Roasting Log?

[H311oLHD]

Anyone keep a homeroasting log/journal? I do a good amount of cigar reviews, and have kept a journal on those (until I run out of paper, then I just trash the journal & I seem to remember the review...weird I know). I was thinking of doing the same with my roasting...

One thing I want to try is roasting the same coffee at different roasts...I haven't roasted enough to perfect anything yet..but I still enjoy it. I hope to perfect it soon, who knows one day maybe I'll open up my own coffee shop!

Anyways, anyone keep a journal?

I'm guessing Doug does...

PS: doug, if you ever wanna trade.....I'd LOVE to!

-Aaron

[Mad Dawg]

Nope, no journal here. Sorry.

I do have something of a process, though. I always, without fail, roast the first batch of any new coffee I get in almost to Full City. I look for that certain smell I use to identify when the roast is right on the verge of hitting second crack, and stop it there. If I can't catch that smell, which does happen occasionally, I shut it down at the first snap of second crack. I rest the beans around 36 hours and brew it using a filter-drip setup.

If the flavors of the brewed coffee are too smoky, I back off on the next roast a little. That doesn't happen too often, but some delicate, island coffees (Kona, Kauai, Jamaica Blue Mountain) really need a lighter roast. In my experience, they also need longer rest times to really shine. If I roast a Kona to City + (stopped about 15 seconds after the end of first crack), I'm going to rest it at least 4 days, and maybe even longer.

I pretty much always stay in that "sweet spot" between the end of first crack and the start of second crack. That's partly a matter of what tastes best to me, and partly a matter of the beans I roast. My tastes gravitate towards beans that really shine at those roasts. I almost never let second crack get really rolling, and I almost never let any bean go to the point where oils start oozing out onto the surfaces of the beans during the roast.

If a coffee is really bright (something my tastes don't run to), I may let second crack get rolling in order to tone down the acidity a little, but if the beans have to get to the oily stage in order for the acidity to diminish to the point where I can handle it, that bean gets crossed off my list. I really, seriously dislike greasy beans, and the smoke flavors of really dark roasts do nothing for me any more.

Coffee is all about nuance and complexity for me. Most varietal characteristics get lost at some point during second crack, and by the end of second crack it all tastes pretty much the same.

How's that for a journal, Aaron?

[casual]

Never tried roasting a log. Does it matter which kind of wood you use?

I do not write anything down. Lately, I just usually go until I hear 2nd crack start. When I first started, I always would roast into 2nd crack and get black oily beans.

I rarely stop before 2nd crack starts.

[mealstrom]

It's funny the way the mind works casual! When I saw his thread title instead of just seeing the most simple explanation: a coffee journal, I pictured a big hollow log filled with coffee beans, being turned slowly on a spit over a fire.

Why fool around with a puny log? Go the Full Monty, Aaron:

LINK

[AnejoMofo]

This isn't at all what I thought this thread would be about.