Fast roasts: yay or nay? - Page 3

Discuss roast levels and profiles for espresso, equipment for roasting coffee.
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weebit_nutty
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#21: Post by weebit_nutty »

To answer this question, I went back to my jiffypot handheld roaster and did a 6 minute 4oz roast to confirm what I remembered (excellent roasts). I'm a believer in fast roasts, but not for all types of roasting. I have tried fast roasts on my lab roaster that didn't turn out too well. Too much tipping, not enough development. Enclosed roasts such as my jiffypot (not to be mistaken for whirlypop) or the FZ-RR-700 are capable roasting very fast and even, due to the heat retention. The smoke retension has surprisingly no discernable negative effects on taste.
You're not always right, but when you're right, you're right, right?

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aecletec
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#22: Post by aecletec »

Just as an interest point from a commercial anecdote... went on a tour at a favourite roaster and was surprised to hear that their (quite light) espresso roasts are typically around 16 minutes. My eyes nearly fell out of my head!
Given the popularity of fast roasts it seems there are many ways to skin a cat and then brew it.

Beaniac
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#23: Post by Beaniac »

I bumped into a coffee roaster when I was on holiday in the German black forest this summer. He said his roast were typically around 19minutes.
I know time and roast color don't necessarily go hand in hand, and his roast sure weren't on the lighter side, I'd say a nice full city roast.
I brought two pounds of his coffee back home and really enjoyed them. But then the holiday spirit might have messed with my mind and pallet a little off course.

Danm
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#24: Post by Danm »

Bodka Coffee wrote:I had 1 coffee last year, the Kenya Kiangoi, that really shone in a fast roast. First crack around 5:30. Most coffees I roast are longer then that.
I was just taking another look at the roast profiles of the top two finishers at the 2015 WCRC.
https://www.cropster.com/news/news-deta ... -cropster/ The SO was a Kenyan, and both winners roasted fairly fast. One finished in 8:22, and the other in 7:28. These were also very light roasts.

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johnny4lsu
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#25: Post by johnny4lsu »

Here is a fast roast that I did 4 or so days ago...It came out really good...it's not my favorite profile of this coffee, but still legit.



My favorite of this coffee is this profile. Both were solid, but this one was a little better.


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endlesscycles
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#26: Post by endlesscycles »

Short roasts are bright and thin, long roasts are dim and heavy. Where you land your roast is all about what you want from the coffee and where you find the balance you are looking for.
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Asheville, NC

9Sbeans
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#27: Post by 9Sbeans »

It seems that bigger capacity commercial roasters generally take longer roast time than the smaller sample roasters.

Recently I did a fast roast (9:28) and liked it very much. However, it's only good for drip, not for SO espresso. This roast didn't follow Rao's recommended 20-25% development time ratio. Apparently the Nordic style dominates the WCRC competition, but I bet people who still go to Starbucks will hate the sour acidity.


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TomC
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#28: Post by TomC »

endlesscycles wrote:Short roasts are bright and thin, long roasts are dim and heavy. Where you land your roast is all about what you want from the coffee and where you find the balance you are looking for.

This is a perfect descriptor for a wide variety/most coffees nowadays. Particularly high acid "cultivar" focused types. Well put.
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Marcelnl
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#29: Post by Marcelnl »

The comments about WCRC started me wondering why so many people seem so focussed on what WCRC is doing, having started my own roasting experiments have so far only confirmed that I'm going to follow my own favored flavor profile.
Not that I could duplicate a roast profile shown here or even that I have a lot of control but I have now experienced a very slow baked roast, a very dark roast and a couple of roasts that were dead on target and all with the same bean. The results confirmed that I like what I somehow already knew to like, and that's what I'm going for.

I have to start more exact timing once I have two hands free to do other things than keeping the electric drill at the ideal height over the stove, but my best roasts were in the 10 min region, from my very limited experience I'd say at this point that the area under the roast curve basically represents the amount of energy going into the beans (they need a certain amount of energy to transform after all) whereas the curve form probably is responsible for the flavor nuances. (Probably too simplistic a representatiom but it is my 'model' for now)

That said, the discussion on roast profiles is interesting as it contains much needed info on what drives which flavor nuance.

My roasting equipment is still in the proof of concept stage Mk2, a converted Illy can with makeshift mixing vanes and a sort of lid over a butane stove using an IR gun to confirm where I'm at at certain points. Basically I'm flying by the seat of my pants but I found it surprising how easy it is to get a feel for the process, so far the outcome is wowing me and made me switch to buying greens only where before I used to buy from some well respected roasters (well I may have gone a bit overboard on 5 kg of greens :mrgreen: )
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