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I have read of those who read tea leaves and then tell the future but =
what about our host?
In many of his roast notes he says to stop the roast just before second =
crack. This, of course, begs the question,
Oh really? How, short of psycic powers, can anyone determine this?
 
Think how handy this power would be in the stock market ?

Sometime around 07:03 AM 9/30/2004, alfred typed:
<Snip>
Temperature.  On my roaster, that would be 455 F for 2nd crack.  Highly 
predictable.  No mystic powers.
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--
John Nanci 
AlChemist at large
Zen Roasting , Blending & Espresso pulling by Gestalthttp://www.dreamsandbones.net/blog/http://www.chocolatealchemy.com/

one way is to roast it to 2nd crack, and keep notes,
then the next roast stop it before that:)
jason
--- alfred <2391> wrote:
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Familiarity with the beans is all that's required.  Most roasters
initially chart their beans and can tell at what time and/or
temperature the beans begin second crack.   As an example I know that
I have 70 seconds of quiet between first and second crack with CRLM in
the Hottop.  Its simple to stop it before second.  But what I usually
do is at the first sounds of second crack I stop the roast - before a
rolling second crack - dumping most of the beans before second crack.
John - roaming the range with my laptop

Alfred,
I don't know about the Hottop and your poor hearing, but it is easy by time and tempature to stop just before second crack.  You got to know your profiles!
 
Les
alfred <2391> wrote:
I have read of those who read tea leaves and then tell the future but what about our host?
 
In many of his roast notes he says to stop the roast just before second crack. This, of course, begs the question,
Oh really? How, short of psycic powers, can anyone determine this?
 
Think how handy this power would be in the stock market ?

Another way that sometime works for me, is that often there is a
noticable increase in smoke just before 2nd starts.  The smoke has
certain features that I've come to recognize.
On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 07:49:14 -0700 (PDT), jason molinari
 wrote:
<Snip>

Tom very well may have psychic powers, but I don't have any knowledge
there.
As to just before 2nd crack, I notice an increase in smoke and the beans
begin to bounce around the chamber more quickly, tend to be bouncing up
more than around the chamber, and with more velocity.  I'd guess that's
due to the loss of moisture in the beans.
Brent 
Roastin in a PII for a drip brew

There is almost always an extreme outlier bean or three which goes
into second crack several seconds ahead of the others.  When I hear
the first pop or two of these outliers heralding the real second crack
is about to start, I stop the roast.  You've also got olfactory cues
such as a noticeable change in the smoke.  It develops a sharper
smell, if that makes any sense.  If you're roasting w/ventilation or
with the smoke piped into an exhaust of some type, then the smell
might not be noticeable until second crack is well underway - so I
prefer to use my ears over my nose.
Or you could be thorough about it like the others here, and roast that
bean enough to learn the profile :)

I suppose initially the idea of sensing an immanent event (2nd crack) 
might seem mystical. Maybe this will make it sound more so, but I 
really think of it has the sense you have right before it rains. You 
feel it, you smell it in a way ... the  atmosphere just feels ripe 
with rain. Maybe because of the way 2nd crack sounds but, at least on 
the Probat roaster, I always think of the moment before it rains. 
Maybe it makes sense in another way - some coffee reaches the window 
of 2nd crack temperatures and resists, others enter it all too 
easily. It's a combination of initial moisture content and (more so) 
density. But that's just like immanent rain - sometimes the clouds 
are ripe and it holds off, others times it falls quickly and easily. 
Your senses are heightened because of the anticipation. Anyway, I 
feel totally ridiculous exposing this (and frankly it is not 
something I think of with air roasters ... just with roasting 
processes where you directly sample the coffee). It's a bit 
laughable, but hey, it IS what I think about...
Now what does this have to do with mystical powers. Nothing, its just 
using your senses!
Tom
-- 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
                   "Great coffee comes from tiny roasters"
            Sweet Maria's Home Coffee Roasting  -  Tom & Maria
                      http://www.sweetmarias.com                Thompson Owen george

Sort of like that old story about a guy getting on a bus.  He sits down and 
says to the person next to him "can you tell me what stop is Market Street?"  
His seat mate replies "Just watch me, and get off one stop before I do".
Michael A. Roaster of Vienna, Va.

Ah Ha! Just as I suspected he does have mystical powers.
I'm going to try to talk him into a Vegas trip. Just think how this would 
work in  blackjack, knowing the dealer's down card.

I've been roasting for a while now in a cast iron wok with a clear lid 
that I remove frequently to stir the beans.  For most of the roast, when 
the lid is over the beans, condensation forms on the underside of the 
lid as the beans lose water.  When first crack is finished, but before 
second crack begins, this condensation stops forming.  As others have 
noted, more smoke begins to come from the beans, and it is different 
smoke (more smoke, less steam) that smells different as well.  When 
second crack begins, I can see smoke curling up from the beans.  So 
that's my moment of mystical nirvana, the moment when the condensation 
has stopped, the smell of the roast changes, but smoke has yet to 
visibly come off the beans in the wok.
cheers
peter
Tom & Maria - Sweet Maria's Coffee wrote:
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