F1 wrote: Also, the smell inside of the bag and when I grind the beans is not very pleasant. It reminds me of the smell from Red Bird espresso beans. It really smells like a car tire shop . That is probably a dark roast thing though.

I got a shipment of Red Bird Espresso just recently and they smell fine. I know that funky tire shop smell. ugh. I've never smelled that on any roasted coffee beans. Been roasting beans for over 10 years.

F1 wrote:Gassy would definitely be another good way to describe what it tastes like. Was the crema you were getting in the cup pretty dark with lots of bubbles?

I'm not sure I remember exactly, but I recall it being somewhat medium toned and yes, somewhat bubbly especially early on. I double checked the roast date and next time I would let Hayes Valley rest for 10 days.

I found 17' more forgiving for both rest time and brew ratios.

All right. It looks like the coffee just needed a bit more rest. 2 extra days have made one hell of a difference. Even the burned tire smell from the beans has kind of mellowed significantly. Very first shot was 18g in and 31g out in 29secs. Distribution wasn't perfect and halfway through the extraction the cone drifted towards the side of the portafilter handle. Still, the cone wasn't bubbly and the crema wasn't full of big bubbles. The aroma was strong but not in a bad way. There was no burned tire smell this time in the cup. I am horrible at describing espresso aromas, but the first thing that came to my mind was spicy or strong cinnamon. It had lots of body/mouthfeel and tasted good, but not great. I obviously still need to experiment a bit more with temperature and dosage.

So how long exactly should I let hayes valley espresso rest for? I got my 2 bags today.

BB says 3-8 days for Hayes, and 8-12 for Opascope per their blog post on degassing time

That's very much. Today is the 3rd day after roasting (1-22-17) I'll try it out Friday I haven't got my vst baskets yet today guess ups is running late with the snow we are having right now and still finishing a local roaster from milwaukee

randomorbit wrote:BB says 3-8 days for Hayes, and 8-12 for Opascope per their blog post on degassing time

Thx for that link man. At the bottom of that blog post they talk about making their espresso at high elevation like here in Denver. They say that even at two weeks old it will behave like it was just roasted and to plan a longer resting time. I think this is my problem and solution.

Their beans are roasted in Oakland which is very close to sea level and I live one mile above.

F1 wrote:Thx for that link man. At the bottom of that blog post they talk about making their espresso at high elevation like here in Denver. They say that even at two weeks old it will behave like it was just roasted and to plan a longer roasting time. I think this is my problem and solution.

Their beans are roasted in Oakland which is very close to sea level and I live one mile above.

I'm at 633ft so ill try my beans tomorrow then. Good to know about the elevation part. Keep us updated though I would like to know how it turns out for you. I found out how to subscribe and I am to the post

Hey guys, just thought I'd check in and see how it went for you with Hayes Valley. I've begun using it as my go-to and am still trying to nail down the optimal de-gas period. I had a few shots with a metallic quality to them when using beans that were only five or so days off roast. (I had run out of coffee and had to open the bag sooner than I had hoped.) I'm starting to think that these beans will require at *least* seven days but would love to hear what others have to say.

And agreed on the 1:1 yield ratio that others have mentioned. It's pretty tricky to achieve, requires a ton of coffee to do 20g in every time, and trips up my Acaia Lunar scale, which (annoyingly) stops the timer automatically when the flow is too slow (as it is when attempting to achieve a 20g yield in 32 seconds). I'm going to instead try something like 18.5g in and ~35g out in ~30 seconds when I open up my new bag.

I ended up having to wait 14 days and even then the shots were still pretty gassy. This has always been my experience with darker roasts. I was dosing 20g in and getting 40g out. It was the only way I could get a relatively decent shot. I adjusted the grind to get the same ratio at extraction times between 25secs and 35secs. They all tasted the same. The ones that ran faster in the 25sec range were more bubbly in the cup. Another thing that made a difference was the temperature. I had to go down to 194F. Higher than that made it way too bubbly and bitter.

I went through four bags total and even the better tasting shots were just blah. I am simply not a fan of this blend. I feel like I gave it every chance and tried everything.

@sordomudo11

I now exactly what you mean by that metallic flavor. I was getting that too.