Does anyone have suggestions on roasting books?
I would like to understand the total science behind roasting.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Renier

I assume you mean home roasting. The bible is Home Coffee Roasting by Kenneth Davids
But if you mean pro roasting, try Coffee Roasting: Magic-Art-Science by Gerhard A. Jansen

Have fun

Eyal

There's Ken Davids book on home roasting. It'll get you started, but it's not at a very high level.

There's Schenker's roasting dissertation, which is heavy going, but will give you the way academics and the large industrial roasters who sponsor them treat it. The roasting chapter in Illy, by Prof Mueller, is similar. The writer of that chapter also has an out of print textbook that was used in German Engineering Schools. I could never run down a copy

Professional craft roasters haven't published anything very hands on that I know of. You need to attend the workshops at the SCAA or equivalent to find out how they treat it.

Thanks guys

I will definitely have a look at the suggested books

Renier

I just read Boots articles on home roasting and now I need more!

Are there any other books that elaborate on what Boots mention in his articles? I am talking roast profiles for different types of beans, pictures of defects / scorching etc? I already have Ken Davids book but like Jim stated it doesn't go into detail.

Books are thin on the ground. The chapter in Illy is very technical, but the only really good account of what happens to the bean over the coarse of the roast. The dissertation and articles by Schenker are all very good, but you'll need head to join a research library or otherwise get access to a JStor account to see them.

For roaster design, the best article is the one I have highlighted at the top of the list.

For roast profiles, there is almost nothing printed, you are better off searching through the posts here or on other forums. There really isn't that much to it: keep your roasts around 10 to 15 minutes, running roughly equal segments from start to 300F (where the beans start to change color from greeenish to yellow-brown), 300F to first crack, and first crack to end of roast. You can do this on almost any roaster that gives you some control over the heat, without a lot of instrumentation, providing you are willing to roast in small batches and watch carefully.

For bean pictures, try the forums again and Sweet Marias.

another_jim wrote:There really isn't that much to it: keep your roasts around 10 to 15 minutes, running roughly equal segments from start to 300F (where the beans start to change color from greeenish to yellow-brown), 300F to first crack, and first crack to end of roast.

This advice is for espresso only, right? If you're roasting for coffee, and looking to end the roast fairly light, devoting anywhere between 3-5 minutes from first crack to end of roast would effectively mean stalling the roast.

I do about three minutes for brewing roasts to let the caramels develop; for cupping I go 30 seconds to a minute faster. I'm at the point where I don't pay much attention to the time; but I'd have wasted about three years less time if I'd stuck to timing in this range when I was starting.

Hmm, interesting. I've taken the roast profile conversation to another thread to prevent further threadjacking... Best All-Around Roast Profile?

Two more links. The first was a handout during an SCAA advanced roasting class (although its really quite basic). The second is a bit more scientifically oriented.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/AdvancedLeve...asting.pdf
http://www.brewhemia.com/images/Rost%20...20Rost.ppt

I especially like this picture taken from the latter, hehe: