High Moisture Loss on Light Roasts
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- Posts: 9
- Joined: 11 years ago
Hi All,
I'm roasting Indian Arabica beans and one thing I've noticed is that my moisture loss levels are between 17-19%, which seems quite high for City - FC+ roasts. I've tried varying the length of roast (9min - 13 min) Generally, I reach TAT at 2 min and then my drying time has ranged from 4-6 min and FC occurs between 7-9 min.
I'm roasting on a Huky 500 so I have full control over the gas and limited control over the airflow. Does anyone have any ideas on why my moisture loss levels are so high and what I can do to prevent this?
Thanks!
I'm roasting Indian Arabica beans and one thing I've noticed is that my moisture loss levels are between 17-19%, which seems quite high for City - FC+ roasts. I've tried varying the length of roast (9min - 13 min) Generally, I reach TAT at 2 min and then my drying time has ranged from 4-6 min and FC occurs between 7-9 min.
I'm roasting on a Huky 500 so I have full control over the gas and limited control over the airflow. Does anyone have any ideas on why my moisture loss levels are so high and what I can do to prevent this?
Thanks!
- farmroast
- Posts: 1623
- Joined: 17 years ago
Speed up the early part(to 300f/150c bean temp,) of the roast. This is when drying occurs but the beans aren't yet really roasting. You might be able to raise your charge temp. a little too. Could it be possible that the beans are on the high moisture side from the start? Thus your getting a slightly higher moisture loss? Compare the cup of 2 roasts with your present moisture loss and one with a faster drying time.
LMWDP #167 "with coffee we create with wine we celebrate"
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- Posts: 9
- Joined: 11 years ago
Hi Ed,
Thanks for the reply. I did a 3.5 min drying time (which is pretty much the minimum for my set up) and that reduced the moisture loss to 15.5%. That may be lower limit for the beans I am using given my level of roast. Btw, the beans are around 11% moisture, which seems pretty standard.
Thanks for the reply. I did a 3.5 min drying time (which is pretty much the minimum for my set up) and that reduced the moisture loss to 15.5%. That may be lower limit for the beans I am using given my level of roast. Btw, the beans are around 11% moisture, which seems pretty standard.
- endlesscycles
- Posts: 921
- Joined: 14 years ago
Any lower than 87% yield is neither a light roast nor is it attributable to loss of moisture alone.
-Marshall Hance
Asheville, NC
Asheville, NC
- the_trystero
- Posts: 918
- Joined: 13 years ago
Can you elaborate on that Marshall? Are you saying you can't do a light roast that is very dry? And on the second part are you implying that one would be losing bean mass, too?
"A screaming comes across the sky..." - Thomas Pynchon
- endlesscycles
- Posts: 921
- Joined: 14 years ago
I call a light roast one that features minimal roast notes; Maillard, Caramel, or otherwise: where acidity and sweetness are the dominate to absolute flavor experiences. Green coffee should be between 10-12% moisture content so if there is much more than 10-12% loss, then either roast reactions are to blame or the coffee was inappropriately wet begin with: there is no other explanation (other than "floor" loss).
-Marshall Hance
Asheville, NC
Asheville, NC
- the_trystero
- Posts: 918
- Joined: 13 years ago
Ah, thank you. When I was first starting out I was using longer Diedrich type profiles and I was getting up to 17% weight loss, the lower temp roasts didn't necessarily have a lot of roasts notes but they were pretty flat.
"A screaming comes across the sky..." - Thomas Pynchon