Posted Tue Jan 29, 2013, 5:42pm Subject: New Hottop. A little help please...
First, my background: I've been roasting coffee on my Behmor for about 4.5 years. It's got some mechanical problems that I'm attempting to fix and not currently working so I picked up a Hottop B2K model. I thought I might like to advance to that next step in coffee roasting.
The hottop arrived and out of the box, the control panel didn't work right (I didn't realize this until the middle of my first roast, when I couldn't get the arrow buttons to work properly without cycling through all options). Hottop service is great though. Two days later I had the new one delivered to my door and installed. The new panel does work properly.
Now, my next problem, and the one I'm seeking help on, is that roasting on the hottop is a whole different world than the behmor. I read the manual several times while waiting for the roaster to arrive. Then, during the roast, followed the instructions outlined in the manual...and the roast appeared to roast properly (colors changed at the temps they were listed) but it's very bitter. I roasted it on the 25th so it's definitely rested more than long enough. It's a good bean, because I'd just roasted it on my Behmor before the Behmor stopped working...so the bean is not the problem.
I roasted 9oz. Took it to just the very first signs of 2nd crack and ejected. The roast was about 16:25. There wasn't a huge time btw. first and 2nd crack...not like I'm used to in the Behmor. About 1:15. Could this short time btw. cracks cause the bitterness in taste??
I'm at a loss. There's so much more to know/do on this machine.
Posted Tue Jan 29, 2013, 7:11pm Subject: Re: New Hottop. A little help please...
Thy adding the beans at a display temperature of about 260 to 280 (I have gone as high as 330 without scorching). At the beginning of 1st drop the temperature to 80 or 90 (or about 15 to 30 before). As first is ending, drop it to about 50. At 1:30 after the end of first, raise it back to 100.
If you document times and temperatures at the critical points, it will help learn the machine.
Posted Tue Jan 29, 2013, 7:36pm Subject: Re: New Hottop. A little help please...
I did take notes (I'm using the roastmaster app for ipad to keep track).
These are my notes: I added the beans at 200F Turned the fan on to 50% at 225F for a minute. The roast went up to 260 during that time. I turned the fan down to 25% At 280F, I turned the heat down to 70% At 300F turned the heat back to full. At 370F turned the heat back to 50%. Fan up to 50% FC started when my display hit 379F. Fan up to 75% but it was heating too quickly so fan up to 100% the very first signs of 2nd crack happened about 1:15 after the end of FC.
Beans Mexican Chiapas.
Does this help?
I will try adding the beans when it's hotter. Thanks.
Posted Tue Jan 29, 2013, 8:47pm Subject: Re: New Hottop. A little help please...
Hi Randy,
If you want to charge the machine at a higher temp than 168 degrees F, is there a warranty friendly way of making the infernal beeper shut up? It does stop after about one minute but by then I'm almost ready for the funny farm.
Sorry about hijacking the thread but my sanity is at stake.
By the way when you say drop the temp after 1st crack, did you mean heater power?
Thanks,
Phil
frcn Said:
Thy adding the beans at a display temperature of about 260 to 280 (I have gone as high as 330 without scorching). At the beginning of 1st drop the temperature to 80 or 90 (or about 15 to 30 before). As first is ending, drop it to about 50. At 1:30 after the end of first, raise it back to 100.
If you document times and temperatures at the critical points, it will help learn the machine.
Posted Tue Jan 29, 2013, 11:17pm Subject: Re: New Hottop. A little help please...
The beeper beeps for the same period of time regardless as to when you charge... or anything else, really. If it is too loud I suppose you could put a piece of tape over the beeped on teh control board or some other similar muting method.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 