Any Home Coffee Roasters Here?

[Highbeam]

I can't imagine that not smelling good. That smoke and oil. Oh, I should ask, is that popper pretty much ruined now with the oil and smoke or could it be sufficiently cleaned and reused for corn? You get my drift here right? The beans look plenty oily.

We have a couple of roasters in town, Dillanos, and at least one other. Some warehouses I have seen stacked full of burlap sacks of coffee beans which I must assume means they are green beans.

I have to assume that per scoop of beans, there is little cost involved so I can go ahead and experiment. I like good coffee a lot better than bad coffee but I won't be spending 20$ a pound at first.

The pictures are exactly what I needed. Thanks so much.

 

[LMTC]

I say by all means go for it. I'm just not convinced it's worth my time to roast yet. I emailed the local roaster Monday, he roasted and shipped yesterday, I got it today, and put it into the freezer. It needed most of the time from him to me to degas anyway. I'm buying very nice varieties from him for anywhere from $7 to $9 per # roasted. Bought something from Yemen and Tanzania with this order....always at least one half-pound of something new to try. Yummm.

 

[davemhughes]

The popper can be used for corn if you decide roasting is not for you. I like doing it because it tastes great and by doing it I am in another small way more self reliant in doing the things I like myself.

Tanz beans are great, makes a fantastic cup. The yemen green beans I have look terrible but roast up ok. I bought a 2lb bag of the green to try out as Yemen is supposed to be the birth place of coffee and some say all coffees can trace their roots to the Yemen bean. Reminds me of Kenya AA's in taste.

 

[shaley]

OK, Got a question. I can't seem to get a full body in the cup. It taste great and the acid and bitter but the cup feels weak and watery to the tongue. The bean types I ordered:
Guatemala Peaberry
Colombian Supremo
Costa Rica Tarrazu
El Salvador Altamira
Nicaragua Finca Agua Fresca

Tbls per 6oz water, filter drip brew and have run it through several times.
Most of these I have roasted to just past first crack and some a little darker. I can see and taste the difference but just can't get the body I want.
Should I blend it.

 

[RobertN]

Absolute cheapest way: Green beans in a skillet over a med-high heat source.....stir constantly and open EVERY door and window because when roasting there is some smoke generated and Lots of smoke when you get into the 2nd crack (dark roasted). You wife will not like this method I promise speaking from experience on that one.

Can you comment on the roast versus affect on caffiene?

My understanding was that the darker the roast, the less caffeine; as the roast darkened, it destroyed the caffeine. I can't remember where I heard or read that. Is that right, or off base?

 

[shaley]

I'm not sure, I haven't slept in a week. Who needs stinkin sleep!!

Seriously, Here is a technical site for coffee
Coffee Science: Research, ASIC, Decaffeination, and Coffee Chemistry.
And an article on Caffeine
Caffeine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[RobertN]

I'm not sure, I haven't slept in a week. Who needs stinkin sleep!!

Seriously, Here is a technical site for coffee
Coffee Science: Research, ASIC, Decaffeination, and Coffee Chemistry.
And an article on Caffeine
Caffeine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wikipedia article indicates Generally, dark-roast coffee has less caffeine than lighter roasts because the roasting process reduces the bean's caffeine content There's no other information though.

I know in beer brewing, the roasting of the grains affects the sugar chain in the malt. the darker the roast, the less fermentable sugar is left. Black Patent, the darkest roast, has little or no fermentable sugars. Most two row light roasted malt is full of sugars(most fermentables in beer).

 

[gino45]

fyi--I've tried the electric popcorn poppers, but imo they don't roast it dark enough.
So I switched to a stove top popper, which looks like a pressure cooker. It works very well!
Method is to use 8 oz green beans. I turn the stove to medium high, when it warms up a bit I throw in the beans and start turning the handle slowly.There is a first pop and then, within a minute or 2, a second pop. At this time I start looking very closely every 5 or slow turns of handle (15 seconds?). As soon as I see some beans with oil on the outside, I shut it off and pour the still roasting beans into a stainless strainer. I then swirl the beans by shaking until they have cooled and are no longer popping.
I end up with what I'd describe as a Vienna roast. It's not totally even, but it is very good.
Total time, about 10 minutes to roast. fyi--I did burn some once or twice when I was a novice. You must eyeball and remove from heat and pan quickly when you've reached the desired roast. If it is smoking heavily, the coffee is burning. I speak from experience!

 

[baanista]

Home Coffee Roasting Supplies -Sweet Maria's has been where I go to feed my caffeine addiction. I have gone through a couple of hot air style roasters and now have Hot Top drum roaster. It isn't quite as loud, does a bigger batch, takes longer for the roast, and smells better when roasting. Most important, I like the results and enjoy using it. I lug it out on the front porch when I roast.

I am using Solis Master 5000 auto-magic espresso maker. It gives me results comparable to what I could obtain from manual machine and is more consistent and a whole lot less fiddly.

When I order beans, I get 5 lbs of Sweet Maria's Liquid Amber Espresso Blend and another bag of something else which depends on my mood.

Not the cheapest way of getting coffee, but that first cappucino in the morning sure tastes good!