Too Much Coffee

Wow, incredible kit Steve.....
But I bet you can't do this.......

(Attempts to juggle whilst riding a unicycle and fails miserably)

Hi All,

I just joined today as a nerdy home brewer who began roasting on my parents BBQ in a wok and then progressed onto the mighty popcorn popper!

More recently I have been allowed to do some very light commercial roasting on a Massol FM, 3kg, single phase electric roaster once a week. I was wondering if anyone had any information about this sort of roaster? I find the temperature drops so much after the initial drop and then the temperature ever so slowly increases, so I'm not sure whether the coffees flavours are able to be realised as the roast takes too long.

There is a PID controller on it, but I think it's only a case of controlling the element in being on or off. I'm also not too sure whether I am actually able to control the intensity of the heating element to speed up the temperature increase. So if anyone has any info on this roaster I would really appreciate it.. I can provide some photos soon too.

Many thanks!
Ed

P.S. I'm very interested in this Behmor being offered by motoman!!

Welcome Ed! I am sure someone will be able to explain this for you shortly. Steve usually pops in at some point each evening as does HB roaster Roland.

Hi Ed

What kind of roast time you achieving ? You can speed this up by a higher drop temperature or a lighter amount of green in but let me know what times your hitting and I can recommend some more (also drop items and weight of coffee going in can help)

Hello hello community!

Hi Steve, many thanks for responding.

I've been playing around with weights and starting temps, although quite carefully. So here are a few examples of a PNG I've been roasting, ending at 15mins up until 19:30.

Weight: 800g
Drop temp: 210C
Bottom out temp: 152C @ 5mins
End time/temp: 15min - 177C

Weight: 1200g
Temp: 230
Bottom: 152 @ 7min
End: 16:45 - 171C

Weight: 1200g
Temp: 235
Bottom: 157 @ 7mins
End: 19:30 - 177

I've done the most roasts at 1200g, but thinking I may decrease weight and increase start temp. I also often struggle to hear 1st crack, but don't think I have taken any of those examples into 2nd (except perhaps the 19min one as it is quite dark, but not yet sweating).

Really appreciate any feedback as I have no one to guide me, it's all based on my research and practice.

Ed

Hi Ed!

Where is your temperature probe situated? There's often a big difference between one in the drum and one in the airflow.

Generally speaking, I reckon 15 minutes or less would be a good target - maybe try 800g at 230 charge temp and see how it goes? Sometimes lack of a distinct crack is just a feature of the beans, but a long slow roast can absolutely dull the crack and create a flat flavour. Again, there's variation between beans, but typically if you keep the amount of heat going in as a constant, you should see the rate of temperature increase get higher during crack as the breaking of bonds in the cell walls releases energy, even if the sound can't be heard.

Without specific machine specs or recommendations, I'd be careful with increasing the charge temp too much further.

Hi Roland,

Thanks for that. I'll give it a go this afternoon with the 800g/230C start and let you know how it goes.

I'm not sure where the temperature probe is located. The PID controller is always different to the temperature on the old dial. Again, I'll have a look today.

Ed

And here is Bertha!

She will be having a good run out this afternoon.

Nice!

How did the roast go?

Went well, started hitting some better times. I haven't had a chance to cup them yet though!

Using an Indian Monsooned Malabar, started with an 850g - 230C charge and found that it was heading pretty dark by 14 mins. So the first two I hit 14:10 and 14:30, both started getting a bit dark.

The next few batches I went with 900g and a 230C charge and they all came in between 14:30 and 15mins. Quite happy with those, so thank you for that suggestion Roland!

We will be running that on espresso but annoyingly won't be able to taste it as I'm away for a while now.

Happy roasting all!

Ed

Whoa! Pretty daring to gain experience on a bean like Monsooned Malabar! I've found it quite tricky at times. Be interested to hear how it turns out.

Morning all ,names Paul all most retied gamekeeper with a little coffee problem 3/4 kg a week.
First roaster was a popcorn job that lasted about a month ;melted it a bit. Current machine a Gene Cafe.which has seen sterling service and a second heater unit .Now looking to upgrade to something with more control Hottop or M3 Quest. I've found the gene great to learn the basics on,Generic coffees eg. ElSalvador SHG etc.came out fine well happy with results. Now moving into micro lots these coffees require a lot more care and the gene just does not have the control for these coffees Shame really I like the gene .

The Gene is a highly thought of roaster, but it is a hot-air machine and will always deliver the characteristics that go along with that technology (accentuating the high end, the brights, etc.). I would recommend my roaster, a Coffeetech Maggiolino, but the chances of finding one are pretty remote. I used a Hottop before I got it and was very pleased with the results. The only reason I changed was to have a larger batch size. Using our own Greenbean's roasting software RoastLogger, which was developed for the Hottop you not only have the ultimate in control, you have an excellent logging setup that will let you evaluate and then repeat your roasts as you please.
In any case, let us know how you are doing and what you finally decide to get. Also, I'd be interested to know how you brew your coffee. If you have a chance and interest please share any coffee experiences/awakenings you might have or have had. Welcome aboard.

Hi Paul, welcome to TMC. I roasted on a Gene for a few years and found it to be a good roaster. I then moved to Hottops and it took some months of experimenting before I could produce roasts as good as the Gene. I then found, as you suggest, that the Hottop provides better control (the B models, the P models do not provide good control) allowing me to produce better more consistent results. The Hottop, Quest M3 and Huky are all good roasters and there is plenty of information on TMC and other forums about all of these.

Sorry for the late reply very bizzy time of year for me:16 hour days.Thank you all Kindly for the welcome, and advice.Research has pushed me towards the Huky 500T and to my surprise at the moment the cheapest but not by much..Now all I have to do is field this purchase past (by) the good lady!!(tea drinker and just does not understand!).
Thanks You Kindly
Paul