HB Home Roasting Competition Results - Espresso - Page 4

by **randytsuch** on Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:55 am

another_jim wrote:A lot of this is roaster dependent -- cup or otherwise test every coffee your roast and get to your optimum profile

That may be the most valuable lesson I learned from the contest.

I roasted the sumatra one night with three different profiles, and compared the roasts a few days later. For that bean, I liked a slower roast. I just wish I had taken the time to do it with the other beans.

Randy

by **pallen** on Tue Mar 16, 2010 12:22 pm

another_jim wrote:Hi Paul,

I think the Behmor is a great bargain in roasting, but instead of bragging about roasting large loads, it may be better to lower the load a lot, lower the heat a bit, roast faster, and cool externally. If you get to the first crack fast, its a good idea to slow down the end of the roast, but if the run tot he first crack is slow, it's best to finish faster.

It's useful to brew your roasts, let the cup cool, and check that the coffee is naturally sweet; if it isn't, pick new coffee.

But also check that it tastes "transparent," not "dirty," "muddy," "fuzzy," "staticy." I really do not know how to describe this; but it's like the noise drowning out the music, or like a paste of mush beans, cabbage and potatoes drowning out all the actual flavors. When you are judging a lot of coffees, anything like this will end at the bottom. If you get this type of mud in cool coffee, you need to speed the roast up without raising the environmental temperatures. You also need to make sure you are cooling in three minutes or less. All this is more or less non-negotiable as far as I know.

I haven't looked at external cooling yet - that's a good idea. I did notice that my coffee was better when I roasted on cold days. I'm suspecting that a more rapid cool-down was the key.

I have been working on speeding up the roast - even more so since sending in my entries for this competition. I long ago abandoned any dreams of a 1lb roast in the Behmor. I don't want to get bogged down in specific roaster techniques, but dropping the load to 8oz has brought the 1st crack times from ~14min to 11-12min. It has helped, but I think I can still do better. It seems the Behmor is just underpowered - particularly in the first leg. That, or something is wrong with my machine - voltage seems to be ok.

Thanks again for the feedback. This has been very valuable to me. It has validated my theories and given me some new things to try.

by **yakster** on Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:09 pm

There's a Alternative cooling techniques with Behmor thread that might be interesting, including my method for speeding up the cooling of the beans while still catching most of the chaff with the drum still in the Behmor.

by **mgwolf** on Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:56 pm

I was wondering who used what types of roasters for the Home Roasting competition? Is there any pattern? Just curious.

by **another_jim** on Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:53 pm

Henry Chang, who did well on both sides of the competition, uses a professional gas powered 1 pound roaster, which looks strikingly like a Probatino. John Despres, Sherman Chong, and Stephan Kupavics used bread machine /heat gun combos, which is a stunning showing for a completely homegrown roaster. Otherwise we had PIDed P1s, Hottops, and homebuilt drum among the finalists. There is clearly a correlation between how much time and expense somebody goes through mastering their roasting their roasting device and how well they roast. Whether the cause is the money and modifications directly, or just the overall roasting knowledge somebody gains by sweating the details I don't know. I suspect the latter, since I've seen good baristas pull amazing shots on low end equipment, and good roasters do amazing roasts on straight poppers. It may be the expensive pro gear, which is very transparent and provides a lot of is more necessary for becoming expert than for actually doing great roasts.

by **Gime2much** on Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:59 pm

Jim, Over the years I have noticed quite a few "You'll shoot your eye out kid" attitudes towards home roasting here on HB. Has this competition swayed your opinion of home roasters in either direction?

Dan Brewer
AKA Gime2much

by **another_jim** on Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:38 pm

Every thanksgiving, tens of millions of people who never cook get the "top rated recipe" off the internet, do their best to reproduce it, and get complimented by their invitees for the meals they served. Maybe 20% of the meals actually were good. But are any of the people doing this now good cooks?

If you buy a top rated roaster, reproduce a profile you got off the internet, and got compliments on the coffee you serve; are you a good roaster? No, you are not. You are not meeting a logically necessary requirement of being good at anything, i.e. of having developed and proven skills.

If you roast, taste your roasts and modify them until they taste right. If you also on occasion calibrate your taste to those of people respected in the field, you will have the proven skills, and you will be a good roaster.

I hope I sound skeptical about people telling the first type of story; and I also hope the roasting competitions turn up both the people doing the real work it takes to become good roasters, and those willing to do it.

by **rama** on Sat Mar 20, 2010 1:05 am

another_jim wrote:If you also on occasion calibrate your taste to those of people respected in the field, you will have the proven skills, and you will be a good roaster.

This competition was the first opportunity for me to do that- for which I'm grateful. It's too bad we have to wait a whole 'nother year to reap the benefits again. Hint hint. :twisted:

[I realize most of us probably grossly underestimate the time you and your colleagues spent on this pro bono, so that's mostly tongue-in-cheek.]


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