Hottop Roast Experiences

[Sam21]

Happy to help. I'm glad I added those thermocouples. It's helping me learn what's happening during the roast and helping me make more timely and accurate adjustments. Plus I no longer fear taking the roaster apart.

+1 Agreed. Some folks are great at learning the roast cycle through 100%, but my probes have helped me better understand the drying phase and the time after first crack. I personally wasn't the one to drill the holes for my probes, largely because I did not have a drill or bits. That said, the roaster is very easy to take apart with nothing but a screw driver and some patience. The plastic backing is actually the most frustrating piece to get on and off.

[el grano viejo]

As someone else who has added probes, it's a nice additional data point. That said, your senses are so important to the roasting process. I'm still working on my sense of smell during phases of the roast.

Sound & smell over sight, rarely bother with the glass other than to keep cleaning it. The nose knows especially when to dump between the cracks, another variable by bean. In some cases it's possible to judge by the intensity of the waves of odor. Others provide mellow inputs.

Good news regarding the Kopa Sundi -- my neighbor likes it. Hard to escape the conclusion something within is anathema to my taste buds. He'll get the remainder.

Nevertheless, he made it very clear it does not hold a candle to the Yirg, which is rather good again this AM. Late yesterday tried a pour-over, inferior to earlier cups brewed with this device before extending the roast. Either a strange teeter-totter effect or more likely my fault. A pour-over neophyte, results can be erratic, working to achieve a greater consistency which will come. Closing in on 40 years of vac pot brewing, nothing surprising about getting a generally superior, more pleasing cup.

There is also nothing surprising about achieving a variable result between the two types of brews, since there are significant differences in the respective processes. The trick is to get them both where I want them.
e-g-v

[Sam21]

Sense of smell is a big one. Where do you find Is the best place to get a goo aroma wiff from?

Drinking my first cup from my second roast of Guatemala Antigua Pulcal. Very sweet, creamy, with a high bright orange note. In my morning haze I messed up my brew ratio, so there is room for improvement for this cup. That said, I really enjoy the deep sweetness and simplicity of this coffee. It's very easy to approach and really enjoyable. I took it to City+. My stretch was too slow so the cup's acidity isn't as forward as I would like it. My next roast I will have to get through first a bit faster.

[el grano viejo]

Sense of smell is a big one. Where do you find Is the best place to get a goo aroma wiff from?

Sitting on a chair maybe two feet away, nose level with or slightly below the hood. In nautical terms a close reach relative to Hottop's "bow."
e-g-v

[Sam21]

Sense of smell is a big one. Where do you find Is the best place to get a goo aroma wiff from?

Sitting on a chair maybe two feet away, nose level with or slightly below the hood. In nautical terms a close reach relative to Hottop's "bow."
e-g-v

That's about where I sit. Because of my kitchen set up, I have to pull the roaster out and put it away each time. It does get a big old doing it each time, but that's the routine for now. I set it up on a small folding table and sit in a chair that allows me to see into the window and manipulate controls. I need to work at the smell piece a bit better. I am able to pick apart small changes from drying to the start of the ramp to first, but am still new to picking apart the time between cracks. That said, I rarely go to second crack and am often targeting a City+ roast level as a starting point.

[Gregr]

I pulled a couple shots of the Burundi this morning. Still probably a couple days from it's peak but very very sweet and bright as I'd hoped it would be.
e-g-v - which vac pot do you use? I seem to get in a rut preparing coffee the same way week after week. I like to change things up though I always return to my quest for the perfect espresso. I've got a pour over (Clever Coffee Dripper), a French Press and an Aeropress but no vac pot. Please... help me spend more money Also- can you describe how the taste differs from a good pour over cup?

[Sam21]

I pulled a couple shots of the Burundi this morning. Still probably a couple days from it's peak but very very sweet and bright as I'd hoped it would be.
e-g-v - which vac pot do you use? I seem to get in a rut preparing coffee the same way week after week. I like to change things up though I always return to my quest for the perfect espresso. I've got a pour over (Clever Coffee Dripper), a French Press and an Aeropress but no vac pot. Please... help me spend more money Also- can you describe how the taste differs from a good pour over cup?

e-g-v has far more vacpot experience than I do, but I will happily throw out my experiences so far. I am not on an espresso journey, but rather live in a world of pourover and full immersion methods. When I am not working with my Woodneck, V60s, or Kalitas I am often using my Hario TCA-3 siphon. I owned a Yama 3-cup before that, but accidentally broke both the upper and lower pieces (doh!).

I find there to be little difference in the Hario 3-cup and the Yama 3-cup, although I have heard a lot about the quality of the Hario glass in comparison. If using a cold towel drawdown (like Barismo), the Hario glass is a necessity, but again, I have no experience with that and am simply sharing other's findings. The looks of both vacpots is different as well and I prefer the simpler look of the Hario. In the taste department, there is nothing like brewing with a cloth filter. The vacpot takes it to a new level, as you are pairing a full immersion method and a cloth filter. I use a medium/medium-fine grind, bring the water into the upper portion and let it hit and maintain 91-93 depending on the coffee, and then dump the coffee in the top portion and start my timer. I stir in an up-down-up down/side-to-side motion for ~3 seconds. I stir again at 30 seconds in the same pattern for ~3 seconds. At 55 seconds I pull my butane burner away and stir again (just a tad lighter). My drawdown starts at 60 seconds and is done at 1:40-1:45 consistently every time.

I use a lower temp for very bright coffees that I want to be a bit sweeter and savory and find that you can really bring out brighter notes with the higher temps. My favorite aspect of the vacpot is the control you have over the variables. For cleaning, I tap out as much of the coffee grounds from the top into the garbage, then i give it a good rinse in the sink to get rid of the rest. I pop the filter out and give it a good rub under hot tap water and then throw it in a small pyrex dish and pour leftover brew water from my kettle onto it to soak. I then clean the upper and lower portion of the vacpot, and that's that. It's a very short process and a fun one to watch!

I purchased my TCA-3 from avenue18 in Canada. Atomic Cafe has the TCA-5 in stock. They will brew 20oz at a time. I have heard that the TCA-5 performs a touch more consistently than the smaller units. http://www.atomicafe.com/webstore.html# ... ort=normal

[Gregr]

Wow- thanks for the details! I can see that this isn't something simple you can jump into like the Clever Coffee Dripper.

[Sam21]

Wow- thanks for the details! I can see that this isn't something simple you can jump into like the Clever Coffee Dripper.

I personally found it very easy to get into. It can sound complicated though. The biggest adjustment for you would be using a cloth filter. Not only will you get great body in your cups using cloth, but you will get the clean clear flavors that paper provides. Very simply, get water in top, get it to correct temp, dump coffee, stir, wait, stir, wait, pull heat and stir. Then watch the magic.

Again, that is just my method. There are many out there, but I prefer the 55-60second steep and 40-45 second drawdown. I had the Tegu AA in the siphon a week or two ago and it was delicious. Very savory, sweet, with the acidity and fruit more integrated into the super sweet body.

[el grano viejo]

I use a Kent with auto timer/filter (actually a stacked disk). How this came about is described in this thread. The blue-ringed Kent is still the daily workhorse, with a replaced gasket.

Last used cloth filters about 30 years ago. My technique is the same as described in the testy Venerable Vacpot Procedure thread, ignoring all the stuff about glass rods, which I do not use anymore. Despite the occasionally rancorous tone, this thread remains the most comprehensive discussion of the subject that's come to my attention.

The vac pot produces a more complete & balanced spectrum of what the coffee has to offer than I'm getting from the pour-over so far, but 40 years with one device against 40 days with another -- well, experience must count for something! (old fart's credo)
e-g-v