Who roasts their own coffee on their BBQ or Grill?

[rexster314]

Here's a small video of the roaster. The stuff flying around is coffee bean "husks"

 

[tallbm]

I'm envious! :)

 

[KonaLance]

Here's a small video of the roaster. The stuff flying around is coffee bean "husks"

Why is it spinning so fast? Did you modify the motor?

 

[rexster314]

Why is it spinning so fast? Did you modify the motor?

New motor that spins up to 55 rpms. The faster speed allows the coffee to roast more evenly and faster.

 

[tallbm]

Well you jokers went and pushed me over the limit!

I ordered a 5/16 45" spit rod, the adjustable motor that does up to 55rpm, the claw set with all the other rod necessities, and a basket... This is all so I can roast some beans for Christmas gifts again this year. Oh and maybe dabble in some spit cooking. Just today I saw where a guy did a literal bunch of boneless skinless chicken thighs on the spinner and they looked amazing!

I think all stuff should be in hand by Dec 12 so I will report back if/when I get it all in and hopefully will report back with some bean pics as apposed to questions on how to get the thing setup properly :D

 

[rexster314]

My wife dearly loves huli-huli chicken. I haven't done any since I got my new rotisserie motor. Might have to do that next week sometime. But the roasting basket I got from Coffee Roasters Club and the new motor put my coffee roasting to another level of quality. No hotspots whatsoever that I had a problem with using the old basket and K/A motor.

 

[tallbm]

My wife dearly loves huli-huli chicken. I haven't done any since I got my new rotisserie motor. Might have to do that next week sometime. But the roasting basket I got from Coffee Roasters Club and the new motor put my coffee roasting to another level of quality. No hotspots whatsoever that I had a problem with using the old basket and K/A motor.

I'm looking forward to the fun of it all for sure. I believe people are going to be very happy with what I make here real soon :)

 

[tallbm]

Well guys I have 2 roasts under my belt with my rotisserie setup.

The first & trial run was with 8oz of the same Ethiopian Yirgs I've been roasting all along and was the trial run.
It took roughly 23-26 minutes to roast them to something of a Vienna with a little Full French Roast mixed in.
It was the most even roast I've had to day but the left side of my grill is a little hotter than the right side so I learned to turn that burner down a bit to avoid the beans on that side getting a little more roasted.
I used the IR instant read gun thermometer to best measure the temps and guess I did an ok job but this is still very inexact to me as numbers hop all over and I'm not sure I'm getting the beans temp as much as the roasting cage's temp lol.


The Ol' Lady loved it and said there was no bitterness and great flavor! Two others said it was very very good and one of them commented on the quality of the coffee and how there were all kinds of good and sweeter flavors from this bean with no hard acidity "like in most coffee" he said.

So my 2nd run I went all in and decided to roast the rest of the beats at 1.5 pounds! They are resting and will be ready for the Ol' Lady to drink Friday morning.

This roast was a bit different. It took considerably longer but that makes sens with 3X the amount of beans. The roasting took 57 minutes. I was even more unsure about my roasting temps and did quite a bit of tinkering trying to learn how to measure the temps and trying to hold a steady temp and so on. I got better with holding a steady temp BUT I'm not convinced that the temps I'm reading are actually the real temps of the beans hahhaha and here is why.

So I tried to hold between 415F and 440F where my desired bean roasting temp would be 425-428F.
Well I think I did a pretty good job of holding in the range BUT I didn't hear hardly any first cracking until the very end of the roast where I was watching the football game and came out with temps well over 500F being read.

According to one of SweetMaria's bit of info the first crack should roughly happen around temp 415F or so. Welllllll, I didn't hear jack crap for a first crack for 90% of the roast and only some first cracks at the end when I let the temp get a little high because I was watching football!

I am positive I roasted the beans to just over a Vienna roast but not into a Full French Roast so I know they got plenty of temp and color going. I just don't know what to make of this all.

My thoughts are that my temp gauging is about 30F low but again I have no way of actually measuring this and the best means is me shooting the IR beam on to the cage as the beans turn and the number hops around all over the place so I try to shoot as many spots as seams sensible and keep within a range for somewhat of an average around the number I'm shooting for.

Friday morning I'll know if the beans came out crappy or if they are fine or different or whatever they have become lol.

I would like to be able to roast 1-2 pounds at a time (which my setup can easily handle) but I'm unsure of what to make of this last roasting experience.

Any thoughts or wisdom you guys have would greatly be appreciated! :)

 

[noboundaries]

57 minutes is a LONG time to roast coffee. Beans should finish roasting in less than half that time. I understand that coffees roasted too long will taste "baked." I have no idea what that means, so I looked it up.

"Baked" coffee happens when it takes too long to reach first crack during the roast. Beans absorb heat until "first crack." Absorbing heat is an endothermic reaction. At first crack, the beans have doubled in size and explosively release the heat with steam like popcorn, an exothermic reaction.

The sugars in green coffee beans change as heat is absorbed. If the bean is roasted too slowly, the sugar changes are less than ideal, causing changes in final flavor.

The first possible indication the coffee is baked is that it might smell like baked bread when removed from the roaster.

The second possible indication is it tastes "flat." There is no tartness, sweetness, or character to the roast. Some say it doesn't taste like coffee at all.....more like tea.

The third possible indication is it tastes ashy, grassy, and just off.

More green beans means you have a greater mass to roast. To get 1.5 pounds to roast in the same amount of time as 8 oz means you need more heat.

And you thought learning to Q had challenges!

 

[tallbm]

57 minutes is a LONG time to roast coffee. Beans should finish roasting in less than half that time. I understand that coffees roasted too long will taste "baked." I have no idea what that means, so I looked it up.

"Baked" coffee happens when it takes too long to reach first crack during the roast. Beans absorb heat until "first crack." Absorbing heat is an endothermic reaction. At first crack, the beans have doubled in size and explosively release the heat with steam like popcorn, an exothermic reaction.

The sugars in green coffee beans change as heat is absorbed. If the bean is roasted too slowly, the sugar changes are less than ideal, causing changes in final flavor.

The first possible indication the coffee is baked is that it might smell like baked bread when removed from the roaster.

The second possible indication is it tastes "flat." There is no tartness, sweetness, or character to the roast. Some say it doesn't taste like coffee at all.....more like tea.

The third possible indication is it tastes ashy, grassy, and just off.

More green beans means you have a greater mass to roast. To get 1.5 pounds to roast in the same amount of time as 8 oz means you need more heat.

And you thought learning to Q had challenges!

It's funny, I was reading the same thing about an hour ago. I fear I may have "baked" the beans. We'll see what the taster says on Friday hahaha.

Well this lets me know that Temp is really not as big a deal with coffee roasting as Time is which is the exact opposite of BBQ hahaha.

I'm guessing I'll just have to crank up the heat and work more based on time and 1st crack and go from there.
I chalk it up to dumb luck that in the past my coffee roasting temps and times were coincidentally falling into place with one another.
I guess now I know that won't be the case with larger batches of beans that need more heat to behave in the proper amounts of time. This is a heck of a learning experience and like with BBQ and other things, you live and learn :D

 

[noboundaries]

When I bump up the volume I do it in smaller steps. I did 8 oz, moved to 10 oz. Last roast was 14 oz and it was still in the 14-19 minute window I like. I was going to roast 16 oz of green coffee today, but it's WAY too windy. I'd lose too much heat. I've noticed that wind and outside temp both affect the timing, wind more so than outside temperature.

 

[tallbm]

When I bump up the volume I do it in smaller steps. I did 8 oz, moved to 10 oz. Last roast was 14 oz and it was still in the 14-19 minute window I like. I was going to roast 16 oz of green coffee today, but it's WAY too windy. I'd lose too much heat. I've noticed that wind and outside temp both affect the timing, wind more so than outside temperature.

I did do the roasting yesterday in about 34 degree weather but that isn't my issue. My issue was not being up to speed on the appropriate practices. After discussing it today and doing more research I realized that I had forgot all the stuff I read about "baking" the beans and what it means to get to the first crack and such. I had my little process down and forgot all the reasoning behind it. Then I changed everything and didn't go back to the fundamentals hahaha.

So it was definitely all error on my part but I will be better prepared next time :)

 

[rexster314]

I made this post on another thread, but I think it belongs in this one as well.
RE: I've been doing pretty good roasting my coffee. Since I got a good 2 pound capacity drum and high speed rotisserie motor, I'm getting excellent, even roasting and usually takes around 15 minutes at the most for most of my roasts. My grill is a 6 burner. I initially turn on all the burners to get up to temp, the hood thermometer will read around 600 and I've verified with my Thermoworks Smoke grill probe that it's about 25 deg higher. When it reaches temp, I'll put the beans on the spinner and turn it on around 45 rpm. I'll then turn down the 2 center burners that are directly under the roasting drum, leaving the other 4 on high. I listen religiously for the first crack to begin. On some coffee, like Jamaica Blue Mountain and the Hawaiian coffees, I'll pull the beans right after the first crack or a couple minutes afterwards. Other coffees I'll roast to just when the second crack starts and I'll pull the beans at that time. I don't like over roasted coffee, too much burn flavor for me, but my way works out the best for us. I don't probe the coffee nor do i use my laser thermometer either. Laser will pick up more temp from the basket than coffee inside anyway. I guess this is a roundabout way of saying I roast my coffees at around 625 or so.

 

[tallbm]

I made this post on another thread, but I think it belongs in this one as well.
RE: I've been doing pretty good roasting my coffee. Since I got a good 2 pound capacity drum and high speed rotisserie motor, I'm getting excellent, even roasting and usually takes around 15 minutes at the most for most of my roasts. My grill is a 6 burner. I initially turn on all the burners to get up to temp, the hood thermometer will read around 600 and I've verified with my Thermoworks Smoke grill probe that it's about 25 deg higher. When it reaches temp, I'll put the beans on the spinner and turn it on around 45 rpm. I'll then turn down the 2 center burners that are directly under the roasting drum, leaving the other 4 on high. I listen religiously for the first crack to begin. On some coffee, like Jamaica Blue Mountain and the Hawaiian coffees, I'll pull the beans right after the first crack or a couple minutes afterwards. Other coffees I'll roast to just when the second crack starts and I'll pull the beans at that time. I don't like over roasted coffee, too much burn flavor for me, but my way works out the best for us. I don't probe the coffee nor do i use my laser thermometer either. Laser will pick up more temp from the basket than coffee inside anyway. I guess this is a roundabout way of saying I roast my coffees at around 625 or so.

I'll have to follow a similar procedure. It may be a while before I get to my next batch of roasting :)

 

[noboundaries]

I'm not using a rotisserie, but I do have a probe in the beans as they roast with my "covered stainless steel colander inside a covered Dutch oven shake it every 5-6 seconds over high heat" method. I've gotten so familiar with the sound of the roast progression, while watching the clock and the bean temp, I'm going to see if I can roast the beans by sound only. I'll still use the clock and the Mav probe, but I'll set them up so I won't be able to see them as the beans roast. Been wanting to do this for a while, but the weather hasn't been cooperating. Either raining or windy or I'm busy. My store bought, roasted beans are good, and only $5.98 to $6.98/lb, roasted weight, but they lack the crisp taste of freshly home-roasted.

 

[noboundaries]

Just wondering if anyone is still roasting coffee. I had to take a hiatus over the winter due to rain messing up my roasting schedule, but I'm back to it. Still using the roasting setup described earlier, with slightly bigger mesh colander inside an old stainless Dutch oven. I've pushed the green bean weight to 16 ounces with success. Just tried 18 ounces, and I think I baked the coffee. Bake took 24 minutes and I didn't hear much cracking at all. The wind picked up when I was roasting, and that always extends with my roasting times too.

BTW, if you are in the market for a new grinder, my wife just got me a Breville Smart Pro coffee grinder for my birthday to replace my decades old Cuisinart grinder. It is both programmed and manual. She used coupons to bring the price of the new grinder down quite a bit from $200. My old grinder still works, but the grinds were getting REAL inconsistent.

I'm infatuated with the new grinder. 60 grind settings external, with 10 more internal if you need it, for a total of 600 possible grind settings (Yeah, I don't need that many. No one does). It's much quieter. Sounds like you're standing in Westeros as SB grinds your coffee for the set (wink wink). The grind size is so uniform. Plus, absolutely no bean static electricity, which was always a pain with the Cuisinart. A drop of water solved the static problem, but the taste with the new grinder has taken coffee flavor to a new level.

If you're into espresso and use a porta filter, the grinder has magnetic attachments to grind right into the filter. Quite a machine.

 

[tallbm]

Just wondering if anyone is still roasting coffee. I had to take a hiatus over the winter due to rain messing up my roasting schedule, but I'm back to it. Still using the roasting setup described earlier, with slightly bigger mesh colander inside an old stainless Dutch oven. I've pushed the green bean weight to 16 ounces with success. Just tried 18 ounces, and I think I baked the coffee. Bake took 24 minutes and I didn't hear much cracking at all. The wind picked up when I was roasting, and that always extends with my roasting times too.

BTW, if you are in the market for a new grinder, my wife just got me a Breville Smart Pro coffee grinder for my birthday to replace my decades old Cuisinart grinder. It is both programmed and manual. She used coupons to bring the price of the new grinder down quite a bit from $200. My old grinder still works, but the grinds were getting REAL inconsistent.

I'm infatuated with the new grinder. 60 grind settings external, with 10 more internal if you need it, for a total of 600 possible grind settings (Yeah, I don't need that many. No one does). It's much quieter. Sounds like you're standing in Westeros as SB grinds your coffee for the set (wink wink). The grind size is so uniform. Plus, absolutely no bean static electricity, which was always a pain with the Cuisinart. A drop of water solved the static problem, but the taste with the new grinder has taken coffee flavor to a new level.

If you're into espresso and use a porta filter, the grinder has magnetic attachments to grind right into the filter. Quite a machine.

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I haven't roasted in a while, too many other things going on. Mainly I started playing with a different type of bean... cocoa ;)
That has been taking up my spare time.

It's on my list to roast more for my girlfriend but it will still be a while before I can get to it.
Thanks for the info on the grinder know. It is nice to know how the grind has opened up another dimension for you. This stuff is fascinating!

 

[browneyesvictim]

WOW! That's a nice fancy grinder Ray! That baby sure looks nice! I also learned the difference using a good conical burr grinder versus the whizzer type. That was all I knew and didn't know any better until you make the switch. I went with the OXO brand and love it!. The built in scale makes dialing in the perfect brew consistently every time a snap. I think there's about 15 grind settings- plenty for me! I cant imagine what the precision of 60 settings and even more grind uniformity could bring! Congrats, and Happy Birthday!

To your original question... YES! Roasting coffee like CRAZY! The wife and I have really settled on a Sweet Marias bean we both really like that's got a good price: Monkey Blend! We order in much bigger batches, and roasting coffee in the new Gene Cafe roaster in 1/2 lb batches and is so easy the wife is roasting with it now.

 

[rexster314]

Still turning and roasting on my grill. Winter didn't stop me, just had to be choosy on which days to roast. I continue to buy pure Kona and pure Jamaican Blue Mountain from Blue Macaw Coffee on ebay. I'm still using my old Kitchenaid Pro grinder that's 20 years old. Replaced the grinding plates last year.

 

[noboundaries]

Hey, glad folks are still browning little green beans! I missed that fresh flavor when buying, grinding, and drinking pre-roasted beans all winter.

After my first roast of the year a few weeks ago, my wife was in the other room when I opened the coffee container for the first time holding the freshly roasted coffee. It had been resting 4 days, my preference. "Wow!" she says. "What's that coffee? It smells fantastic!" All winter, she never said a word about the coffee.