Any suggestions for how to improve my roast?

#1: Post by **capt_jack11** » May 25th, 2022, 9:25 pm

Here are two screen shots of two different roasts of a Guatemalan bean roasted on a Cormorant. They are very different roasts but both seem to have a similar defect (maybe baked but hard to say.)

Does anyone have any advice on how to improve it or things to try? I am struggling with this bean.

*Note:
1. The 5/18's DE is actually closer to 5:00, and my gas shut off right as I dropped the beans, which caused the TP to be 1:10 rather than 1:00

2. The 5/13 shows a spike around 5:30 which is also do to gas shutting off

May 25th, 2022, 9:27 pm

First post in here...not sure if my pictures attached on the first one

#3: Post by **mkane** » May 25th, 2022, 9:42 pm

Charge at a higher temp or use less beans. Try and get dry under 5 minutes. More like 4:45. Then you have more energy to play with later in the roast.

One more thing. Don't try and micromanage every phase.

And from what I gather your roaster doesn't retain much heat so get with it, especially the first roast.

And if it's the only bean you're struggling with, congratulations.

#4: Post by **Rickpatbrown** » May 26th, 2022, 1:13 am

Yes, more heat and/or lower your bean weight.

Also, make a bigger cut in heat before dry end. You want fewer gas changes, but more drastic

I actually look for dry end to be 4:15-4:30 on my Huky.
You want about 3-3:30 minutes in 2nd phase and then 1:30-2:30 in final.

Generally, try to roast as hard and fast as you can while fully developing and avoid roasty flavor.

#5: Post by **CarefreeBuzzBuzz** » May 26th, 2022, 8:22 am

Yes more heat up front, to end up with roughly 45/35/20 % in your roast phases.

Read the Artisan blog on Special Event Annotations so that you can see your gas and air changes on your graph after roasting.

Also note you can use the Legend (double click) to turn off a curve display. You can also do the same with the LCD while roasting. This is useful for example if you don't want a curve for ET or a fan to display when its not the focus of the discussion or your roasting.

There is more in the Quick Start Guide as well.

May 26th, 2022, 1:22 pm

Thank you for the responses!

In past roasts, I have charged at 375 rather than 365 and while it brought the DE time to 4:00, FC came at 6:44. Does that seem too early for FC?
OR should I generally be cutting heat more dramatically to stretch out phase 2 of the roast?

#7: Post by **GC7** » May 26th, 2022, 1:32 pm

I will trust others to guide you through proper gas drum roasting protocols and curves.

You are very vague about your coffee and what you expect from the cupping of your roasts.

Not all coffee from Guatemala is the same. Some are great, others good specialty grade and still other Guatemalan coffees are not so tasty at best. Is it current crop? Where did you get it?

Those are just a few additional things to consider. If we're talking about highly regarded current crop coffee that has been stored properly then -"Never mind".

#8: Post by **CarefreeBuzzBuzz** » May 26th, 2022, 2:12 pm

capt_jack11 wrote:Thank you for the responses!

In past roasts, I have charged at 375 rather than 365 and while it brought the DE time to 4:00, FC came at 6:44. Does that seem too early for FC?
OR should I generally be cutting heat more dramatically to stretch out phase 2 of the roast?

As an exercise in controlling your roaster, see if you can hit the 45/35/20 or what you need to do to change it. I am not saying its right for all coffee, but they are good goals for learning your roaster.

#9: Post by **mkane** » May 26th, 2022, 8:34 pm

45/35/20 along with 30/20/10f R0R

MET should occur closer to 6 minutes and hang in there right on up until 1c.

#10: Post by **Marcelnl** » May 27th, 2022, 4:52 am

With a low thermal mass roaster, which I THINK the Cormorant is like the Huky, you can IME skip the soak and go Max gas from the get go. Doing that (perforated drum!) I am able to reach Dry end in well under 4 minutes so I have to adjust Max pressure according to the weather.
Other than that, what was already said here...try load up as much heat upfront and taper off gas staedily and at some point you'll notice that the curves happen by magic without doing much.