1st Crack question

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1st Crack question

Postby Tongle » Sat Oct 03, 2015 9:04 am

Not posted in a while.....just getting back into work mode after the summer break.

Have now received green beans from Hasbean (Ethiopian Washed Kuruma and Tanzania Natural Bourbon).

Question....when roasting notes say things like 'just into 1st crack' does that mean start counting from the very first 'pop' you hear or when most beans have started to pop?

BTW....just did a little advertising for Hasbean. The lady at the post office where I had to collect the package asked me if it was coffee beans as her son is really into coffee. I told her about Hasbean and the website and about Cup North....we had a nice chat really! Anyway she wrote the web site down for her son so if you get another order from Oldham soon Steve................. :wink:
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Re: 1st Crack question

Postby Paul » Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:59 am

Morning, From what I've read and been told both here and in books ,you wait until the crack gets rolling then note or time from that point. I've some beans that produce the odd crack up to a minute before the main mass gets going,when the main mass starts is when I call first crack..
Hope this helps
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Re: 1st Crack question

Postby Tongle » Sat Oct 03, 2015 1:21 pm

Thanks Paul,
Up to now I've been jumping in as soon as I hear a pop......I'll try waiting a bit more and see what happens.
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Re: 1st Crack question

Postby Paul » Sat Oct 03, 2015 5:54 pm

Practice on some generic high grown beans: Guatemala, Colombian,. They usually produce a good loud crack.You get the odd pop here and there then you will hear the main mass kick in. Then its a judgement call a little practice and you will get the hang off it . the last Colombian I roasted I got odd pops about 15 -20 seconds before the bean mass started
Have fun
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Re: 1st Crack question

Postby RolandGlew » Wed Oct 07, 2015 9:31 am

Paul's dead on about getting it with experience! With a home roaster, bean mass is low, so you are more likely to get odd pops of a bean going into crack early. The bigger the roaster, the more even (generally speaking) the bean development will be. With a bit of practice you'll be able to differentiate between an anomalous pop early on and the very first pops of 1st crack.

Don't worry too much about the Gedeb - as Washed Ethiopians go, it's pretty forgiving. For us, just into 1st means something like half way through. If you take it a bit further - into the gap between cracks - you shouldn't get any roast flavour still, but you'll lose a bit of the acidity and florals.

For the Burka Natural, first pops of second means literally the first you hear - but differentiating early 2nd and late 1st isn't always easy. You need first to be over and to avoid second crack having built any momentum.

Hope that makes sense :)

P.s. Thanks for the advertising!
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Re: 1st Crack question

Postby Tongle » Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:47 pm

Clearly there is no substitute for experience.

Apart from the very first roast, nothing has tasted terribly bad so far so I must be doing ok. Greater understanding of the process is good though as it builds confidence. I am always keen not to waste any batches through my own incompetence as I am very mindful of the effort which has gone into growing the bean in the first place.
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