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Home coffee roasting

#81
MJ5150 said:
In this scenario, I would lean to water temp. How hot is the water at work?

How are you storing the beans?

-Mike
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Not sure on the exact temp, but less than at home. At work I was getting it out of the hot water tap on the Bunn commercial brewer. At home I bring it to a boil in the kettle, turn it off and let sit for a minute to cool before I pour it into the press.

I am storing them in an airtight glass jar. Like a mason jar, but not a mason jar.

lowsound
 
#82
FWIW, my brother gifted me an Aeropress. I've only used it a dozen or so times, but so far it's excellent. The instructions to get you started are for a double espresso and to add water for coffee. I hadn't considered espresso making when I hemmed and hawed my way into bro ordering it for me, but it's a welcome bonus because I've always wanted an espresso machine but the ones I could afford are trash. The Aeropress may not be a true espresso maker, but close enough for this poor bassad.
 
#83
ImageUploadedByTalkBass1390530000.690018.jpg
This is my bag of yirgacheffe, I think I am addicted. Currently roasting to a Full City. Keep you posted on how it tastes.

lowsound
 
#88
Well..almost two months since I started to roast my own coffee. I am still on the learning curvature, for some reasons the Indonesian and African beans that I have roasted seems to be more easy to roast or should I say they are more forgivable than the Americans beans, so far I have roasted couple of batches of glorious Java Sunda - Pak Rukman and Rwanda Karongi Gitesi.

Right now I am struggling with beans from Colombia Pedregal - Agua Blanca Microlot. Two batches and I dont feel comfortable with the results, seems like it jumps from green to FC+ in one minute after the first crack. However, I love the experience of roasting my own coffee :)
 
#89
I have always found African beans to taste good at any roast. Although, I had one batch of Ethiopian that had to off gas for a week to fully develop. I have struggled with Mexican beans, maybe I just don't like Mexican coffee, but I can never get them where I go "Wow, I need another cup NOW!"

Keep on enjoying the journey. How are you brewing these days?

lowsound
 
#91
iamlowsound said:
I have always found African beans to taste good at any roast. Although, I had one batch of Ethiopian that had to off gas for a week to fully develop. I have struggled with Mexican beans, maybe I just don't like Mexican coffee, but I can never get them where I go "Wow, I need another cup NOW!"

Keep on enjoying the journey. How are you brewing these days?

lowsound
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I have 10 pounds of the Colombian beans that I will be roasting for the rest of the winter, I am roasting 2/3 cup of green beans every 4 days, my wife is addicted to coffee so roasting inside the house is not a problem. I also have couple of pounds from Java, Rwanda and Guatemala but I dont want to give up on those Colombian beans, I must nail them down soon :D
 
#92
Has anyone roasted espresso using a mix of Ethiopian and Guatemalan beans? A board member from one of the associations we represent at work brought some from Mexico when she last visited. I used them with my cheap Starbuck's Barista and it tasted fantastic. I imagine if I had a proper espresso machine it would have been much better.

Do hot air poppers really make good coffee roasters?
 
#93
iamlowsound said:
I just bought a hand grinder that can do espresso, as it is $40 and not $400. I'll deal with the hand cranking, or use my drill on it for the cost savings. I honestly use a blade grinder for my French press and it is great for that brew method.

lowsound
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Where did you find a hand grinder that will grind espresso?

I have one of these, it does good for the coffee pot but not as well for espresso.

7644123_sa.jpg
 
#94
CrashClint said:
Has anyone roasted espresso using a mix of Ethiopian and Guatemalan beans? A board member from one of the associations we represent at work brought some from Mexico when she last visited. I used them with my cheap Starbuck's Barista and it tasted fantastic. I imagine if I had a proper espresso machine it would have been much better.

Do hot air poppers really make good coffee roasters?
Click to expand...

I normally don't like to mix beans. I am more of a single origin fan.

As for the air popper, absolutely yes. There are better options you can upgrade to as you progress, but it's a great way to get started. Home coffee roasting equipment can get very expensive, so the air popper is a low cost way to get introduced to the process. Think of it as buying a Squier bass to see if you like playing bass, then buying yourself a Fodera or Sadowsky once you know you like it.

-Mike
 
#95
CrashClint said:
Where did you find a hand grinder that will grind espresso?



I have one of these, it does good for the coffee pot but not as well for espresso.



7644123_sa.jpg
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The Hairo Skerton ( which I have) and the Heiro Mini Mill both can grind espresso and can be found for under $40. Be warned, it is quite a work out, but you can put a drill on it and have at it.

Also, I started roasting with a popcorn popper and it works great, but you are limited to roasting about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of beans at a time. I really like my current roaster, its max is 1 cup, but that does my wife and I for around 6 days.

lowsound
 
#96
I have a question for those who grind their own coffee.

How much should you expect to pay for a good grinder? What if it is mainly for regular coffee vs espresso? I've read different theories about it; one theory is that if you have $500 to spend on espresso stuff, you should spend half on the grinder and half on the machine.

I wonder if that makes sense, or it is just because espresso is very hard to make. I'm not that big of a coffee snob.
 
#97
Espresso is very difficult to grind correctly. You are looking at around $300 starting for a grinder that can grind consistently for espresso. The Baratza Vaero is in that range and one of the few under $600 that can grind both espresso and other brew types consistently. Most in the $300 range that can grind for espresso, can only grind espresso.

To get a good grinder and a good espresso machine for $500, you will be looking used and you will be looking for quite a while. Bump your budget to $700 and you will have a much easier time, but you are still likely buying either the grinder or espresso machine used.

The other option is to spend the money on the espresso machine and buy a hand grinder. This is quite a workout and pulling back to back shots will have you sweating.

lowsound
 
#98
I roasted my own for a long time using all of the popular roast methods. Used unmodified air popcorn poppers, modified air poppers, a hand cranked popcorn popper on a stovetop, a FreshRoast2, a heavily modified frankenroaster commonly called an SC/CO which stands for Stir Crazy/Convection Oven and a Behmor. I still have the Behmor but I haven't roasted much since my second child came along. The Behmor is easy and convenient and just kind of does its thing. The roasts are pretty good. I got really good with the SC/CO and I turned out some roasts from that setup that could compete with the best but in order to do that you have to be use a temp probe and constantly watch the temp while turning the convection oven burner on and off to control temperatures.

Now between family and other commitments I don't have time for roasting. I order from several different roast-to-order online companies such as Compass Coffee Roasting, Counter Culture Coffee and occasionally Klatch Roasting. I also sometimes buy from my local coffee shop. They carry great stuff. One great thing about roasting is that you save probably around half the cost of buying high quality fresh-roasted. The upside to buying from good companies is time savings and they can roast better than you (and me) can. Especially if you're using an air roaster.

It was fun though while I was doing it and I'm sure I'll come back to it some day. When my kids are a little more self sufficient I may go to a system of roasting some and buying some roasted already to ease back into it.

bc
 
#99
People are throwing around some awfully generic terms here like "african" "Guatemalan" "Mexican" It's true that some places often have some general qualities to the beans but they can really differ drastically from place to place. In general Mexican coffee farms aren't known for a big quality push but there are some great ones from the high-grown farms such as Santa Teresa. Somewhat ironically Starbucks was the one that pushed Santa Teresa to improve their quality and now if you buy it from a good roaster it far exceeds anything you'll find at Starbucks.

A lot of Ethiopians often have a really pronounced blueberry smell and flavor and that usually comes from the processing style moreso than the bean. Lots of Kenyans are traditionally known as bright but lately I've been getting some great well-rounded kenyans that are very different from the rep and even good as espresso.

I do tend to favor african coffees but I tend to read tasting notes moreso than looking at countries these days. Right now I'm drinking one of Counter Culture's coffees from Burundi and it's really a homerun as pourover.

bc
 
#100
DigMe said:
People are throwing around some awfully generic terms here like "african" "Guatemalan" "Mexican" It's true that some places often have some general qualities to the beans but they can really differ drastically from place to place. In general Mexican coffee farms aren't known for a big quality push but there are some great ones from the high-grown farms such as Santa Teresa. Somewhat ironically Starbucks was the one that pushed Santa Teresa to improve their quality and now if you buy it from a good roaster it far exceeds anything you'll find at Starbucks.

A lot of Ethiopians often have a really pronounced blueberry smell and flavor and that usually comes from the processing style moreso than the bean. Lots of Kenyans are traditionally known as bright but lately I've been getting some great well-rounded kenyans that are very different from the rep and even good as espresso.

I do tend to favor african coffees but I tend to read tasting notes moreso than looking at countries these days. Right now I'm drinking one of Counter Culture's coffees from Burundi and it's really a homerun as pourover.

bc
Click to expand...

I am not a coffee expert and that is why I found Sweet Marias very helpfull, they give you a very good description of the coffee that you are buying, what to expect and suggested roast. I am very vappy with all the beans I have bought from them.
 

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