roasting green coffee beans

[Lacehim]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

Hi Neill,

I was about to suggest Beangreen, they are fantastic and have great service. Spend over $50 and get free delivery, and I can buy from 1kg up.

I still want to give my drum ago, I think the WFO roaster will be a fun experiment! You have most of the workings already there, just buy some cheap green (BG usually have $8 specials) and give it a go. Worse case senario is that you hit 3rd crack!

Consistency isn't everything when your homeroasting. Well that's my opinion anyway. I roast without a DMM, and my roasts turn out great most of the time just using my senses, and when they don't I learn something. Home roasting is all about fun, and it's good to experiment and build roasters (like you LPG one).

The WFO is a great heat source and because the beans are moving it should be consistent enough in my eyes. I'll be happy to post up my efforts soon, because I hope to have my finished in a few weeks. Just building a frame out of bits and bobs.

Your roast in the tray looked good, but in your close up your beans looked a bit oily. Are you taking them well into Rolling second crack? If so you might want to pull them a bit earlier. I pull mine just as it hits 2nd crack and the thermal mass of the beans will keep the beans cracking as you pull them and cool. Also what are you using to cool them? A bucket and a fan from Bunnings works great.

Also I hope you don't mind but I linked to your roaster piccies here, I've never seen a roaster built out of an LPG bottle and I though the folk on my favorite forum would love to see it. Here's a link if you want to join and comment yourself. LPG roaster - Crema Coffee Forum

Also if anyone is interested here the website for the KKTO that I use regularly Home It uses a Turbo oven as a heat source, and a motor to turn the beans. Works very well, and the designer has thought of everything. The chaff is taken away to the bottom pot, so minimal mess, and easy to replace parts!

Thanks also I had put this project aside and this has given me a kick along in the right direction to getting it finished

[nissanneill]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

Laurentius

Getting green beans over here is a real problem and roasting them in an oven would be a little challenging, mainly with the temperature control.

Since building an lpg roaster, I am convinced that to get consistency in roasting, you need to have consistency and reliability, something that a WFO doesn't provide. Plenty of heat, too far away to hear the cracking let alone see the bean colour and it is really hit and miss.
I have joined a couple of coffee forums and now realise that roasting is a very scientific process that you need to have total control over if you want the best from your chosen beans rather than just turn beans dark brown to enhance their flavour.
I built a rotiserie roaster for the oven but have never used it, now I built an lpg roaster from an old lpg tank and included a thermocouple beside the roasting beans. I have roasted 6 lots and the consistency is spot on and I have total control over the temperatures.

Coffee is grown and sold in Australia, didn't you know that? Some of it is pretty Damn good.

Yes I am well aware of it but is pretty average!!! I'd rather pay for better coffees at less profit as the Australian coffee although in it's infancy is quite expensive when compared to many other countries produce.
I now buy my beans from thttp://www.beangreen.com.au/ and very happy with their choice, price and service.

Cheers.

Neill

[Laurentius]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

berryst,
Getting green beans over here is a real problem and roasting them in an oven would be a little challenging, mainly with the temperature control.
This would also apply to a gas fired bbq. There are numerous sites that specialize in roasting beans, many using a heat gun in an older breadmaking machine, others with bbq's and the really serious proper roasters.
Instead of using your bbq, why not try the same as Rastys and make the most of the reduced heat of your oven. You would need to make a door that would allow a shaft through to a rotiserie but the temperatures would be OI think a little more stable and consistent than a bbq.
Food for thought.

Neill

Hi Neill,

Why would it be a problem?? Coffee is grown and sold in Australia, didn't you know that? Some of it is pretty Damn good. It no problem roasting coffee in your WFO, a wire basket on a long pole with a lot of shaking and listening to the beans can get you a better cup, than most outlets that buys pre-roasted pass it prime beans

[Lacehim]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

G'Day. I followed nissanneill's post here from a coffee forum. I've roasted coffee a few times in a device I made myself, using 2 sieves and a pole. It worked well but got pretty tiresome! For me roasting in my woodfired oven isn't about consistency, it's about having fun, maybe introducing some of the amazing WFO smell and taste into the beans.

I purchased a drum off a coffee forum a few months ago, the holes are maybe a bit big (6mm), but my intention is to build a frame for it to slide in to the oven. I hope this link is okay with the mods, but this is the drum (photos are form the seller who was using it on a BBQ) Woodfired Oven Roaster - Crema Coffee Forum

I'll use a bucket with a fan and sieve to cool the beans, it has a little door to drop the beans. The drum came with a rotisserie motor which is more than fast enough, and I've got a PWM to slow the motor down but allowing the motor to still turn the drum.

I roast my own beans on a KKTO at the moment in 250 - 600gm batches. It works very well, and I currently own a Quick Mill 0996 Achilles & a Vario grinder, so I guess you could say I love my coffee journey!

The pizza are great too by the way, and our woodfired oven is by far the best purchase I've made ever! I just wish it was stop raining here so I could use it more often!

I'm glad others are trying the same thing! I thought I was totally mad attempting to roast coffee on my WFO! lol.

Oh, and I would roast with the door open. You'll get heat from the floor and the fire. My intention was to put the fire to one side, probably when there are no flames, just red coals. For coffee roasting you need heat around 250degC. I roast to second crack, and the only issue I think I'll have is coasting it slowly between 1st and 2nd. I thought possibly pulling it out of the oven slightly to reduce the temp.

[fornax hominus]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

Hi, I wrote this bit on roasting coffee for another [gasp!] wood oven site.. it covers a lot of the questions.
cheers,
tim
Roasting coffee beans in wood fired oven

[heliman]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

How do you monitor colour changes, cracks and remove the husks when roasting in a WFO or other oven type device?

The hot air corn popper method I have used addresses all of those elements.

[countryboy]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

Any updates to this thread? Rastys? Fornax? Others?

Thanks,

Pete

[fornax hominus]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

While I have not roasted in a gas bbq in a pinch I have roasted in the firebox of our Jotul woodstove with most of the smoke going up the chimney but with the same situation that you would face ie: basically only extreme bottom heat .
I wold try putting a pizza stone or ceramic pottery shelf on the grill to diffuse and even out the heat... of course it will be trial and error till you work out your timing .I clear a path in the flames and coals to roast my coffee .. I imagine it's in the 700-800f range and it takes about 12 mins. Not being able to see your coffee while it finishes means a lot more listening [for the final ''crack''] and timing the roast you want
Rasty's design of an octagonal basket is well worth a look at.
happy roasting,
tim
oh boy! 2'' of wet snow on the mountain this AM ... Way too early!!

[nissanneill]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

berryst,
Getting green beans over here is a real problem and roasting them in an oven would be a little challenging, mainly with the temperature control.
This would also apply to a gas fired bbq. There are numerous sites that specialize in roasting beans, many using a heat gun in an older breadmaking machine, others with bbq's and the really serious proper roasters.
Instead of using your bbq, why not try the same as Rastys and make the most of the reduced heat of your oven. You would need to make a door that would allow a shaft through to a rotiserie but the temperatures would be OI think a little more stable and consistent than a bbq.
Food for thought.

Neill

[berryst]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

I've been thinking of making coffee bean roaster by making a stainless steel cage and putting it on the BBQ rotisserie. Its one of those Costco stainless BBQs. I just don't use the rotisserie and it sleeps in the garage.. Your thoughts?

[fornax hominus]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

Yes, over the years I burned out 2 cheap-o air poppers and one not-so-cheapo electric coffee roaster. My back door alcove in winter always had a fine coating of chaff.. But, and this is a big ''but'', you can only roast so much in one popper, 3-4oz tops and we need 1lb per week. In the sieves I can do up to 1 1/2lbs. Also the same amount of personal energy used in shaking the whole popper up and down can make a lot more coffee in the oven
I am still on the stainless wire dollar store sieves.. going for their 3rd year... 100lbs of beans and counting .. they started to leak beans so I went out and bought spares @ $1 each, but I flipped the ''baskets'' and wired up the little hole I had worn , and away we go again!
With snow called for next weekend I won't have to worry about cooling the beans.

[heliman]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

Interesting use of the oven...

As a traditional accompaniment to good pizzas there's always a need for some fresh beans for the espresso machine. What I use is a hot air popcorn maker to roast my green beans. I roast what I can use in a day and therefore the beans are always fresh. I run the popper outside as it blows the husks out of the top and makes a bit of a mess. I usually blend a few different types of beans in a single roast for additional variation.

Method is quite simple...

Wait for the first "crack" which indicates that the beans are well on the way, then listen out for the second "crack" and then it is pretty well done. Watch the colour of the beans and don't overcook them. I stop them when they are dark brown in colour but this can be adapted for personal preference.

Cooling is important - I place a dinner plate in the freezer just before I start the roasting process. When the beans are done I get the plate out of the freezer and place the beans on to it and stir it gently with a spoon. Done - ready to use..

Rossco

[Rastys]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

Nikki,
I was shopping yesterday for a part for our gas space heater and went to a lpg specialty shop in Adelaide and found one of these baskets, but not the hooded ones. It was the 'Mesh Grill-Top Fry Pan (US$29.95)' but Aus$49.85. They did not have the 'Chefs' Pan'.
Very well made and quite strong.
I would guess that they could order one in but I am happy with my barrel roaster.

Cheers.

Rastys

[papavino]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

Rastys,

Sweet Maria's has some good educational materials regarding coffee roasting. I found their roast level charts to be extremely helpful when I was starting out. I also learned a lot about roasting from some friends of mine in grad school. We had a setup at our lab with an old air popcorn popper that we'd run outside with an extension cord because the ladies in the office complained of the smell. I thought it smelled great, but I'm biased. Then I started roasting at home using a small cast iron melting pot with the stove set to about medium. Constant stirring to prevent burning, and again, my roommates didn't like the smell. The smell of freshly roasted coffee is almost as good as walking out the door in springtime and getting that first real fresh scent on the air. Okay, maybe not that good, but it's really soothing to me. Then a friend of mine gave me his old FreshRoast, but it needed a new chamber. Small price to pay. That thing is still going strong after having been relegated to the outdoors for the past 4 years here in Seattle. What a tank! Now that the spectre of using my WFO for roasting has raised it's head, that gives me even more motivation. I'll have to devise a quick-cooling machine to stop the roast. Isn't this great?? I hope you found some decent beans. Try small batches at different roast levels to see which you prefer. That's the best way to maximise your pleasure.

-papavino

[Rastys]

Re: roasting green coffee beans

papavino
thanks for the link to sweetmarias. I had a quick look at it, have book marked it and will read it thoroughly tonight. There is always a lot to learn. I am fresh at this and always willing to learn especially if it is better, tastier and fresher than over the counter or off the supermarket shelves.
Well, I'm off to our local coffee suppliers and flour retailers for some (any reasonable ones to trial initially) green beans and some spelt and some gluten free flour for next week ends cookup.

Rastys