Too Much Coffee

So, this morning the postie turned up with a brand new Whirley Pop (the alu version). Last week, my beans came from hasbean so I decided that I would get straight on it.

Tried my first roast with the Yemen Mocha Matari 2009-2010 beans that I got from HB. Warmed up the pan, in with the beans, on with the timer and start cranking. Cranked at a medium speed and at around 7-8 minutes hit first crack. Turned the heat down a little and carried on till about 9:30 when started to hear second crack. Cooled them down by pouring between a pan and a collander. Not sure what I did wrong (guessing not cranking fast enough) but although the colour looks good, they are burnt, can smell and taste it.

So, first roast not great but I have more beans so will try again with the espresso blend later on and try cranking faster this time.

Some beans are like that. A blend is also possibly not the best to begin with. If you have a Columbia or Brazil, try one of them first. I find that Mocha Matari is quite a challenge because the cracks tend to run into one another and what you think is still first may already be the beginning of second. Good luck and have fun. You'll get the hang of it in no time.

Thanks for the tips and encouragement! Will hang off the espresso blend and buy some more greens then. Any particular ones from hasbean that I should try?

Buy a big bag of the cheapest (well not that robusta) they have, but order a 250g of the same bean roasted. When your roasts of that bean are as good as HB's go and blow your brains out on El Salvador Finca Los Amates.

My biggest problem was scorching at the start of roast, beans seemed to get a little burnt on outside before heating through, would carry awful flavour to cup despite looking good. Also I'm really unimpressed with myself if second crack comes before 15min.

Just started roasting too - done about a two dozen now. Got some amazing(imo) results with £17 heat gun and stainless dustbin. Getting hottop now. Doubt I will ever but roast coffee again.

Happy roasting

Try the colombian Mauela. The roast you are doing are a bit quck too. 1C should be around 11 mins and 2C arount 13. You can acheieve longer roasts with practise. The HB Bend is a pig in the WP, don't go there. Yemeni is nigh on inpossible. Sumatrans are good, so try the Kalosi or Lingtong. You have to be quite robust with ramp up to temp to get to 1C, then you can almost profile going into 2C.

Oh and you have to crank pretty fast to avoid any scorchers.

Thanks for the tips and advice

Think I am not as quick a cranker as I need to be Will buy a big bag of cheaper beans and a bag of the 250g roasted of the same variety and practice until I nail it.

For the moment, I have just ordered some more pre roasted from HB so I can try different types to see what I like. The Guatemala El Bosque Amatitlan Red Bourbon 2009-2010 Crop were the first fresh beans I have tried and really liked the flavour, not so keen on the Breakfast Bomb, although nice espresso from them. Just ordered some of the Yemeni Mocha and Espresso Blend roasted from HB (should be home when I get there).

There is so much more to coffee than I even knew about a month ago! Loving it

lsjms wrote: My biggest problem was scorching at the start of roast, beans seemed to get a little burnt on outside before heating through, would carry awful flavour to cup despite looking good. Also I'm really unimpressed with myself if second crack comes before 15min.


Happy roasting

Yep, think this must be my problem too. They looked reasonable but carried a nasty burnt flavour through to the cup.

espressomattic wrote:You have to be quite robust with ramp up to temp to get to 1C, then you can almost profile going into 2C.

Sorry to be thick, but what do you mean by this?

^^^^ He means that a good heat is needed to take the beans up to the point of first crack and then you can modulate this to take them to second crack........I think....

While a Whirly Pop is a cheap option for roasting it doesn't lend itself to fine tuning as does some other roasters. Good luck.

I have not fully understood your situation, I take it you are roasting with one of these...

http://www.amazon.com/Wabash-Valley-Far ... B00004SU35

I do not have that much coffee roasting time under my belt but am a geeky chef and know a fair bit about roasting in general.
I think coffee is just not suitable for roasting directly on a pan bottom, the corn would rely on added oil to ensure even and steady initial heat up. In the coffee situation the 'oven' part of your roaster would be very cool in relation to the dry metal surface in direct contact with the heat source.

Imo, you need to man up, drill a hole or two and stick in a heat gun(£15) and a probe, or go Ray Mears on it and use a nice pile of charcoal embers

I meant to add something to this a few days ago, but forgot. Roasting on a pan bottom is the way coffee was roasted for hundreds of years and is still practiced in many coffee growing areas of the world. In central and south American countries people often use pan roasters on their wood or coal stoves. The trick is the stirrer that keeps the beans moving and this is exactly the same as in the Whirley Pop. One difference is that the traditional roasters are made of cast iron and the heat is distributed somewhat more evenly. In any case it is necessary to keep the beans moving all the time.

That said, I am not necessarily recommending this kind of roaster, however I know that it can be done and it can provide quite usable results. I believe Matt (Espressomatic) used a Whirley Pop for a long time with excellent results.

As long as the beans are stirred at a good consistent speed, scorching can be eliminated. The prongs on a WP are sufficiently thin enough to stop any beans geeting stuck, as they do with other pop corn poppers. A ggod idea is to use a cast iron skittle pad over a gas flame. This distributes the heat effectively enough to prevent the WP distorting from the dirtect flame.

The WP is a very cheap and effective method of roasting coffee using convection. It gives a far more rounded flavour than hot air roasters and once you have mastered it, the amounts you can roast can go up to 500g's.

Practise makes perfect my friend! I also advise you start off with the cheaper beans, but those which still are good enoughh quality to taste nice once roasted and ground.

It's all about experimenting and having fun with it! Enjoy!