oven roasting and some questions

[zix]

P.S.
In addition to the long story on the previous page; I have not had good results when trying to use the oven hot air fan. Too fast a start is not as good as a slower start. Not when oven roasting coffee anyway...
I find that when roasting with the heat gun I have the same problem, only much more of it: must take it easy in the beginning, otherwise I may get uneven or oily roast results at the end.
D.S.

[lukas]

Welcome back zix! Other than that, I've nothing to say but keep trying

[zix]

Thanks, lukas!
Yeah, keep trying dsc! You´ll get there.

[dsc]

G'day,

thanks a lot for the tips and encouragement:) The thing so great about this forum is the amount of advice and kind words, people sharing their experience and knowledge to help out others on the path to achieve awesome results. TMC rocks!!:)

zix: some info of on my last roast:

- went with 250g of Papua New Guinea

- started with the standard 160*C with a ramp up to 240*C, increased the temperature by 10*C every 1-2minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes

- first crack around 11th minute, second barely started somewhere around the 15th minute and this was the moment I decided to cut the roast and start cooling it down

- got a pretty even FC roast, mostly dark brown beans, no oils on the surface

I'm waiting for it to degas, but I will probably have an espresso using those beans later on today:)

As for the oily roasts I kind of like them, in my opinion they give slower extractions and nicer crema.

Will post some pictures soon:)

Cheers,
dsc.

[zix]

Aha, well, if oily roasts work well for you, do go on with them!
I have got problems with oily+dark roasts with the new(-ish) lever, had to go back a bit. New grinder doesn't quite like it either.
When doing moka pot roasts, I still like them though. Oily and dark is fine for moka pot coffee (well... not all beans can take it, but those who can take it usually work very well).

Never roasted Papua New Guinea and don't know what to expect from the origin either. But reading what you write about your last roast, it seems you are getting the hang of things now! 15 minutes is a good roasting time for oven roasts. With my set-up I expect roast times to end up between 10 and 18 minutes, but mostly I aim for around 15. If I bother to measure the roast time, I usually don't.
You will be able to change roast profiles - or, well kind of roast profiles anyway - by varying the start temp and total time, but also by varying where you put the roast tin in the oven. Up or down, or in the middle.
I would probably try two or max three temp settings during the roast, and not bother to ramp it up every 1-2 minutes. On my oven it wouldn't make any difference anyway, it is not that fast. Instead, if I have a difficult bean, I watch what happens in the oven and act on it.

[dsc]

G'day,

today I did two 200g sample roasts with the Papua and a 250g of Sulawesi. Papua is going to a couple of forum members on a polish forum and I did an FC+ and C+ with those samples. The 250g batch is for me, but I have to say switching to a different bean means having to do some changes in the usual procedure. Today I went with 190*C at the start, after a few minutes went to 210*C and near the 10th min increased to 230*C. Worked well with Papua, but wasn't quite enough for Sulawesi. Had to up it to 240*C to get the 1st crack going with Sulawesi and that still kicked in only around the 15th min. The 2nd crack was also quite late, somewhere around the 23th min. The roast wasn't very even, but I've read that Sulawesi tends to do that and to not worry about that.

I guess I will go with 200*C for a start next time with Sulawesi, increase to 220*C and 240*C, wait for the 1st crack (aim for the 10th 11th min) and lower the temp to 230*C. Keep it at this level for 3-4min and go back to 240*C to get the 2nd crack hopefully around the 18th min.

Will update soon.

Cheers and again thanks for help and tips:)
dsc.

[lukas]

The long time between first and second crack (or generally a too slow roast) could lead to a very specific and unpleasing baked taste - you'll certainly taste it if it's there. If not, hey wth cool it works

[dsc]

G'day,

so basically how long should it be? maybe I shouldn't drop the temp after the 1st roast and simply keep it a steady level? The beans sometimes smell a bit baked after the roast but it usually goes away in 1-2 days.

Cheers,
dsc.

[lukas]

I also found that the baked taste *sometimes* goes away after a while, but the beans stay muted compared to their potential. I read some time ago that the time between the cracks should generally not be much more than five minutes, and in my roasts I aim for something between 15 and 20 minutes of roast time which served me quite well so far.

[dsc]

G'day,

thanks lukas:) I try to fit in a similar schedule, usually having my 2nd crack 5-6min after the 1st one. I will not lower the temperature after the 1st crack and see how the roast comes out.

Cheers,
dsc.