Is anyone still doing the "dogbowl method"?

I'm not very happy with my popper for roasting, and all of the mods don't seem worth the trouble since batch size is still limited. On Amazon there is a digital heat gun with 6 fan speeds and adjustable temp, sounds good to me, but is the heatgun method considered to be a waste of time and money compared to some of the purpose built roasting machines for home use?

Also, my first batch of coffee I roasted is an Ethiopia Illubabor Baaroo Coop from sweet Maria's, I roasted several small batches from just at the end of first crack to several batches at increments up to second crack. The roasts were insanely fast, like 6 minutes to 2c, but all of them taste like lemon juice. I've always enjoyed the citrus taste of my local coffee shops Ethiopian Yergacheffe, but this is overwhelming. I also roasted a coffee from Burundi that tastes like orange juice. The Latin American coffees I've roasted taste more coffee-like but I feel like I'm really screwing something up...

Another Q: I live near Death Valley, relative humidity is around 7% on most days (not today it finally rained!!!), is my green coffee going to dry out?

Pair it with a bread machine to agitate the beans and provide an enclosure for temperature control, stick a thermocouple in the beans and another near the lid, attach the thermocouples to a data logger that connects to your computer so you profile your roasts, and you'll have a very good Corretto roaster. You can create a cooling bin DIY too.

DIY cooling bins?

I too use the bread machine / heatgun. It works very well for me, much better than the Gene Cafe that I used to use.

It's hardly a waste of money, heat gun is less than £20 here, compared to over £300 for the cheapest commercial roaster. (And you can always use it for paint stripping if you don't like the roasts.) Bread machine was free. You don't need a fancy "digital" gun. You can adjust the heat by changing the distance from the coffee beans.

Half-gallon canning jars hold about 2.5 lbs of greens and should keep your beans from drying out.

My converted Illy can 'drum' roaster is fast too, I can also get to 2nd in under 5 minutes depending on what bean and how much heat I apply (propane stove). I found that really fast equals acid, underdevelopment so it may be good to try a bit less heat and aim for 1st at around 6 minutes, which is what works best for me (YMMV). Too slow and you get woody flavors of baked not roasted beans (done that too), there is a lot more info on dogbowl roasting than I'm able to provide, guess that many here started that way (or with a popcorn machine) so there should be some pointers soon.

Certain kinds of beans will be more challenging... Especially dry process, beans with wide variation in density where you need a longer drying process. Or other locales where they don't sort very well resulting in beans with bug holes, dried cherries, other defects that mess up flavour.

You might find other beans, washed process,work better. Be sure to check out sweet Maria's rating of bean quality when buying... Don't just read the flavour descriptions. With limited equipment, more uniform higher quality beans help.

The beans are from a sampler pack I purchased from sweet Maria's with my popper, wish I had 8 lbs of the same beans to try and figure out what I'm doing. I attempted roasting some Colombian beans in a wok on my stovetop and they also tasted sour, maybe I just don't like good coffee?!?

Too sour could be because you're not brewing it hot enough or because you're not roasting it long enough to tame the acidity.

drgary wrote:Pair it with a bread machine to agitate the beans and provide an enclosure for temperature control, stick a thermocouple in the beans and another near the lid, attach the thermocouples to a data logger that connects to your computer so you profile your roasts, and you'll have a very good Corretto roaster. You can create a cooling bin DIY too.

DIY cooling bins?

+1. Sounds like you're roasting too fast, which leaves the center of the bean underdeveloped. I've used a corretto roaster (hg/bm) with manual data logging and have been quite happy with my results for several years. My roasts are typically in the 10-12 minute total time range, with FC start about 7.5 -9 min.

The biggest problem, with any sort of hg roaster, IMHO, is that there is very little comparative data...your roaster and thermometry, if available, will be different from everyone else's.

Without a thermocouple, I would practice taking the roast to the beginning of SC at the 11-12 min mark (try decreasing the temp on the heat gun), and see how that changes things.

Again, find a bread machine at a thrift store for a few bucks, and upgrade your dog bowl!

I feel that the Heat Gun / Bread Machine is an outstanding home setup.

If you take certain steps, you can really dial in the roast, and you will not do significantly better until you spend $1,000s.

For profiles, you can refer to some on this site from creative_nickname which are outstanding and served as a good guide for me when i got started.
I used those as a guide and although it does not track perfectly with mine, its very close.

Here is what you need to get consistency:
(1) A heat gun that is variable. Varying distance will not control variables enough. I got the Porter-Cable model from Amazon for $30, and it has a dial letting you adjust heat level. Use a thermocouple in the beans, and software to track your profile, to dial in your heat levels, rather than temperature on the gun.
(2) A thermocouple with connection to a computer. I bought the CoffeeSnobs Heatsnob and use their software.
(3) Add insulation to the bread pan (and the inner shell too for that matter, to stabilize heat.
(4) Mount the heat gun to the roof of the bread machine in a way that closes down most ventilation. I started by modifying the glass window with sheet metal and poking the gun through. Later, I changed to a piece of 1/2" concrete backer board with a hole cut out for the gun.

Roasting 450g, with 80 celsius preheat, with 100% output until FC, gives me a beatiful declining ROR curve, with about 2 minutes to 100 celsius, 5 minutes dry time (150 celsius), 3:30 minute ramp time (150 to 200 celsius , FC), and then I turn down heat to about 80% at FC, and get a beautiful declining ROR curve from about 8 celsius/min down to about 2-4 celsius / minute. With a 2 or 2:30 development time, with about 10 celsius rise from FC to drop, I get nearly a perfect roast according to Rao's criteria and Marshall Hance's criteria (20% of time to 100c, 5 minutes to 150, 3 minutes in ramp, and 20% to 25% in development, with constant declining ROR).

If I want to go faster, I need to reduce charge to 350g, or even 250g, or preheat higher.
If I want to go slower, which I never do, then just decrease heat.

I am convinced, all of the mods listed here contribute greatly to consistency, and were lessons learned the hard way through experience.