I am still new to home roasting, having fewer than 30 roasts under my belt, 6 of which I logged using the roastmaster app. I am using a behmor 1600plus and roasting for espresso.

Once I got through the first pound or so of greens, I began to really enjoy the favors I was getting and considered them comparable to the beans I had been buying for local roasters, and even better on my best days. Recently I have been unable to produce anything worthwhile and only my thrift has prevented me from tossing the shots down the sink.

Now that I am using roastmaster it seems that I have some tools to make quantitative improvements. The problem is that I don't know what I ought to be changing. Am I baking the beans? Taking too long to get to first crack? Stopping too soon? I simply don't know.

So my question is: what aspects of the roast profile are correlated with the development of taste in the roast?

The favors I have been getting have been kind of thin and bitter/astringent. There has not been a good balance between bitter/acid, nor very much sweetness.

I will attach a screenshot of my most recent roast, overlaid on the prior roast, both of which were 9.5 oz of espresso monkey from SM.

Your temperature sensor isn't working -- first crack starts at around 390, 2nd crack around 425 for a drawn out roast like this.

18 minutes is on the long side, and can create astringent tastes simply because it roasts all the flavor to death. Try a lower roast weight and finishing in around 13 minutes.

Yeah, something is wrong there. Not saying this is a perfect profile but try to make it look more like this-

another_jim wrote:Your temperature sensor isn't working -- first crack starts at around 390, 2nd crack around 425 for a drawn out roast like this.

18 minutes is on the long side, and can create astringent tastes simply because it roasts all the flavor to death. Try a lower roast weight and finishing in around 13 minutes.

Jim,

I am using the temperature as reported by the sensor in the behmor. I guess it is not accurate, but at least gives an apples to apples comparison of two roasts.

Is roasting the favors to death the same thing as baking the beans?

Thanks for the feedback. I have been using 9.5 oz charges such that the final weight is 1/2lb, but perhaps I will try something less than 8oz next time.

Bodka, what was the weight you used in the profile you shared, may I ask?

Thanks

Looks like it may have been around 3.6 lbs. It looks like the roast was a little fast too.

fizguy wrote: ... but at least gives an apples to apples comparison of two roasts. ... I have been using 9.5 oz charges such that the final weight is 1/2lb, but perhaps I will try something less than 8oz next time.

The sensor is giving rubbish readings, and it won't give an apples to apples comparison. Do a search on Behmor profiles, see if you get the right weight info, if not ask for "profiling help" with Behmor in the title.

The title you gave makes you out to be an advanced roaster; whereas you are still working on the basics.

Your roast times are way to long. You also have dips in the temp, that is a sign of a stalling roast, if the data is correct. You should have a nice inclining line, no level spots or drops in temp. You can have a slow rate of rise but a flat ROR or decline is a stalled roast and baked beans. I usually run 300-500 grams at a batch and run 10-12min profiles from charge to drop and I never go into second crack.

A Behmor is quite a different animal, but haven't played with the a Behmor with the new board. The combinations of the open mesh drum, addition of radiant heat when elements are on and thermostat shutting on and off make it tricky to impossible to truly monitor and control. Especially during key moments. As Jim mentioned, best to first work with those who have a lot of experience understanding the specific dynamics. I was able to tame the original model with modifications but was then asked to not post my work, so I stopped doing so on CG years ago.

Have you made sure that you're line voltage is not dropping when you roast? I'd recommend a Kill-a-Watt and making sure to avoid any extension cords, finding a good outlet with a short run to the breaker box, etc. From your profile it looks like the standard 1# profile with the afterburner kicking in between seven and eight minutes, but first crack is coming pretty late for your load size so I suspect voltage issues. The profile looks normal, but you just may not be reaching a heat level to get your beans to first crack in a reasonable amount of time.

If not, I'd contact Behmor, they have some tests that you can do to make sure that your Behmor is performing correctly.

Thanks all for the inputs.