Since I've only been roasting since December, I acknowledge my level of
roasting to be at elementary school level. However, I'm learning the
basics and getting ready to move to Roasting Jr. High.  Here's the
question...  I've noticed several beans such as Panamanian and Costa
Rican which are labeled Strictly Hard Bean.  How is roasting a SRB
different?  Or is it different?  I sure like both of the coffees I
mentioned and want to attain the best possible roast. 
Thanks!!
Gregg

<Snip>
I read an interesting article recently (in Roast Magazine, I believe) by =
Willem
Boot that touches on this subject and advises the following (I haven't =
confirmed
this personally):
For hard beans, roast with a relatively high initial heat and moderate =
heat in
the final stage of the roast process. Examples: Kenya AA, Guatemala SHB =
and
almost any coffee grown higher than 5,000 feet.
For medium hard bean types, roast these with moderate initial heat and =
moderate
heat in the final stage. Examples: Brazil, Sumatra, Java and most Latin =
American
coffees grown lower then 5,000 feet.
For soft bean types, roast these with low to moderate heat during the =
entire
process. Example: Hawaiian coffees, Caribbean types and beans grown lower=
 than
3,500 feet.
Again, I haven't approached my personal roasting with this much analytic
thought, but I will do some looking back at my roasting logs and see if =
the
roast profiles I've developed for myself reflect this advice.
Bob Yellin

Glad you brought this up, Bob and Gregg --- A couple comments on 
Willem's fine article: no coffee really wants to be dropped into a 
really hot roasting environment, and lower grown coffees suffer more 
from it. But I don't think that means that SHBs/SHGs*** and 
everything else high grown  really want that initial burst of 
temperature. Rather, its something that big roasters MUST do because 
of the thermal dynamics of a large batch roaster. When you roast 1 
bag of coffee per batch, you are really heating the metals in the 
roaster, dumping in your batch at a higher temperature such as 450 f 
environment temp, then **exchanging** the heat between the hot 
metals/air and the batch charge. In my 12k Probat with a totally full 
load of about 25.5 Lbs, I need to preheat to 380, then keep the 
burner on full and play with the air flow to get the roast 
progression I want. I don't like roasting like that though - with no 
overhead, maxed out. But with a bigger roaster you are going to need 
to preheat to 480 or 500, or your roast would end up taking 30 
minutes (baked) by relying only on the burners to bring the batch up 
to temperature. SO with the i-roast, bbq roasters, variac'ed machines 
where we know have the choice over the warmup temps, there is no 
benefit to shocking the batch with high initial temperaures. Avery 
coffee benefits from a warmup where, at a pace it can physically 
handle, the heat is transfered from the exterior to the interior of 
the seed evenly, then after warmup and moisture loss phases 
(yellowing to light brown periods) the roast heat that the coffee 
requires to move it through the 1st crack and second crack is applied.
Tom
***PS: speaking in reference to our coffee list, there are few 
coffees that are not grown at serious altitude, and what Willem is 
really refering to is low grown arabica coffee used in the trade as 
blenders and fillers : these are called different things in different 
countries but UGQ- usual good quality - is often used. Good coffees 
that do come from lower altitudes of 800 to 1000 meters might include 
Hawaii, Jamaica, and some other Island origins; some Sumatras, some 
Sulawesi, Um... thats all I can think of. SHB and SHG are only in 
reference to Centrals and some S AMerican. Kenyas are graded by size 
(boo!) but all these auction lot Kenyas are grown at incredibly high 
altitudes, higher than Centrals, as are coffees like Yemen - in most 
C. America origins, 1600-1700 meters is about as high as coffee can 
be grown. otherwise it doesnt mature, has disease problems due to 
high altitude fogs, and has very low yield.
<Snip>
-- 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
                   "Great coffee comes from tiny roasters"
            Sweet Maria's Home Coffee Roasting  -  Tom & Maria
                      http://www.sweetmarias.com                Thomspon Owen george

BTW, what class of bean is SRB?
Tom & Maria - Sweet Maria's Coffee wrote:
<Snip>
-- 
Ben Treichel
Program Manager
S.E Michigan
SwRI
248-232-7365 (o)
248-935-6845 (m)

At 10:41 AM 6/5/2004 -0700, you wrote:
<Snip>
Tom,
What is a generally good range of time for this part of the process? 1 
minute? 3 minutes? 6 minutes?
Thanks,
Brian

Oops. That wasn't clear. I was trying to ask how long this part should take:
warmup and moisture loss phases (yellowing to light brown periods)
Sorry for the confusion.
Brian
At 12:01 PM 6/5/2004 -0600, you wrote:
<Snip>

On 5 Jun 2004 at 10:41, Tom & Maria - Sweet Maria's Coffee wrote:
<Snip>
This has been my experience after a lot of roasting with heater 
controlled air roasters. If one goes slowly enough that the 
beans are yellow around 300F, one can roast fairly quickly from 
there on up. The roasts stays more even and has a better trade- 
off of more nice bright flavors and smells with less pucker 
tongue sourness and harshness. 
The problem is the process can't be automated, one has to watch 
the beans and start heating into the 300s the moment the green 
is gone; otherwise the taste flattens. At least that's been my 
experiece with beans that are fairly dry, like Yemens and 
Ethiopians, especially Yrg. (Yrg is my vote for toughest bean to 
roast perfectly. All the roasts come out good, but getting one 
that's both maximally sweet and aromatic is very tough.) 
If they ever revise the I-roast, I would vote for having a hold 
or jump button, so one can step to the next temperature setting 
manually.

<Snip>
[snip]
<Snip>
Every?
<Snip>
Having now looked over my roasting logs for the last couple of years =
(when I
started keeping logs), my approach reflects your comment, Tom. After =
trying lots
of different roasting strategies, I now usually allow time for the beans =
to
reach and pass through the initial drying phase, (usually right around =
300 deg
F. for many beans). Then, in the low 300's I accelerate at various =
rates
depending on the bean type.
Although I enjoyed reading Boot's article, I noticed that he didn't =
specify any
specific bean temperatures. Also, and more importantly, if I've learned =
anything
about the various steps leading from the tree to the cup, I've learned =
that
you're never on safe ground to generalize about coffee. When you do, =
coffee
comes back and bites you in the butt! ;-) There are always plenty of =
exceptions.
So it surprised and fascinated me to see a coffee consultant generalizing=
 about
coffee by suggesting rules for roasting coffees according to their =
altitude of
growth (and density). I'm sure he's right for much of what he states, but=
 I
guess there's not too much I can take from the article and apply to my =
roasting
except a better awareness of the origin, hardness of the bean and height =
of
growth.
I always seem to come back to the same bottom line: coffee production may
sometimes look like a science but it often ends up as a craft; even an =
art.
That's what I love about it!
Bob Yellin

Tom,
How does this apply to the warm up period in a Hot Top?
Pam