Roasting How To

[bildo792]

I am in no way a pro roaster, and there are other ways to do it, but these are the basics...
Important resources will be listed at the bottom.


1st Step: Gather the Required materials-
COFFEE, there are tons of choices and of course prices are cheaper than buying it roasted.
ROASTER, You could use a coffee roaster, a popcorn popper, or even just a cast iron skillet. A roaster starts around $75, a popcorn popper will run you $15 or less. The roasters have a lot more features to make roasting easier.
BOWL, metal or glass to transfer your beans from the roaster to the cooling stage.
[img=left]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b356/bildo792/img007.jpg[/img]

2nd Step: Measure out your beans-
A popcorn popper can only do 1/2 cup of beans at a time. Do not do more or less, your roast will not come out as desired.
[img=left]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b356/bildo792/img008.jpg[/img]


3rd Step: Dump the beans in the popper
[img=left]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b356/bildo792/img009.jpg[/img]


4th Step: Roast-
There are varying levels you can roast to. You will want to roast to at least first crack. The first time I roasted I was worried I wouldn't hear first crack, don't worry you will hear it. You can see here I had to fashion a guard to keep the beans from being spit out of the popper. The bowl is catching the Chaff which is messy flakes coming off the beans. I roasted this batch to a Full City roast.
[img=left]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b356/bildo792/img011.jpg[/img]


5th Step: Stop the roasting process-
Remove the beans from the popper and put them into a glass or metal bowl. Put this bowl in the freezer to stop the roasting process. Feel the beans a few times until they are not hot to the touch anymore. Cooling should not take anymore than a couple mins.
[img=left]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b356/bildo792/img012.jpg[/img]
[img=left]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b356/bildo792/img013.jpg[/img]
[img=left]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b356/bildo792/img014.jpg[/img]

6th Step: Let them rest-
Don't use the beans for at least 4 hours, they will be releasing CO2. I generally roast the night before I plan to drink the coffee then use it for a few days till I am out and start the process again.

For 1lb of the Sulawesi Toraja I used I paid $4.70. If you buy 3 lbs or more you get a discount. The popper cost me $14 but I have heard of people getting them at thrift stores for less than $5. And all of us should already have a refrigerator and a bowl of some kind.

This is the best visual guide I could find on the roast levels:
http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.html

This is not the only way to do it, and hopefully others can add anything else they see I forgot. I always forget something.

 

[twoputts]

Nice job.

I read on the sweet marias site that you need a popper that has the air into the sides so the chaff doesn't fall into the popper and start a fire. I looked for an old popper for a couple of months then finally just went ahead and bought a roaster.

The coffee is great, but I still have not gotten a real dark, oily roast.

 

[phisherman]

I find that the bean type will be one of the biggest contributor to the oiliness of the product. The Guatamalan Marca Ficas that I am roasting right now produces a oily bean, but the Sumatran Medhedling that I was roasting was not oily at all. Both are good beans brew and awesome cup of coffee; one just happens to have an oilier bean.

 

[bildo792]

i read that somewhere too, but this popper has a mesh guard and blows air so hard out of the hole that i highly doubt chaff could get in.... should it get in i also highly doubt it will start a fire seeing as it would have to be about 1mm by 1mm to fit through the screen.

that would be something important to watch for if anyone is looking to get a popper.

 

[twoputts]

Regarding oilyness, I have roasted a Sulawesi Toraja and it is not nearly as oily as the same blend from my local coffee shop that roasts their own. I will have to stop in the shop and ask.

 

[bildo792]

Regarding oilyness, I have roasted a Sulawesi Toraja and it is not nearly as oily as the same blend from my local coffee shop that roasts their own. I will have to stop in the shop and ask.

let me know what you find out. That batch wasn't even roasted dark and some of the beans stuck to my fingers from the oil on them. Did you order the beans from CBC?

 

[bildo792]

nobody with comments or questions???

 

[iminaquagmire]

Not yet, I'm sure I will though, now that you've put me on the fence for trying roasting. You made it seem so simple, which is nice but also not good in that I need more bank breaking hobbies like I need a stick in the eye.

 

[bildo792]

Not yet, I'm sure I will though, now that you've put me on the fence for trying roasting. You made it seem so simple, which is nice but also not good in that I need more bank breaking hobbies like I need a stick in the eye.

You have to do what I did.... justify it by saying its not a new hobby, its to save money

 

[Muerte]

I have been grinding my own beans for years and had been toying with the idea of roasting after having fresh roasted beens from a local store. I was gifted an I-roast 2 for christmas. Roasting beens in this thing is as easy as making a pot of coffee, and takes about as long including the cool down phase. The roaster itself is close to 2 bills, but as a gift it is fantastic.

 

[Bloofington]

:sm_angel: :sm_angel: :sm_angel:

Yup, and the great thing about home roasting is that green beans cost about half the price of fresh roasted coffee. The free roaster keeps you from having to calculate how many batches you have to roast before you make back the cost of the roaster. :sm_angel: :thumbsup: