Bean drying time?

[Hill Girl]

Hi,

In my efforts to prevent under-roasting I may be spending too much time in the bean drying phase of the roast.

I am using a hot air popper. I know there is no such thing, but as a starting point for experimentation does it make sense to start the roast at ~75 degrees F and get to ~ 325 degrees F in about two and a half minutes?

I've seen some posts about quick roasts that start the beans at a higher temp, but I don't know how to do that and not get beans that are cooked on the outside and under-roasted on the inside.

Thanks in advance for clearning up the smoke.

[Erica]

How many minutes until you get to first crack?

[Hill Girl]

Thanks Erica. I'm using a dimmer on the Poppery 1 heater, so I can get to first crack whenever I want.

[Erica]

You will generally shoot for a roast time of 6 minutes in a popper.

[Hill Girl]

Is that for a City roast? Thanks Erica,
Hill Girl

[Erica]

Full City so right before second crack depending on the ambient temp etc...

[Hill Girl]

About six minutes for a Full City roast, thanks Erica. Will experiment with different allocations of time to drying, from drying to first crack, and from first crack to just before second crack.

Regards,
Hill Girl

[Dustin]

It depends, how long are your total roast times?

[Hill Girl]

Thanks Dustin, I am having a hard time developing a general profile that enables me to roast without under-roasting, over-roasting, or baking the beans. I'd appreciate your feedback! Here are some recent sample roasts data and results:

El Salvador Majahual
4-9-12
start roast at 200 degrees
@ 1:30 temp is 290 degrees
@ 2:30 temp is 360 degrees
@ 3 mins temp is 360
@ 4:40 temp is 420
@ 5:15 First Crack at 421 degrees
@ 6 mins temp is 423
@ 6:30 temp 426
at 7:30 temp 440
at 8 mins 446
at 8:22 Second Crack at 451 degrees
pull at start of second crack, nice blend, no shrapnel in roast

Result: 4-10 Burnt flavor, unpleasant

4-9-12 Rwanda KG

start at 200 degrees
at 3 mins 300 degrees
at 4 mins 350
at 6 mins 412
at 6:32 First Crack
beans look burnt
at 8:30 temp is 428
at 10:16 Second crack at 445 degrees
pull at 10:50 with fast cracking

Result 4-10: sour, slightly bitter

4-4 Ethiopian LJ

start at 200 degrees
at 1 min 244 degrees
at 1:30 263
at 2 mins 297
at 3 mins 349
at 3:30 379
at 4 mins 391
First crack at 4:47 min at 416 degrees
at 5:30 419
pull at 6:20 at 430 degrees

Result: uneven roast, no good, orangish when ground, bitter

4-4-12 India Poabs

at 2 mins 270 degrees
at 3 mins 323
at 3:30 345
at 4:30 376
at 5 mins 391
at 5:30 406
at 6 mins First Crack at 411 degrees
at 6:30 422 degrees
at 7 mins 422 degrees
at 7:30 422 degrees pull roast.

Result 4-7: uneven roast, no good, orangish when ground, bitter

[Dustin]

Cool, I like that your taking notes. Thats a good sign!!! Why dont you shoot for longer drying periods(drop to 300 or yellow) on your sour roasts? It seems your spending a lot of time post first crack, but not a lot of time in either of the other 2 phases. Try evening out the time spent in each(like 3 mins til 300 degrees or yellow, 3 mins til first crack, then three mins til you drop the roast)

Also how is the agitation? are the beans swirling the whole time? do you have to shake or stir the popper? And what is your bean load(weight wise)? And how are you taking the temperature during the roast?