cimarronEric wrote:Schooley recommends, for DP coffees in this article http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/conten ... ed-coffees, pushing a little harder right into 1C to overcome this lack of distinction. I've found it quite helpful but requiring serious brakes once 1C gets going to avoid it getting away.

Yeah, I read that article a few years ago. The advice is very good, so good that I incorporated it into my repertoire (such as it is) then.

If you look at my chart, you'll see that I'm already stretching Drying and pushing Ramp very hard. Also, note that my crack time is 1:45, and that Chris and Tom recommend between 1:30 and 2:00. I can't put the brakes on much harder than I already am -- increasing air to drum from 25% to 100%, decreasing gas from 5" to 1-1/2" 15F before 1stCs -- and tread the line between runaway Development and stalling.

Whatever temp 1stCe occurs (always a judgement call), I'll be dropping in the 422F - 424F range, because I'm not looking for a bare "C" finish, but for something solidly C+, and have -- I think -- identified the temperature pretty accurately. We'll see.

I can't wait to roast any longer than tomorrow because I'm running out of beans. But I'll call Sean or Mike at Klatch on Tuesday and see what they have to say.

Rich

Rich, since we have the same roaster I have a suggestion for something you might try. Check out the second of the two profiles I posted, which shows fan settings in yellow. Like you, I slow things down a bit before first crack when I want to draw out development. But when I want to draw out development without stalling, I'll usually cut the air back for a brief window in the middle of first cracks to keep from stalling things out. About 1 minute after first crack start, I'll put the air back up high to anticipate the acceleration that would otherwise come at the end of first cracks.

What may be controversial about this method, as I see it, is that you are likely to get just a bit more distillate flavors due to the lower airflow during first cracks. But in an espresso focused roast, I do not view that as a downside, as I find that those distillate notes tend to balance nicely with the acidity of a DP coffee like this.

My first crack ran just a bit over two minutes, but the resulting shots were very tasty. I may experiment with the suggestion to run harder through the end of ramp into first, and see if I can slow things down afterwards, just to compare the results.

Roasted two batches at this profile on Wednesday, cupped Thursday. Very promising for espresso, a lot of depth and life.

Note that I extended the Development interval 30sec beyond the Owens/Schooley recommendations in the article cited by Eric to balance low and high notes. It meant anticipating 1stCs a little earler to control RoR.



My thought is that I wanted more fruit in my espresso roasts, but didn't want to lose the very nice chocolate. This will be a very nice coffee indeed -- 90+, no doubt -- if I can get it right.

I'll load up the hopper and start pulling shots on Sunday.

Rich

Thanks for updating us on your progress, Rich. I stretched out the development phase quite a bit in my espresso roasts, and I liked the results a great deal. I look forward to hearing how the shots taste!

Brewed the roast profiled in my previous post (R&L 6) in my balance beam siphon. Spectacular. Raspberry, without any hint of raspberry sourness; blackberries; apricot, vanilla, cocoa nib, hint of marzipan. Silky mouthfeel, with good but not great weight. No faults. 92, maybe 93.

Espresso, here we come.

Rich

R&L 7 for espresso today.



Eureka! Or, Damn Near!

The profile time, temp, and fan differences between this roast and (the disappointing) R&L 2 are very small. I'm surprised they had such a large effect in the cup.

At the end of the day, I think 5:45, 4:15 and 2:15 to 422 - 423F, with 25% air from Charge to (anticipated) 1stCs, and 100% air through Development, is an optimal, C+ profile for espresso and brew and is how I'll be roasting the Worka from now on.

Rich

Had an interesting morning today, eleven days post roast on batches 7 and 8 (plot of 7 is in the post above). I made the weird version of a long black Linda likes for her morning brew -- espresso pulled on top of sweetened, creamed, hot water -- gave it to her, and she asked me if it was chocolate or coffee.

With a little age this roast is very chocolatey, but the acids are still holding up nicely. Liking this a great deal; but believe a slightly shorter drying period, slightly shorter overall roast, slightly lower Drop temp -- all to brighten it up... wait for it ... slightly -- will take this bean to the best it can be.

I'm scoring this profile at 91 for espresso, and 90 for brew. I'm pretty sure there's a solid 93 for both purposes in there.

Rich

After a few unsuccessful roasts with this bean I think I've finally got a profile that I like. I think I was trying to push this natural a little too hard and also dropping a little too light. So I made an attempt to slow the roast down a bit and extend it with the following profile.



I just saw BDL's roasts and noticed that these are remarkably similar. Nice to see that a similar profile also got good results for him. Tried to get a steadily declining RoR, but I've found that very challenging with this bean as it seems to really take off through first crack. Since I had been roasting too light I figured I'd try going a little darker than I normally do and dropped this at 430 F. Taste was very chocolately, but still with a pronounced berry fruitiness. Made for an excellent espresso with great body and sweetness and the flavors and body even carried through in my morning cap and afternoon machiatto.

Next roast I aimed to repeat this roast but just try dropping a little lighter. I set the above roast as the background in Artisan and figured I'd try to replicate it. This was my first time with the Huky trying this and I was intitially skeptical that I'd be able to do it. But by the looks of it I think I did quite well as the curves almost exactly match starting a little after turnaround. Dropped this at 423 F and got similarly good results but with even more berry flavors.



I'm really enjoying this coffee now - a really great go-to SO espresso. My wife has said it's her favorite that I've served in a while and it defintely compares very favorably to the better SOs I've been served in the Portland area. Glad that I still have about 6-7 pounds left so I can just enjoy it for a while and maybe try some minor tweaks. More often than not by the time I figure out a coffee that I really enjoy I'm all out of green beans and sad that I didn't order more.

Last and Final Profile:

A little slower through Ramp; a little less Development, C/C+; lower Drop Temp.

Tasting notes, brew:

• Balance beam siphon;
• Day 4 post roast;
• Aroma - Sweet olive (hyacinth/honeysuckle), ripe boysenberries on the bush;
• Taste - Strawberry, raspberry, boysenberry, banana, cocoa nib, tangerine;
• Acidity - Tangerine, bright;
• Mouthfeel - Silky, light syrup, juicy on the tongue (typical of the grinder).
  Score (per COE scoresheet) - 92 or 93. Outstanding!

Espresso notes to follow. I'm looking for a cup with a "best" window from day 6 post roast, which continues to display fruit at least through day 15.

Klatch still has stock.

Rich

Roaster - Hottop B-2K with variac and TC4C

I targeted a drop at 2:00 after start of first crack, or temp of 1C+30 F. 30 seconds after first crack started, I turned the heat OFF. This way the roast did not accelerate.
NOTE - my thermocouples read 30 degrees lower than most others. As noted in this post at Sweet Maria's, I have virtually identical readings as Barrie. We both have identical Omega probes installed in the same location on our Hottops.


Evaluation
Had a pour-over of this coffee after five days rest. This time, definitely as good as I expected.