Hi everyone, I roast coffee for espresso only, and have been doing so for about a year. Other than doing basic searches on how to roast and what types of beans to blend for espresso, I haven't really researched the best method of using a whirly pop.

I have a Coleman stovetop using propane I think, I go outside and roast. My method is this: I weigh out 20 ounces of beans, usually 3 different types. I mix them in a container and let them sit together for a couple days before roasting as I heard it helped the moisture content sort of stabilize. When I roast, I heat up the whirly pop for about 30 seconds then dump half the beans in(10 oz) and start whirling on a low heat, it usually takes anywhere from 8 minutes to 12 minutes to finish roasting, usually about 30 seconds into 2 crack and then I dump beans into a metal strainer and pass from one metal strainer to the other to cool off and get chaff off, then roast the next 10 ounces.

My question is this: what is the best temp to roast on whirly pop to get best flavors out of the coffee, should I be roasting this dark or maybe a little lighter? I always drink cappuccino drinks, not straight espresso. Does anyone have a lot of experience using a whirly pop, and what, If any suggestions can you give? I bought a Vetrano 2b, but am not ready to pull the plug on an actual roaster, yet...

Does anyone think I should roast at a lower temp? What is a good timing for roasting? Any suggestions will be helpful, I am trying to get the best espresso roast I can!!

Also, any good suggestions for espresso blends, I'm all ears

Thank you all!!!

Here's a better pic of my usual roast profile

I am a total amateur and havent really been roasting very long, but this is my take on it and so I will present it as sound and solid fact, but...you know...it is a guy at home roasting on a whirly pop stove top too.....

Your beans are way too dark for me. I also think you may be using way too many beans. With that many beans you are going to have a really hard time keeping an even roast, and controlling the bean mass temperature. I would suggest cutting it back to more like 8oz and maybe going up to 12 if you have a really big pot and really big rangetop. I usually do 220grams, but my pot is a bit smaller than a traditional whirly pop.

I usually preheat to about 260C interior temperature, but I use hot air to get there. I found that if I try to preheat the internal temperature to 260 via conduction the bottom of the pot was too hot and caused for scorching and tipping. THus I had to either drop the beans when the pan itself got to temperature, or let the pan get too hot while preheating the air inside. Of the two, I think it is better to drop earlier and have a slightly extended drying phase (like i said, i pump in hot air to try to avoid this). Thus, I suggest playing around with lower pot temperatu, and try to get it there nice and gradually on a very low flame, as low as you can to start off with. Low and slow is the only way to actually preheat, otherwise you will ruin them. The best way to measure this is going to be to have one thermoprobe placed in the middle of the pot specifically for air temperature. Have a second thermoprobe mounted to rest in the bean mass when you do drop the beans, just above the base of the pot. Then either a third probe resting on the base of the pot to measure the pot, or have the second probe positioned so that it can be lifted slightly so you can change it from measuring pot temperature to measuring bean mass. It wont give a perfect read on the pot temp, but should be pretty close. An IR gun might not work great due to the reflective nature of the pots we are using.

It is critical that you use as wide a flame as possible. If the burner is too small you will have such terrible hot spots and cool spots that you can just throw out any notion of a consistent roast.

Once the beans are in you can keep it up pretty high until drying phase kicks in. You will note this drying phase is ending via a distinct change in smell and if you have any openings on the top of the pot chaff will start to fly out at you. This is probably where 2/3 of your ruined roasts are going to happen. You will have to play around with 2 factors:

1. What gas setting do you use to get to a desired time/drying rate, but that doesnt get too hot and scorch/tip the beans. You will have to do a little trial and error to dial that one in and figure out your own set up.

2. Once the drying phase ends you will have to cut back on the heat quite a bit. If you have too much heat at this point you will burn the beans very fast in my experience. It will take some practice to find the right temperature that keeps the ror curve smooth but doesnt screw up something else.

Also, if you do not have any way to keep hot air flowing, chaff will start to rest on the bottom of the pot and burn up, which, in my experience, ruins roasts as well.

Once you are out of the drying phase and you have found a temperature that allows for the temperature to keep going gradually up without any major dips, but without increasing too fast or burning after drying, you will then be able to coast pretty easily into first crack. This is where things can go really awry really fast on a whirly pop set up. You will have to drop the temperature a bit as you roll into first crack, and will have to play around with the settings on your range and document your bean temperature to find a setting that allows you to keep the beans advancing, without going to fast and burning them to a crisp. Definitely try to extend that first crack out a bit. To begin with I recommend at latest dumping at the very first sound of second crack.

Finally, cleaning the pot is one of the most important thigns to do on a whirly pop. I use oven cleaner to clean the pot after each use, as it might appear pretty clean without a deep clean, but if you leave the residue on the bottom it will immediately and with increasing effect leave a nasty taste on each of your subsequent roasts in the days ahead.

Hey day, thanks for the reply!

A few things: I make 20 oz batches, but I divide it up into two 10 oz batches that I roast separately.

day wrote: I usually preheat to about 260C interior temperature, but I use hot air to get there. .

When you say you use hot air, what do you mean? What do you use for the "hot air"?

day wrote: The best way to measure this is going to be to have one thermoprobe placed in the middle of the pot specifically for air temperature. Have a second thermoprobe mounted to rest in the bean mass when you do drop the beans, just above the base of the pot. Then either a third probe resting on the base of the pot to measure the pot, or have the second probe positioned so that it can be lifted slightly so you can change it from measuring pot temperature to measuring bean mass. It wont give a perfect read on the pot temp, but should be pretty close. An IR gun might not work great due to the reflective nature of the pots we are using

What type of thermoprobe do you use? If you don't mind, can you give me some examples of some that are good for this purpose, maybe a link if possible? I googled thermoprobe and found tons of different types lol.

day wrote:
1. What gas setting do you use to get to a desired time/drying rate, but that doesnt get too hot and scorch/tip the beans. You will have to do a little trial and error to dial that one in and figure out your own set up.

Also, if you do not have any way to keep hot air flowing, chaff will start to rest on the bottom of the pot and burn up, which, in my experience, ruins roasts as well.

Finally, cleaning the pot is one of the most important thigns to do on a whirly pop. I use oven cleaner to clean the pot after each use, as it might appear pretty clean without a deep clean, but if you leave the residue on the bottom it will immediately and with increasing effect leave a nasty taste on each of your subsequent roasts in the days ahead.

Couple questions: first, I usually roast on a low flame, but maybe it's still too hot? I was under assumption the heat should be low, so maybe I'll try a little lower.
You said to keep hot air flowing... How do you keep hot air flowing in the whirly pop? Just curious.

As far as cleaning goes, I clean with soap and water, then I let it airndry...so you are suggesting using oven cleaner? I've never.done that, but I suppose I could try it. Coffee doesn't taste nasty to me...I've never had a batch that I thought was gross, but maybe my palate isnt as great as some. We used to be chefs, so I think I have(and my wife) a decent palate lol.

frankly I am the only one I know of using hot air and whirly pop so you might ignore me on that. If you are using a traditional whirly pop you could actually hole saw the top sides and work out a method to deliver hot air, but many probably think I am crazy. If you do though it helps to eliminate burned chaff and helps reducing scorching/tipping

Post 5 shows what I do-slightly improved now but essentially the same-

Cheap methods to deliver 450 degree air? Preferably controllable


For the probe I rely on a ktype probe, not perfect but super cheap off amazon. I found some random thin metal sheath I clamped around a portion of the wire to keep it stable and easy to slide in and out, there is a hole in the top of the lid and so I just slide the ktype probe in and have a little ball attached to the wire so it will stop sliding in just before it hits the base-right in the middle of the bean mass.

As for the temperature-the times you listed are not far from a reasonable target of approx 12 minutes obviously, but you are getting a very dark roast in 12 minutes so I believe you are either roasting too high overall-or perhaps just too high post drying or post first crack, but probably just need to refine your temperature settings by monitoring your bean temperature more closely through the roast.

If you are getting those dark of roast on a stovetop in 7minutes then you def need to work on some significant temperature adjustments. There are a variety of roast profiles that can yield a good roast and exploring and reading about them takes some time.

When I first started I was just using soap and water as well, which was good enough for a while. After a few months a foul taste started coming in on all my roasts, a bitter burned flavor. For me, soap worked ok but left a thin residue on the bottom, after many roasts the thin residue was building up into a light brown coating that I couldn't remove with soap, but once I hit it with the oven cleaner the troubles were all solved. You may not have that problem of course, but for some reason I did

I drilled a small hole in the top of the whirly pop, and now I can see the temp inside the "oven" which I think will help.

I also purchased a stainless steel whirly pop for better temp control, as I was using the aluminum one.

Do you use an aluminum whirly, is stainless? Is the stainless much better for roasting?

What are the ideal temps for roasting, starting and ending roasts? The tip of the thermometer is right above the beans

I roast with a Whirley as well. I do not track temps though maybe I should? One thing I read a while ago, I think on Sweetmarias.com, is to put down a heavy cast iron skillet over your flame and let it preheat for a good spell. I do this and I think it helps keep an even temp and minimizes scorching. I never go more than around 225 g of greens and I always weigh my output as an important tell of roast level as color/appearance don't tell the whole story. With the Espresso Classic from SM I have been roasting lately I usually hit FC around 8:30-9 minutes and I try to just hear 2C before dumping into a metal collander for cooling. This is usually around 12 minutes and I get about 14% moisture loss and an appearance of a FC+ roast with no visible oils even days later. I average 120 turns per minute, too, FWIW. You really have to use all of your senses with Whirley Pop roasting!

Your roasts, thanks for sharing the pics!, do appear overdone with burnt marks and lots of visible oils. You shouldn't have that issue on a whirley with even a 12 minute roast unless your heat is really high or you're turning way too low? Try the cast iron skillet technique preheated for at least 20 minutes on a quite low burner and make sure you are cranking that bugger around 120 turns per minute. 8 ounce charge weight is about max, too.

I do like Espresso Classic from SM. It is thick and chocolatey if that is your thing. Espresso Monkey was meh. Liquid Amber is best with milk drinks. Those are all from SM.

I am faaaaar from an expert roaster, btw, so feel free to ignore everything I just wrote.

Wow, great advice!

I just bought a stainless steel whirly, so I will be trying that out soon, hopefully I'll get some great roasts!!

Thank you all!!

Try a lighter roast. Your beans are a bit dark and oily. You really should not mix different types of beans together before they are roasted. Always roast a single origin, then another single origin. Blend your beans after you roast them. Every variety is different and will finish at a different time. By roasting them separately, they will be more even in color and easier to profile.

Good luck