

Luca

[mogogear]

Thanks Jim, reduction and lowering the temp is such a great simple piece of advice. I had forgotten the correlation between impeding airflow/ temp/ roast time...

[mbach]

I use a Turbo-Oven unmodified to roast. Some mod this with a stir crazy popper, but I've found by simply lifting the bowl by the handles and agitating, I can get good uniformity. However, with fewer beans (less mass) I get more uneven roasts. I started with 150g and have doubled that. I've found that 300g provides a nice even roast just starting the 2nd crack after about 30 minutes. I suspect that is because with fewer beans in the turbo-oven and so much empty space, the beans give off their heat to the surrounding spinning air, and with more mass, they give off their heat to each other. Does this make sense?
mbach

[another_jim]

I use a Turbo-Oven unmodified to roast. Some mod this with a stir crazy popper, but I've found by simply lifting the bowl by the handles and agitating, I can get good uniformity. However, with fewer beans (less mass) I get more uneven roasts. I started with 150g and have doubled that. I've found that 300g provides a nice even roast just starting the 2nd crack after about 30 minutes. I suspect that is because with fewer beans in the turbo-oven and so much empty space, the beans give off their heat to the surrounding spinning air, and with more mass, they give off their heat to each other. Does this make sense?
mbach

Not really. A 30 minute roast, and letting the beans cool by lifitng the lid, in a roaster that uses convection heating, sounds like a prescription for a completely flat tasting roast. However, I don't know enough about the Turbo Oven to be very positive on this.

[mbach]

I'm not lifting the lid to cool the roast. I must not have been very clear. The turbo-oven is pre-heated, then the beans are put inside. It remains on and I agitate the beans by swirling the whole machine. I do not know if my roasts taste flat. I don't believe they do, but I was addressing uniformity of the roast as opposed to taste. I think since the turbo-oven is, essentially, an air roaster but with much more space that it is able to cope with more beans. I was just thinking that the roasts with more beans might be more uniform because of conduction heat x-fer between beans en masse. Isn't that a reasonable assumption?
mbach

[another_jim]

I was just thinking that the roasts with more beans might be more uniform because of conduction heat x-fer between beans en masse. Isn't that a reasonable assumption?
mbach

Roast evenness is best determined at the first crack. The beans should be fairly even going into it and coming out of it; they will go piebald during the first, no matter how good the roast. Evenness at the end of the roast is no sign of a good roast, although if they are uneven at that point, it's a sure sign something went awry (this doesn't apply to Yemens or DP Ethiopians, which usually go uneven after the first crack.

In a convection oven, the airflow and therefore the temperature does not depend on the bean weight. So, like a drum, small amounts should roast faster than large, since the more airflow around any bean, the faster the heat transfer. If your 300 gram roasts are 30 minutes, you might consider dropping the weight to get down 15 minutes tops. If the roast is uneven at this speed, get the stir crazy, optionally disconnecting the heater, since this indicates a problem of exposing all the beans equally to the heat.

There is a caveat to this. If the oven is thermostatically controlled, so the air temperature goes up and down by a large amount as it turns off and on (unlike the SCR control in electric range ovens); you may want to stay with the slow roast and the large bean mass. When beans drop in temperature during the roast, the flavor compounds polymerize and the flavor is gone. Beans are mostly cellulose which is a great insulator, so a large mass of beans retains heat very well, and may resist the air temp fluctuations.

However, if the Hobson's choice is between a flat tasting 30 minute roast or a flat tasting fluctuating bean temperature roast; it's time to consider fixing the heater controls on the Turbooven.

[MOSFET]

Knock a few holes into the tin, and at the end of the roast place it over the popper or airroaster. This will slow down the airflow enough to maintain the temperature.

End of the roast? I would have thought you were aiming to hold the temp at the end of first crack. Am I misunderstanding?

At the end of my roast I cut heater power and up the variac to 140V on my poppery 1 to cool as fast as possible. Is it bad to cool with such a large amount of air? Perhaps better to let it cool by itself? I have not read up on cooling techniques.

Keith

[another_jim]

End of the roast? I would have thought you were aiming to hold the temp at the end of first crack. Am I misunderstanding? :

You have it right, I was using "end" poetically. The beans lighten during the first crack, and in a popper with no heat control, you need to slow down the air at that point.

[IMAWriter]

Jim...you are correct that bean volume at the start can make a difference in speed...even for the CO/UFO (or Stir Crazy) combo
I've found the optimum...for my choice of profile/taste, etc to be 14oz by VOLUME....Thus, there is usually no difference whether I'm roasting a peaberry or a normal size bean...obviously, those large Nicaraguan beans expand greatly, so i use a touch less green in that case....
Any less than 14oz and I find I'm getting to first in less than 10 minutes...too fast for me....
Of course, as you know, different varietals will roast faster/slower....I keep a journal...and update if the lot is different, or from a different farm, etc....
The combo, due to it's somewhat slower temperature increases, give us a better opportunity to temp profile our roasts...I can easily stretch between cracks 5 minutes or more...without a Variac...
But back on topic, I agree with that sometimes "less is more"...

[Rainman]

Anybody know where to find a variac? It appears that both sweetmarias and coffeebeancorral no longer carry them.

Ray