Hey there.

I expect to get my Cafe Gene within the week, and I almost can't wait!!

Compared to my previous iRoast2, it seems a lot harder to find general guidelines for using this machine. Seems like there's a lot of different suggestions, with different temperatures, with/without pre-heating and cooling either internally using the cooling cycle, or externally using something else.

What I'm looking for is an easy "starting" profile to use as a guideline. I would like to use the inbuilt cooling cycle, even though the beans might roast a bit further after hitting the stop button. I guess I just have to stop it a little bit before it is roasted enough when doing this..

Any suggestions about where to start? Would I need to pre-heat?

Headed out the back door. Used one for 6+ years and can offer some advice later this evening.

B|Java

I used iRoast and iRoastII's for years till I couldn't get replacement parts anymore. I have been using a GC for about 2 years now. I like it much better due to the added ability to control what is going on with the roast. I don't use the cooling cycle on the GC though because it is too hard to predict where the roast will end up. The option to cool externally is just too easy, and allows you to nail your target roast pretty reliably. Having said all that, it is tough to give you an exact roast profile as each of these roasters seems to heat at different rates, and your electrical supply plays into that as well. that being said, I like to run the machine empty for about 5 min at 375*f to warm things up. I try to dump my greens in as quickly as possible and get things restarted. something I discovered about this roaster is that if you emergency stop and then want to continue with the roast, all you have to do is spin the time dial and add time and it will go right back into roast mode. so once the thing is heated up and the beans are in, I typically start out at 300*f for 5 min for a drying phase, then to 446* till about 9:30 then up to 465* to 11:00 then crank it to 482* till first crack. then I usually back down to 465* until the end of roast and dump to cool externally. this is a sort of baseline. I adjust based on experience and what the particular bean might require and what I am trying to achieve. Best advice I can give you is to keep detailed roast logs with times, temps and results. I don't do this religiously anymore, but I have a pretty good feel for the machine by now. I still do it with a new variety of coffee until I get it right.

anyway, enjoy.

Thanks for both your replies!

Java > I'm looking forward to your input.


troposcuba > Thanks for your advice. How exactly do you do the external cooling? If it truly is so easy, I might consider doing it anyway. I mainly have 2 concerns though - I'm too lazy to use too much extra time and effort in cooling if it can do it automatically, and also, I'm planning to funnel the air from the big chaff collector and out the window using aluminium ducting. By stopping the roast and cooling externally, I have read that I let a lot of smoke out in the room, which kinda destroys the idea of using the funnel in the first place.

Also. When heating up the machine, I guess you just use the emergency stop (pressing and holding cool button, right?) and hurry up filling the glass with beans. Afterwards, what you're saying is that you just turn the time button a little, which makes it start again? Thanks!


Sorry for my bad english btw, I hope the meaning is clear.

Rallendk wrote:Hey there.

I expect to get my Cafe Gene within the week, and I almost can't wait...Compared to my previous iRoast2, it seems a lot harder to find general guidelines for using this machine...Any suggestions about where to start? Would I need to pre-heat?

Rallen, sorry for the delay. Been slammed at work and home. I have two Gene Cafes. I have run one for nearly seven years (and installed 3 new heaters from abusing it). Each machine takes different profiles to produce the same bean. Who knows why. I started on an I-Roast and don't miss it one bit.

General tips from my experience. I will provide the older machine's settings (the new one, for whatever reason, takes 12* less in Fahrenheit than the new one). I can't explain why. As such, take every suggestion on the net with a grain of salt. We have different machines, different voltage, different ambient temps, etc.

I always monitor line voltage with a Kill-a-Watt meter. I find that I can't adequately roast with less than 118 volts at the outlet. If it drops below that, I add an old industrial Variac that I found on eBay. I keep detailed time so that I know:
1. Time to first crack/temps
2. Time to turn down the machine
3. Time to pull beans
4. (With espresso roasts, seconds into 2nd crack).

My process.
1. Pre-heat. I run mine up to 350*F, hit e-stop, and put in 230 grams.
2. High grown beans, I run at 476*F through and one minute past 1st crack's beginning.
3. Turn it down at one minute past start of first crack to 471*, trying to stretch start of 2nd crack to 3 full minutes between start of 1st crack and beginning of second. I always pull before 2nd crack unless I am doing an espresso roast. Then I pull about 5 seconds into 2nd crack.
4. I cool externally in a colander suspended in a 5 gallon bucket, with a shop-vacuum machine drawing air through the beans.

That is the general profile I use. With intermediate grown elevation beans, I back the temp down, to 471* and 465.* (Brazils, some Indonesians). With low grown, 467* and 461* (Konas, Ka'us).

With the machine, after cooling externally, I get the hopper back into the machine as quickly as possible re-initiating the normal cool down cycle.. Once cooled and it shuts off, I let it rest 10 minutes. You don't need to pre-heat again if doing a second roast as there is retained internal heat sufficient for the second roast and beyond.

You will read a lot in material about "drying" the bean around 350*. In my opinion and experience with the Gene, you can forget that. It does not have adequate heat energy to set it at that temp and then adequately power up to roasting temperature. It is a drawback of the Gene and results in a "toasty" profile compared to an adequately power roasting approach.

I used to do back-to-back roasts without cooling at all. I would have the next roast all set to go. One day I did 18 back to back roasts before the heater blew. I have done that twice now. I have learned my lesson.

I would encourage you to get 3 kilos of a good high grown bean and just blow through them, using the opportunity to learn the roaster. Don't be afraid to experiment or make a mistake. Keep good records and see what profile develops the bean best on your machine. When I roast a new bean, I will play with profiles a bit. I keep very meticulous records of roast profiles by specific beans so that I can repeat them at a later date.

Enjoy, B|Java