I've done maybe 30 roasts trying to find the right recipe of quality green beans, time management, drop temp., bean temp., and color; and, I must say that I am disappointed so far. I've used expensive beans from Jamaica, Yemen, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe,Panama Geisha, etc. I was hoping for a better flavor profile than the Starbucks and others commercial offerings and I haven't really succeeded. I use the latest version of the Hottop roaster FWIW, but I'm agnostic regarding the hardware, believing that the roasting process is so much more important than the roaster brand name.

Of course I have no intention on giving up. I enjoy doing a roast even if I am somewhat disappointed in the outcome. I'll continue to tinker with my procedures, which are in general terms heating the beans to around 300 degrees, charging them while they fall to around 190 degrees, turning them around to around 300 degrees and then varying fan speed and temperature to a drop heat of between 390 and 400, with first crack starting around 355 BT and finishing at 375 or so BT. I've experimented outside of these drop heat ranges, but lower than 390 results in undeveloped, light flavors and over 400 seems to begin to char the beans with a somewhat over-roasted effect.

The art of roasting takes many trial and error, hang in there. I am still trying to wrap my head around it myself.

What is the weight of your batches? How long till 1C? Do your hit 2C, if you do how long? What is the total time of your roast?

Ditto.

?

Usually 250g batches up to 270g occasionally. About 11 1/2 minutes from charge to first crack. I almost never go to second crack with total roast time at 14 1/4 to 14 1/2 minutes.

Are you using Artisan to log your roasts? That would help us diagnose your progress.

I haven't installed Artisan yet Randy but that will be my next step.

I'd strongly encourage you to participate in our monthly Roast and Learn threads. When I was getting started, I found it extraordinarily helpful to be able to compare my profiles and results with others. In the meantime, hang in there and keep at it!

Also, it might help us diagnose your problems if you told us more about the coffee you are sourcing. Where are you buying your greens? How are you storing them? Are they fresh crop or older? Are they traceable to specific farms or coops, or are they more generically labelled? Are they wet or dry processed? I ask these questions, in part, because your list was a bit peculiar. Jamaican greens do not have a good reputation among serious roasters these days, and I'd advise new roasters against paying the premium that Panama Geisha commands until they have a firm grasp of the fundamentals, especially as that varietal has a reputation for being a bit tricky to roast. Of the coffees you listed, I'd expect that it would be easiest for a new roaster to get tasty results out of a good quality washed Yirg.

Paul12644 wrote: I was hoping for a better flavor profile than the Starbucks and others commercial offerings and I haven't really succeeded.

What would say constitutes a better profile than Starbucks? What roast level do you prefer?

Generally speaking, entry level home roasters using small electric roasters like the Hottop end up with long, sweet, chocolate tasting roasts as opposed to sweet fruit and floral roasts. I'm not saying it's impossible to get those flavors, but to do so on demand takes practice.

I'm wondering if you simply need more education and practice or if there's some limitation in your palate or equipment?

I home roasted for 8 years. I tried a ton of varieties/countries. Some success and a ton of failure.

Where I finally gained traction was getting a high grown Colombian and drilled through about 8 lbs, 228 grams at a time. I would do three roasts, with different profiles, and cup them.

By about roast 12, I gained some traction and those profiles were the basis for progressing.

Hang tuff.

The day you stop learning about roasting is the day you stop roasting.

I have told this story many times, but it is wroth repeating: At the Long Beach SCAA show, a fellow was there showing his computer controlled Hottop. This was years ago and he had developed the hardware and software himself. it was all quite impressive and very accurate. Barry Jarrett (Riley's Coffee and Fudge), glanced at the graph on the computer screen about mid-roast and said, "You're teasing it. You're bringing it around too slowly. It's going to taste like balsa wood." Removing the rest of the details, the coffee was brewed right from the cooling tray and without exaggerating, it was like taking a bite from one of these:

I gained a whole new respect for the art of coffee roasting that day.

I have been a home roaster for about 15 years. Two things recently took me to the next step- Scott Rao's book ("The Coffee Roaster's Companion") and using Artisan with the new Hottop. There are certainly other roasting appliances out there that could have done it, but I gotta "dance with the one I brung."

Being a visual learner, having real-time graphing and the ability of Artisan to control the Hottop has been great. Add the "alarm" functions in Artisan that allow computer control, and all this has taken me to the next level. I have found one of the greatest benefits is that I can use the last roast as a template, and modifying the alarms slightly as need be, roast the new batch and see, literally, how my change improved the roast profile (or not).

Scott's guidance states two things I have been working on:
1 - Development time (start of first to drop) should be 20 to 25% of the total roast time
2 - The rate or rise of bean temperature should always decrease.

I have found the first to be fairly easy, but I think that is relative to the roast level you like.
With a home electric roaster, the second goal is more difficult to achieve, but I get fairly close.

But neither of those things would be easy to achieve (for me) without some visual feedback and having a record of my previous roast (or roasts as the case may be). Thus, the benefit of Artisan.