Thread: Coffee Enthusiasts

Originally Posted by Jwtruth45

If you want to try coffee roasting without making your S.O. mad at you for shelling out big bucks, certain air popcorn poppers that have been modified work very well for coffee roasting. You have to disconnect, or at least relocate the thermostat, so you can get a high enough temp to fully roast the beans.

You can roast a lot of different ways but it will smoke and set off a home smoke alarm so
do it outside or use a great exhaust fan.

The line from not roasted to roasted to burned is quite thin. I used to live
within walking distance of a good small roaster. He retired and sold his shop
so now I have to drive for freshly roasted coffee.

Friends that use the popcorn popper manage the temp with a decent thermometer.
You cannot see enough to get it right. Temp is an important tool.

I have roasted on my BBQ in a cast iron pot and am happy to allow a professional
to do it ;-) it is easier to hone a razor....

Find a source of green beans and have fun. Start with the inexpensive beans.

Fresh roasted should sometimes relax a day to outgas before it is ground so if you find
a local roaster fresh can be yesterdays. Try both ... if you can. Most will humor you
if there is no big line.

Try the different roasts but I found that half a light roast and half a dark roast of the
same bean is ideal -- my custom blend.

Some roasters (the machine) heat very evenly and the entire bean is the same from inside to out.
Home roasting and some commercial roasts are not as evenly roasted inside and will
brew differently.

I confess to liking a cone filter or an Aeropress for making my coffee.
The cone filter cleans up nicely and no grounds to clog the drain.
The aeropress makes amazing coffee considering the price. Both are
portable enough for travel.

My mom was perkolator person, the neighbor was a vacuum brew, the
crews I worked with in Arizona and Wyoming made cowboy coffee with a
bit of accidental diesel... it sure was satisfying. I think the diesel was on the cup
not in the coffee.
I drink my coffee black unless it needs help in the form of milk and sugar.
Some truck stops need help.

For your viewing pleasure .............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQBZZ6P3aB0

This is also quite interesting .............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQuZS61SezE

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

You can roast a lot of different ways but it will smoke and set off a home smoke alarm so
do it outside or use a great exhaust fan.

The line from not roasted to roasted to burned is quite thin. I used to live
within walking distance of a good small roaster. He retired and sold his shop
so now I have to drive for freshly roasted coffee.

Friends that use the popcorn popper manage the temp with a decent thermometer.
You cannot see enough to get it right. Temp is an important tool.

I have roasted on my BBQ in a cast iron pot and am happy to allow a professional
to do it ;-) it is easier to hone a razor....

Find a source of green beans and have fun. Start with the inexpensive beans.

Fresh roasted should sometimes relax a day to outgas before it is ground so if you find
a local roaster fresh can be yesterdays. Try both ... if you can. Most will humor you
if there is no big line.

Try the different roasts but I found that half a light roast and half a dark roast of the
same bean is ideal -- my custom blend.

Some roasters (the machine) heat very evenly and the entire bean is the same from inside to out.
Home roasting and some commercial roasts are not as evenly roasted inside and will
brew differently.

I confess to liking a cone filter or an Aeropress for making my coffee.
The cone filter cleans up nicely and no grounds to clog the drain.
The aeropress makes amazing coffee considering the price. Both are
portable enough for travel.

My mom was perkolator person, the neighbor was a vacuum brew, the
crews I worked with in Arizona and Wyoming made cowboy coffee with a
bit of accidental diesel... it sure was satisfying. I think the diesel was on the cup
not in the coffee.
I drink my coffee black unless it needs help in the form of milk and sugar.
Some truck stops need help.

Never felt the need for a thermometer, or heard of anyone that felt they needed to, but to each their own I guess. All my beans come out great, and I know a lot of people who go only by sight, and sound when roasting their names this way.

I'm my opinion people tend to over complicate things sometimes.

But yes, I couldn't agree more on the Annette part. Anyone about to try this, don't do it inside if you don't want your S.O. to kill you, or at least put you in the doghouse.

Very smoky, and stinky.

Originally Posted by Dieseld

Good morning and some great coffee

Once the water fully enters the top how long do you let keep it there before shuting off the heat to vacuum back to the bottom?

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

I don't find that there is a problem freezing beans as long as you keel them vacuum sealed during freezing and defrosting. The problem with freezing is usually over the moisture that condensation brings to the party. I'm the only coffee drinker in the house so I have to make an attempt to keep beans a little longer. 1 kilo of beans takes me a while to consume. I divide it in thirds and freeze the vacuum sealed bags.

This is MY opinion and not a disagreement with anyone.
First off I am speaking of those who roast their own beans.
If your roasting and only do enough for a week or two I have experienced no reason to either freeze or vacuum seal the beans, an airtight has always been satisfactory for me because I use the beans before they degrade in taste.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Yeah, I think we've discussed this before. Being the only coffee drinker it's a little tough to justify. Maybe I will at some point. I'm always tinkering with something new in the kitchen. Maybe coffe roasting is next.

I agree with jwtruth45, and also have this suggestion. I repurposed a bread maker by bypassing the heat element and reposition the thermostat outside of the machine to detect only the ambient air as to not shut the machine down due to overheating. In other words machine is only used to agitate the beans while the heat source is a heat gun held buy the lid or holder in top.
Here is a video of process if interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23AJYJCvI1I

Originally Posted by paco

Once the water fully enters the top how long do you let keep it there before shuting off the heat to vacuum back to the bottom?

About a minute or two. Actually when enough boils to the top, the vacuum is broken and it begins to drain back down

Cold brew coffee sure seems to be popular right now, and I love most of the ones I've tried. So yesterday I thought I'd try making my own. I used 3 - 900ml mason jars and my french press to hold the brew. I did a coarse grind, the same as what I use for my french press, and did around a 5 parts water to 1 part coffee grounds. I let it sit for around 22 hours, and did a flip of the jars at 12 hrs. Strained it through a metal sieve, and then through a reusable basket coffee filter. I may pick up some paper filters for next time, because there was some sediment left in the bottom of my first glass.

Turned out fantastic! Not a whole lot of flavour on the tongue, but tons on the back end. My wife even like it, and she doesn't drink coffee. I can see this being something I can enjoy even in the colder weather.

There's a pretty cool sieve setup on Amazon that fits right into the wide mouth mason jars. Around $12-15 and works well. Easy cleanup. Cold brew seems to be less acidic to me. Good taste too. Not very cost effective to me vs. espresso for the 'kick'. I used a lot of cold brew coffee for the same kick.

Tip for the fines... Don't shake the mason jar before you pour your cup. When you get down to nearly the bottom of the jar, just dump that last 1/4 cup with the fines. A lot less trouble than all of the filtering.