I apologize for this screwup: I mislaid a lot of the original packaging when transferring the blends into blind bags for the tasters. I have the mailed pages, but it would help if you all appended the blend and roast info to this thread.

Thanks

150g espresso blend: 50% Sumatra, 25% Brazil, 25% Guatemala

- Sumatra Aceh roasted just past outliers of 2C, ending ~10:46
- Brazil FVA roasted to beginning outliers of 2C, ending ~10:00
- Guat roasted to 60sec after end of 1C, ending ~10:55

All roasts were 350g loads, pre- and post-sorted, with a charge temp of ~400F measured at BT sensor location in a heatgun/bread machine setup.

-s.

Espresso - Sumatra Aceh, SO, Gene Cafe, 227 grams, Full city, 1st at 12:28, end 16:28
Brewed - Ethiopia Sidamo, SO, Gene Cafe, 227 grams, Full City, 1st at 13:10, end at 17:10

Each warmed at 300F (Sumatra for 3m, Sidamo for 5m) No Sorting, each dropped to ET 444F at 1st to end of roast.

My non-finalist espresso entry was

• 40% Ethiopia Sidamo Haile. Ejected at 13:15, before SC. Roast level FC.
• 40% Brazil FVA DP. Ejected at 14:30, before SC. Roast level FC. (Low temp roast to avoid charring)
• 20% Sumatra Aceh. Ejected at 14:00, ~20s into SC. Roast level FC+.

Although not horrible, I thought the espresso was flat, a little astringent, and a little smoky. I found the Brazil very difficult to roast in my modified HT. To avoid charring, I had to use a long, slow roast at lower ET's than I would normally expect.

Profiles are attached below in the hopes that some kind soul(s) will offer suggestions that will improve my roasts.

Jim

Eth. Haile 58%, Sum. Aceh 42%
Roasted seperately in a split-wired West Bend Poppery, about the same profile, 12 min. to cusp of 2nd crack.

Andy "12th out of 14"

Brewed: Maravilla S.O., 1st around 9:30min, pull at 12min, City roast.
Espresso: Arinagata S.O., 1st around 9:30, pull at 13 min, city+ ?

I need more experience in cold-weather roasting - My split-wired P1 struggled with cold temps in my unheated outbuilding.

I look forward to hearing any constructive comments about the espresso roast.

Thank you all!

Espresso Blend, Sidamo 60%, Guatemala 40%. The body is lacking, so next time I should add some Brazil, probably Sidamo 50%, Guatemala 30%, and Brazil 20%. The brew roast was Sidamo 100%; the profile was previously posted in the brew competition thread.

Like many here, I roast in unheated garage. What I found was, the length of the drying time really does not matter, as long as it is not extraordinarily long. The gas roaster's damper, when it is open for about one minute when drying completes, attenuate the rise in ET, and this slowing down equilibrates the beans to more or less of same cellular density. The gas/heat is then increased, so for the next few minutes, the Strecker condensation can occur. The time from completion of drying should not be too long, otherwise the aldehydes and ketones from the Strecker condensation further degrade and the coffee will be flat.

As one can see from the profile, I suspect the dry process Sidamo is less dense than the Guatemala SHB, therefore the difference in the time from completion of drying to 1st crack. The first crack for most coffees, roasted on the same day, usually occurs within 1-2 degrees celsius. This makes some sense, as when the water molecule separates from the cell, regardless of the bean density, is dependent on ET, which correlate with BT and ambient temperature in the garage.

As a side note. The Guatemala was used at SweetMaria's Home Roaster Camp a few months ago. At that time, I roasted with the HotTop at about 170g loads.





This the end of the Sidamo at completion of "drying phase", before ramp up starts:

Here are the details of my non finalist espresso blend.

Roaster: P1 air roaster with twin Variacs

Espresso Blend Details
Roast Date: 2/16/10

50% Brazil Fazenda Vista Alegre Natural Dry
Roasted Full City 445 f, 12 minutes, just before second crack
25% Ethiopia DP Haile Selassie Sidamo
Roasted Full City 440 f, 12 minutes, just before second crack
25% Sumatra FTO Aceh Arinagata
Roasted Full City + 445 f, 12 minutes a few snaps into second crack

I believe this blend was included in the "too timid" group -it did not have any wow appeal.
I did have a multi roast level Haile Selassie Sidamo that I probabaly should have submitted.
This compettion has been a good learning experience, and gave me the push to start home roasting again. I look forward to roasting up some of the winning roast blends.

Espresso: 50% Brazil Moreninha, 25% Guatemala, 25% Ethiopia Haile

Brewed: Ethiopia Haile

I believe the Haile was way too dark for the brewing entry, but on one of my test roasts I'd really nailed a good roast starting with a hot roaster and was trying to duplicate it. It pretty much exploded into second crack right before I dumped it. I had a headache and decided to go ahead and send it in the way it was.

All Hottop 150g loads




Ralph