Talk me through a Gene Cafe roast

[dadioles]

Hello

I have been roasting with Gene Cafe for a couple of months now and am pretty happy with the results, certainly better coffee than anything available in the area.

As a beginner I could do with a clearer idea of the roasting stages and what to look for. I think I can generally detect first and second crack but maybe there is a bit of imagination involved as it is not always too obvious what is happening. Self delusion is not difficult.

Could someone else with a Gene Cafe describe in detail how they roast their beans. So many descriptions either assume too much knowledge in the reader or are too brief and abbreviated to be helpful to a beginner such as myself.

The smells coming out of the machine seem to go through several stages:
Musty and hay like
Slightly toasty
First signs of smoke
Lots of smoke

Colour develops:
Raw green bean
Begining to colour up
Pale brownish
Darker
Rich dark brown
Very dark brown
Black

Surface texture seems to change and chaff is produced:
No chaff given off
Small amount of chaff starting to appear
Some beans may show a sort of silvery skin
Loads of chaff coming off
End of chaff production
Beans have dull matt finish
A few beans start showing shiny spots of oil
Beans start to look oily and shiny (dark roast)

What is the weight of beans? (I use 250g)

What is the starting temperature and time set?

Do you alter the temperature during the roast?

When people say things like "cool the beans 20 after second crack" it is a bit hard for a beginner to follow.

One thing I do find easy to do is see when the beans just start to exude the first tiny spots of oil as they become quite darkly roasted. Is that a useful guide to level of roast?

There will be different techniques for different beans and I have a few kg arriving tomorrow from Hasbean who do give a basic guide.

For example:

Hasbean - Yemen Mokha Matrar
"Dark roast this one. Into second crack is best. But you don't want those oils on show, just before. Beware it is chafy, very chafy."

To me, that reference to oils is really helpful as I have something clear and familiar to look for. What I am not so sure about, however, is what sort of temperature to roast at and should I keep a constant temperature throughout or is there an advantage to varying the temperature at different stages.

Over to you .....

Les

[Bombcup]

I'm sorry I can't actually help with any answers but if I may say, that is an excellent post. It's all too easy to make mistakes when trying to follow instructions from experienced users who without meaning to, may skip some of the elementary parts of an explanation leaving you baffled with terminology.

I'm sure the answers you will receive will be of benefit to many. I'll bookmark this post as I'm thinking of investing in a Gene myself.

Happy roasting!

[Wes]

I've had a Gene for not very long, dadioles, but I've spent years cranking a stove-top popcorn pot. The Gene has given me a lot more control and insight into the process, but I'm still almost as "green" as you are.

I like your descriptions of the various perceivable stages in roasting, and I think I can add a little to them.

Where smell and smoke are concerned, I find that, between what you have as first signs of smoke and lots of smoke, I would place a change in the character of the smell--from vaguely smoky to acrid. I think that this change means that you are getting very close to the onset of second crack. Time to watch sharp! My guess is that it corresponds to the departure of the last of the moisture and the start of scorching.

For appearance, I wouldn't add a stage but describe one differently. What you call "beginning to colour up" or maybe "pale brownish" I would describe as like a roasted peanut (less its skin, of course).

I hope that is helping and not muddling.

[GreenBean]

Yes very good questions. I remember when I started roasting how frustrated I was that advice on these issues was not available.

I now realise that we all have very different tastes and preferences so general advice is not always appropriate. For instance you are intending to roast until oils are visible on the beans. For the beans I prefer I aim to stop the roast before second crack and consider a roast a failure if second crack starts. Many roasters on here would consider this crazy but that is the way I like my coffee.

The best general advice I have seen is by Ken Fox on another forum here.

Roasting is, however, more of an art than a science and many variables affecting the results are outside of the control of a home roaster. This makes definitive answers to issues such as roast weight set time/temperature etc. impossible. Information on the profiles others are using with the Gene Café is available on a profiles sharing website accessible from the Coffee Roast Database. This program is discussed in the sticky article on this forum and available for download in the software downloads section. You may wish to try some of these approaches to see if they work for you.

After some experimenting you will find that you get a much better feel for what is going on and what you like.

[bruceb]

It seems to me that there are two ways to learn to roast:

1) Get a job with a successful roaster and ask him or her to teach you.

2) Do about 200 roasts on whatever machine you're using. Don't try to force the roasts to be the way you want them, just experiment with different settings, different times and different beans, watching, listening, smelling and especially, taking notes. Most of what you produce will be drinkable and I dare say it will be better than most of what you can buy. By the time you've done this you will have a feel for the roaster, the beans and the various parameters. If you've carefully taken notes on your method, the beans and especially, the results, you won't need much help in the future.

[daveyb]

Hi Guys,
I have been using a Gene now for about 18 months. My advice is to set the temp to 240. This is because the machine takes time to build up to its operating temperature in the same way as it takes longer to effect the cooling cycle.
I always set it away for 19 minutes, but st and watch once it gets to 16. I do not find air temp makes any difference. I live in the UK and roast in my garage with the door open so at the moment it is near to feezing!
Buying beans from places like Hasbean is a great help as stated, you get roasting notes. Because the machine works so slowly, you always get plenty of notice as changes through the roasting cycle effect. Remember though, once you have begun the cooling cycle, te beans will continue to cook for a short amount of time.
So, read the notes, no need to vary the temp control unless you want a specific curve, but due to the nature of this machine compared to traditional air roasters that give instant heat and cold, it is a doddle. Play around with the time set and you wil find that most beans taste totally differently when roasted lightly, compared to a darker roast. There is no right or wrong. If you are making cappucino then you can get away with a lot more than if you go espresso!
Hope this helps