Who roasts their own coffee on their BBQ or Grill?

[noboundaries]

Well, turns out my last roast taking too long was more a problem of the side burner failing on my gas grill than too much coffee loaded in my colander. That rusted out gas grill is now useless....or so I thought! (No, I don't want to refurbish).

I picked up a single burner Camp Chef Pro 30 for $70 on Amazon using a gift card from one of my daughters. It's main use will be for roasting coffee, but I can already see many other uses. The stove was delivered this morning.

The wind was HOWLING off the Delta, but I NEEDED to roast coffee. As I started to put the leg extensions on the stove I got an idea. Ten minutes later I was roasting coffee and the wind was no problem at all. 1 pound of green Costa Rican coffee was roasted in 12 minutes, a little fast, but done. Now comes the hard part, the 4 day rest for flavor development. The old gas grill was a perfect wind break! The new stove fits inside, connects to the bottle below, and acts as a cover with the lid mostly closed. I was going to give it away or take it to the dump, but I think I'll keep it around. I might get creative and move one of its ignitors to the new stove.

Now it's time to Weber some burgers! Ah, a good day!

 

[tallbm]

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.

I didn't watch the video (can't at work).
How are you measuring temps? (if you are at all)
How hot are you running your grill/flame when roasting?

I ask because I may be ready to roast another 1 pound batch here soon but trying to keep a consistent temp at around 430F for the beans resulted in baking the beans. It took way too long so I believe my measuring approach with a laser gun thermometer was not accurate at all.

Thanks!

 

[noboundaries]

Oops. That wasn't addressed toward me. Ignore below.

Today, I ran the new stove at medium, which should be around 15,000 BTUs. I gave up on the infrared a while ago. Currently, I wedge a Maverick meat probe in my mesh colander inside the Dutch oven so it stays in the bottom of the colander. No problem with it moving as I shake the Dutch oven every 6 to 10 seconds to toss the beans around.

I've roasted coffee enough times now that I don't really pay attention to the temp any longer near the end of the roast. I recognise the sound of the transition between first and second crack. I let it go about 5 seconds then shut off the heat. I find myself watching the clock more than the Maverick as I listen to the roast.

 

[tallbm]

Oops. That wasn't addressed toward me. Ignore below.

Today, I ran the new stove at medium, which should be around 15,000 BTUs. I gave up on the infrared a while ago. Currently, I wedge a Maverick meat probe in my mesh colander inside the Dutch oven so it stays in the bottom of the colander. No problem with it moving as I shake the Dutch oven every 6 to 10 seconds to toss the beans around.

I've roasted coffee enough times now that I don't really pay attention to the temp any longer near the end of the roast. I recognise the sound of the transition between first and second crack. I let it go about 5 seconds then shut off the heat. I find myself watching the clock more than the Maverick as I listen to the roast.

That is great input. I'm using a spit with a cylindrical cage so we doing different approaches. I have no problem going off of sound and feel I'm just trying to get into a ballpark of temp to know that I am hot enough to roast 1-1.5 pounds or so without going into backing territory.
I'm really trying to avoid losing another 1-2 pounds of beans due to trial and error lol.

I think once I can get into the ball park of a good temp doing it the spit way then I can play around with hotter or slightly cooler temps to stretch the cracks but right now I'm nowhere close to a proper roast trying to keep the roast temp at about 430F while temping the cage with my laser gun.

Any/all sensible ideas are very welcome :)

 

[rexster314]

I didn't watch the video (can't at work).
How are you measuring temps? (if you are at all)
How hot are you running your grill/flame when roasting?
Thanks!

On my 6 burner I preheat the grill to 500-550. I have the adjustable speed motor sold on Amazon and begin spinning the beans. At this time I also turn down the middle 2 burners directly under the roasting drum. I won't open the lid till around the 12 minute mark, slow the rotating speed to slow, and check the color of the beans then turn up the speed again. At the 14-15 minute mark I usually get the first crack going. Since I mostly do Kona or Blue Mountain, I'll pull the beans out when the first crack subsides, pour them out, do the 2 bowl sifting of the husks, then pour out on a tray to cool.

 

[tallbm]

On my 6 burner I preheat the grill to 500-550. I have the adjustable speed motor sold on Amazon and begin spinning the beans. At this time I also turn down the middle 2 burners directly under the roasting drum. I won't open the lid till around the 12 minute mark, slow the rotating speed to slow, and check the color of the beans then turn up the speed again. At the 14-15 minute mark I usually get the first crack going. Since I mostly do Kona or Blue Mountain, I'll pull the beans out when the first crack subsides, pour them out, do the 2 bowl sifting of the husks, then pour out on a tray to cool.

Thanks! This is exactly the kind of info I'm looking for.
I think I'll buy some good yet less expensive beans to play around with until I figure out my process for 1-1.5 pounds of roasting.

My new approach will be to preheat to about 550F or so.
Start the beans.
Turn down my middle burner some since it is directly under.
And check

 

[ExclusiveBBQ]

I just wanted to say how fantastic those beans look. I so badly want to try this myself but am not fortunate to have a glass barbecue (yet).

Maybe one day!

 

[noboundaries]

I just wanted to say how fantastic those beans look. I so badly want to try this myself but am not fortunate to have a glass barbecue (yet).

Maybe one day!

I suspect you meant gas BBQ, but it isn't absolutely necessary. Folks have been roasting coffee beans over an open fire in pans for millennia. A gas burner just makes it convenient. If I only had charcoal to use, I'd roast coffee over a charcoal fire. Heck, I just might give that a try at some point. Or you could beat me to it!

I'm going to roast beans this morning, but I'm still too giddy about my new single burner to try a charcoal fire. BUT, if I were to give charcoal a try, I'd fire up a half chimney of briquettes or lump, divide the hot coals between two charcoal baskets in my Weber, then take one of two approaches. First, I'd put a smaller grill grate directly on top of the charcoal baskets, put my pan with the green beans on top of that, and keep the beans moving until they reached the state I wanted.

OR, I'd load the baskets up with hot briquettes until they came close to the grill grate, then add my pan with the green beans on top of that. I've always wanted to try charcoal, but new toys can just be so dang tempting!

 

[noboundaries]

As a side note, I can now roast up to 1 lb of green beans. Just the other day I saw an advertisement for a coffee roaster that handled 1 lb of beans. Price.....$8500! I thought...well, I can't print what I thought.

I've generally used what I had on hand to roast coffee. Until I bought the single burner stove recently, I'd only spent like $3 at the Goodwill and $20 on two stainless mesh colanders. So I added up everything I use and what it could cost on Amazon Prime if buying everything to roast coffee that exceeds in taste what you can buy in the specialty coffee shops.

$70 Single burner propane stove with regulator.
$30 Propane bottle
$30 Six or seven quart stainless Dutch oven
$15 Set of silicone microwave dish covers
$10 Stainless steel mesh colander, no handles, that fits inside the Dutch oven
$10 Stainless steel mesh colander with handles to use for cooling the beans and blowing away the chaff.
$10 Heat resistant gloves (1472F) for shaking the Dutch oven every 6-10 seconds.
$15 Tornado type fan (Honeywell) for cooling the roasted beans
$17 Wired thermometer for tracking rise in bean temp (optional if going by sound alone)
$0 Phone timer app or accessory.

$207 total. That's WAAAAAAY cheaper than $8500.

And, I still have an unused rotisserie unit on my defunct gas grill than I could adapt to my Weber if all else fails. And a garage full of charcoal.

Coffee roasting...what we won't do for our caffeine!

 

[ExclusiveBBQ]

I suspect you meant gas BBQ, but it isn't absolutely necessary. Folks have been roasting coffee beans over an open fire in pans for millennia. A gas burner just makes it convenient. If I only had charcoal to use, I'd roast coffee over a charcoal fire. Heck, I just might give that a try at some point. Or you could beat me to it!

I'm going to roast beans this morning, but I'm still too giddy about my new single burner to try a charcoal fire. BUT, if I were to give charcoal a try, I'd fire up a half chimney of briquettes or lump, divide the hot coals between two charcoal baskets in my Weber, then take one of two approaches. First, I'd put a smaller grill grate directly on top of the charcoal baskets, put my pan with the green beans on top of that, and keep the beans moving until they reached the state I wanted.

OR, I'd load the baskets up with hot briquettes until they came close to the grill grate, then add my pan with the green beans on top of that. I've always wanted to try charcoal, but new toys can just be so dang tempting!

You're correct (I did mean "gas") but I hadn't considered charcoal. I do have a fire pit that would provide me easy access to roast beans using a small cast iron pan. I'm assuming that the beans are quite sensitive to heat, but it's easy to control temperature as long as you're stirring? Would you highly recommend the use of an IR thermometer or do you think going by sight/feel is good enough?

I'm a coffee lover so I find this all fascinating. :)

 

[noboundaries]

You're correct (I did mean "gas") but I hadn't considered charcoal. I do have a fire pit that would provide me easy access to roast beans using a small cast iron pan. I'm assuming that the beans are quite sensitive to heat, but it's easy to control temperature as long as you're stirring? Would you highly recommend the use of an IR thermometer or do you think going by sight/feel is good enough?

I'm a coffee lover so I find this all fascinating. :)

Small, cast iron pan? You can absolutely use a cast iron pan. Depending how deep it is, you might find beans splashing out of the pan. I started with a 4" deep saucepan, a wooden spatula, and an IR thermometer and got some great coffee. A wok would work, too, if you happen to have one. Even an old fashioned whirly-type popcorn popper.

Sight/feel/sound? You definitely go by sight/feel/sound, and it develops with experience. Sight and sound are most helpful. The difference between first crack (sounds like popcorn) and second crack (Rice Crispies cereal) is noticeable. Most coffees are finished toward the end of first crack just at the start of second crack. Watch a few YouTube videos for Pan Roasting Coffee, The Sound of Coffee's First and Second Crack, etc.

Heck, just this morning when I was roasting beans, I learned something new, and I have close to 100 roasts under my belt. I realized I need to dump the beans out of my roasting pan colander into the cooling colander IMMEDIATELY upon removing the heat. I was getting some blackened beans that were resting on the bottom as I secured the gas.

Use what you got and give it a try! It's as addictive as grilling and smoking!

 

[tallbm]

You're correct (I did mean "gas") but I hadn't considered charcoal. I do have a fire pit that would provide me easy access to roast beans using a small cast iron pan. I'm assuming that the beans are quite sensitive to heat, but it's easy to control temperature as long as you're stirring? Would you highly recommend the use of an IR thermometer or do you think going by sight/feel is good enough?

I'm a coffee lover so I find this all fascinating. :)

Hi there and welcome!

I bought an electric "hot plate", a skillet, wooden spoon, IR thermometer, and an oven mitt (for protecting the spoon/stirring hand) when I started goofing around with this. I haven't done a ton of roasting but probably 10 roasts or so.

You want to be outside to do this stuff because of light smoke, roasting smell, and the chaff blowing around.
I don't recommend the electric hot plate but something like 1 pound propane/butane camp burner stove should be a MUCH better option. Here is 15,000 BTU one that does either propane or butane that I'm guessing should work fine :)


You can do this! Best of luck :)

 

[noboundaries]

And the growth in knowledge continues. Coffee has something like 1500 flavor elements, but I've been getting a hint of a flavor I didn't care for. I knew it was due to roasting, brew extraction, or brew temp. I've played with them all and wasn't really able to eliminate the background flavor I didn't like...until I watched the above video. Bottom line, for my Clever Dripper cone coffee brewer, I was brewing the coffee too long, over-extracting the coffee. I cut my brew time for the grind size I use in the Dripper from 4 minutes to 1...and wow, did it make a difference. No hint of the sour flavor I dislike.

The above video is something like 1 hr 22 minutes long, but the last 20 minutes is basically a sales pitch for a training program. You can skip that part.

Continue roasting!!!!

 

[noboundaries]

I'm probably the only one who is still involved with this thread, but I'm continuing to learn after more than a hundred roasts.

The other day I was roasting the last 16.4 oz of a 5 lb bag of green Ethiopian coffee. All my recent roasts were taking 14.5 to 16 minutes, on average, generally due to light winds. There was zero wind during my 16.4 oz roast and the roast finished in 12.5 mins. I used all the same settings on my setup, so the wind made that much difference. Plus, the flavor was noticeably improved with the shorter time to reach my target (onset of second crack). Guess I gotta build myself a windbreak.

 

[rexster314]

I'm still roasting my own coffee. I only do Jamaican Blue Mountain and Kona green beans. The basket I have can do 2 pounds easily, and the adjustable motor for the spit makes it even easier. Most of the time I take the beans past 1st crack and before second crack. Times for both are usually 15-17 minutes, but counting for the weather, it has taken up to 22 minutes to reach this point. When done, I will turn off burners and turn the motor to it's fastest speed, which knocks off a LOT of husk.

 

[illini40]

Good evening

I was directed to this thread, and I’ve read through all of the great info. Thank you!

I am really intrigued to try roasting some coffee.

A few questions I am hoping someone may be able to help me with:

1) I only have a Weber gas grill and a Traeger. Would I be able to use an 8” cast iron skillet or Dutch oven on either of these to roast?

2) Would the smoke from theTraeger do anything to the beans (good or bad)?

3) Any suggestions on what to look for in beans when ordering from Amazon?

If there are other threads or resources, please let me know. This is very interesting!

 

[noboundaries]

Illini40, welcome to a passion as addictive as smoking.

Answers to your questions.
1. Yes, you should be able to use either a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven. The DO would probably be better to keep from splashing beans out of the pan during the roast. If the Weber has a side burner, that would be ideal. If not, set the pan/DO between two burners turned to high to get enough heat. Not sure how it would work on the Traeger.

2. Some folks like smoked coffee. It has an interesting flavor profile with coffee.

3. I ordered beans off Amazon when I first started. Not all beans are the same. Elevation where the beans are grown makes a HUGE difference in roasted flavor. I prefer beans grown at high altitudes of 1500-2200 meters. They tend to be fruity and sweet or cocoa and nutty. Lower altitude beans typically have a lot of body, but not much complexity.

Anything from Africa works for me. Next is Central America. Lastly is South America and Indonesia.

I order from Sweet Maria's in Oakland, but you pay for shipping. They have a sampler for new bean roasters. Their website will give you a great education.

Below is 29 lbs worth of green beans. Five different African beans, plus one from El Salvador and one from Peru.

 

[illini40]

Illini40, welcome to a passion as addictive as smoking.

Answers to your questions.
1. Yes, you should be able to use either a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven. The DO would probably be better to keep from splashing beans out of the pan during the roast. If the Weber has a side burner, that would be ideal. If not, set the pan/DO between two burners turned to high to get enough heat. Not sure how it would work on the Traeger.

2. Some folks like smoked coffee. It has an interesting flavor profile with coffee.

3. I ordered beans off Amazon when I first started. Not all beans are the same. Elevation where the beans are grown makes a HUGE difference in roasted flavor. I prefer beans grown at high altitudes of 1500-2200 meters. They tend to be fruity and sweet or cocoa and nutty. Lower altitude beans typically have a lot of body, but not much complexity.

Anything from Africa works for me. Next is Central America. Lastly is South America and Indonesia.

I order from Sweet Maria's in Oakland, but you pay for shipping. They have a sampler for new bean roasters. Their website will give you a great education.

Below is 29 lbs worth of green beans. Five different African beans, plus one from El Salvador and one from Peru.

View attachment 425659

Thank you very much for the quick reply.

I ordered these from Amazon last night just to get some to start playing with. Do you think these may be OK?


Unfortunately, my Weber does not have a side burner. It is a two burner, and I’ll just have to try the skillet or DO on a grate, between the burners.

Is there a temp that you recommend getting the cast iron heated up to before adding the beans? I do have an IR thermometer.

Thanks again!

 

[noboundaries]

Columbian Supremo will have a familiar taste and is good for a starter roast.

I like to preheat my roasting vessel to 450-485F.

 

[noboundaries]

Illini40, how's the roasting going? Yea? Nay?