Hello all,

Im trying to get some great roasts out of my Quest M3. I recently did a cupping at a local coffee shop and got some feed back that was consistent with my own tasting.

Lets get right into it.

I really enjoy a blog by Atomik, and have tried to mimic his results with this quest. I have contacted him through email, and he is a stellar coffee geek. Hes been very kind. He does have insulation on his quest.
http://no-stream.tumblr.com/post/117184 ... -the-quest


My preferred batch size is 120g, Id really like to stick to this. I have an older quest with the trier on the left, but the internal fan does stop at anything under 3.5 fan. Highest amps is 9. The graphs should tell the rest. I rate my coffees on a 1-5 score based on how much I like it.

This has been one of my better roasts with flavors of almond hershey bar. It actually stretched out much further then I intended, but the results were good. I did not get ash or much bake in it. It could have been a little brighter/clearer 4/5.



I tried roasting this again, with my minds ideal roast and got closer. However instead of tasting better, it tasted burnt/baked with less clarity 2.5/5.



During my tasting at the shop, I was lucky to meet Kevin from Verve coffee, and he cupped along with my samples. We cupped 3 Verve coffees. My absolute favorite of the bunch is their 1950. All of the verve coffees were heads and shoulders better then mine. Kevin said he also thought the coffees were a bit underdevloped because they lacked a bit in body (I feel that my coffees on the Hario have plenty of body tho).

So I tried to roast some Kenyan coffee last night, here were my graphs.

Since the stretched out roast was better, I tried stretching this out.



I then tried a second roast going hotter and faster



I tasted them today. The first stetched out roast was dull, it still had that acidic kenyan note, but it wasnt bright/clear/fruity 2.5/5
The second roast was a tiny bit more clear and had a bit more acid. I prefered it over the first but I wasn't thrilled over it 3/5.

Thanks
Adam

FYI, this topic is cross-posted from a new Reddit conversation as well.



OP, please read the following link about cross-posting. Thanks

Why is cross-posting strongly discouraged?

I'm looking at your second profile of the Salvadoran Tashi, I see an extremely fast ramp from dry to 1C (something not uncommon with a Quest). That's a lot of heat input! That plus your 1:40'ish finish could be just a bit too much heat. If you still have more of it, See if you can run it again and allow for a slightly longer ramp and shorter finish.

Props on getting 120g to give accurate bean strikes on the probes. I don't bother with anything under 175g.

Hi TomC!

Thanks for the replies. I probably should have mentioned I am using Erics probes, but using the alternate bean temp prob location (near the viewing window). I do have some more of the same green coffee. I will try to make your suggested changes and report back!

Also, I read about not cross posting, I do apologize about that.

Thanks,
~Adam

I try to keep ROR higher through 1/3-1/2 of the roast (as high as I can while still moderately declining) and then lowering heat and allowing it to decline a bit faster during the second half. Gives me better control and IMHO more pronounced flavors.

Okay, I went ahead and roasted the last of the El Salv Tashi. I attempted to slow my ramp and drop earlier as well. Here is the graph.



I brewed it this morning on my V60. My first taste was very muted and almost watery. I thought it must be my grind so I tried again with a finer grind, and once again the flavors were muted. Not as watery this time, but very underwhelming. I did not get any ash or over roast, so that was nice. 2.5/5

I then brewed a cup of the Tashi that came out pretty good (I think its the first graph in the thread). I tasted that side by side, and the flavors came out more sweet and fuller. Only down side is it finishes with a touch of ash. 4/5

I compared the graphs and its interesting they aren't that much different. This is why roasting is such an art/science.



I do not have any more of the Tashi, but I do have some more El Salv I can try.

Adam,

I have enjoyed looking over your graphs, I am also roasting with the M3, and it sounds like we have our thermocouples in the same position.

I notice you get a rapid fall off in RoR at the end of your roasts, how are you getting that to fall so dramatically? do you cut power very low early in first crack?

My personal roast preference is a bit darker than you I think, as I use one roast to brew and to pull SOE. I did a kilo of Panama Volcan Baru Bambito from Sweet Maria's a few days ago and it is one of my favorite SOE's I have ever roasted. I am getting much better roasts after insulating by drum, and after getting a vacuum to suck out the chaff after each roast from under the drum.

I get really high ET's now with the insulation on the drum, and the RoR only falls a little at the end of the roast. The "Rao %" at 20-25% seems to give me good espresso roasts.
(Sorry, the graph is hard to read, need to learn how to get better caps of graphs)

Hi Bak,

Thanks for taking the time to check out my graphs and write a reply. I must agree with you that it seems you like your coffee roasted a bit darker. I occasionally enjoy a dark roast too as long as it is still sweet and not to ashy.

I checked the panama coffee you linked, and I realized I actually have some it here. I will roast it up today and let you know.

To answer your question about the heat dropping off, I do usually lower the heat right before first crack. Most recently I have been trying to keep my RoR higher to have some momentum into first crack and then have that classic Roa declining ROR after 1C. I have been attempting this with high ramp heat and slowly lowering the amps as 1c rolls. I noticed in a lot of my graphs that the BT stalls a bit, and I have gotten baked (cardboard) flavors in SEVERAL of my roasts. I have been on a roasting spree on the last couple days roasting over 15 batches, but im still not getting where I want as far as flavor.

I might try adding insulation to my quest if that is giving you better results. My only thought is I still should be able to get a GREAT roast out of the stock quest as several people seem to have been able to accomplish this. I just cupped 12 coffees, and the highest rating was a 3.5 out of 5.

I am trying to examine your graph, but yes it is quite small to read, I might have to zoom in =). Your ROR delta looks super smooth. What is your batch size? I am going to post 2 more graphs with some tasting notes.

Okay so this is where I'm at. I do appreciate everyone that reads and adds some input here.

41Fivestar on reddit shared his quest roasting with me. He charges lower and then cranks the amps to allow the elements to bring the coffee along. He also ups the fan once in ramp.

Here are some coffees I tried using his method.

I first tried a Nicaragua coffee
#1


I thought this graph looked good, my only concern was that flick of death in the ROR at the end.

I tried another batch using some ethiopia

#2


I felt really happy with this graph as it had a declining ROR

I did several other roasts using this method and some were decent. Better then my previous attemps. I was really surprised when I tasted both of these coffees. They both tasted a little burnt and ashy with little to no sweetness, and only a suble lemon like acidity hiding in the back.

I went ahead and tried another method by trying to follow Atomik (I think his name on here is No Steam) and made 2 that looked like this

#1


and

#2


When I dropped #1 i thought the beans looked a bit under developed as they were a bit splotchy and the flat sides had not completey puffed up. So I tried giving batch #2 some more devlopment time.

batch #1 ended up tasting decent. Unfortunately it had a bit of cardboard and a little ash. But underneath that there was a nice orange like acidity that I gave a cup rating of 3.5 out of 5.

The #2 batch was horrible. It was cardboard vegital and burnt with little acidity. I dumped the beans.

I dont really know what to take away from all this. I must admit I can be a bit scatter brained. I can put a lot of effort into roasting the perfect batch but I have a hard time figuring it out. Any input is gladly welcomed.

Hi,
I've owned a quest for 3 years with no modifications. I use the same probes as you as well. I'm been fairly satisfied with the roast flavors I am getting.

Your MET Temps are fluctuating way too much. On most of the graphs your MET low point is 450 and then drives up to around 550 toward the end of the roast. I strive to keep MET between 500-525 throughout the roast. I keep the amps the same throughout the roast and slowly drop them about 45-60 seconds into first Crack dropping the roast at around City+ (410 on my BT probe). I hope this helps.