Favorite Coffee & Setup
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my coffeeroasto does about one cup per batch. it's so easy to roast, not a problem to do two runs, if I need more.
with all this talk about WB poppery I. next time I see one, it's getting snagged! seems poppery I is more powerful and built like a tank.
with all this talk about WB poppery I. next time I see one, it's getting snagged! seems poppery I is more powerful and built like a tank.
Sigman
* The Arctic Moderator *
Uh-oh!! Guess I'm in trouble, seeing as you're "almost" an annual visitor to my neighborhood sales!
(We both missed this year's sale!) I hope I got a good "read", knowing I sure collect a lot of junk (uh...er, I mean "treasures" of course)!I'd love to try out home roasting, but unfortunately it seems to be another hobby that will suck coins that are absolutely required elsewhere!
At least I'm keeping the flashlight hobby alive (on that note, there's certainly some GREAT members wandering around these CPF hallways!).Glockboy sent me a bag of home roasted Rwanda awhile back ---> (Thanks Tam! :thumbsup: ) I'll admit, good coffee is a definite vice of mine, when I get it...VERY enjoyable...Yep, I'm an addict! I owe a few folks some of those valuable coins I mentioned earlier, but may just have to go looking for one of those popcorn poppers!
Does home roasting produce any smoke (as in the fire alarms going off & making the house smell like a coffee warehouse?)...don't know how that would settle with the family. I guess I could do it in the garage?
I think I'll go "window browsing" at Sweet Marias!
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It can produce a fair amount of smoke. The darker you roast, the more smoke you get. The coffee warehouse smell only lingers for a couple hours and I kinda like it.
I live in an apartment building and do all my roasting in the bathroom. The exhaust fan is powerful and vents directly outside.
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
an even grind without heating up the beans is important... but I recently bought for $20 at Target a black and decker grinder that is working great. Not the spinning blade type which I hate but an honest to goodness grinder. It doesn't go any finer than a fine drip so you couldn't make espresso with it, but it does a very nice even grind at it's finest setting.
The downside is that it is only a momentary pushbutton switch on it, so you have to stand there and hold the button down. And some dork decided that it needed a raised nib in the middle of the ON switch so you either have to push it with your fingernail or handle the pain of pushing on this sharp bump the whole time...
So it's not completely necessary to spend huge amounts of money just to get yourself going here with a grinder.
For the folks that might not be into this just yet that want to get a taste without the huge investment, Sweet Marias sells small batches of fresh roasted beans here:
http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.roasted.html
I have a subscription, even with shipping it's only a couple of bucks more a pound than buying already ground and quite pale in comparison Starbucks from the local grocery. And you know it's only a few days old. If you think y ou want to get in slowly it's a great place to start with some real quality and see if you can taste the difference
James S,
Could I trouble you for a model number on that Black & Decker grinder? Is Target still selling it?
Oh, and I forgot to say: good point about the SM subscription service!
SilverFox,
Good point about the popcorn popper safety issues. And I suspect that's not the only one. To those who want to start out w/ a popper please DO NOT LEAVE THE ROASTER UNMONITORED FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME.
SilverFox
Flashaholic
Hello Gsm,
I believe I am roasting around 1/2 cup of beans at a time. The Poppery II has a butter melting tray at the top of the plastic housing. I am using that for a measuring device.
I have been told that after roasting coffee continues to give off CO2. You don't want to store it in a glass jar with a screw type lid. I have a glass jar with a press on type lid for coffee storage. It takes two batches to mostly fill that up, and that lasts me around a week or maybe a little beyond that.
When roasting with the popper, it is probably better to go by the sounds and color of the beans. If the popper is hot from the first batch, the second batch will go quicker, so if you are only going by a timer, the second batch will be darker.
Tom
I believe I am roasting around 1/2 cup of beans at a time. The Poppery II has a butter melting tray at the top of the plastic housing. I am using that for a measuring device.
I have been told that after roasting coffee continues to give off CO2. You don't want to store it in a glass jar with a screw type lid. I have a glass jar with a press on type lid for coffee storage. It takes two batches to mostly fill that up, and that lasts me around a week or maybe a little beyond that.
When roasting with the popper, it is probably better to go by the sounds and color of the beans. If the popper is hot from the first batch, the second batch will go quicker, so if you are only going by a timer, the second batch will be darker.
Tom
SilverFox
Flashaholic
Hello Sigman,
Your "junk" is "wonderful..."
I have been popper roasting outside. There is smoke and chaff produced and I think it would be enough to trip a smoke alarm. If you had a way to catch the chaff, you could do the roasting under the stove hood.
Tom
Your "junk" is "wonderful..."
I have been popper roasting outside. There is smoke and chaff produced and I think it would be enough to trip a smoke alarm. If you had a way to catch the chaff, you could do the roasting under the stove hood.
Tom
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
I roast indoors, with the chute pointed out an open window, and I have never tripped a smoke-alarm from the roasting smoke, even when a breeze forces some of the smoke inside.
And, I can roast 3/4 cup of green beans in my popcorn pumper, or in the WB The Popper (aka PI).
The method for finding the right amount of green for your roaster is to put in just enough so that the green beans are only just barely moving at the beginning of the roast, and then pick up speed as the roast progresses, so that by 2nd crack they are nearly flying out of the roaster. Never put more than this amount in, as you risk burning the bottom beans.
You can, however, put less than this amount in, and it will actually SLOW down the roast, making it take longer to get to the same degree of roast. It's kind of counter-intuitive, but the faster the air moves past the heating coils, the cooler it emerges into the roast chamber. Thus having the maximum amount of beans presents more fricition to the air, which slows it down, leaving it in contact with the heating coil longer, making it hotter. And, the best part is that this means the air is hottest at the BEGINNING of the roast, and profiles down towards the middle and end. And this is actually better than one single temperature throughout, or a profile that gets hotter as the roast progresses. So naturally the popper does a not so bad thing. BTW, for the record, being able to truly control the temperature profile, either via a variac, or with something like an iRoast, is a definite advantage.
Also, as a side note, some authorities say that gas roasting, in a rotating drum, or in (for example) a stove-top whirly-gig popcorn popper, or in an oven, gives a smoother, more fully flavored dark roast than a fluid bed roaster (such as a popper or an iRoast or Fresh Roast).
SilverFox,
Roasting twice in a row is definitely very hard on a popcorn popper. To increase the longevity of the roaster, you would only roast with a roaster that has cooled down to room temp. But, you can definitely do a double roast session--I've done them--but it's certainly harder on the popper. LEDmodMan melted his butter tray this way, if I remember correctly. hehe. It still worked after that, though. Just had a deformed butter tray.
And, I can roast 3/4 cup of green beans in my popcorn pumper, or in the WB The Popper (aka PI).
The method for finding the right amount of green for your roaster is to put in just enough so that the green beans are only just barely moving at the beginning of the roast, and then pick up speed as the roast progresses, so that by 2nd crack they are nearly flying out of the roaster. Never put more than this amount in, as you risk burning the bottom beans.
You can, however, put less than this amount in, and it will actually SLOW down the roast, making it take longer to get to the same degree of roast. It's kind of counter-intuitive, but the faster the air moves past the heating coils, the cooler it emerges into the roast chamber. Thus having the maximum amount of beans presents more fricition to the air, which slows it down, leaving it in contact with the heating coil longer, making it hotter. And, the best part is that this means the air is hottest at the BEGINNING of the roast, and profiles down towards the middle and end. And this is actually better than one single temperature throughout, or a profile that gets hotter as the roast progresses. So naturally the popper does a not so bad thing. BTW, for the record, being able to truly control the temperature profile, either via a variac, or with something like an iRoast, is a definite advantage.
Also, as a side note, some authorities say that gas roasting, in a rotating drum, or in (for example) a stove-top whirly-gig popcorn popper, or in an oven, gives a smoother, more fully flavored dark roast than a fluid bed roaster (such as a popper or an iRoast or Fresh Roast).
SilverFox,
Roasting twice in a row is definitely very hard on a popcorn popper. To increase the longevity of the roaster, you would only roast with a roaster that has cooled down to room temp. But, you can definitely do a double roast session--I've done them--but it's certainly harder on the popper. LEDmodMan melted his butter tray this way, if I remember correctly. hehe. It still worked after that, though. Just had a deformed butter tray.
James S
Flashlight Enthusiast
Jim, the B&D is a model CBM205, google link follows:
http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&q=CBM205&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
The epinions guy gave it a low score for exactly the reasons I said earlier You have to hold the damnable button for the whole time it takes to grind the beans. I have mitigated the spray of grounds when you remove the output box by giving it a sharp tap prior to doing so. This way most but not all of the grounds actually end up in the bin and not all over your counter But my experience with other mid level grinder has been that they ALL spray coffee around when you're trying to clean them out... This was still the cheapest burr grinder that I have ever seen.
Yes, they are still available, and for around $20 would make a good backup grinder to the fancier ones. I wish it went one more click finer, but even so it shows no signs of dying on me yet.
http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&q=CBM205&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
The epinions guy gave it a low score for exactly the reasons I said earlier
You have to hold the damnable button for the whole time it takes to grind the beans. I have mitigated the spray of grounds when you remove the output box by giving it a sharp tap prior to doing so. This way most but not all of the grounds actually end up in the bin and not all over your counter But my experience with other mid level grinder has been that they ALL spray coffee around when you're trying to clean them out... This was still the cheapest burr grinder that I have ever seen.Yes, they are still available, and for around $20 would make a good backup grinder to the fancier ones. I wish it went one more click finer, but even so it shows no signs of dying on me yet.
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thanks, James! For $20, it seems worth checking out, even if you do have to hold the button down, and even if cleaning is a bit messy. As long as it grinds well enough at the French Press size, I'm interested! I'll check Target sometime this week, I think. I'll be super pleased if it can grind coarse enough for French, without leaving too many fines.
prof
Enlightened
Hey all,
Yes, roasting can produce a good deal of smoke. All of my roasting is done outdoors because of this. A friend of mine, with no background and no instructions from me, tried roasting in a cast iron skillet, indoors. Bad idea--the entire house smelled (good, I thought), chaff went everywhere, and his family were quite upset. On the positive side, he ended up giving me about a pound of beans straight from Kenya (he's a missionary there).
My iroast (my current one, I should say) came with an adaptor to link to an external vent. I do not do that. It's easy to just go outside. I roast on the patio.
I encourage everyone to treat any roasting device with care. My first iroast (used a different name but from same company) malfunctioned. I was NOT watching it at the time. The mechanism that determined if the coffee was done (it was more than a timer, according to the literature) failed. The roaster kept blasting at full heat. The coffee became charcoal, and the entire top of the roaster melted. Since I'd used it for about 4 or 5 years, I did not consider this an early failure. However, the lesson is simple: be careful. The results were quite fascinating.
One thing I prefer about dedicated roasters, which I did not see mentioned above, is the chaff catching mechanism. Popcorn poppers, while often less expensive, lack this. I've seen people make odd devices to catch the chaff, and I've seen people ignore it. My roaster does a great job of catching it for me. That's one of the best benefits.
Personally I find that I drink far less coffee when I drink good, fresh roasted coffee. If I drink stuff from the grocery store, I seem to drink lots more of it--and enjoy it less.
-prof
Yes, roasting can produce a good deal of smoke. All of my roasting is done outdoors because of this. A friend of mine, with no background and no instructions from me, tried roasting in a cast iron skillet, indoors. Bad idea--the entire house smelled (good, I thought), chaff went everywhere, and his family were quite upset. On the positive side, he ended up giving me about a pound of beans straight from Kenya (he's a missionary there).
My iroast (my current one, I should say) came with an adaptor to link to an external vent. I do not do that. It's easy to just go outside. I roast on the patio.
I encourage everyone to treat any roasting device with care. My first iroast (used a different name but from same company) malfunctioned. I was NOT watching it at the time. The mechanism that determined if the coffee was done (it was more than a timer, according to the literature) failed. The roaster kept blasting at full heat. The coffee became charcoal, and the entire top of the roaster melted. Since I'd used it for about 4 or 5 years, I did not consider this an early failure. However, the lesson is simple: be careful. The results were quite fascinating.
One thing I prefer about dedicated roasters, which I did not see mentioned above, is the chaff catching mechanism. Popcorn poppers, while often less expensive, lack this. I've seen people make odd devices to catch the chaff, and I've seen people ignore it. My roaster does a great job of catching it for me. That's one of the best benefits.
Personally I find that I drink far less coffee when I drink good, fresh roasted coffee. If I drink stuff from the grocery store, I seem to drink lots more of it--and enjoy it less.
-prof
Priestly
Newly Enlightened
I haven't read this whole thread yet but I wanted to chime in with the fact that I'm pretty peeved at the KA grinder I have as well.
It's just a blade grinder - no settings - but I wind up with both a few whole beans per grind as well as a substantial amount of "powder". I can pretty much do a decent drip grind in my sleep (and frequently do!) but not with this grinder. Bah!
I had a burr grinder but hated the mess it made.
James S
Flashlight Enthusiast
Jim, I've never actually run the thing on the corse settings so I had to run a few beans through it like that just to see what it would do. I THINK that it did a passable job. Unfortunately I didn't clean out the grinder prior to doing this so I think that the finer dust that came out first was just what was already in there from my original morning fine grind for running through the Technivorm. I can't be sure that it wont still make some sludge in your french press though. As with any $20 product like that there will be some variation form one to another, but I think it might actually work
TedTheLed
Flashlight Enthusiast
even the mazzer makes a little sludge when filtered throgh a screen. I like a little sludge, it adds something to the cup. if you let the cup sit a minute most of it settles to the bottom, so you don't get any mouthfeel from the grinds until the last few drops, which I have grown accustomed to avoiding, and leaving them on the bottom..
to help reduce sludge Sweetmarias has a very fine nylon screen you can attach to the plunger of your french press, and of course there's always the drip through a paper filter to eliminate it altogehter, but I don't like the taste of paper filtered as much as screen filtered..
to help reduce sludge Sweetmarias has a very fine nylon screen you can attach to the plunger of your french press, and of course there's always the drip through a paper filter to eliminate it altogehter, but I don't like the taste of paper filtered as much as screen filtered..
it's easy for me to say... but forget all those burr grinders.
find an old knee mill like mine. top quality results without paying through the nose for a $500 grinder.
earlier I posted that my grinder was found at a nearby garage sale for $75. what I didn't post was the full olympic weight set including hand weights and curling bar, that was included in the $75 heh heh..
find an old knee mill like mine. top quality results without paying through the nose for a $500 grinder.
earlier I posted that my grinder was found at a nearby garage sale for $75. what I didn't post was the full olympic weight set including hand weights and curling bar, that was included in the $75 heh heh..
prof
Enlightened
Guys, Alfred Peet, the founder of Peet's Coffee, has passed away. Details on the Peets web page.
