Lighter roasting

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Lighter roasting

Postby phil » Tue Aug 26, 2003 3:46 pm

As someone who doesn't just drink espresso, roasting some beans to a point before 2nd crack is a skill that I'm working to acquire. Some coffee just does not give of its best when roasted into 2nd crack. Examples include many of the Centrals and Island coffees such as JBM and Kona. Possibly our Thai coffee falls into this category, but I've not roasted any more yet so I can't be sure.

The difficult thing with roasting light is that you want to aim for some point, between 1st and 2nd crack, where the roast is fully developed but there is no sign of 2nd crack. Tom Owen says you should look for the beans no longer having a "wrinkly" surface. Also you should be looking for the smell turning "sweet".

Now the problem is that I'm running a domestic roaster, not a professional machine. OK it's a Hottop, so it's as good as I can get without building something myself, but there are certain limitations. One is that the smell is masked behind the smoke filter so I have to keep lifting the loading chute lid to have a sniff. Another is that, although you can see the beans in the Hottop, the degree of observation possible is just not enough to detect the surface condition of the bean. The Hottop does not allow you to sample the roast in the way that a professional roaster does. You can check it when you've dumped it into the cooling tray, but not before.

A couple of days ago, I roasted some of my precious KBM (that's Kowali Blue Mountain, JBM beans grown in Kona basically). I noted that 1st crack was over, and I thought that the smell was starting to get a bit sweet, so (not wanting to over-roast these little nuggets of gold) I dumped the roast. At this point I was about 40 seconds beyond the end of 1st crack.

Now I always take a new roast and dump it into a colander, so that I can give the beans a shake and remove most of the chaff that hasn't already fallen into the roaster's chaff tray. To my consternation I noted that the beans were somewhat uneven in colour (probably as a result of some chaff still adhering to the beans?) and horror of horrors, there was a very faint wrinkle on the surface of the beans. This is not something I could have noticed through the Hottop window, but with the beans available for close examination, there it was!

So my guess is that I've over-done the "roast it light" exercise. Previously I've tried to get to this sort of roast by time, doing the first batch to the onset of 2nd crack and then doing subsequent batches slightly lighter, by 10-15 seconds or so. However, being a prat, and also having decided that the roaster can't be totally depended on to give exactly repeatable roasts, I decided that I needed to develop my skills in light roasting - effectively, train my nose.

I'll be tasting this stuff for the first time tomorrow morning. Cross your fingers that I don't have to toss the entire batch. In the mean time, does our resident professional roaster have any comments to make?

Phil :?
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that isn't me

Postby Sunnyfield » Tue Aug 26, 2003 6:39 pm

Such a waste of precious beans! As my mother always said: learning to cycle you do on an old bike!

Or why don't you use a thermometer!? *ouch* Sorry Phil, I just had to say it.

I never tried to stop just before 2nd crack. So I don't know how it will taste differently.

Eward
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It's not that....

Postby phil » Tue Aug 26, 2003 8:40 pm

It's not that I'm trying this for the first time with this bean, more that I over-did it! Emphasises the need for skill with these lighter roasts.

That was my point. :roll:
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Tried some today

Postby phil » Wed Aug 27, 2003 10:10 am

First thing I noticed was that the foaming in the pot was not as heavy as is usual for a roast this fresh. (The foam is caused by outgassing). Maybe this one matures faster than I thought.

The taste - well, not too sour, but the flavours were definitely underdeveloped. I have bought professionally roasted coffee that tastes something like this, but I do reckon it needed a little more roasting.

Not a total loss, but certainly a lesson.
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Also tried a Costa Rican last night

Postby phil » Wed Aug 27, 2003 10:41 am

H&V CR "Riserva Presidente". Have roasted this one before, several times. Usually take it to the first snap of 2nd.

Last night I was trying to get this one a little lighter too, on the grounds that I figured it would bring out more of the subtle varietal flavours.

So there I was, leaning over the roaster, watching the beans (actually shining a torch on them), sniffing away like a glue addict. I heard a snap. "Huh, what's that?" I thought. "Doesn't sound like 2nd. Doesn't sound like 1st either!" (1st was properly over a minute or more earlier). The snap was a lot louder and crisper than 2nd crack normally is, but nothing like as loud as 1st crack.

The story is that the roast started snapping a bit more, and I decided that it had to be 2nd crack so I dumped the roast sharpish. :oops:

I sniffed the beans afterwards and they were starting to smell sweet. I guess I'd hit 2nd crack but hadn't recognised it as such, perhaps because I was so close to the roaster.

We live, and sometimes we unlearn! Not a good week for roasting so far! :(
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Re: that isn't me

Postby phil » Wed Aug 27, 2003 1:43 pm

Sunnyfield wrote:Such a waste of precious beans! As my mother always said: learning to cycle you do on an old bike!


Git!

Sunnyfield wrote:Or why don't you use a thermometer!? *ouch* Sorry Phil, I just had to say it.


Yeah, shame you didn't think first! :lol:

Sunnyfield wrote:I never tried to stop just before 2nd crack. So I don't know how it will taste differently.

Eward


Well at least you admit you don't know what you're talking about!

As I've told you before, a thermometer isn't much good unless you know the bean reasonably well. If I'd calibrated a previous roast of this bean with a thermometer that would be of some use, but it still wouldn't tell me how well the roast had developed. Only smell, appearance and sound can truly do that. A thermometer would be great for reproducing a previous result, so for production line stuff I might want one. However as a home roaster that's not what I'm about.

The never ending quest for perfection, you know? 8)
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Light Roasting

Postby Steve » Wed Aug 27, 2003 8:33 pm

I guess that I am very very guilty of light roasting(which isnt always a good thing). I love to taste the delicate flavours of my cofee, and I'm not overly interested in tasting over roast.

Thermometers in my experiance are useful but not indicative. I think the nose,ear and the eye are far more useful of where the bean is at. I spose Im lucky that I have the ability to check the bean mid roast with the probe, but 90% of the time I dont bother as I just know.

Its a skill just like darker roasting (which I need to improve on), and yes eward hey some has to be thrown away :cry:

I've thrown more coffee away than I care to remeber (dam decaf :) )

PS can I borrow the touch :lol:

Steve
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