PaulHilgeman Senior Member Joined: 22 Jul 2003 Posts: 28 Location: Chicago Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Baby Millennium Grinder: Solis Maestro
Posted Thu Jan 13, 2005, 5:03am Subject: 2nd try with the Poppery II and Sweet Maria's Monkey Blend
Well, I gave the PII a try again yesterday and am trying the espresso this morning.
I kept adding beans until they were moving at about 25% of the speed of the typical 4 oz that I was doing before, I would guess it was 6 or 7 oz.
This did drasticaly reduce the roasting time. I got good color after about 11 minutes. I probably stopped a bit eary for where I like my espresso though as far as color is concerned.
Some observations:
-I heard several cracks around the 5 minute mark. I assume this would be called the first crack. They all occoured within about 30 seconds total. At about 10 minutes I started hearing cracks again but separated by much more time.
-The beans never got very shiny, nothing close to the SM MB that I have received roasted in the mail.
-I let the coffee rest overnight in my Solis Maestro with the lid off. The ground coffee had a bit of an artaficial woody smell to it, nothing like the SM MB that I had received in the mail, no offense to SM, just to me, but it had a bit of a folgers smell.
-First shots showed more, darker crema than I have ever seen. I actaully pulled double 1.5oz shots and had about 90% crema at the end of the pull. However, this was 'fast' espresso again and my first pull was about 15 secs, so that may be affecting the flavor.
-The flavor seems a bit thin and I am not sure what you guys call it, but I call it 'salty' .
Now, last night was about 60 degrees out and VERY humid, say 80%
CupaJoeKid Senior Member Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 208 Location: Cary, NC Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Silvia w/ PID, pressure mod Grinder: Mazzer Mini P Vac Pot: nada, french press Drip: See french press Roaster: WB Poppery II w/ control box
Posted Thu Jan 13, 2005, 5:40am Subject: Re: 2nd try with the Poppery II and Sweet Maria's Monkey Blend
If I remember reading a previous post correctly, I got the impression that your thermostat was cycling. It is usually necessary to take the popper apart and to fix the thermostat closed. Do a search, it's been referenced here a million times. 11 min still sounds sort of fast for espresso, but it it is hard to slow down a popper if you don't do mods or get a variac. I take Monkey about 30s into active second crack and just get a few oil drops. Keep reading here, you'll be an expert before you know it, keep reading.
PaulHilgeman Senior Member Joined: 22 Jul 2003 Posts: 28 Location: Chicago Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Baby Millennium Grinder: Solis Maestro
Posted Thu Jan 13, 2005, 7:14am Subject: Re: 2nd try with the Poppery II and Sweet Maria's Monkey Blend
Yes, with the greater bean load it started cycling at about 4 minutes. Last time with about 4oz, it started cycling at 10 or 12 minutes but it was much colder outside as well.
So... maybe the answer is close the thermostat as well as increasing airflow to keep temperatures reasonable.
Posted Thu Jan 13, 2005, 2:43pm Subject: Re: 2nd try with the Poppery II and Sweet Maria's Monkey Blend
Paul,
If you're trying to slow down your roast try putting a 30-50' extension cord between the popper & the wall outlet. Lately I start my roasts on the extension cord and then switch directly to the wall outlet after all first cracks have finished. With 40-50º ambient temp's it's taking around 15 minutes total. Most of my roasts stop either early or mid-2nd crack.
Try SM's Classic Italian Espresso blend - really smooth!
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