LivingTheLifeOfRiley Senior Member Joined: 13 Jul 2012 Posts: 3 Location: New Zealand Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Fri Jul 13, 2012, 11:07pm Subject: Aerabica Hot Air Roasting / Preblending / Flavour Profile - HELP!
Gidday, I have an Aerabica Hot Air Roaster and have been Preblending for many years and even selling my coffee to about 20 people all of who seem to love the flavour profile. The Beans I use are Equal Quantities of Kenya AA or AB, Columbia Excelso, and Guatemala SHB. I used Kenya for High Flavour, Columbia for High Body and Guat for Distinctive Nutty Flavour. The Kenya goes in first then 30seconds later the Guat and lastly the Columbian. The temperature for the machine is 465degF and for 500grams (about 1lb) it takes about 11minutes to roast. I then drop into a stainless steel hopper with a mesh lid and have a centrifugal fan blowing through the bottom (i presume this is fluid bed cooling?).
I am wanting to change the flavour profile and make a brighter roast but still use same beans and quantities. I have noticed ' divots ' on the beans and presume I am roasting too hot (is this the columbian bean?). I am prepared to start post-blending if it makes a significant difference.
Does anyone know the ideal temperature for roasting Kenya / Guatemala / Columbian. (I can change temperature of machine and time) Does anyone have any tips on accentuating the current beans and their Flavors?
Gregr Senior Member Joined: 6 Mar 2010 Posts: 188 Location: Los Angeles, Ca Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Livia 90 Grinder: Moka Drip: CCD Roaster: Hottop B
Posted Sun Jul 15, 2012, 7:03am Subject: Re: Aerabica Hot Air Roasting / Preblending / Flavour Profile - HELP!
I'm not familiar with that roaster- are you able to control the heat at all? I think it's possible that the beans are getting too much heat late in the roast. There's a good chance those divots will disappear if you can drop the power 30 seconds to one minute before first crack starts- then you can coast to the finish since there should be plenty of momentum.
randytsuch Senior Member Joined: 11 Jun 2009 Posts: 578 Location: LA, Ca Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Expobar Office with... Grinder: Baratza Vario Roaster: Customized Alpenrost,...
Posted Sun Jul 15, 2012, 9:35am Subject: Re: Aerabica Hot Air Roasting / Preblending / Flavour Profile - HELP!
To get a brighter roast, you might have to roast lighter. But, lighter roasts are tricky. I aim for stopping the roast 3-4 mins after first crack. I usually am going for lighter roasts, but it depends. I have a PID'ed controlled roaster, so I have good control over the roasting temps to do this.
I usually start pretty quickly, but slow down before first crack. I have a small drum roaster, and if I hit first crack with too much heat, it's too late to slow down. With an air roaster, you can slow down a little faster, but still need to worry about this.
So my temp ramps are steep are the start of roast, slow down before first crack, and then go basically flat after first, but I'm not sure if this can apply to your roaster.
I also always blend after roast, different beans like different profiles, and because of the difference it timing in first, you can't stop at the optimum time for all the beans in the blend.
LivingTheLifeOfRiley Senior Member Joined: 13 Jul 2012 Posts: 3 Location: New Zealand Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Jul 15, 2012, 4:59pm Subject: Re: Aerabica Hot Air Roasting / Preblending / Flavour Profile - HELP!
Yes I can control the heat easily with this roaster. I still need to know whether 465ºF is too hot or cold to start with? This is the temperature I preheat the machine to so the green beans are dropped into a hot drum and start roasting straight away. I normally find it difficult to distinguish between the first and second crack. Is 11 minutes to roast 1lb of coffee fast or slow? Cheers.
Gregr Senior Member Joined: 6 Mar 2010 Posts: 188 Location: Los Angeles, Ca Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Livia 90 Grinder: Moka Drip: CCD Roaster: Hottop B
Posted Sun Jul 15, 2012, 6:27pm Subject: Re: Aerabica Hot Air Roasting / Preblending / Flavour Profile - HELP!
I roast in a drum roaster (Hottop) with pretty accurate bean temp readings and first crack comes right around 400F, second at about 430F. People use a pretty wide range of temps for loading the beans in but I generally put them in about 360F so unless there's a different dynamic in an air roaster- and there probably is- 465 seems high. 11 minutes seems a little fast but not crazy- should lead to a very bright cup of coffee though. When I'm not roasting for espresso they generally go about 12:00-13:00 for a half pound. For what it's worth. Sounds like if you came down a bit from 465F drop-in you'd probably see roast times in line with drum roasters. There's been a lot of discussion about when those divots are forming and what I took away from the conversations was they're caused by too much heat later in the roast. There's enough moisture in the beans early on that they can take a lot of heat without the surface getting burned.
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