New Roaster here... Lot's of questions!

Jayiv

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Nov 18, 2009
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My family has a small chain of coffee shops and have just purchased a 12kilo U.S. Roaster to supply our shops and to hopefully wholesale as well. We have been roasting on our machine for a couple of weeks now just stumbling along and trying to learn as we go... I am awaiting a new modulator valve from Dan and Paul @ USR so I can better control my flame ( right now it's either 100% flame or 0% flame)... After reading through the forums I think my roast's are running longer than what they should. Ex: a 10lb light/medium roast is taking about 17 minutes. Also I tried a 10lb dark roast to try and start working on our espresso and I believe I got what is referred to as blasting where small chunks of the outer layer of the bean came off the. I dumped this roast @ about 425F and that took about 25 minutes to get to that point.

Some other questions..
1) What effect does the air speed have on the roast? Does a higher air speed speed up or slow down the roast??

2) At what temperature do you want to make your turn @?? I have been told as close to 200F as possible

3) When and why should you adjust your flame? I've read some profiles start slow and gradually increase flame and I have also read vice versa. Do you normally ease off the flame near the first crack and then resume??

4) At what temperature do you normally drop the beans into the roaster to begin the roast??

I know these questions may seem elementary to many of you, but I have had ZERO experience roasting (until about 2 weeks ago) and have ZERO training. I have 17 roast under my belt at this point and I started by just diving in the deep end and trying to learn via my mistakes,(which is getting expensive!) that is working ok up to this point but any insight anyone could give me to get me going would be very much appreciated.

If it is easier to call me rather than type it out, I would LOVE to spend some time on the phone with anyone that is willing to help. If that is the case please email me and we can get contact info from there. [email protected]

Thanks in advance for any help!!! Your time is much appreciated!!!
 

ElPugDiablo

New member
1) What effect does the air speed have on the roast? Does a higher air speed speed up or slow down the roast??
It depends on how high is your flame. If your flame is high enough then air entering drum is hot, higher speed will speed up the roast. This is the same principle as a convection over. If your flame is low then the air entering roasting drum will have a cooling effect thus slow down the roast.

2) At what temperature do you want to make your turn @?? I have been told as close to 200F as possible
If your turning point is 200F at about 1:30 mark, and your are roasting to 17 ~ 25 minutes, your are not giving the roaster enough heat energy.

3) When and why should you adjust your flame? I've read some profiles start slow and gradually increase flame and I have also read vice versa. Do you normally ease off the flame near the first crack and then resume??
You should ease off the flame before first crack. Any other time, It depends on the type of bean you are roasting. Hard beans need high heat, soft beans need less. You need to know your beans and your roaster; experience and see what works best for you. I have a different roaster, I start with lower flame and crank it up after a few minutes.

4) At what temperature do you normally drop the beans into the roaster to begin the roast??
If you have pieces blasted out, your charging temperature is too high. At the same time, your long roasting time suggests once you charged the drum, you flame is too low.

Here is a good link on roasting

http://www.terroircoffee.com/content/view/146/27/
 

Jayiv

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Nov 18, 2009
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Thanks a lot for your help! Like I said, I have only been roasting for a few weeks now and my knowledge of coffee is not anywhere near were i wish it were. Any insight provided is VERY helpful for me at this stage. THANKS AGAIN!!!
 

topher

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Aug 14, 2003
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Some advice...get a water fire extinguisher or a hose to put out fires. You shouldn't need to use them if you keep everything clean...so clean clean clean! :wink:
 

Coffeeexpert

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Jun 29, 2008
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US Roasters are great machines but they are a bit more difficult to roast on due to all of the settings you can change. US Roasters also have very different airflow characteristics than other roasters. With their over-sized fan motor, stainless steel drum and high number of drum perforations, they roast a bit like a fluidized bed and roasted beans have a similar taste. Since this roaster is so complex, I would start off with this basic profile and go from there:

Full Batch
Charge- Temp/Gas/Air
425/100/70

First Crack “367deg.” Temp/Gas/Air
/50/70
 

SlowRain

New member
I'm going to piggy-back off of this thread because it seems like a good repository for newbies.

I have a few questions:

1. What's the difference between ET and MET? How do they get used when roasting?

2. What kind of beans are good for first time roasters like me?

3. Are there maybe two or three common roast profiles that seem to work well as a starting point for most beans?

4. What differences in technique are there for roasting washed vs. dry-processed beans?

5. a.) What information should I include in my roasting log? Why?

5. b.) What formulas should I use to analyze my roasting log? What information will this give me and how can it benefit my roasts?

6. What are the most common mistakes or misconceptions made by newbies? (please help me avoid destroying my beans)

I'd really appreciate your help. I'm sure I'll have more questions later.

(I'll be roasting on a Quest M3.)
 

RontheRed

New member
Can any of you point out some good resources for how to come up with profiles, or something that gives a basic or general type of profile used for different beans? ( something I can use to build off of ) Maybe share the names of a few good books to read on roasting also. I'm new at this, and honestly haven't been able to find good reads on the interwebz.
 
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