Roasting coffee was Re: Detox Ideas (from concrete etc)

[Guest guest]

I haven't roasted for a while but when I was, I rigged up a few

different popper variations (too cheap to buy one). Interestingly,

the hot air popper coffee tasted different than the stir

pop/convection oven combo, which worked really well. But, yes, you

want to do it outside - it definitely doesn't smell as good as it

tastes! Coffeegeek.com has some great ideas.

>

> > Oh man, this made me laugh. I spent hours a couple of years ago

> trying to

> > find a reasonably priced coffee roaster that didn't require me

to

> re-wire my

> > house and get smoke generation permits. How do you roast your

> beans?

> >

> > Ron

>

> I use a Zach & Dani's roaster that I bought from Sweet s

> (www.sweetmarias.com) which is where I get my green coffee beans

> also. It's a pretty good roaster and works well on my electricity

> although I would probably buy something more programable for my

next

> roaster. The Z & D has a built-in smoke filter which works so-so,

if

> you dark roast then forget it, the smoke alarms WILL go off. Most

> roasters don't even have filters, so smoke is an issue. I roast

> outside on the deck, some folks build little vents or put the unit

> under their range hoods to suck out the smoke. If you want to go

> cheapo then a hot air popcorn popper (preferably with a rheostat

> added by you to control the heat) may work. You can roast in the

oven

> or in a pan also, but all of these will generate a lot of smoke. I

> saw a picture of one roaster that was like a cylinder that someone

> put on a rotisserie on their gas BBQ. Check out that site I

mentioned

> for some info...there's probably more around than there was a few

> years ago.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Wow. Either I somehow managed to miss all of the available roasters back

when I was searching or there are a ton of new ones available. When I was

looking the only one that I can remember seeing was the Alpenroast. At the

time I decided that was too much money to spend.

Come to think of it -- I actually had two motivations in looking for a

coffee roaster. I was trying to find one that would work to roast and salt

nuts also. I've been roasting my own cashews and almonds for years and got

tired of taking a couple of hours to constantly monitor and turn the nuts

while they were cooking in the oven. Since I rarely do roasted nuts any

more now that I'm WAPified my interest has waned somewhat. I still do spend

a whole day sometime before Christmas roasting cashews as we give them out

to all of our friends as Xmas gifts.

So now to the important question. Obviously you think that roasting your

own beans is worth the effort in pursuit of the perfect cup of coffee. Is

there really that much difference between your own freshly roasted beans and

fresh pre-roasted beans from a place like Peets? I fully appreciate the

difference between grinding your own coffee right before making it so you

can factor the grind out of my question.

Ron

> I use a Zach & Dani's roaster that I bought from Sweet s

> (www.sweetmarias.com) which is where I get my green coffee beans

> also. It's a pretty good roaster and works well on my electricity

> although I would probably buy something more programable for my next

> roaster. The Z & D has a built-in smoke filter which works so-so, if

> you dark roast then forget it, the smoke alarms WILL go off. Most

> roasters don't even have filters, so smoke is an issue. I roast

> outside on the deck, some folks build little vents or put the unit

> under their range hoods to suck out the smoke. If you want to go

> cheapo then a hot air popcorn popper (preferably with a rheostat

> added by you to control the heat) may work. You can roast in the oven

> or in a pan also, but all of these will generate a lot of smoke. I

> saw a picture of one roaster that was like a cylinder that someone

> put on a rotisserie on their gas BBQ. Check out that site I mentioned

> for some info...there's probably more around than there was a few

> years ago.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

> It's funny that you mention this right now. On saturday evening our

> Zack & Dani's roaster burned out/up on the back deck. We weren't

> watching it (a no-no when roasting) and a belt broke in it, causing

> the beans to stop moving and begin to burn. A lot of smoke ensued but

> no fire. If we'd been watching it we could have shut it down and just

> replaced the belt but I'm afraid it was pretty smoke damaged. I had

> really been craving a big HotTop (expensive!) anyway for its larger

> capacity and was able to convince the DW to let me order one. It

> helped that she'd been recently bitten by the roasting bug too! I did

> learn my lesson about keeping an eye on the machine no matter what

> kind it is.

That worked out nicely.

> I recently saw a photo of someone who used a metal dog food dish,

> wooden spoon, and a heat gun to roast beans. Seemed to work pretty

> well!

LOL. Now that's hardcore. Seems like it would be hard to get an even

roast.....

> I'm not sure I would want to roast nuts and coffee in the same

> machine unless you really cleaned it out well between batches. In

> addition, with most machines you are looking at a capacity of 4 oz or

> so unless you are willing to pay more for the Alpenroast or HotTop.

> With the Alpenroast you can't see inside either. The I-Roast has the

> kind of programability you might need for nuts, but again the

> capacity is only around 4-5 oz.

Good info. Thanks.

> Well, as you correctly note, fresh grining is important and is

> probably more important than the freshness of the roast. That is my

> opinion and I know many home roasting fans that would disagree, but I

> typically drink my coffee with milk and sugar anyway (except

> espresso) so I am a heretic to start with.

Huh. And you still think it's worthwhile to roast your own. Now I'm going

to actually _have_ to taste some freshly roasted beans.

> Of course you don't want

> old stale beans, supposedly after 4 days they start loosing their

> freshness as the oils oxidise. But if you can buy them freshly

> roasted from a good source (like Peets)you are doing pretty good.

Got it.

> Here are my reasons for home roasting:

> 1) It's fun for me

> 2) Green beans are half the price or less of roasted beans. They keep

> for a year or more without any flavor degradation so if I find one I

> really like I can buy a lot of it.

> 3) A lot greater variety of green beans are available on the 'net

> than I can typically find roasted, although some " coffee clubs " are

> springing up that buy from small roasters.

> 4) I can tweak the degree of roast to my liking for each type of

> bean, I can blend the same beans of different degrees of roast or I

> can blend different beans roasted different ways. Even if you're like

> me and muck up the cup of coffee with milk and sugar you can easily

> taste the nuances of the different combinations.

> 5) You can taste the difference between coffee that is around 24

> hours since roasting and that which is several days old, but it is

> somewhat subtle.

>

Now there's a person who understands his own motivation. Nicely said.

Thanks for all the help. I doubt I'm going to invest in a roaster at this

stage of the game as I'm reducing coffee intake (theoretically) rather than

increasing, but I much better understand why you would want to roast your

own.

Ron