First, I just started roasting my own coffee a week ago with an SR800. I’ve been roasting following your videos. I can’t wait to try this Light Roast Method.
Yes I have since gone to turning my fan speed down before removing the chaff collector since we talked in a previous video and this is by far the best way to keep excess chaff from falling back in to the roast chamber
Most excellent video. I’ve watched almost all guidelines on this roaster and this provides the best presentation and helpful information. I use the 540 roaster with smaller batches, around 120 grams, but I’m thinking that the recipe will be about the same. Also, even though I live on the other side of the country, I plan on ordering my next bunch of beans from your group. Many thanks 🙏
As somebody who just ordered the extension tube for the SR800 and has ~5 lbs of Ethiopian Harrar beans to roast, I do hope you'll do a video on using the extension tube for naturally dried beans fairly soon. Your first SR800 video helped me get through my very first roast successfully!
Don't have one coming down the pipe but I'm sure we'll do one eventually! Till then, honey processed will be close to natural and this should help: ua-cam.com/video/UhL-hDdCGXI/v-deo.html
Hello David, Thank you for creating such a detailed video. I was so inspired by it that I decided to try it myself. My first roast using my new SR800, in the garage on a warm day last week did not seem to go well. It was a natural Ethiopian so I wrote down the settings from this video intending to duplicate them during the roast cycle. After three minutes I realized that the temperature was severely lagging, so to keep the temperature rising I had to incrementally lower the fan to 4 and raise the power to 9 to finally get to 400F after 6 minutes, then first crack after 7 minutes and did not start cooling until after 8 minutes. This resulted in very inconsistent browning. I think I may have baked them. While the machine was still warm I tried another batch, this time in the kitchen, starting with higher settings and more aggressive adjustments. Again needing to decrease fan to 4 and increase power to 9 but barely reaching 400F at 6 minutes followed by weak first crack then I started cooling a minute later. Again the roast seems to be uneven, probably because of the low fan setting needed to increase the temperature. I started with green weight of 226 grams, and a finished roasted weight of 203 grams, does that seem right? Also, I have verified that I am on a 20amp circuit. I have watched your video several times and it seems like my roaster is not working like yours. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks
Hey Joe! You seem to be doing everything right. Are you using an extension cord? Nothing else is plugged in or running on that circuit correct? If it's neither of these 2 things, I'd reach out to the manufacturer as you may have a bad heating element on your roaster. This is extremely rare, but mistakes do happen! Go to home roasting supplies . com and click support. If you just bought your machine, it is still under warranty!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee I bought the extension tube and it was a game changer. I was amazed how much it seems to improve the efficiency of the SR800. I am still experimenting with different roast settings but I never seem to have a bad roast, so now I am having fun and enjoying amazing coffee daily. Thanks for your help.
It's voltage problem, my roaster at fan 9 power 1 reach 400 easily my voltage 130V so i can't spend enough time in drying phase , and it's become big problem when i use extention tube because the tube increase temperature more 😑
Have you made a video or do you have a template for creating light roast Ethiopian with the SR800 and the Glass Extension Tube? I realize it will only be slightly different than what you showed in this video but would be helpful to know how much different the fan settings will be. Thank you for creating these videos.
I plan on doing an updated "ULTIMATE" guide with more guidance on the extension tube settings (likely sometime this year) but in the meantime, this video on Honey Processing with the tube should give you some guidance on fan use with the extension! ua-cam.com/video/UhL-hDdCGXI/v-deo.html
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Thank you! Looking forward to seeing the videos you are working on with the extension tube. I will take a look at the honey processing video in the mean time. Just a suggestion it would be helpful on the newer videos you are creating to have an excel spreadsheet or a summary or your roast listing out fan speed (1-9), power setting (1-9) and temperature read out on SR800 versus time. I am creating an excel spreadsheet looking at your video so it is easier to reference and get me started while I am trying to perfect getting an Ethiopian Light Roast. By the way, in these video do you pre-warm the chamber before putting the beans in? Power setting, fan setting and duration would be helpful if you do.
@@vincentrovedatti8677 regarding preheat - I do not preheat the SR800, air roasters typically function best when between batch protocol (BBP) has the roaster returning to room temperature between roasts! RE spreadsheet: this kind of gets to the heart of the difficulty teaching home roasting. It's not the same as baking, i.e. making a recipe will only work with one specific coffee in a very controlled environment. I've always had the philosophy that it's best to teach people how to understand how roasting works so they can learn how best to practice roasting. It's more like teaching someone how to play an instrument! The demos are simply meant to give you a starting point or jumping off point. It won't work for every single coffee OR every single person's desired outcome in the cup even if it did work for every single coffee!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Thank you! I will not preheat then. Your logic makes sense. I agree that coffee roasting and baking are not the same. Also thank you for your quick responses. Hope you have a great day! Keep doing what you are doing. You are creating great videos and good coffee!
I'm impressed you are doing 225g naturals without the extension tube. I struggled to do that. With the extension I do 230g for washed and naturals. I may bump up my charge to 250g a bit.
Yeah if you ride the settings, you shouldn't have a problem! As long as you are getting ample power (use a 20amp outlet w/ nothing else plugged in and no extension cord in 60-90 F ambient temps)
Hello! Just started learning about roasting and I’m excited to start my own. Funny question but how do you store a coffee like this after it has been roasted to degas and for how long usually? Thank you!
Thank you for making this video! I just got one of these today for Xmas and after watching this I felt confident using it for the first time. I will definitely pay it forward and order some beans from you in the future!
Hi David. I just used this roast profile for a batch of dry processed Timor Leste Kailitau yesterday with my SR-540. It seems to have been perfect. Batch size was 120g and hit 1C at around 5:30. I hit cool at 6:15 and they turned out a nice even milk chocolate color. I can’t wait to try them in a few days.
@@TheCaptainsCoffee I brewed up some of this Timor light roast today. The flavor is pretty good. A lot brighter than the medium dark roast I did with this bean earlier, but I seemed to have an extraction problem with my French press. I didn’t seem to get a full brew out of it this time. Not sure what went wrong. I did the same amount of steeping time as I usually do, but the color of the coffee was really light compared to what I usually get.
@@joshvooris5387 what's your brew protocol? Grind size, brew weight, water temp, water amount? Folks usually develop their brew protocol based on their roast and what they're trying to get out of the bean flavor wise, might have to reassess it with a significantly different roast profile!
We don't unfortunately 😔 It's always kind of a moving target and every coffee is a little different, so I try to give more of a general idea of what I want to see happening in the roaster! The general idea is start with fan all the way up and power way low. Bring the fan down throughout the roast whenever the beans get jumpy enough and increase the power throughout the roast when you need more heat but can't drop the fan 😉 And then of course your target roast level changes all those specifics a little and how long your roast should be, etc
Hey Ed! I did! I love it! I will do some videos about it in the future, but probably less than for other home roasters as I think the audience is low due to the price of the machine sadly
Forgive me if this was addressed in the comments already, but what was the ambient air temp for this roast? I find that even when I’m more aggressive with the heat I don’t reach first crack until at least 8 min. This is using the SR800 and 8oz of beans in about 65F ambient air temp. Thanks!
This roast was indoors so right around 70F! This space had "perfect" conditions (great power supply, no extension code, etc) so I didn't have to push as much heat. If you are pushing more heat and still struggling you may look at your power situation (breaker 15+amps, no extension code, try a diff outlet). Otherwise, the extension tube solves all those problems! I can use it outside in the winter with an extension cord 😁
That's awesome! If you're in the US, we've got them in stock right now, 6lbs of free green coffee and free shipping included! The link to our shop is in the description
Hey Tony! Oddly enough, most Brazilian beans are natural processed! If you happened to grab some of the exception, I do indeed have a washed video: ua-cam.com/video/a6W07lbLWgw/v-deo.html
I allow the chaff to fall back in, then take the roast chamber over to the sink or walk outside and gently shake it while gently blowing and all the chaff is removed in a second or two. Keeps the counter cleanest this way. I also have probes installed in my lid and found that placing a plate in front of the roaster to set the lid and chaff collector on keeps the area much cleaner and I don't have to vacuum after every roast now. Thank you so much for the video I bought the sr800 purely to try and get the blueberry flavors from my 2019 guji, and I'm going to try your recipe as it's not close to what I have been doing, so far I've failed completely with getting blueberry in the cup, even though the green beans smell like dried blueberries lol A question I have for you though is how long do you let naturals rest after roasting and how long do you find the delicate fruit flavors stick around. I have heard wait 2 weeks for them to pop up, and I've heard drink all of it fast because 3 days after roast the fruit notes start to fade. The internet is a very frustrating place at times haha.
Excellent suggestion with the chaff! 1st, I'd say that you flavors from a 2 year old coffee have probably mellowed out quite a bit, potentially even if you've kept them vacuum sealed so that may be why you aren't tasting the notes as pronounced as you might like. For light roasts and resting, it is bean dependent, but I find 3 days at a bare minimum and typically peak at around 7ish days. That's why I always roast a couple batches and taste it each day after 3 till I find that specific coffee's peak. Then I'll know for the next batches when to crack it open!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee I'll try that thanks! I really hope the age of the coffee isn't as big of a deal as some think, but we had to buy a whole bag it was gr1 and only $2.75 a lb lol. I've had whiffs and hints of blueberry here and there so I don't want to give up lol.
In my experience, the stock chamber and factory extension don't really benefit much from a preheat. With the stock chamber, the glass is too thin so it doesn't retain much. Opposite with the factory extension, it's so insulated that the heat builds up really fast without any pre-heat needed. The razzo is the exception since the glass is thicker but not double walled, so I actually do pre-heat it for 5 to 10 mins, especially on large batches!
Interesting, that you mention a 20 amp circuit. Nowhere in the manual does it mention this. I have 1700 kettles on a GFI in the kitchen, and have never had an issue. I'm thinking ONLY if you ran the heat at 9 from the get go could you possible trip a 15 Amp circuit. That said, I totally disclaim everything I've said to this point! haha. Nice video, and fine job with an Ethiopian..most of which are not the easiest to roast evenly. That was a big "charge" as well.
Thanks so much! Well, the 20 amp recommendation is a tiny bit overkill but it allows room for user error (forgetting an appliance was connected to the same circuit and it powers on etc). I always err on the side of being over prepared!
Complete newbie… my greens came today, my roaster arrives tomorrow 😂 I believe I want to begin with the organic natural Brazil to medium - any suggestions on how much longer I should go? Thanks! I have been absorbing all I can before I begin 😊
David - given that rolling first crack lasts for some period of time (45 to 60 sec) when do you actually call first crack? I ask this because so many roasters, including yourself, talk about waiting so many min/sec after 1st crack to pull the roast. Thanks and look forward to your answer. (I roast on a SR800).
Excellent question! There is some bit of debate in the roasting community about this topic but the general consensus (and my opinion as well) is that it begins after a few snaps occur in quick succession or within a second or two. This can also help you to use what I call the "very first snap of 1C" as a marker compared to the actual beginning of 1C
Hey there,as usually amazing content. Do you think that even lighter roast is possible? I've got some honey process and they are apparently best roasted as light as possible? Thank you
You can certainly go lighter than this! This was just an example. I think my limit is about 30 seconds post 1C. And by that I mean 30secs after a confirmed 1C (a few snaps in quick succession) not just a single isolated crack!
Hey Matt! Definitely planning on doing lots of Gene Cafe videos starting later in the summer! I've got a couple more planned for the SR800 but then I'll start mixing in some for the Gene
Excellent videos, and I have gotten the best roasts so far with your recipes. I tried the ones on reddit (which are F9/P9 as start, then raise temps by dropping fan power) but I found they roasted too fast and the flavor was bitter and just not right. Question: Would the Guatamala Gesha be better utilizing your Washed recipe instead of this one? Thanks!
Hey Paul! Sadly I don't have a ton of experience with Gesha, but from what I know it's a very dense and well processed bean so the washed one could be a better fit! I'll have to get my hands on a bunch of gesha and make a video on it!
David, thank you for another great video/demo! I wish I had watched this before roasting my first ever Ethiopia dry processed early this morning. Unfortunately I think I let it run 40 seconds too long and it ends up near City+ (and maybe entering Full City). Will definitely be bolder and end the roast the next time. Two questions though -- the SR800 is recommended to only roast 170g max for dry processed beans, as opposed to 225g wet due to chaff. Have you noticed any issue roasting dry processed beans at capacity? Secondly, I measure weight loss % of my roasts. Do dry processed beans experience more weight loss vs wet processed for the same roast level (again, due to more chaff)?
1: Lately I've been using a chaff collector extension kit I picked up off Razzo Roasting on Etsy, absolutely no issues with chaff while running it full capacity, even with dry/natural process! 2: Weight loss is a good ballpark but it's really specific to each bean and origin. There are so many variables that effect a beans moisture content prior to roasting that I don't recommend using it as a foolproof method of comparing roast levels across the board.
Hey Wes! I think you'd be best off sticking to the same process I use in this video. The only thing you might wanna do different is keep your heat ramping up just a bit slower than I do in this example, since Brazil beans are usually a bit on the softer side
I see you let the machine finish the cool cycle to cool the beans and account for that in your total time. If a person was to dump & cool externally how much farther would you take the roast before ending the roast ? ( hit cool & dump into a bean cooler) thanks
I actually consider the cool section to be a separate cycle of the roasting process and don't count it in my roast time, I just leave the clock running so I know when the cycle is about to end (3 mins from end of roast cycle). Cooling and dumping in a bean cooler works just fine! Either way, I consider it separate from the roast time
I'd suggest trying the settings/template I use in this video: ua-cam.com/video/UhL-hDdCGXI/v-deo.html. See how things go for you and adjust subsequent batches as needed! Remember to pay attention to the "why" of why I make the adjustments I do, it's more important to eventually understand why adjustments may be needed as you learn, that way you can begin to branch out from our template and feel comfortable making your own adjustments!
I'm playing around with dumping the beans right after they finish first crack, or a little after, so I can cool them quicker. Am I missing out on some development by doing this? I felt like with the fan on high but the temp still high in the chamber I might be continuing the roast and over roasting.
End of 1C to right after 1C should give you a light-medium to medium roast, excellent starting point for nearly all coffees! Regardless of what the Power setting is at during cool, the heating element is completely turned off during the cooling cycle, no worries there
@@TheCaptainsCoffee I was worried about that as the element still had the same power setting and I was hoping I wasn’t going to overcook. I watched your videos on washed vs natural and I roasted a whole pound today. FC was within 5 seconds on each roast and I set it to cool after FC. They both looked beautiful. Your videos are amazing, thank you!
I'm no expert but I like when the beans are moving more, is this a good enough amount of movement to keep beans from getting unevenly roasted and scorching some beans? I have the extended chamber which helps with having more headroom and also gives more bean movement with lower fan settings.
I've found that I have no issue as long as there's a gentle agitation. This is coffee permitting of course, naturals will always be less even than washed coffees. That being said, it's really a heat to movement ratio. As long as you're not blasting the power to 9, you can have less movement. If you prefer faster, hotter roast profiles, the extension tube is extremely helpful in getting there without having issues like tipping!
The general principals will! You can also check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/MlhkU0n_ZxI/v-deo.html. In general, the main difference is you'll need to turn down both fan and power settings 4 to 5 notches from the non-extension tube settings
Monsooned malabar is kinda it's own strange beast! I haven't roasted it in a few years, but I remember it preferring a slow addition of heat then kinda taking off in late maillard. Sorry I can't recall more, I hope that helps!
I vastly prefer roasting with the extension tube! But I wanted a few guides on how folks could get the most out of the stock chamber if their budget was too tight to add the tube right away.
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Got it, I will watch the extension tube video again. Any recommendations? I guess I will lower the power a little, pay more attention to keep the same temperature when I use the tube.
@@WangQuiMihonestly my recent decaf video is my most updated method with the extension tube and with that particular decaf I barely had to change anything in the demo from what I would have done with a conventional coffee!
@@WangQuiMiI've got other demos with the extension tube that you might find helpful. Our most recent video with the tube is on decaf, but I use almost exactly the same approach in that demo as I do with conventional coffee, so check our channel for that decaf video!
You stop the roast before the end of first crack, I think. Do you need to remove the under-roasted beans? How do you judge what to remove and what to keep in a light roast?
I hit FC at 6mins 13s and let it crack for 45 seconds (10:17 in the video if you'd like to review). The uneven appearance you're seeing is due to this being a natural processed heirloom varietal coffee, which is uneven in appearance while green as well! Yes, there will be a variance of roast levels, but this is difficult to avoid with natural processed heirloom Ethiopian coffees. This adds to the complexity of the cup and roasting to the point that you have a more even appearance makes the cup more dull and removes most of the fruity origin flavor that I like to get out of natural processed. But that's just my approach to light roasting naturals, you're welcome to roast however floats your boat, that's the best part about home roasting!
@@edneely ahh well if we're talking about a few floaters (or quakers as they are sometimes called) that is normal and I also cull those beans! Higher grades (GR1 and GR2 for example) shouldn't have more than a gram or two per 8 oz batch and are easily identifiable as they are much lighter roasted than the rest. These are beans which were not fully ripe when picked.
Most issues I see with this one of these three (assuming you're not trying to roast more than 8oz): 1. Don't use an extension cord if you can help it. If you have to, use a heavy duty (12ga) cord that's as short as possible. 2. Make sure you're using an outlet that is rated for 20amps and nothing else is on the circuit. 3. If you're not roasting inside and it's cold out, you are gonna have to crank up the heat a lot! Really if it's under 65F outside, you'll need to crank it. It's also possible your wiring in your home may be poor. In any case, none of these things are an issue with the extension tube! So if you can't avoid some of these issues (gotta roast outside when it's cold, gotta use an extension cord, poor wiring in your home) I'd HIGHLY recommend the extension tube, makes all those things a non-issue.
Not sure where you've heard that, but it's commonly accepted among professional roasters that the minimum acceptable roast level must reach first crack. That's when development phase begins after all! Without reaching development phase, your coffee is guaranteed to be underdeveloped :) But hey! I'm not one to tell anyone how to enjoy their coffee so if you like your coffee roasted before first crack, feel free!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Dude you passed 310 (drying) and went into Maillard in less than 2 minutes. Your latest Artisan video/log shows a good 3.5 minutes before 310 and then another 3.5 in Maillard before FC commences and then you show ~2 minutes until FC finishes when you pull it. Granted this is BT heat and not the air temp from the SR800 gauge but I am guessing that the reason why Sweet Marias "stretchin' the roast" blog posts claim greater body is that there's more conversion of carbs with a longer drying and FC periods. I use the SR800 air temp gauge and I've never had it exceed 425F on roasts and that's only at the very end of the FC. I want to retain some of those delicate citrus aromatics...
@@patrickhalstead74 I think it's easy to miss how far apart display temp (we'll call it DT) and bean temp (BT) really are! This makes sense considering DT is measuring temperature of air entering the chamber, therefore it must be significantly ahead of BT in order to drive BT upwards. If DT is 310, I'd estimate BT (based on color and smell) to be in the low 200s. Also, with the extension tube, the efficiency in the system is nearly doubled, so now that I have BT readings, I consistently find that if I want a reasonably fast roast, I'm keeping DT 75 to 100F ahead of BT early in the roast, then 50 to 75F ahead of BT during the later half of the roast. Measuring BT, I drop my light/fruity/floral/bright roasts at 400-410F (usually 30secs to 1:15 into 1st crack, depending on the coffee). With the extension tube, my DT at drop is usually 460-470F. With the stock chamber, that'd be more like the number you're quoting, for me around 430-440. Like you, my "preferred" roast is light and bright, but we do lots of test roasting at various levels around here since everyone likes their coffee a little differently ☺
Definitely! You don't nearly as much power and you can let the fan do most of the work. Oddly enough, watch our Decaf video for a demo with the extension that shows my approach to most coffees using the OEM extension. You'll just need to make some minor tweaks using the same logic as I do in this video.
Captain, please keep these FreshRoast sr800 videos coming!
Agreed! They are exceptionally helpful.
@@jonathanpopp7808 yea! They have been extremely useful
First, I just started roasting my own coffee a week ago with an SR800. I’ve been roasting following your videos. I can’t wait to try this Light Roast Method.
I’m trying to start roasting and has been eyeing the SR800. You have been an excellent resource and you really explain things well. Much appreciated.
Yes I have since gone to turning my fan speed down before removing the chaff collector since we talked in a previous video and this is by far the best way to keep excess chaff from falling back in to the roast chamber
Thank you! One of the most useful videos on the SR800 I've seen!
Most excellent video. I’ve watched almost all guidelines on this roaster and this provides the best presentation and helpful information. I use the 540 roaster with smaller batches, around 120 grams, but I’m thinking that the recipe will be about the same. Also, even though I live on the other side of the country, I plan on ordering my next bunch of beans from your group. Many thanks 🙏
Thanks so much! The 540 should be pretty close, though your times might be a bit faster simply because the smaller batch sizes
As somebody who just ordered the extension tube for the SR800 and has ~5 lbs of Ethiopian Harrar beans to roast, I do hope you'll do a video on using the extension tube for naturally dried beans fairly soon. Your first SR800 video helped me get through my very first roast successfully!
Don't have one coming down the pipe but I'm sure we'll do one eventually! Till then, honey processed will be close to natural and this should help: ua-cam.com/video/UhL-hDdCGXI/v-deo.html
Hello David, Thank you for creating such a detailed video. I was so inspired by it that I decided to try it myself. My first roast using my new SR800, in the garage on a warm day last week did not seem to go well. It was a natural Ethiopian so I wrote down the settings from this video intending to duplicate them during the roast cycle. After three minutes I realized that the temperature was severely lagging, so to keep the temperature rising I had to incrementally lower the fan to 4 and raise the power to 9 to finally get to 400F after 6 minutes, then first crack after 7 minutes and did not start cooling until after 8 minutes. This resulted in very inconsistent browning. I think I may have baked them.
While the machine was still warm I tried another batch, this time in the kitchen, starting with higher settings and more aggressive adjustments. Again needing to decrease fan to 4 and increase power to 9 but barely reaching 400F at 6 minutes followed by weak first crack then I started cooling a minute later. Again the roast seems to be uneven, probably because of the low fan setting needed to increase the temperature. I started with green weight of 226 grams, and a finished roasted weight of 203 grams, does that seem right? Also, I have verified that I am on a 20amp circuit. I have watched your video several times and it seems like my roaster is not working like yours. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks
Hey Joe! You seem to be doing everything right. Are you using an extension cord? Nothing else is plugged in or running on that circuit correct? If it's neither of these 2 things, I'd reach out to the manufacturer as you may have a bad heating element on your roaster. This is extremely rare, but mistakes do happen! Go to home roasting supplies . com and click support. If you just bought your machine, it is still under warranty!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee I bought the extension tube and it was a game changer. I was amazed how much it seems to improve the efficiency of the SR800. I am still experimenting with different roast settings but I never seem to have a bad roast, so now I am having fun and enjoying amazing coffee daily. Thanks for your help.
@@joemacias2360 My pleasure, you made my day!
It's voltage problem, my roaster at fan 9 power 1 reach 400 easily my voltage 130V so i can't spend enough time in drying phase , and it's become big problem when i use extention tube because the tube increase temperature more 😑
Have you made a video or do you have a template for creating light roast Ethiopian with the SR800 and the Glass Extension Tube? I realize it will only be slightly different than what you showed in this video but would be helpful to know how much different the fan settings will be.
Thank you for creating these videos.
I plan on doing an updated "ULTIMATE" guide with more guidance on the extension tube settings (likely sometime this year) but in the meantime, this video on Honey Processing with the tube should give you some guidance on fan use with the extension! ua-cam.com/video/UhL-hDdCGXI/v-deo.html
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Thank you! Looking forward to seeing the videos you are working on with the extension tube. I will take a look at the honey processing video in the mean time.
Just a suggestion it would be helpful on the newer videos you are creating to have an excel spreadsheet or a summary or your roast listing out fan speed (1-9), power setting (1-9) and temperature read out on SR800 versus time. I am creating an excel spreadsheet looking at your video so it is easier to reference and get me started while I am trying to perfect getting an Ethiopian Light Roast.
By the way, in these video do you pre-warm the chamber before putting the beans in? Power setting, fan setting and duration would be helpful if you do.
@@vincentrovedatti8677 regarding preheat - I do not preheat the SR800, air roasters typically function best when between batch protocol (BBP) has the roaster returning to room temperature between roasts! RE spreadsheet: this kind of gets to the heart of the difficulty teaching home roasting. It's not the same as baking, i.e. making a recipe will only work with one specific coffee in a very controlled environment. I've always had the philosophy that it's best to teach people how to understand how roasting works so they can learn how best to practice roasting. It's more like teaching someone how to play an instrument! The demos are simply meant to give you a starting point or jumping off point. It won't work for every single coffee OR every single person's desired outcome in the cup even if it did work for every single coffee!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Thank you! I will not preheat then. Your logic makes sense. I agree that coffee roasting and baking are not the same.
Also thank you for your quick responses. Hope you have a great day! Keep doing what you are doing. You are creating great videos and good coffee!
@@vincentrovedatti8677 many thanks!!!
Natural process is the best
I'm impressed you are doing 225g naturals without the extension tube. I struggled to do that. With the extension I do 230g for washed and naturals. I may bump up my charge to 250g a bit.
Yeah if you ride the settings, you shouldn't have a problem! As long as you are getting ample power (use a 20amp outlet w/ nothing else plugged in and no extension cord in 60-90 F ambient temps)
Thanks for this excellent video. It is great to see the light profile for the basic fundamentals demonstrated.
Hello! Just started learning about roasting and I’m excited to start my own. Funny question but how do you store a coffee like this after it has been roasted to degas and for how long usually? Thank you!
Thank you for making this video! I just got one of these today for Xmas and after watching this I felt confident using it for the first time. I will definitely pay it forward and order some beans from you in the future!
Awesome! Thanks so much and welcome your new favorite hobby!
It was nice talking to you today, can't wait for my SR800 to arrive! Keep the great videos coming!
It was a pleasure talking to you too! The videos are making a comeback soon 😅
Hi David. I just used this roast profile for a batch of dry processed Timor Leste Kailitau yesterday with my SR-540. It seems to have been perfect. Batch size was 120g and hit 1C at around 5:30. I hit cool at 6:15 and they turned out a nice even milk chocolate color. I can’t wait to try them in a few days.
Can't wait to hear your results, Timor coffee is super underrated
My first batch of the Timor went to a Full City+ just to the beginning of a rolling 2C. I’m definitely looking forward to trying it much lighter.
@@TheCaptainsCoffee I brewed up some of this Timor light roast today. The flavor is pretty good. A lot brighter than the medium dark roast I did with this bean earlier, but I seemed to have an extraction problem with my French press. I didn’t seem to get a full brew out of it this time. Not sure what went wrong. I did the same amount of steeping time as I usually do, but the color of the coffee was really light compared to what I usually get.
@@joshvooris5387 what's your brew protocol? Grind size, brew weight, water temp, water amount? Folks usually develop their brew protocol based on their roast and what they're trying to get out of the bean flavor wise, might have to reassess it with a significantly different roast profile!
Also meant to ask are you calling 1C the very first crack or once you get a few cracks in quick succession?
Cant wait to get my hands on some juicy Brazilian naturals!
So light roast is basically 30/45 seconds after the a few first cracks?
There's a few factors at play but a good rule of thumb is under a minute into 1st crack!
Do you have starter recipes like this for various coffees in a doc somewhere?
We don't unfortunately 😔 It's always kind of a moving target and every coffee is a little different, so I try to give more of a general idea of what I want to see happening in the roaster! The general idea is start with fan all the way up and power way low. Bring the fan down throughout the roast whenever the beans get jumpy enough and increase the power throughout the roast when you need more heat but can't drop the fan 😉 And then of course your target roast level changes all those specifics a little and how long your roast should be, etc
Hi David did you ever get the Aillio roaster if so will you have some videos on it in the future thanks in advance
Hey Ed! I did! I love it! I will do some videos about it in the future, but probably less than for other home roasters as I think the audience is low due to the price of the machine sadly
Will you do washed as well? Thank you!!
Absolutley! Any specific questions or concerns I can address in that video?
@@TheCaptainsCoffee if you do a video similar to this one but regarding washed processed then it will probably be perfect lol thank you!
Forgive me if this was addressed in the comments already, but what was the ambient air temp for this roast? I find that even when I’m more aggressive with the heat I don’t reach first crack until at least 8 min. This is using the SR800 and 8oz of beans in about 65F ambient air temp. Thanks!
This roast was indoors so right around 70F! This space had "perfect" conditions (great power supply, no extension code, etc) so I didn't have to push as much heat. If you are pushing more heat and still struggling you may look at your power situation (breaker 15+amps, no extension code, try a diff outlet). Otherwise, the extension tube solves all those problems! I can use it outside in the winter with an extension cord 😁
You sold me on the SR800! Ordering one now, goodbye to the old popcorn air popper.
That's awesome! If you're in the US, we've got them in stock right now, 6lbs of free green coffee and free shipping included! The link to our shop is in the description
@@TheCaptainsCoffee done! Just placed my order with y’all!
@@heven729 you're a gem! We'll get it out ASAP!
Do you have a tutorial for wet processed beans from Brazil, like Cerrado beans? I love your videos.
Hey Tony! Oddly enough, most Brazilian beans are natural processed! If you happened to grab some of the exception, I do indeed have a washed video: ua-cam.com/video/a6W07lbLWgw/v-deo.html
I allow the chaff to fall back in, then take the roast chamber over to the sink or walk outside and gently shake it while gently blowing and all the chaff is removed in a second or two. Keeps the counter cleanest this way. I also have probes installed in my lid and found that placing a plate in front of the roaster to set the lid and chaff collector on keeps the area much cleaner and I don't have to vacuum after every roast now.
Thank you so much for the video I bought the sr800 purely to try and get the blueberry flavors from my 2019 guji, and I'm going to try your recipe as it's not close to what I have been doing, so far I've failed completely with getting blueberry in the cup, even though the green beans smell like dried blueberries lol
A question I have for you though is how long do you let naturals rest after roasting and how long do you find the delicate fruit flavors stick around. I have heard wait 2 weeks for them to pop up, and I've heard drink all of it fast because 3 days after roast the fruit notes start to fade. The internet is a very frustrating place at times haha.
Excellent suggestion with the chaff! 1st, I'd say that you flavors from a 2 year old coffee have probably mellowed out quite a bit, potentially even if you've kept them vacuum sealed so that may be why you aren't tasting the notes as pronounced as you might like. For light roasts and resting, it is bean dependent, but I find 3 days at a bare minimum and typically peak at around 7ish days. That's why I always roast a couple batches and taste it each day after 3 till I find that specific coffee's peak. Then I'll know for the next batches when to crack it open!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee I'll try that thanks! I really hope the age of the coffee isn't as big of a deal as some think, but we had to buy a whole bag it was gr1 and only $2.75 a lb lol. I've had whiffs and hints of blueberry here and there so I don't want to give up lol.
Do you recommend preheating the chamber (the stock chamber, factory extension, Razzo)?
In my experience, the stock chamber and factory extension don't really benefit much from a preheat. With the stock chamber, the glass is too thin so it doesn't retain much. Opposite with the factory extension, it's so insulated that the heat builds up really fast without any pre-heat needed. The razzo is the exception since the glass is thicker but not double walled, so I actually do pre-heat it for 5 to 10 mins, especially on large batches!
Interesting, that you mention a 20 amp circuit. Nowhere in the manual does it mention this. I have 1700 kettles on a GFI in the kitchen, and have never had an issue. I'm thinking ONLY if you ran the heat at 9 from the get go could you possible trip a 15 Amp circuit. That said, I totally disclaim everything I've said to this point! haha. Nice video, and fine job with an Ethiopian..most of which are not the easiest to roast evenly. That was a big "charge" as well.
Thanks so much! Well, the 20 amp recommendation is a tiny bit overkill but it allows room for user error (forgetting an appliance was connected to the same circuit and it powers on etc). I always err on the side of being over prepared!
Complete newbie… my greens came today, my roaster arrives tomorrow 😂 I believe I want to begin with the organic natural Brazil to medium - any suggestions on how much longer I should go? Thanks! I have been absorbing all I can before I begin 😊
8 Oz coffee
Fan 9 heat 3- 1 minutes
Fan 8 heat 3- 1 minute
Fan seven heat 4 - 1:30
Fan seven heat 5- 1 minute
Fan 6 heat 5 - 1:30
Fan 6 heat 6 - 1 minute
Cool
Fan 6- 1 minute
Fan 7 1 minute
Fan 8 1 minute
great easy to reference profile, thanks for sharing!
Finally a plan: ... fan, temperature, and time. Short, easy ... a clear exemple, or suggestion, for the beginner. Thank you.
Thanks for the video - is there a reason you don't max out the fan during the cooling fan phase?
I do when the beans allow, but if the chamber is too full, you can blow them up into the chaff collector where they can get stuck and clog airflow!
David - given that rolling first crack lasts for some period of time (45 to 60 sec) when do you actually call first crack? I ask this because so many roasters, including yourself, talk about waiting so many min/sec after 1st crack to pull the roast. Thanks and look forward to your answer. (I roast on a SR800).
Excellent question! There is some bit of debate in the roasting community about this topic but the general consensus (and my opinion as well) is that it begins after a few snaps occur in quick succession or within a second or two. This can also help you to use what I call the "very first snap of 1C" as a marker compared to the actual beginning of 1C
Hey there,as usually amazing content. Do you think that even lighter roast is possible? I've got some honey process and they are apparently best roasted as light as possible? Thank you
You can certainly go lighter than this! This was just an example. I think my limit is about 30 seconds post 1C. And by that I mean 30secs after a confirmed 1C (a few snaps in quick succession) not just a single isolated crack!
I'd love to see a similar video, or at least a write up on honey/naturals on the Gene Cafe 👍🏻
Hey Matt! Definitely planning on doing lots of Gene Cafe videos starting later in the summer! I've got a couple more planned for the SR800 but then I'll start mixing in some for the Gene
At 2 minutes you can clean chaff collctor by using vacuum cleaner 😀
Excellent videos, and I have gotten the best roasts so far with your recipes. I tried the ones on reddit (which are F9/P9 as start, then raise temps by dropping fan power) but I found they roasted too fast and the flavor was bitter and just not right.
Question: Would the Guatamala Gesha be better utilizing your Washed recipe instead of this one? Thanks!
Hey Paul! Sadly I don't have a ton of experience with Gesha, but from what I know it's a very dense and well processed bean so the washed one could be a better fit! I'll have to get my hands on a bunch of gesha and make a video on it!
David - do you have a good template for roasting Kenyan AA in the SR800? Would love for you to go over it in a video or just share.
absolutely! It's on my ever growing "to-do" list haha!
David, thank you for another great video/demo! I wish I had watched this before roasting my first ever Ethiopia dry processed early this morning. Unfortunately I think I let it run 40 seconds too long and it ends up near City+ (and maybe entering Full City). Will definitely be bolder and end the roast the next time. Two questions though -- the SR800 is recommended to only roast 170g max for dry processed beans, as opposed to 225g wet due to chaff. Have you noticed any issue roasting dry processed beans at capacity? Secondly, I measure weight loss % of my roasts. Do dry processed beans experience more weight loss vs wet processed for the same roast level (again, due to more chaff)?
1: Lately I've been using a chaff collector extension kit I picked up off Razzo Roasting on Etsy, absolutely no issues with chaff while running it full capacity, even with dry/natural process! 2: Weight loss is a good ballpark but it's really specific to each bean and origin. There are so many variables that effect a beans moisture content prior to roasting that I don't recommend using it as a foolproof method of comparing roast levels across the board.
Hello! For a brazil pulped natural bean. How would you think it would be best for a medium roast? Thanks
Hey Wes! I think you'd be best off sticking to the same process I use in this video. The only thing you might wanna do different is keep your heat ramping up just a bit slower than I do in this example, since Brazil beans are usually a bit on the softer side
I see you let the machine finish the cool cycle to cool the beans and account for that in your total time. If a person was to dump & cool externally how much farther would you take the roast before ending the roast ? ( hit cool & dump into a bean cooler) thanks
I actually consider the cool section to be a separate cycle of the roasting process and don't count it in my roast time, I just leave the clock running so I know when the cycle is about to end (3 mins from end of roast cycle). Cooling and dumping in a bean cooler works just fine! Either way, I consider it separate from the roast time
What are the suggested settings with the extension tube
I'd suggest trying the settings/template I use in this video: ua-cam.com/video/UhL-hDdCGXI/v-deo.html. See how things go for you and adjust subsequent batches as needed! Remember to pay attention to the "why" of why I make the adjustments I do, it's more important to eventually understand why adjustments may be needed as you learn, that way you can begin to branch out from our template and feel comfortable making your own adjustments!
I'm playing around with dumping the beans right after they finish first crack, or a little after, so I can cool them quicker. Am I missing out on some development by doing this? I felt like with the fan on high but the temp still high in the chamber I might be continuing the roast and over roasting.
End of 1C to right after 1C should give you a light-medium to medium roast, excellent starting point for nearly all coffees! Regardless of what the Power setting is at during cool, the heating element is completely turned off during the cooling cycle, no worries there
@@TheCaptainsCoffee I was worried about that as the element still had the same power setting and I was hoping I wasn’t going to overcook. I watched your videos on washed vs natural and I roasted a whole pound today. FC was within 5 seconds on each roast and I set it to cool after FC. They both looked beautiful. Your videos are amazing, thank you!
I'm no expert but I like when the beans are moving more, is this a good enough amount of movement to keep beans from getting unevenly roasted and scorching some beans? I have the extended chamber which helps with having more headroom and also gives more bean movement with lower fan settings.
I've found that I have no issue as long as there's a gentle agitation. This is coffee permitting of course, naturals will always be less even than washed coffees. That being said, it's really a heat to movement ratio. As long as you're not blasting the power to 9, you can have less movement. If you prefer faster, hotter roast profiles, the extension tube is extremely helpful in getting there without having issues like tipping!
Will these tips transfer if I use the SR540 with extension tube?
The general principals will! You can also check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/MlhkU0n_ZxI/v-deo.html. In general, the main difference is you'll need to turn down both fan and power settings 4 to 5 notches from the non-extension tube settings
Hi avid - do the bens have to rest before roasting?
I highly recommend resting the beans 48-72 hours AFTER roasting! Some beans will even need up to 5 days of rest to be at their best
Would you use this recipe for monsooned malabar to get a nice mellow and sweet, NOT light and sour taste for espresso? If not what would you change?
Monsooned malabar is kinda it's own strange beast! I haven't roasted it in a few years, but I remember it preferring a slow addition of heat then kinda taking off in late maillard. Sorry I can't recall more, I hope that helps!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Sounds similar to the recipe in the video. Guess that would be the template to start with?
Terrific!
Wondering why you were not using the extension tube for this roasting and the medium roasting in the other video?
I vastly prefer roasting with the extension tube! But I wanted a few guides on how folks could get the most out of the stock chamber if their budget was too tight to add the tube right away.
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Got it, I will watch the extension tube video again. Any recommendations? I guess I will lower the power a little, pay more attention to keep the same temperature when I use the tube.
@@WangQuiMihonestly my recent decaf video is my most updated method with the extension tube and with that particular decaf I barely had to change anything in the demo from what I would have done with a conventional coffee!
@@WangQuiMiI've got other demos with the extension tube that you might find helpful. Our most recent video with the tube is on decaf, but I use almost exactly the same approach in that demo as I do with conventional coffee, so check our channel for that decaf video!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Thanks, I'll take a look
You stop the roast before the end of first crack, I think. Do you need to remove the under-roasted beans? How do you judge what to remove and what to keep in a light roast?
I hit FC at 6mins 13s and let it crack for 45 seconds (10:17 in the video if you'd like to review). The uneven appearance you're seeing is due to this being a natural processed heirloom varietal coffee, which is uneven in appearance while green as well! Yes, there will be a variance of roast levels, but this is difficult to avoid with natural processed heirloom Ethiopian coffees. This adds to the complexity of the cup and roasting to the point that you have a more even appearance makes the cup more dull and removes most of the fruity origin flavor that I like to get out of natural processed. But that's just my approach to light roasting naturals, you're welcome to roast however floats your boat, that's the best part about home roasting!
I like fruity light roasts, but with uneven roasts I do end up with some yellowish, underdeveloped beans. I’ve been removing those.
@@edneely ahh well if we're talking about a few floaters (or quakers as they are sometimes called) that is normal and I also cull those beans! Higher grades (GR1 and GR2 for example) shouldn't have more than a gram or two per 8 oz batch and are easily identifiable as they are much lighter roasted than the rest. These are beans which were not fully ripe when picked.
Are there natural and honey processed beans - not only from Arabica, but also Robusta, Liberica and Excelsia?
I assume so, but nearly all my experience is with Arabica so I'm really not sure!
What should be the power when cooling?
the number displayed under power doesn't really matter once you hit cool - the cooling cycle cuts power to the heating element completely
Damn my roaster must be broken. I’ve never got to 400 degrees yet
Most issues I see with this one of these three (assuming you're not trying to roast more than 8oz): 1. Don't use an extension cord if you can help it. If you have to, use a heavy duty (12ga) cord that's as short as possible. 2. Make sure you're using an outlet that is rated for 20amps and nothing else is on the circuit. 3. If you're not roasting inside and it's cold out, you are gonna have to crank up the heat a lot! Really if it's under 65F outside, you'll need to crank it. It's also possible your wiring in your home may be poor. In any case, none of these things are an issue with the extension tube! So if you can't avoid some of these issues (gotta roast outside when it's cold, gotta use an extension cord, poor wiring in your home) I'd HIGHLY recommend the extension tube, makes all those things a non-issue.
This is not a light roast. A light roast shouldn't exceed 380 degrees and at times depending on preference shouldn't even reach first crack.
Not sure where you've heard that, but it's commonly accepted among professional roasters that the minimum acceptable roast level must reach first crack. That's when development phase begins after all! Without reaching development phase, your coffee is guaranteed to be underdeveloped :) But hey! I'm not one to tell anyone how to enjoy their coffee so if you like your coffee roasted before first crack, feel free!
@@TheCaptainsCoffee Dude you passed 310 (drying) and went into Maillard in less than 2 minutes. Your latest Artisan video/log shows a good 3.5 minutes before 310 and then another 3.5 in Maillard before FC commences and then you show ~2 minutes until FC finishes when you pull it. Granted this is BT heat and not the air temp from the SR800 gauge but I am guessing that the reason why Sweet Marias "stretchin' the roast" blog posts claim greater body is that there's more conversion of carbs with a longer drying and FC periods. I use the SR800 air temp gauge and I've never had it exceed 425F on roasts and that's only at the very end of the FC. I want to retain some of those delicate citrus aromatics...
@@patrickhalstead74 I think it's easy to miss how far apart display temp (we'll call it DT) and bean temp (BT) really are! This makes sense considering DT is measuring temperature of air entering the chamber, therefore it must be significantly ahead of BT in order to drive BT upwards. If DT is 310, I'd estimate BT (based on color and smell) to be in the low 200s. Also, with the extension tube, the efficiency in the system is nearly doubled, so now that I have BT readings, I consistently find that if I want a reasonably fast roast, I'm keeping DT 75 to 100F ahead of BT early in the roast, then 50 to 75F ahead of BT during the later half of the roast. Measuring BT, I drop my light/fruity/floral/bright roasts at 400-410F (usually 30secs to 1:15 into 1st crack, depending on the coffee). With the extension tube, my DT at drop is usually 460-470F. With the stock chamber, that'd be more like the number you're quoting, for me around 430-440. Like you, my "preferred" roast is light and bright, but we do lots of test roasting at various levels around here since everyone likes their coffee a little differently ☺
Would the process be slightly different with the oem extension?
Definitely! You don't nearly as much power and you can let the fan do most of the work. Oddly enough, watch our Decaf video for a demo with the extension that shows my approach to most coffees using the OEM extension. You'll just need to make some minor tweaks using the same logic as I do in this video.
@@TheCaptainsCoffee ok great! Thanks for the quick reply