Hey all!

I've been roasting a variety of beans in a new(ish) HotTop roaster. All of my roasts have been dropped about 30 seconds to a minute after first crack. Despite the beans looking like a lovely medium (City + or so) roast, they have all had a dark "roasty" taste to them.

What are some things that could contribute to that dark taste despite the lighter roast color?

Thanks!

Tipping? Scorching?

If you break a roasted bean open are the darker in the middle?
It is important to break beans open and make sure you are getting an even roast color throughout.
It is more common to have the center/middle of the bean lighter and underdeveloped than to be darker but it does happen especially if you are doing very long roasts.
What are your roast times?

Got any temp probes? Might have a "flick" in the ROR at the end.

Hey all, thanks for the ideas. Scorching and tipping could be an issue, although I'll admit I'm not sure how to assess that. I'll take a look at some of the beans when I get home. My roast times have been in the 13 - 15 minute range, so perhaps my length is not good and causing the middle of the bean to be overdeveloped... IS that a thing?

I only have the display on the HT to work with at this point.

Tipping is pretty easy to see, though depending on your vision you might need a magnifying glass.

Usually there's a small black spot on the end of the bean, and if you split the bean open you'll see a short thin black line extending back toward the center of the bean on the order of 1/16"-1/8" long and maybe 1/32" wide. This is where the embryo would sprout. That area has a weaker structure, so if the beans get too much heat early on steam will shoot out of that end of the bean, burning it.

I had the same problem. What fixed it for me was more airflow during maillard and development. Also really reduced the chaff I was getting after grinding.

I'm not familiar with the controls that unit has, and pardon if this is a repeat of what you already know.

Increasing the airflow after the drying stage can reduce the "smokey taste" effect (literally blows the smoke away). Also lower airflow during drying can get the heat into the bean better and reduce an effect of the outside being roasted darker than the middle.

Naturally processed beans often need lighter roasting then would even be imagined, supposed by many to be due to the fact that the pulp dries in place and imparts more sugar; thereby easily burning and tasting overly "roasty" very easily.

Just some initial thoughts, not gospel

Hey yall! first post here Been reading alot lately and having fun roasting my greens.

I was having an issue with my lighter roasted coffee tasting really roasty/smoky before I started venting better. . .

Thanks all! Based on what I've heard you all say, in addition to some extended reading, I'm going to play around with shortening up my overall roast time (probably with a higher initial temp) and also try to use some fan earlier in the roast to clear out any smoke. I also cleaned out the rear fan last night and put in a new filter, and the whole thing was disgustingly clogged, so maybe that was playing a role. Perhaps my next roasts will taste better just from a new filter and a clean fan!

Thanks.