Maybe knock a minute off the drying (below 300). Definitely knock 1 to 2 minutes off the ramp to the first. Brazils aren't usually highly aromatic or acidic, nor the most interesting coffees; but they shouldn't taste flat and bready either.

Thanks, i'll try it out. I understand Brazils very aren't acidic, but the ethiopia bonko, mullege, and kenya kirinyaga, came out the same way.

Yeah, I know them both. The Bonko should be a fruit bomb; the Kirinyaga winey and a little vegetal; like those odd French Chinon red wines

I can't comment on the coffee in question since I've never roasted or tasted it, except perhaps in a commercial blend.

When roasting for espresso, I try to get 4-5 minutes in between first crack and the end of the roast. I know from prior experience and testing that roasts with only a 2.5 to 3 minute interval between onset 1st and end of roast, will taste very flat and uninteresting. For purposes of determining the onset of 1C, I don't count an errant pop that precedes all the others by a long period, as it is common to get one or two pops a minute or more before what I regard to be "real" 1C begins. For me, 1C begins when there is some regularity to the popping, although I'm not saying to wait until you get "rolling 1C," which would be waiting too long.

Looking at your posted profile data, it is quite possible that your interval between the onset of 1st Crack and beginning of 2nd, where you dumped the roast, is very short. If you considered the onset of 1st Crack to be the first pop you heard, it is conceivable that you got an interval of 2.5 minutes or even less. This is consistent with your heat and fan settings; a fan level 1 and power setting of 5.

I'm no whiz on my hottop, which I seldom use, however the few times I did use it (and I have a probe mounted through the bean door) it was obvious to me that once first crack approaches the heat power setting needs to be dramatically reduced (like to 2 or even 1) and the fan speed increased, to 3, 4, or 5, in order to slow down the roast progression to get a long enough interval between the onset of "real" 1C and the end of the roast. Your fan and power settings need to be adjusted constantly in order to keep the roast temperature going up at a slow pace while not stalling out the roast and having the temperatures either stagnate or fall.

***Note*** I haven't used my HT in a number of months; I thought that it only went to "5" for both power and fan speed, however in any event my above comments should be taken to mean that you need to both reduce the power and INCREASE the fan, at the same time, as the roast progresses, in order to get a long enough interval between the onset of 1st crack and the end of the roast***************

If all of your coffees are tasting bland and uninteresting, in a similar way, this may be the culprit. By not reducing the heat power enough and increasing the fan speed enough, you are reducing the time interval between the cracks to a length that will not produce good results, with any coffee.

On the plus side, the HT allows you to independently control the fan and power settings. On the minus side, all the control buttons are clustered together and in this cluster is the button that terminates the roast, causing the coffee to be dumped, and if done by accident, it ruins the roast. So, by trying to finely control the power and fan settings, you run the risk, especially if distracted, of hitting the wrong button and rather than just needing to deal with that small error, you can end up losing the whole roast and having to toss the beans. For me, this (combined with the "safety features) is a deal breaker and it is why my HT sits in the garage and is almost never used.

ken

Thanks for taking the time to reply. For most of my roasts the length from the beginning of a rolling 1C to 2C has been around 2-2.5 minutes.

I've been hitting 300 in just under 5:00 then it falls apart. Right before the first couple snaps of first i go to Power:8 Fan:1. Once it's rolling I would go down to Power:4 Fan:1. Then, I'll hit 1C at 375BT, and it doesn't last very long. Just under 400BT and its been around 2:00 since 1C ended - the beans are now looking darker than I would expect for a city+ so I usually end the roast.

I've been trying to reference sweet maria's guide. My times, and temperatures aren't making sense in comparison to their chart. Evenly if I used it as a rough guide:

- Im never hitting first crack around 400
- By the time I get to 425 the beans look pretty dark
- around 435 what they're considering city+ would be charcoal for me

I've been trying to pay less attention to the temperature. I feel like it's easy to get caught up in all the numbers and geekery, and forget what you're trying to achieve.

kevin wrote:Thanks for taking the time to reply. For most of my roasts the length from the beginning of a rolling 1C to 2C has been around 2-2.5 minutes.

I've been hitting 300 in just under 5:00 then it falls apart. Right before the first couple snaps of first i go to Power:8 Fan:1. Once it's rolling I would go down to Power:4 Fan:1. Then, I'll hit 1C at 375BT, and it doesn't last very long. Just under 400BT and its been around 2:00 since 1C ended - the beans are now looking darker than I would expect for a city+ so I usually end the roast.

I've been trying to reference sweet maria's guide. My times, and temperatures aren't making sense in comparison to their chart. Evenly if I used it as a rough guide:

- Im never hitting first crack around 400
- By the time I get to 425 the beans look pretty dark
- around 435 what they're considering city+ would be charcoal for me

I've been trying to pay less attention to the temperature. I feel like it's easy to get caught up in all the numbers and geekery, and forget what you're trying to achieve.

Forget about anyone else's guide or approach. If your thermocouple is mounted through the bean door and hence in the drum with beans swirling around it, and if your TC is accurate, or at the very least, consistent (very likely), the temperature is very very very important. Forget about the temperature at your peril, so your goal to forget about numbers and geekery will get you very bad results.

Note that I am talking about your temperatures, whatever they are, not "their temperatures." I would forget, forever, what anyone else's absolute temperatures are, in favor of paying full attention to what YOUR temperatures are.

You say your interval between rolling 1c and 2nd crack is 2-2.5 minutes, and, coincidentally, that the coffee you produce sucks. If I was to start counting that interval at rolling 1c, rather than before that, then I'd probably be getting 4 minutes interval instead of around 5.

If I got an interval of 2-2.5 minutes, for that time period, as you report, my coffee would suck, too. Bottom line is that you NEED TO INCREASE YOUR FAN SPEED, probably a lot, as you approach the onset of first crack.

ken

To add to what Ken said, you can still find some value in the Sweet Marias roasting guides if you can calibrate your temps to theirs. For example, your first crack temp is 25 degrees off from theirs, is your second crack also around 25 degrees off? In that case, you can rethink your timing for drying as well, as you would be drying them to 325 instead of 300, and taking your sweet time from 300 to 325 is certainly not going to help things either.