Once I increased the amount of beans I did get a first crack but not a very active one. I did 125g on the last roast I did. There is a temperature safety sensor that some people have removed that I'm going to try before my next roast. I have a feeling we are hitting that thermal switch and it is stalling the roast. I'll post pics and update my findings.
I received some coffee as a gift recently. First “nice” coffee I have tried at home in a long time.
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It’s a lighter roast, probably in the city+ range. Flavors are good. If it was my roast, I’d make a note it needs another 30 seconds in the air popper for the next batch. Using Nick’s terminology, I’d call it a solid B cup of coffee from my Aeropress. My take is the extra roast time would enhance the nutty and chocolate flavors and reduce the puckery tartness common to light roasts. So I popped over to their website out of curiosity to see what decent beans cost these days.
You know I have never tried. I have the impression that once the beans cool, their flavor is set and re-roasting isn’t an option. I’m going to enjoy it for what it is and go back to my own beans soon enough.
I did this with some botched, under-roasted early efforts. If the batch is truly under-roasted, might as well go ahead and tune it up, but it ain’t the same. If it’s just a tad lighter than you prefer, I’d wait til next time. I read that there is a name for doing the roast in 2 parts like that, some folks like it. I recall it mellowing the beans overall, knocking the edges off the flavors a lot.
I wonder if @troutpocket ’s earlier-gen Nostalgia is somehow different than what we got? How come his popper roasts wrap before 10 minutes and ours are just…..meh?
I suppose it’s possible. The popper I’m using was manufactured at least 3-4 years ago even though I just started using it last fall.
No it shouldn't get that hot down there since that's where its drawing in outside air through the fan. You could bypass the switch and connect the wires together though. I'm going to try a few more things this weekend starting with trying a different outlet that is on another circuit. Also going to do one batch inside and make a mess to see if the ambient temp is actually my main problem.
Yeah maybe it ends up being a summertime device for me, if ambient temp is the issue. I’ve roasted with my heat gun in the upper 20s and it added a few minutes but was comparable. And there is zero insulation with my metal bowl on my work bench. Thanks for running the experiments and reporting back.
Isn't Hoffman a trip? The dude knows more about all things coffee than probably anybody, ever. Plus, his videos are very well done and presented. After you watch them, you know you've been schooled.Well my journey continues
I had an Amazon gift card burning a hole in my wallet so Wed I ordered a Cosori electric gooseneck, a digital scale, and the Hario V60 kit.
I've been loving my French press results, but haven't dialed in how to just make a cup or two. I've had great results making enough to fill the mug I take on the water, but when I'm just around the house (my son tested positive for covid on Wed morning so I have just been kinda hanging at home with him and not going out just in case) find that's a bit too much. Plus I just wanted to try pour over.
This morning I got up and gave pour over my first go. I used Hoffman's method and went with 30g coffee to 500g water, which I discovered makes the perfect amount of coffee for the ceramic mug I usually use at home.
I feel like I screwed up the pour time, gotta get a feel for how fast to pour, I actually ended up pouring a little slow. I didn't have high hopes for this first attempt, but I'm actually fairly pleased. I used the last of the Ethiopian beans I've been drinking all week, and it turned out quite pleasant. Maybe not quite as flavorful as my recent efforts in the FP, but considering how I didn't feel my first attempts went super well I'm very pleased with the results. I have another bag of a different Ethiopian bean I'm going to open in a bit and continue this learning process. I'm also looking forward to using the kettle and scale to really fine tune my FP efforts.
The one thing that really jumped out at me is that I really need to pick up a burr grinder. I used my blade grinder set between medium and fine, and without laying the grounds out on a flat surface and really examining them, to the naked eye it looks like a pretty nice grind. Well looking at the grounds left in the filter after brewing I was blown away at the inconsistency. With Hoffman's method you swirl the V60 and use a spoon to stir mildly at one point, partly to get keep any grounds from remaining stuck to the sides, but with this grind I was left with many larger grounds stuck to the side after. Like quite a bit larger. So clearly my grinder isn't doing as well as I would have thought.
Money is tight right now so I'll probably wait a month or two, but a new grinder will absolutely be my next investment.
Still, this is a very solid cup of coffee. I'd give it a solid B. I have a feeling a burr grinder and refining my technique and I'll be into the A category very soon. One other thing I REALLY like about the V60 is the easy cleanup compared to the FP
This little journey has been a ton of fun. I really enjoy going down these sorts of rabbit holes, and it's fun to have something new to research and learn. My wife is also enjoying it, as she seems to have an endless amount of coffee nerd jokes to work with.
Care to share a link to this guru of brew?
