Homeroasting newb

[gegtik]

I'm about to pick up a second hand ronco rotisserie and a specialized coffee roasting drum to fit inside.. I've heard good things, and the price is right!

[ResIpsa]

Originally Posted by gegtik

I'm about to pick up a second hand ronco rotisserie and a specialized coffee roasting drum to fit inside.. I've heard good things, and the price is right!

Welcome to the wonderful world of coffee roasting!

I only mention this becuase I don't want to see you waste you money. Have you checked to make sure the rottisserie reaches a high enough termperture to properly roast coffee beans? Everything I have heard and read in the past was that these rotisseries do NOT generate enough heat to roast coffee beans, you'll only succeed in baking them. I went to the Ronco website for you to look for any info in the manual, it is devoid of any information regarding maximum tempertures for the unit.

For about the same amount of money you can buy a Stir Crazy popcorn popper and a Turbo Oven and combine them, a tried and true method of coffee roasting!

[gegtik]

Originally Posted by ResIpsa

Welcome to the wonderful world of coffee roasting!

I only mention this becuase I don't want to see you waste you money. Have you checked to make sure the rottisserie reaches a high enough termperture to properly roast coffee beans? Everything I have heard and read in the past was that these rotisseries do NOT generate enough heat to roast coffee beans, you'll only succeed in baking them. I went to the Ronco website for you to look for any info in the manual, it is devoid of any information regarding maximum tempertures for the unit.

For about the same amount of money you can buy a Stir Crazy popcorn popper and a Turbo Oven and combine them, a tried and true method of coffee roasting!

Good question.. I'll have to look into it more closely before I plunk down the cash. I do have a whirleypop so I was thinking of giving that a try.. not a very expensive first foray

EDIT: my boss says his brother uses a george foreman grill with the included basket (meant for roasting fish) and it does a terrific job.. gets to between 450F and 465F during operation in the summer, but won't roast hot enough in the winter.

[Bigwaved]

When you have the equipment to get started, have a blast. It is very fun and rewarding stuff.

[Twill413]

I agree, it is a blast. If you like coffee at all, roasting is a no brainer. Unless you turn your beans into charcoal, your worst roast is better than just about anything you can buy. However, you may go nuts trying to obtain the perfect cup.

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[BigBasMan]

Originally Posted by gegtik

I'm about to pick up a second hand ronco rotisserie and a specialized coffee roasting drum to fit inside.. I've heard good things, and the price is right!

Go to Target and get the cheapest Poppery-style popper they have, put an empty soup can with the bottom cut out on top and have at it!!!

Doing something yourself is a great feeling. I feel like an idiot when I pay more for something that I can do better myself.

[gegtik]

I am having a hell of a time finding food-grade stainless steel mesh to make the roasting cage with!!!!

[gegtik]

okay so I assembled my roaster and it's on its virgin run.. I made a drum out of a really big (restaurant sized) can of beans and speared it on the rotisserie pegs.

I've been roasting for about 15 minutes, and I just took the drum out to look at the beans and they look like "light brown" on this page. I put it back in and I can't wait to see how it goes

my sense of smell is a bit affected by the pulled pork I'm slowcooking in the over though (mmmmmmmmm today's gonna be nice)

[gegtik]

I roasted for a half hour and this is what I got... mind you it's crisp out so that could have affected the temperature of the roaster.

[ResIpsa]

well.....congrats on taking the plunge!!!

But.....what you have are baked beans. Baked beans are not a good thing unfortunately. After 30 minutes it looks like the beans have barely entered first crack, that's really way too long for that level of roast, or any roast really The roast was probably adversely affected when you pullled the drum (not advisable IMHO), but it looks like the roaster is not hitting high enough temps. Is there a way to increase the heat output?

[gegtik]

Originally Posted by ResIpsa

well.....congrats on taking the plunge!!!

But.....what you have are baked beans. Baked beans are not a good thing unfortunately. After 30 minutes it looks like the beans have barely entered first crack, that's really way too long for that level of roast, or any roast really The roast was probably adversely affected when you pullled the drum (not advisable IMHO), but it looks like the roaster is not hitting high enough temps. Is there a way to increase the heat output?

Probably no way to increase the heat level :P I'm going to grind the coffee up in an hour and try to brew it anyway, and next time I won't pull the drum half way. There was a little smoke but not excessive amounts so I'm not sure what to think of it. The smell of the beans now is sort of like puffed rice, and they taste mildly coffee-ish but are really hard sort of like biting into uncooked rice. The weight went from 100g to 90g.

If it really doesn't pan out I'll just sell it on craigslist, same way I bought it :P

[ResIpsa]

you can always go the popcorn popper route to roast. Some people start that way and like it so much they never advance past that.

[gegtik]

Originally Posted by ResIpsa

you can always go the popcorn popper route to roast. Some people start that way and like it so much they never advance past that.

fyi it was so hard my grinder choked on the beans! into the garbage... :P

[hyper_dermic]

That sort of sweet puffed rice smell is a dead give away, thats quite early in the roasting phase...
eventually they will start to smell burned... well not burned.. but more like coffee anyways... thats closer to the targe area!!!

ive got the smells into around 4 phases.. the green phase, then the sweeter bready/rice smell... then like coffee, then like burning coffee (the cracks start in the burned coffee phase... its not really burned, but thats just what i call it)

-hyp

Originally Posted by gegtik

Probably no way to increase the heat level :P I'm going to grind the coffee up in an hour and try to brew it anyway, and next time I won't pull the drum half way. There was a little smoke but not excessive amounts so I'm not sure what to think of it. The smell of the beans now is sort of like puffed rice, and they taste mildly coffee-ish but are really hard sort of like biting into uncooked rice. The weight went from 100g to 90g.

If it really doesn't pan out I'll just sell it on craigslist, same way I bought it :P

[gegtik]

I left a batch in for 30 minutes this time and it looks pretty good imho. certainly better than the last!