Bit Decay - Coffee

Roasting with a Stir Crazy and Convection Oven

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 16:16:00 -0400

I took some pictures while roasting a batch of Costa Rica SHB Decaf in my SC/TO today.

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New Coffee Roasting Cabinet

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 16:55:03 -0400

I was getting tired of hauling the roasting gear out to the patio all the time so I built a cabinet to store it all in. Pictures in the extended entry.

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Death by Caffeine

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 18:36:46 -0500

I hope no one tries to test the accuracy of this site, especially with canned coffee. What an ugly way to die!

Another Coffee Study

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 09:46:00 -0500

After that drink, have a cup of coffee.

Coffee is Good for Short Term Memory

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 17:18:11 -0500

If I forget what my intentions were between getting out of my chair and reaching the other room, should I be drinking more coffee?

Pumper Mod Pictures

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:34:42 -0500

As promised, the pictures of the new mods.
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More pumper mods

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:27:51 -0500

I just finished some more mods to the pumper.

I cut the bottom off of a glass jar to use as a chimney. This allows me to see the beans better as they roast. I couldn't see well through the screen I used for a chaff collector. The screen contraption fits nicely on top of the glass jar so it's still useful.

I also closed up the side of the chaff collector so it's now a cylinder. I added a small piece of screening inside to trap the chaff. The inner piece is a smaller cylinder with a couple of slits cut down from the top. I closed the top a little by overlapping at the slits. This turns the inner piece into a bit of an inverted funnel. The chaff can blow through the small hole to the upper chamber but can't fall back to the bottom.

Then come the big mods....

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Coffee Sampler

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 18:49:15 -0400

I received a new order of coffees today. I ordered an 8-pack sampler, 2 lb. of decaf, a book on roasting, and a gold filter for brewing single cups.

The sampler was supposed to contain 8 different coffees. Two of them are the same, though - Kenya AA auction lot 661. I had previously ordered 2 lb. of auction lot 668 and that was a very good coffee so I won't complain if this lot is as good.

The decaf I ordered is also Kenya AA. I had previously ordered Tanzania Peaberry decaf and I like it so much I'm making it just about every night. I'll probably order more of that and probably a bigger bag.

I'm thinking of putting together a database to keep track of how much coffee I have and track its use. I'll have to think about that a little.

In Search of Consistency

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 09:03:31 -0400

I stopped in Target on my way home from work one day last week and bought a kitchen scale. I've been using it when roasting or brewing to try to get more consistent results (moreso for brewing). I scooped out about as much coffee as I have been using to make a pot and put it on the scale. It came out to about 6.5-7 gm. per 6 oz. cup. I've been using about 7 gm. per cup ever since and I've been getting very good coffee but I hadn't seen anyone state anywhere how much coffee to use except for one place that said two tablespoons of grounds per 6 oz. cup. That doesn't help me when I want to know how much to grind.

I was browsing around some coffee related links I had saved and came across the Coffee FAQ. It recommends 10 gm. per 6 oz. cup. That has to be some strong cup of coffee! Even the 7 gm I have been using is a bit on the strong side (but it's good!)

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Homemade Chaff Catcher

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 19:34:45 -0400

I got board this afternoon so I built a chaff catcher for the pumper out of some screening, some strips of aluminum cut from flashing, and a tuna can.
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Popcorn Pumper Modification Day

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 16:37:21 -0400

I spent another couple of hours roasting this morning. When I was done, I thought I should do something with the Popcorn Pumper to make it a little easier to use in case I need it again. The El Pacamaral didn't roast well in the Precision but seemed to roast well enough in the pumper. The only real problem I had was cooling down the beans when roasting was completed. They continued to crackle in the pumper after it was unplugged. I had to use the cooldown cycle on the Precision to get them to stop cooking.

I took it apart to see what I might be able to rig up to control it a little better. The easiest thing to do was to install a switch on the main heater coil so I could keep blowing cooler air over the beans but turn off the heat. I just tried a quick batch with it and it seemed to work quite well. By turning the switch off for short periods during the roasting time, I could slow down the rate of heating. Once it hit second crack, I turned off the heater and it cooled from ~500° to ~150° in about four minutes. It would probably cool down even further if I could unlink the secondary heater coil from the motor by installing a transformer to provide the 20V needed by the motor.

This guy went a little further with his pumpers than I did. There are many people on the internet showing how they modified similar poppers.

Good Results So Far

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 22:16:22 -0400

This new batch of coffee is turning out pretty well. I've been drinking the decaf since the coffee arrived and it's good. I tried the Yellow Bourbon yesterday and the Kenya today. Both were very good. I have the Pacamaral set up for tomorrow morning. All of these were roasted to Full City+. There isn't even a hint of the bad taste I experienced with the first order of coffee from 1st Line. I'll retry one of those tomorrow to see if a darker roast makes them better. The last time I roasted them I stopped the roast at about City+.

I stopped at Target on my way home from work today and bought a small kitchen scale. I'll be using this to weigh beans for grinding and hopefully I'll get more consistent results when brewing.

Roasting Day

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 13:15:36 -0400

I have been out on the patio for I think nearly three hours roasting coffee. I have roasted a batch (about 1/2 cup) of each of the new coffees as well as each of the older coffees I had.

I had some problems with the El Pacamaral. It didn't seem to want to move inside the roaster. The beans should roll through the chamber being blown up and out from the middle and sliding back in from the edge. These didn't seem to want to slide back in. Once the beans at the center got blown out, that was it. I stopped the roast before it got too far and tried adding more beans. That didn't help. I took some beans out. That didn't help. I ended up having to shake the unit to keep beans moving until the roaster went into cooldown.

At this point, I had some beans that I had removed that were partially roasted so I added enough to make a 1/2 cup and dumped them in the corn popper. That was interesting. It swirls the beans around the bottom until they get heated up a bit. Then they start pumping up and down but don't rise too high up in the chamber. When they seemed done enough, I dumped them into a collander where they continued to pop and crackle until I could get them into the roaster and start a cooldown cycle.

Anyway, I'm letting the roast go a bit further than I did the last time. Hopefully, this will get rid of the lousy taste I've been experiencing in the first batch of coffees I bought.

And I should know better than to try to enter this while a batch is roasting. My Hacienda Miravalles looks quite well done.

Coffee received

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 20:30:22 -0400

My coffee order arrived right on schedule yesterday. I don't know if it was delivered by horse or not. I roasted some of the decaf I ordered and it made a pretty good cup of coffee. I can't wait to roast the others.

Just for the record, here's what I ordered (2 lbs. of each).

Kenya Auction Lot 668- Kiaguthu Peaberry
Brazil Sul de Minas Yellow Bourbon
Tanzania Peaberry WP Decaf
El Salvador Cup of Excellence - El Pacamaral

Delivery by Pony Express?

nospam@example.com (Thomas Pfau) — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 18:14:51 -0400

Well, I'm glad I didn't wait until I was almost out of coffee to order more. I just looked up my order in the UPS tracking system and they say it's on schedule for delivery on September 28! They got it from Sweet Maria's on the 21st!