Hey Ya'll.

I'm fairly new to roasting, but not to coffee. I've read so many different things about a starting point for roast profiles, and most of what I've tried has left some to be desired. I'm roasting with a new HotTop B unmodified (although I do have the HTC-TC4C sitting on my desk). I enjoy lighter roasts, ala four barrel, heart, case coffee etc.

My reading the forums and other articles has led me to go for an extended drying period to control acidity and increase sweetness (up to 5 minutes), 2-3 minute period to FC (this portion of the roast confuses me. Race to FC, or run the fan?), and back off in preparation of extending first crack out (2+ minutes). I typically eject around 400 HT temp, 30-40 seconds after the end of FC. These usually last 13+ min with 225g and a 250F charge.

THEN, I ran across a thread somewhere where folks were discussing short roasts, aiming for a rise of 30F/min (where some of my previous profiles were 18-20F/min), and dropping 1min after the start of FC. This was probably my tastiest roast to date, but flew in the face of everything I thought I was learning about roast profiles.

Help?

TL;DR I'm learning how to build a good starting point for roasting coffee. What am I missing?

I think the reason you haven't received any help until my reply is that you don't need any help. You're off to a great start if you're nailing those two types of profiles.

As far as your last question, you're not missing anything. Your evaluation of your roast is far more important than theoretical profiles. Try various profile suggestions and cup the results, you'll figure out what works best.

Thanks. Was really just looking for someone to point out any glaring fundamental mistakes.