Hey, that caught my attention! I've only been roasting for a month or so, and I'm sure I've been asking the same questions over and over again, so please forgive me. But, that seems to be my problem when I try to do a light city roast. I am now using an air popcorn popper (Popcorn Pumper to be exact) and I would love to know how to do a light City roast, that takes more than 5 minutes, and does not taste green. Every time I roast the coffee to the point where it does not taste green, it is no longer a light city roast. ARGHHH!! |
Somehow you are going to need to stretch out your roast time. In general you can do this a number of simple ways (or LOTS of complicated ways:-). Try a couple and see how much longer you can get your roast. Tilt your popper up 1-2". Putting a 2x4 under the back is about right. That will change the circulation pattern of your fluidized bed, give you more air flow, and a resulting lower ramp profile, thus a longer roast. Also, depending on how much of a change that makes, you can also reduce the amount of coffee you are roasting. Again, the less coffee you have in there, the less heat is trapped and the longer the roast time. I also recommend getting a thermometer in there is you don't have one yet. It really helps to let you gauge where exactly you are in the roast. You can a nice light city roast that is not green nor baked by having 1st crack at 8-9 minutes, and then roasting another 2-3 minutes, trying to make sure your temperature does not increase more than about 30-40 F from 1st crack to the end of the roast (50 F would bring you to about 2nd crack and a nice "City+" or so). Sometime around 04:41 4/8/2005, matt633 typed: <Snip> -- John Nanci AlChemist at large Zen Roasting , Blending & Espresso pulling by Gestalthttp://www.dreamsandbones.net/blog/http://www.chocolatealchemy.com/ |
Good answer Alchemist. This type of post was exactly my reason for re-posting "effects of roast profiles" with "especially for air roasting" subject preface. There had been two posts in a row from different people with the same question. In hindsight could have additionally gone into a bunch of low tech methods of slowing a roast. My intent was information on the why not the how. In the first preface paragraph I said "How you control your roaster/popper is up to you." Then followed with "The better the control, the better able to adjust for different beans, ambient temps, batch size, mains voltage variation etc." Seemed the feedback focus was only on the last sentence scaring newbies "My opinion and that of a number of other experienced air roasters is separate variable heater & fan control the best most flexible option." I sometimes forget that although I roast using dual boost variable voltage controlled split wired Caffe' Rosto I also routinely use a 1.5" tilt (chunk-o-2x4) and slight rocking early on (needed when doing 1/2# or larger batches). Also use variable exhaust heat re-circulation at times in cooler ambients, not a fixed inserted piece of foil like Tom shows as an example on Rosto tip page and sometimes heater toggle if roast starts to go too fast. Never toggling more than 5sec off at a time and used for quicker slow down method after slightly dropping voltage to heater which drops heating element output faster than waiting for a volt or two reduction to take effect. Don't won't an actual heat drop while roasting but heat slowed. I believe based on what I've observed and learned that green tasting lighter City roasts (or especially Cinnamon) can result from going too fast in either early tanning stage (coming up to 300°f when beans start changing from green to tan) and/or too fast from start of 1st to end of roast, minimum 2:30 to 3min needed depending on bean. If going Full City or darker it isn't as critical. (For instance take it fast to Vienna looking on the outside and likely more like Full City when ground because inner part of bean much lighter than outer.) Take a City roast too fast and it's City on the outside and still a bit green on the inside and hence a problem. Good beginner method to ensure fully roasted is go to first snap of 2nd and kill the roast IMO. (Though most of my roasts are lighter than that now.) My first year roasting with stock Caffe' Rosto I struggled with lighter roasts, often getting the "green taste". While longer rest helped reduce the green taste, it wasn't the real solution. Wasn't until I could control the roast that lighter roasts where no longer a problem. I've done a couple of very light cinnamon roasts with zero green taste but have determined it's really lighter roast than I like. Another very good method for a beginner is just get a HotTop. It's designed with decent profile(s) enabling lighter roasts without a steep learning curve. But for those who want to go as cheap as possible the trade off is a learning and tweaking curve. Kona Konnaisseur miKe mcKoffee URL to Rosto mods, FrankenFormer etc.http://mdmint.home.comcast.net/coffee/Rosto_mod.htmFrom: "AlChemist John" Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 6:10 AM <Snip> <Snip> |
On Apr 8, 2005 10:11 AM, miKe mcKoffee wrote: <Snip> Mike - What exactly is a cinnamon roast? Where does it fit in with first crack occurence and with temperature? Safe Journeys and Sweet Music Justin Marquez (Snyder, TX)http://www.justinandlinda.com Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before. |
<Snip> From: "Justin Marquez" Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 8:16 AM <Snip> Cinnamon (or American IRRC) roast is lighter than City, the lightest roast considered fullest roasted. Exactly what finish temp is hard to say, depends on temp measuring but I'd say 415 to 420°f, about 20°f after start of 1st. Gotta really take the ramp slow to not have a "green tasting" Cinnamon roast. (like 4min from 395 to 420°f and tanning stage also critical) Kona Konnaisseur miKe mcKoffee URL to Rosto mods, FrankenFormer etc.http://mdmint.home.comcast.net/coffee/Rosto_mod.htm |
Sometime around 08:32 4/8/2005, miKe mcKoffee typed: <Snip> <Snip> start <Snip> critical) And if you really want to know if you have a Cinnamon roast down, do an aged bean or something like Monsooned Malabar - you will KNOW if you have it right. I remember introducing Les to some Cinnamon roasted aged Sumatra= - wow what an ugly but flavorful cup. <Snip> http://sweetmarias.com/maillistinfo.html#personalsettings<Snip> -- John Nanci AlChemist at large Zen Roasting , Blending & Espresso pulling by Gestalthttp://www.dreamsandbones.net/blog/http://www.chocolatealchemy.com/ |