Coffee talk

mtskibum16 said:
I have the same one! It's been great.

@Nick Clayton I'll second or third or whatever the Baratza Encore grinder for when you get to that point.

@Matt B since you already have the heat gun, my suggestion would be to get a bread maker from a thrift shop and replace your bowl. The consistency in the roast is much better compared to the bowl. On top of that the bread maker creates an environment that's less affected by the weather. On top of that if frees up your hands to do other things while the roast is going: log temps, take notes, browse PNWFF etc. It's been a huge game changing addition to my roasting. My bread maker was $6 and I ended up adding a thermocouple and reader for another $40 or so. Hands free roasting with reliable bean temp is pretty cool for less than $50 to upgrade!
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Thanks for the tip! I will look into that. Have you shared a pic of your setup?
 
Matt B said:
Thanks for the tip! I will look into that. Have you shared a pic of your setup?
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https://pnwflyfishing.com/forum/index.php?threads/coffee-talk.125/post-2353

Google bread maker heat gun or corretto roaster for more info. But the short version is you are just replacing your bowl with a bread maker. You want one with a kneed function or just bypass the guts and wire the paddle motor to a switch. It's just a bowl with a stirrer basically (not using the bread maker heating element).
 
Just finished roasting my first batch of Kona coffee. The green beans look and smell great. They are large beans and took longer to roast than I’m accustomed to. My last beans were a 5lb bag of single origin Honduras that I dialed in with 12.5 to 13.5 minutes. These Kona beans were still looking pretty light at 13 minutes. I ended up going to 17 minutes to reach the same appearance and smell that I usually look for. I’ll give them a couple days to off-gas and see what they are like.
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troutpocket said:
Just finished roasting my first batch of Kona coffee. The green beans look and smell great. They are large beans and took longer to roast than I’m accustomed to. My last beans were a 5lb bag of single origin Honduras that I dialed in with 12.5 to 13.5 minutes. These Kona beans were still looking pretty light at 13 minutes. I ended up going to 17 minutes to reach the same appearance and smell that I usually look for. I’ll give them a couple days to off-gas and see what they are like.
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Yeah those didn't puff up too much; some of the beans look to still have some pretty defined edges. I bet it will be good. You're more patient than I, waiting a couple days. I usually give it overnight.
 
Matt B said:
Yeah those didn't puff up too much; some of the beans look to still have some pretty defined edges. I bet it will be good. You're more patient than I, waiting a couple days. I usually give it overnight.
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Yeah I’m still working through the last of my Honduras-origin beans, and they’re quite good. Makes patience a bit easier. I’m going to be a little more systematic with the Kona beans. They are getting harder to find.
 
Matt B said:
Yeah those didn't puff up too much; some of the beans look to still have some pretty defined edges. I bet it will be good. You're more patient than I, waiting a couple days. I usually give it overnight.
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I'm usually a procrastinator and am roasting last minute before we're out. So usually the night before we need them. The coffee is generally still good the day after, but I've found some roasts really need the extra off-gassing time. I have a batch of Mexican coffee I roasted late last week. The day after I was convinced I bungled the roast somehow (I've been attempting to adjust some things in my process), but yesterday when I had it it was actually quite good. That was 5 days after the roast I think. Went from kinda bad to pretty good just sitting. Now I don't find that most coffee is that drastic of a difference, but it's enough I'm TRYING to get myself to stay ahead of our needs at least a few days.
 
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With my Aeropress I find that if I grind beans on the same or next day after roasting, they foam up so much when I add hot water that I can’t get a good press.
 
troutpocket said:
With my Aeropress I find that if I grind beans on the same or next day after roasting, they foam up so much when I add hot water that I can’t get a good press.
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With an immersion method though, you can just give it a stir and let it sit a little longer to allow that water-bean contact that might be impeded by the CO2. It’s funny, I read some more on this, and one article said that beans will have properly off gassed between 3 days and two weeks after roasting. The same article said that roasted beans start to taste stale a week after roasting, lol. The freshness window for these folks could be all of one day! My tolerances are a little wider than that.
 
mtskibum16 said:
If you're interested in trying something different, the Clever Dripper has been pretty great. The form factor of a single serve pour over but an immersion brewer like French press. Makes a great cup, is super easy, and less finicky/hands on than a pour over. Uses a paper filter so you get a clean cup.

I've never had problems with grounds getting through filters and pre-wetting shouldn't matter. The gurus swear there is a taste difference between pre-rinsing the filter and not (with pour over) but I'm no guru.
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I just went back and looked at the Clever Dripper . I like that idea a lot. Looks to save a lot of hassle, and coffee, too.
 
Matt B said:
With an immersion method though, you can just give it a stir and let it sit a little longer to allow that water-bean contact that might be impeded by the CO2. It’s funny, I read some more on this, and one article said that beans will have properly off gassed between 3 days and two weeks after roasting. The same article said that roasted beans start to taste stale a week after roasting, lol. The freshness window for these folks could be all of one day! My tolerances are a little wider than that.
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With the small batches I roast, I’m using 2-7 day old coffee. I haven’t noticed a difference in freshness within that range. Outside 10 days beans get stale quickly though.
 
mtskibum16 said:
If you're interested in trying something different, the Clever Dripper has been pretty great. The form factor of a single serve pour over but an immersion brewer like French press. Makes a great cup, is super easy, and less finicky/hands on than a pour over. Uses a paper filter so you get a clean cup.

I've never had problems with grounds getting through filters and pre-wetting shouldn't matter. The gurus swear there is a taste difference between pre-rinsing the filter and not (with pour over) but I'm no guru.
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Thanks for that recommendation in an earlier post. I picked one up and have been using it almost daily since. Can't quite fill up my 20oz travel mug in one shot, but I'll go extra on the beans and then "pourover" the last couple oz of water to top off the mug.
 
ffb said:
Thanks for that recommendation in an earlier post. I picked one up and have been using it almost daily since. Can't quite fill up my 20oz travel mug in one shot, but I'll go extra on the beans and then "pourover" the last couple oz of water to top off the mug.
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Yeah I've been happy with it. Pretty hard 16oz limit with the coffee to water ratio I use though. If you haven't already, check out Hoffman's video for the recommended brew style. Short version is fine grind, pour water in first, add coffee, gentle stir to wet grounds, 2 minute steep, quick swirl to settle grounds, rest 30 seconds, plunge.

Doing the water first drastically reduces the drain time. Fine grind allows for the quick brew time.

I find I like about every coffee I roast better with the clever dripper than the aeropress.

Matt B said:
With an immersion method though, you can just give it a stir and let it sit a little longer to allow that water-bean contact that might be impeded by the CO2. It’s funny, I read some more on this, and one article said that beans will have properly off gassed between 3 days and two weeks after roasting. The same article said that roasted beans start to taste stale a week after roasting, lol. The freshness window for these folks could be all of one day! My tolerances are a little wider than that.
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I'd say 5-10 days is the window for peak flavor. Darker roasts are ok faster because the main flavors are roast flavors and they are prevalent right away. I think origin flavors need the rest time to really pop. Give it a shot. Or if you can roast a big enough batch, try some each day for like 7 days and I'll be you notice a difference. Bitterness/roast notes fade maybe? Like I said, biggest difference on light roasts in my experience.
 
Oh man, another interesting coffee gadget! Just what I need. :coffee: I settled on the Aeropress because a good Americano is hard to beat. I also use a Moka pot and French press to change up. Going to resist for the moment. I think.
 
mtskibum16 said:
I'd say 5-10 days is the window for peak flavor. Darker roasts are ok faster because the main flavors are roast flavors and they are prevalent right away. I think origin flavors need the rest time to really pop. Give it a shot. Or if you can roast a big enough batch, try some each day for like 7 days and I'll be you notice a difference. Bitterness/roast notes fade maybe? Like I said, biggest difference on light roasts in my experience.
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I roast about a half-pound at a time which almost always lasts me a week or more, since I usually only drink one cup a day, and I don't go beyond FC, maybe FC+ and usually aim for City or City+. I will pay closer attention. I think I have trouble comparing things on a continuum like that...boiling the frog, so to speak. I almost always at least give a roasted batch overnight to rest, and have noticed that a right-away brew turns out sort of flat, but cannot say that I have noticed much of what we've been discussing.
Now I gotta get me a clever brew, however.
 
Well what was an outstanding cup at work yesterday brewed with the aerorpress is kind of a dud today with the Clever dripper at home. Which is opposite of what I normally find. Probably need to tweak the grind setting or timing or something. I generally don't tinker with brew settings and have everything kind of figured out for a good middle ground for most roasts, but this one seems to be a bit different. Kind of strange because I used the same grind settings and did a full aeropress with the same steep time, so it must just be the difference in coffee:water.
 
mtskibum16 said:
, so it must just be the difference in coffee:water.
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I'll drink any coffee so I wouldn't notice (beer and wine always seemed the same to me too), but I notice when the city shifts from more creek water in winter to the well water in summer, pasta and dried beans and such cook up differently. The kids seem to notice it in the juice too. We are lucky overall though, really good water.
 
You guys are hardcore! Roasting your own bean? I used to grind my beans but can't really taste the difference so I just buy pre-grind espresso for my Breville espresso machine :)
 
Kfish said:
You guys are hardcore! Roasting your own bean? I used to grind my beans but can't really taste the difference so I just buy pre-grind espresso for my Breville espresso machine :)
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People talk about grinding your own as a big game changer, but grinding your own beans with a blade grinder and using so-so big market coffee doesn’t add much if anything imo. Biggest difference is going to fresh roasted beans (whole or preground by the roaster), then after that you can appreciate the difference in actually fresh and grinding your own beans (with a good grinder).
 
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