Cigar Weekly

love_this · 04-26-2005, 08:31 PM

These days I use a digital scale to measure. It has an accuracy of 1/4 of an ounce. Close enough, I think.

I measured too much of my precious bolivian organic and took some out by hand. The reason I mention this is because I would have had less beans if I measured normally.

I've got my roast profile to where I'm happy with it and an average roast taking about 7 to 8 minutes. The first 4 minutes is just warming the beans up. I've gotten lazy and just listen for the sound of the roaster to change at the end of the first stage or 4 minutes before I return to the roaster to listen for the cracks.

Remember, these beans are large. So when I finally take a look at my I-Roast, the beans are a nice light brown, but the beans are NOT moving because they are too big. I end up jiggling my roaster every few seconds to be sure the beans are flowing properly through the roaster.

The bottom line is that some beans roasted unevenly because they were too large to be moved by the blower in the I-Roast. I had to jiggle the entire roaster to be sure the beans were flowing properly.

Lesson learned. They are right. Never leave your roaster unattended. I'm sure the roasted coffee will taste fine. But I'll remember to watch more carefully with the larger beans.

04-26-2005, 08:31 PM	#1
love_this Club Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 4,424	large bolivian organic beans and my I-Roast These days I use a digital scale to measure. It has an accuracy of 1/4 of an ounce. Close enough, I think. I measured too much of my precious bolivian organic and took some out by hand. The reason I mention this is because I would have had less beans if I measured normally. I've got my roast profile to where I'm happy with it and an average roast taking about 7 to 8 minutes. The first 4 minutes is just warming the beans up. I've gotten lazy and just listen for the sound of the roaster to change at the end of the first stage or 4 minutes before I return to the roaster to listen for the cracks. Remember, these beans are large. So when I finally take a look at my I-Roast, the beans are a nice light brown, but the beans are NOT moving because they are too big. I end up jiggling my roaster every few seconds to be sure the beans are flowing properly through the roaster. The bottom line is that some beans roasted unevenly because they were too large to be moved by the blower in the I-Roast. I had to jiggle the entire roaster to be sure the beans were flowing properly. Lesson learned. They are right. Never leave your roaster unattended. I'm sure the roasted coffee will taste fine. But I'll remember to watch more carefully with the larger beans.