For the record, here are profile notes for my 2nd/3rd place espresso entry. I roast in a West Bend Poppery with fan and heat wired separately. I control heat with the power switch and the fans with a dimmer (theoretically, although the fans usually run at full throttle through the entire roast). The popper sits on a small box fan that is turned on its side so it blows up into the popper intake to give the internal fan a boost and help agitate the beans. I usually roast 150 gram charge, which is what I did in this case. 150 g is pretty heavy for the popper, so I have to stir vigorously until the beans loft on their own -- usually about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. I use a type K thermocouple to measure bean temperature at about top dead center of the grean beans at rest. As the beans loft and expand the probe is relatively deeper in the bean mass. (One of these days I will rig a way to measure ET as well.) The entry was a blend of 75% Brazil, 25% Guatemala, roasted October 5. My understanding is that Jim froze all entries to simulate 6 days rest.

Brazil Fazenda Sao Benedito
°FBT
00:00 65
01:08 220
04:31 300
08:34 400
09:02 406 1st C
09:51 420
11:00 440
11:19 444 2nd C
11:27 445 EOR

Guatemala Antigua Finca Retana
°FBT
00:00 89
01:07 220
04:51 300
09:35 400
09:37 400 1st C
11:01 420
12:06 440
12:21 445 2nd c
12:36 448 EOR

Well done Andy! So 1st place, 2nd place and 4th are all fluid beds!

I used equal parts of fast roast Retana (9 min), slower roast Retana (12 min), and slower roast Benedito (12 min), each was a melange, dropping 1/4th after rolling 1st crack, 1/4th at end of first crack and 1/2 at end of roast. Here are Artisan logs of each roast, done between Oct 8th and 10th.

Don't know if anyone is interested, but since several hobbyists are in the Bay Area, perhaps a gathering next time can emphasize on comparing various people's roasting of the recent competition. For example, we can all roast the same coffees used this year, one person can randomize, blind, and another serve all coffees

Marshall Hance was kind to send some extra coffee this year. Even though I left all the coffees at SM, there is one secret extra 250g bag of his award winning espresso sitting in the freezer. If Marshall does not mind, we can all learn by tasting his coffee.

Marshall, hope I am not putting you on the spot.

chang00 wrote:For example, we can all roast the same coffees used this year, one person can randomize, blind, and another serve all coffees

Will do the same here! I took Marshal's notes, and applied his described profile on the last pound I had of Retana. Will give it a 9 day rest and share it with local espresso heads

chang00 wrote:...

Marshall Hance was kind to send some extra coffee this year. Even though I left all the coffees at SM, there is one secret extra 250g bag of his award winning espresso sitting in the freezer. If Marshall does not mind, we can all learn by tasting his coffee.

Marshall, hope I am not putting you on the spot.

Please share!

Also, Cammie, tell us what you did with that Gaturiri. I really like what those cupping notes have to say.

The competition is on the marque: http://www.sweetmarias.com/library/webl ... ompetition


(Sweetmaria's photo).

Andy wrote:For the record, here are profile notes for my 2nd/3rd place espresso entry. I roast in a West Bend Poppery with fan and heat wired separately. I control heat with the power switch and the fans with a dimmer (theoretically, although the fans usually run at full throttle through the entire roast).

Yay, a popcorn popper as 2nd/3rd place finisher! You're my hero! I figured all the fancy roaster machines would win.

I love to see this kind of success from basic equipment. Also interesting to see 2.5-3 mins of post 1C development.... I am playing with that myself these days... went way long (4 mins) and shorter (1.5 mins) so maybe I'll try your range.

You use only 1 k thermocouple... what are you connecting it to for temp measurement? You control heat by switching it on and off? Have you tried a router speed controller?

I have a Walmart air popper with fan and heat separated, fan always 100% and heat controlled through a router speed controller. I bought a bunch of stuff to go with a TC4C back in May but JimG stopped making them. I still have thermocouples and stuff waiting for a solution and I'm very curious about your setup!

Congratulations!

happycat,

Thanks. The thermometer I use is pictured here <http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/ ... ouple.html>. The idea of roasting simply appeals to me as well, from the philosophical perspective, and also because I am cheap. But a router controller makes sense, so that will be the next thing.

I tried and failed to get a decent photo for the Show your homeroast setup thread. I will try again soon.