Here is a link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RazzoRoasting

Nothing listed for sale right now, but there is a contact button. Maybe he's taking a break or waiting for materials to come in.

Hi all,

I am still trying to figure out my SR800 roaster. Just received the newest Razzo 9.5" extension tube and it seems like a significant improvement over my non-Razzo 9.5" tube. The issues that I was previously struggling with is scorching on the beans. I am still having that scorching issue with naturals, and wondering what setting to try next.
My current process for washed coffee seems to be working well. Roast is pretty even, and I don't seem to get any tipping/scorching.
For washed:
Fan 8, Heat 5 for first 2.5 minutes, until some yellowing.
Raise to Fan 8, Heat 8 for about a minute.
Around 3:30, lower to Fan 7, Heat 7.
Then lower fan gradually when beans rise until first crack.
First crack is around 7 or 7:30, and I am usually at Fan 3, Heat 7 at that point.
First crack is around 445 for me on the built in temperature.

For the Naturals, I am trying lower heat:
Fan 8, Heat 1 for first minute
Fan 8 heat 2 for second minute
Fan 8 heat 3 for third minute
Fan 8 heat 7 starting at around 4 minutes once clear yellowing
then lower fan gradually until first crack.
This was for Bob O link, and hit first crack at 8:40, dropped at 9:40.
Haven't tasted, but looks uneven with scorching and can already predict there will be some bitter/ashy aftertaste.

Batch size for everything is 150 grams. Water loss is around 12.5%

I did hook up a kill o watt.
I am getting 1600 watts power at Fan 8, heat 9
I am getting 1450 watts at Fan 8 Heat 5
1275 watts at Fan 8, heat 1

Any suggestions for how to improve roasting a natural dried bean?
I imagine the issues are happening during drying, so maybe leave heat at 1 throughout drying and try a lower heat number after drying? It seems like that would lengthen first crack which already seems longer than others are getting with their Fresh Roast so I worry about baking the beans. Or do I need higher fan setting to improve circulation?
Would appreciate any advice!
Picture is the Bob O Link natural roast.

Just my take on things.

I'm getting very good results with both natural and washed beans with the MFG's extended roast chamber. 10 oz. roasts, typically.

I dry at fan setting 9 and power setting 4. I don't pay close attention to the time. I judge by color and smell.

When the beans look and smell "right", I lower the fan based on bean flow and the power up to 7 until FC starts then I lower the power to 6 until FC ends.

If I'm looking for a lighter roast, I leave things there until I see the color I want then start the cooling cycle.

If I'm going dark, I raise the power to 8 and start cooling just shy of the color I want. I don't usually go any darker than beginning SC.

After FC, I adjust the fan based on bean flow. I.e., I keep the beans moving but not jumping.

Thank you for sharing your approach!
What time do you generally hit FC?

It's so odd - the first natural I tried, an Ethiopian Kayan Mountain, was spectacular. Great roast, with intense strawberry and chocolate flavor, no bitterness. When I tried to duplicate that roast a week later using all the same settings, it came out totally different, and I have had the scorching ever since. If I didn't know better, I would say something wasn't right with the machine, but clearly it's me. I do wonder if a larger batch size would work better? Guess I have to keep working on it!

Are you using the chaff mod? I usually do and that's yet another variable. I also get seemingly inexplicable inconsistency batch to batch and often have difficulty with evenness and scorching of most naturals whether I prolong drying or not. Granted the results are never that bad, but I don't feel like I'm hitting the mark on what the beans really could be.

Yes I have the chaff mod as well. It would be really interesting to know when in roasting scorching happens. Are beans most vulnerable from drop to end of drying, from drying to FC, or FC to drop? Or is it throughout the roast? Or even could it be after drop? I have a separate fan powered bean cooler so I hit cool and after about 30 seconds I dump the beans into the cooler, but from lifting off the SR800 to dumping into cooler there are about 10-15 seconds where the roasted beans are sitting in contact with hot glass. Maybe even that causes scorching!

Iowa_Boy wrote:Yes I have the chaff mod as well. It would be really interesting to know when in roasting scorching happens.

I had a lot of scorching the few times i tried a high initial heat (8). When I stopped that it disappeared. I did find one scorched bean in last week's roast and looking back, at the end of the roast I did have it briefly up at 8... So my theory is 8 is too high at any time in the roast. And I don't think that high of heat is needed anyway, at least not with the 12" Razzo. But... I'm not sure I'm succeeding at roasting, really.

My basic problem again is not being able to tell FCs, FCe, SCs... I usually try to go by sound but if I try stopping at the end of FC it's actually way too dark and oil starts showing almost immediately. That's often around 400 for where I have my probe at the top of the bean mass. Am I mistaking second cracks for firsts? They sure like what I expected the pops to be, not the snaps... I feel like marking 15 degrees after first crack STARTS as a time to drop but then I'm often right in the middle of the pops and I don't really think the bean color is even. I'm keeping the heat fairly low so that, in theory, things can cook evenly though (3-5), but maybe a more aggressive heat would bring the beans through first crack together better... IDK. Today I roasted only two batches one stopped at 400 and one at 377 and I'll see what I learn from it. I just need more experimenting time and really should stick with one good bean. And I imagine i have too many issues for any advice to really be helpful, i just need to do some more general roasting reading and trying things.

Background: I'm using 9.5 Razzo and Chaff Collector extension mod.

I've been tinkering around with different ideas for controlling roasts and found that I can keep temperature levels and rates of increase at various combinations of Fan and Power levels. So, for example, I can get similar temperature levels when I end up at 6Fan 8Power as 4-5Fan and 2-3Power. For example, I did a complete roast to a solidly medium roast level with the heat level never getting about 3.

That discovery prompted a question for me....

One strategy is to try to use higher power and fan levels.

Another strategy is to use the lowest possible fan speed that keeps the beans from trampolining and a consequence of that will be much lower Power levels as well.

From a few preliminary results, I think I get a brighter, clearer, more flavorful roast from the second strategy. Berry kinds of fruit notes seem clearer. Generally the flavors of coffees towards the medium-darker end of the roast spectrum are better.

Lighter roasts don't seem to change as much and might even be better with floral notes on a higher fan/higher heat settings.

Anyone else notice anything like this? Anyone experiment more with these kinds of comparisons? Definitely something I thin is worth investigating more systematically on my end.

Iowa_Boy wrote:Yes I have the chaff mod as well. It would be really interesting to know when in roasting scorching happens. Are beans most vulnerable from drop to end of drying, from drying to FC, or FC to drop? Or is it throughout the roast? Or even could it be after drop? I have a separate fan powered bean cooler so I hit cool and after about 30 seconds I dump the beans into the cooler, but from lifting off the SR800 to dumping into cooler there are about 10-15 seconds where the roasted beans are sitting in contact with hot glass. Maybe even that causes scorching!

I used to use something similar to the Freshroasts for several years. I used to run into issues like this early in the roast or late in the roast if I applied too much heat when the beans didn't fluidize well. My thinking was that the beans were denser at the start until much of the water flashed off and later in the roast if the chaff collector got overloaded and choked back the air flow.

If the beans are well fluidized for the whole roast this probably isn't an issue for you.

HTH,
-Tom