Inspired by Louis' sharing of his process, I wanted to share how I track my roast data and see how others do it as well.

I gather a lot of technical data and keep notes on all my roasts. Right now the processing of all that data is cumbersome but once I get it all processed, formatted, and cataloged, it becomes a valuable reference. I use the Notes application on my iPhone during the roast. I have a template set up, which I just cut and paste for each roast then fill in the blanks with pertinent information like below:

=====

Roast #19
Date: 10/2/11
Ambient air temp: 66
occasional light breeze
Line voltage: 124.5
With element on: 120.6

Profile: A06
Beans: Kenya AA
Pre weight: 250g
Pre density: 700g/l
Post weight: 212g
Post density: 360g/l

Weight loss: 38g (15.2%)
Density decrease: 340g/l (47.2%)

Bean charge: 250

First crack: 12:34 392°

First crack end: 14:31 421°

Eject: 15:00 430°

=====

Since I don't have a data logging thermometer (yet), I take timing pictures every 30 seconds, which is tedious but very useful because the photo records total roast time, temps, as well as profile sequence so that I can make adjustments to the profile later.



I then manually transcribe the information into mac Numbers (their Excel equivalent) and plot the heat curve from that data.



And finally, I use Evernote to consolidate all of my notes and data into one file and I leverage the tags for metadata. It's easier to just show my tag structure with a picture:



Now that all the data is formatted and cataloged, if I want to see all of my data from the Kenya-AA beans that I roasted with Profile A01, I can select those two tags in Evernote and see that data.

It takes about an hour and a half to two hours to finish the process after each roast, but to me it's worth it to have all the data and notes organized and cataloged in way that is easily referenced.

I also update my notes each morning as I taste previous roasts. I keep four to five different roasted batches on hand and take notes on how they develop over time and also do crude blending tests. I haven't developed any cupping skills yet, so I won't call it cupping, but it's similar.

I keep a small sample of every roast as well. I can describe that whole process if there's interest...this is already a long post.

Rick, have you looked at the RoastMaster app for iOS?

Roastmaster iPhone app
iTunes Store

I haven't tried it but its functionality pretty much matches what you are doing manually.

In my case, I really need to buy a new iOS device. All I have now is a 1st gen iPod Touch, which is stuck at iOS 3. I cannot install the new EspressoParts app, neither RoastMaster.

I looked at iRoast but didn't find enough information to drop $10 on it, yet anyway. I really like the idea of having all the data in the mobile device, as well as the timer and maybe even the alert portion. But on the other hand, I can see it making me dependent on it instead of the sights and smells for alerting.

I can't seem to find information on the EspressoParts app. What is it?

So I see...interesting. I might have to get that once I get my hands on a Breville dual boiler machine. I'm soooo ready to upgrade. I've been running on a Krups for over 10 years.