European Behmor roast profiles

[olavni]

Hi

Now that the Behmor has hit Europe I was wondering if anybody would be interested in arranging some way of sharing roast profiles? Maybe it is done already? Where?

If not I would be much interested in sharing. If somebody here has web developing skills and/or access to a server I'm sure something very suitable could be put up. But I don't reallty feel that's neccessary, at least not if it will take a lot of time to get organized. What about using this forum - creating a dedicated thread? Or we could use a shared google spreadsheet?

I've put up a spreadsheet for my own personal use - it is just an example and should be modified to suit more general needs (I have for instance not yet added/subtracted time after start of the roast process):

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhN5STXDSkj0dFQ0SGZjLXhXSDQzMWNZOW1qR2I3YkE&hl=no

One person could be admin and authorize editing access per request through this forum ... something like that ... it will work fine for a limited number of people at least.

Any thoughts?

[claust]

HI,

My behmor arrives tonight, so this information is very interesting. On a sidenote my Hottop died after 4 years of good service, but I was told that the price for repare would be close to the price of a new Behmor and that I could not expect too much more out of the Hottop anyway.

I would have liked to have collum headings to be sure that I understand the notes for each coffee correct.
The first cells seems more or less obvious:
Name of bean, Arrival or bought, seller of bean, roast date, weight of roast, program used, and the next cells are not clear, the first must be total time of roast, but I am not sure of the last cells.

I would often also like to roast 300 grams, I suppose you are using the 1 pound setting based on the total times?

Claus

[olavni]

Hi Claus

Good to see other new Behmor owners chime in here

"The initial time" column is NOT the actual total time of roast, but rather the time setting when pressing the start button. Since each "leg" of the roast profile is calculated as a percentage of the initial time, this is important information.

The "1st crack..." column is the actual time from pressing the start button until the start of first crack. I usually use an extra timer for this purpose since the one on the Behmor counts backwards and it will get messy when you start adding and subtracting time. So a separate timer comes in handy.

I ususally restet the extra timer and starts it all over again once 1st has begun. This is then the time that is reflected in the next two columns ... I measure the exact time from 1st to 2nd and/or cooling. Total roast time will be "1st crack column" + "Cool" column ... you see?

I really like a lot about the Behmor and I have gotten some excellent results from it. But for me it is still a little hit and miss... I do however find the "controls" plain out silly ... they are very restricting and make the whole process much more complex than it ought to. A simple timer an an on the fly temperature/power adjustment option would be much, much better ... and probably cheaper as well ...

Well, back to the spreadsheet. This is of course just a starting point ... it reflects my first batches of roasting ... ever ... and there might be more useful data to store. Input much appreciated.

At least adding/subtracting time should be noted - probably also together with at which time it is added/subtracted. And now it gets real messy because since the different "legs" of the profiles are initially based on the initial roasting time you will alter the length of the different legs depending on time spent (as a percentage av the initial roast time).

As to your last question: Yes so far I have been using the 1 pound setting.

Olav

[Joris]

Until now I have only been playing around with the default 1puond P1 and 1pound P2 settings.
Have done only 6 roasts so still trying to get the hang of it. To be honest, all 6 roasts were either too dark or too light, I find it really difficult to "think ahead" to compensate for the slowish (compared to my other roaster) cooling cycle. I either start cooling too soon or too late

Will definitely have to roast more, I'm dead sure the Behmor can do splendid roasts as soon as I know the machine a bit better and have learned to "think ahead".

So yes, I'd like a way to share notes on roasts with other (EU) Behmor owners

[claust]

HI,

coming from a Hottop I have to get used to very short times between first and second crack. On p1 until now there has been no pause at all. On p3 I had about 35 seconds and first crack seems often to be around 50 to 70 seconds. Of course if we stop the roast just after first crack the roast will not enter second crack and the time between cracks will be longer.

I think the idea of making the middel stage longer maybe will help with the short times, since it will shortened the final stage and on p3 and p4 this means that it takes longer until full power is applied to the beans. I had a roast on p4 with a long time between end of first crack, it never entered second before the cooling started, so p4 could also be a profile to explore.

I am almost sure that the european versions behave differently from the US version, and since Joe is in the US I believe he does not have good ways of testing how it roast. On the other hand the times from first to second crack seems to be about the same it is just the short time between first and second it takes time to get used to.

[motoman]

As I mentioned before, I am adding a couple of ounces to an 8oz roast and using the basic P1 or P2 B setting. Results are encouraging so I will stick to this until I am sure I can get even better results by manipulating the times.

The extra 2oz seem to slow the roast enough to give perfectly even colour without it getting too dark or having to play with the timings. It may pay you to give it a try.

[docmartin]

This is all very interesting
I am thinking of buying a Behmor

Where do you get your greens from and what quantities are you buying.
I would like to be able to make bigger quantities but i am put of by the fact that most home supplier only sell in small expensive btaches

if i get startedon homeroasting all your info will come in handy and i might even take part!

best wishes

[Aunetti]

Motoman
Funny, with the Ethiopian Sidamo I have a better result when I roast slightly less. I used 400 gram instead of 450 gram (1 pound) and then used the settings P2 B. The last minutes I look and listen and just after the second crack I hit the cooling button and open the door.

Docmartin
I'am from the Netherlands and get my beans from http://www.koffiekopen.nu
Smal batches is always fresh beans!

GRS
Jaap

[MKSwing]

I didn't test but I wouldn't overweight the greens. Simply because the crack is exothermic, so if you put more greens, you produce more heat at this moment, which I think is quite critical in terms of quality of roast in this machine.

[CakeBoy]

Welcome to TMC Jaap

[motoman]

I didn't test but I wouldn't overweight the greens. Simply because the crack is exothermic, so if you put more greens, you produce more heat at this moment, which I think is quite critical in terms of quality of roast in this machine.

I agree but at the end of the roast I open the door and use my industrial workshop vac to suck out the hot air and flying chaff, the advantage of this is I can quickly turn the hose away from ther Behmor door to suck in cool air, this avoids too much heat build up in the vac. Cooling is reduced from 10 minutes to around four.

Since using this method I can leave the roast well into second crack without risk of over roasting and get a nice even coloured bean.

[MKSwing]

I agree but at the end of the roast I open the door and use my industrial workshop vac to suck out the hot air and flying chaff, the advantage of this is I can quickly turn the hose away from ther Behmor door to suck in cool air, this avoids too much heat build up in the vac. Cooling is reduced from 10 minutes to around four.

Since using this method I can leave the roast well into second crack without risk of over roasting and get a nice even coloured bean.

I fully agree, that's the biggest problem of the Behmor, it looks like your roast never ends when you switch too cool down. I open the door and blow on the barrel... I don't care about the chaff because it's in the garage.

I wonder if it goes so fast from 1st to 2nd crack on the 110V version... Anybody tried it in this scheme ?

[sicinius]

Popular Christmas present or what? mine is here now after a little tussle with FedEx who regard delivering goods in our valley as an optional exercise.

Exciting. Off to unpack and report back.

[sicinius]

So first and second crack then.

Read the instructions, did the dry run and started with 1/4lb of Steve's Brazilian Espresso Blend.

It's come out looking as expected but I heard the beans start cracking after about 8:30 mins and set a timer intending to stop after 1:30 as the guidelines say. As 1st came early I stopped early.

But the beans cracked pretty much continuously. No real difference between 1st and anything else once it had started. They lok right(ish) and smell right(ish).

Should there be a period of quiet after 1st, or is second crack a different variety of crack?

[Gouezeri]

Which profile? Sounds like 1.