Help on Decaf Roasting and Brewing...Key Points?

[alsterlingcafe]

I just purchased more green from Charles at CoffeeWholesalers in Eugene, and included in my purchase of Malabar Gold and his own Emerald Mist blend, I asked for a couple pounds of his Decaf. From doing a search and then reading previous posts, I keyed into the following points:

* Decaf roasted beans should have some "glisten" of oil. (I usually roast about 20-40 seconds into 2nd Crack on most blends)
* Decaf may require finer grind setting
* Decaf suggested brewing temps; 201 - 203 F

I already roasted about 400 grams of green decaf, and as much as I want to test it out, I'm having trouble getting past the outgassing aroma; not pleasing at all. I did brew a double this AM, about 18 hours after my roast. I used the MDF and the "3" grind setting on the hopper. I usually use "4." As I've read, my extraction wasn't very impressive. It had some crema, but blonded and ran loose early on. Is that typical for Decaf? Seems the Decaf'd beans are more lacking in oils.

Since I didn't end up with much oils present on the beans, and can only hope that there will be a bit more as the next two days pass, I'm thinking I should roast another couple small batches; going a bit deeper into 2nd crack and shoot for more oils at the ejecting of the beans. I'll then have some comparative info on my roast. I'm using the Hottop Digital. I set the unit for a full 21 minutes. This unit has a "countdown digital timer." I let it run down to 14 minutes on the digital timer, then dump my beans into the hopper. At a countdown of anywhere from 4 to 3 minutes, I usually hit 1st crack.....by 2 minutes I'm into 2nd crack. That's typical for almost all the beans I've roasted.

Any comments...........?

Thanks, Al in SoCal

[another_jim]

Many people roast decaf to roughly the same temperature as caf, and the beans will look darker and oilier when done this way. I personally prefer to roast them about 5 degrees lighter to preserve some acidity. However, this makes the fermented potato smell you get at first worse.

[alsterlingcafe]

OK Jim......

I guess this first pass/roast that I made would be that "lighter" roast you're talking about. I am using the same roasting protocol as for my other beans, so I think I might go a bit deeper into the 2nd crack and see what happens. I just remembered that I leave for our industry's big trade show in Vegas on Wednesday, and won't be back till the following Sunday. I'll wait until Tuesday evening to run the next roast. That batch should have settled by the time I get home.

I did my yearly physical last week. My BP has been high lately. What scares me is that I stopped drinking my espresso late last week to see if my BP would drop. Well, it did! However, I'm not sure if it's the new BP med from my MD, or the lack of caffeine? I'll have to do a little more self-testing next week. I can drink a small amount of our Brasilian Cafe' at breakfast in a demitasse cup, (just one demitasse serving) but a full double shot of my espresso tends to set me up until noon. My best time to drink espresso is at noon or early afternoon when I'm still active and more quickly burning it off. It's heck having a reaction to "the bean" when I love the damn stuff so much!

I remembered from the Homecoming Event at SCAA that we attended, when their staff person presented decaffeination processes, and said that it wasn't the caffeine, but the chemistries that the caffeine triggers in our physiology that actually gets us wired. I suppose it doesn't really matter, as the end result is still the same, right? I didn't ask Charles if he has his beans run Swiss or Methalene Chloride. Having used MC in my nameplate business for the stripping of overspray in chemical etch and fill nameplates........I'm unfortunately familiar with its "evil side."

Here's the Hottop on a computer cart I bought from IKEA a few years back. I never could figure out what to use it for other than my old tower computer. It really makes a perfect height-platform for running the roaster, with storage below.



Best, Al

[DavidMLewis]

I've found that roasting decaf is a bit tricky in that it has, for lack of a better term, less thermal inertia than regular coffee. In other words, it responds more quickly to changes in roast temperature, and can get away from you in either direction if you're not careful. I've also found roasting by smell to be easier than with caf. All coffee seems to undergo a transition from acrid to sweet as it approaches the end of where I usually roast, but decaf goes from smelling pretty awful to sweet quite suddenly, and I find that a most useful cue.

Best,
David

[alsterlingcafe]

I've found that roasting decaf is a bit tricky in that it has, for lack of a better term, less thermal inertia than regular coffee. In other words, it responds more quickly to changes in roast temperature, and can get away from you in either direction if you're not careful. ............. Best, David

I'm wondering if that's because there's less moisture in the unroasted decaf bean; being that the moisture value is altered by the decaf processing?

Best, Al

[madhemiroaster]

What I have experienced is that Decafs roast quicker that non decafs. As a general rule I have adopted is to set roast time, not including cooling time if within the roaster, about 10% less. That is if a roast time of 17 minutes for regular beans, I start out with about 15 to 15.5 minutes.

MadHemiRoaster

[LeoZ]

It's heck having a reaction to "the bean" when I love the damn stuff so much!

Best, Al

youre not kidding you have reactions, the pic blurry from your jitters!

just kidding, i get the same way. thats why i like singles or ristrettos. i can have 2-3 in a day and it doesnt bother me.

[alsterlingcafe]

youre not kidding you have reactions, the pic blurry from your jitters!

Leo..........yes, I noticed the double edge on the roaster. That's actually the flash causing an outline shadow on the counterfront. I should know better than to use straight flash. A nifty trick in the realm of field photo work is to put a hankerchief or Kleenex tissue over the flash. It acts as a "softening" filter and eliminates harsh shadows. Just thought you'd like that little tidbit. Only use "white cloth or tissue", unless you want special effects, and try to get it as tight against the flash lens as possible. I usually pack rubber bands in my camera cases or the van. It's actually worth experimenting with different layers of tissue or folds of the hankerchief, depending on how close you want to get; macro requiring more softening and attenuation of the flash.

This edition of FIELD PHOTO TIPS brought to you by the same guy that in a Thai-Laotian jungle village in 1968, naively asked his photo subjects; "Could you please put down your rifles, just for a moment, so I can get a tighter shot of you guys?" I promptly got my photos and split into the underbrush! I'm not the one on the left! And the guy on the right resembles me when I was 19 years old; maybe cause it is me!?

See my combat photo website at: http://www.601st.com