Hi All,

I've been using the Huky for the past month and would appreciate any advice on improving the color consistency of my roasts. I'm using an LPG stove with the standard fan (no variac or dimmer). I also have a data logger so I can track the temps and roasting curves. As you can see from the picture, the color of my roasts is quite uneven.

I've been roasting between 200- 300 g per batch and the general profile is:

Drop - 220 - 230 C
Turnaround Point ~ 2 min
FC Start - 8-10 min
End 11 - 13 min
Ending Bean Temp 218 - 225 C

Can anyone tell me some tips / best practices for improving color consistency?

Picture?

What coffee? If you are roasting dry process robusta it my never be even unless you burn it.

Hi Lawrence,

I'm roasting wet processed Indian Arabicas. Here is the picture of a typical roast:

maybe it's the picture but the color variance of those beans dont look abnormal to me.

I know photoing beans is a little tricky. But from the photo it doesn't look that uneven. If you want to improve color consistency then increasing the drying phase helps(or below 315 f). Or just lengthen the entire roast.

It could certainly be the bean - others may be more familiar with it. How does it taste?

mjc279 wrote:
Can anyone tell me some tips / best practices for improving color consistency?

First, photography aside, I agree with the others that your roast evenness looks pretty decent. For comparison, I took a picture (albeit under-exposed) of a pre-mixed Brazil-Costa Rica-Ethiopia blend I made last Saturday that turned out to be very evenly roasted for a blend of higher and lower elevation beans and cupped very well to boot.



Regarding best practices for evenness of roasting with the Huky, I would suggest the following:

• 1. Do not use the damper for ventilation control (assumed because you said you don't use a dimmer or variac). Doing so causes air flow blocking from chaff collection and will often clog even after you open up the damper.
  
  2. Preheat the roaster for at least 15 minutes. Before I used to preheat for about 5-7 minutes and found my second roast to be more even than my first.
  
  3. Consider higher drop temps (10C-15C more). This gives you a faster turnaround and you won't have to step o the gas too much for the remaining portion of the roast.
  
  4. Seasoning the drum inside and outside. I found that after about 8-10 roasts, the inside was seasoned enough to allow greater heat irradiation to the bean. You can also season the outside of the drum by applying Crisco and burning it off before you start a batch.
  
  5. Are you using a solid drum? Although I've never used the perforated drum, I've always felt that the solid drum would provide improved circulation by drawing hot air flow from the back of the drum to front rather from the bottom to front. That said, I have no way of knowing if this would have a material affect on roast evenness. Jed, I recall that you have both drums, so have you settled on a drum preference? Have you noticed roasting differences between the drum types?
  
  5. 73 RPM motor. Its been awhile since I've used the 50 RPM, but I sense the faster motor provides better agitation at higher bean loads, but this may not make much of a difference charges less than 300g.
  
  6. Go with a stronger open flame atmospheric burner rather than the IR burner that Mr. Li sells. Atmospheric burners heat the air more and improve convective heating, which works well the strong fan of the Huky.

In general, you technique should improve over time as you get more acquainted with the burner and controls.

slickrock wrote:5. ...((snip))... Jed, I recall that you have both drums, so have you settled on a drum preference? Have you noticed roasting differences between the drum types?

I initially roasted with the perforated drum but didn't have any logging tools setup at that time, then after some coaching, changed to the solid drum while keeping the slower motor. Since I'm very new to this, it took me a while to learn what I was doing, and I believe I've achieved my first few successful roasts last weekend. Once I'm comfortable positive results are achieved due to my choices (i.e. create a baseline), I'll play around with changing the drum and motor, primarily to learn.

Thanks all for the replies. I actually like the taste quite a bit, but as a relative novice, it seems to me that the color variations mean I could improve my technique and also it might be difficult to achieve a consistent flavor.

Joel, in response to your questions, I've found that I leave the damper open and turn on the fan, quite a few of the green beans get sucked up in to the elbow joint during the drying phase. It seems I will have to invest in a variac/dimmer but living in India, finding anything can be quite a challenge. I'm also using a perforated drum but with the 72 rpm motor and an LPG stove.

Thanks for all of the tips. I will definitely try them out and see how it works on my setup.