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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:I started oven roasting my own coffee recently; grabbed some green beans out of the discount bin from Sweet Maria's distribution center around here. It's going better than expected, but I made some cold brew out of some and there's this white, cloudy layer on the top. I looked it up (first thought was that it's mold) it seems to be solid resins coming from the beans. It's not bad but I don't think I like it, plus it grosses people out when I pull a pitcher of coffee that looks like this: No knowledge of if it's a problem or not, but I had that happen last time I attempted cold brew and it grossed me out so much I dumped the whole thing. You might be able to avoid the resins congealing if you steep at room temperature? Not sure, haven't tried it. I strongly doubt it's harmful but you still don't want to have it.
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May 5, 2018 18:53
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I've never made cold brew myself but a guy I know that runs a roasters/coffee shop recommends 6-8 hours steep in a cool room, then refrigerate after you filter it.
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May 5, 2018 19:31
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:They were left to rest in the open for 12 hours, then stored in a zip bag. I ground them with a simple electric hand grinder to coarse, though a lot ended up finer with the lovely grinder I've got. After that, I threw a cup and a half in a gallon pickling jar with 2 cups of ice, 8 cups of water. 24 hours later, I get three layers: grounds at the bottom, coffee in the middle, cloudy white layer on top. This gets put through a fine metal screen filter into my pitcher. I skimmed some with a spoon last time I made this and it tasted like peanut butter. Bizarre. Not bad, but bizarre.
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May 5, 2018 20:34
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I cold brew on my counter, so after icing the grounds it's exposed to room temperature air for 12+ hours. I've done tons of cold brew like this with pre-ground beans, little to no resins. I'll look into degassing for a longer stretch of time, but my other thoughts are regarding grind/chaff. I'm not really great at removing chaff from my beans, so that's a possible source. I also have a very inconsistent grinder which will always powder some of the beans I try grinding. I think it's also possible the resins are coming from this fine grinding. I'll try those and report back, maybe get a picture of my most recent batch with a cloudy layer instead of the congealed specks from that half-finished pitcher. Thanks for the advice so far.
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May 5, 2018 20:50
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rockcity posted:Dual boiler machines have separate boilers for the espresso grouphead and the steam wand. Single boiler units have one boiler that runs both. The two function at different temperatures so if you have a single boiler you either have to steam first, then purge the boiler to get the temp down or pull your shot first, then wait for the machine to heat the boiler up to steam temps. A dual boiler you can go back to back immediately or even do both at the same time. Dual boiler units are generally a whole lot more money and aren't too common in consumer level machines because of that price delta. So, looking for a machine recommendation, what about heat exchangers? I just moved across the country and didn't feel like packing my trusty old Breville thermoblock machine (an older version of The Infuser), as I figured it'd be an excuse to splurge on a new machine as a housewarming gift. Now, I was considering going all the way and getting a dual boiler, but from what I'm reading, heat exchangers perform have their own upsides and downsides? I don't mind needing more control over the brewing variables, I'll be sure to get a good, consistent grinder to go with. The Breville I had didn't have PID or pressure information of any kind, and my biggest gripe was I had absolutely no way of getting consistent steam output for frothing milk. So a PID would be aces. I was looking at the Rocket Giotto, but I'm not sure what's the difference between the Type V and the Evoluzione R. There's also the Rocket R58 if I do go for a dual boiler... Breville also seems to have some pretty aggressively priced machines with those features, and they've been treating me well, but I don't have aboslute brand loyalty either. My budget sweet spot is ~$2000, though I could extend to $3000 if it's really worth it.
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May 5, 2018 21:43
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Jan posted:So, looking for a machine recommendation, what about heat exchangers? I just moved across the country and didn't feel like packing my trusty old Breville thermoblock machine (an older version of The Infuser), as I figured it'd be an excuse to splurge on a new machine as a housewarming gift. Now, I was considering going all the way and getting a dual boiler, but from what I'm reading, heat exchangers perform have their own upsides and downsides? I love my Rocket! R is rotary pump model. Giotto is a HX, R58 is dual boiler.
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May 6, 2018 00:16
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And get a good grinder!
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May 6, 2018 05:54
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Anyone seen this new roaster on kickstarter? https://www.kickstarter.com/project...3&utm_medium=FB In the FAQ, it says it's designed for 100-120g of coffee and that using a small amount of coffee like that helps to minimize the exhaust. They say that it works similar to a toaster, and you will be able to smell the coffee like you would be able to smell toasting bread. Thoughts on this? They're treating it as an indoor roasting machine. I have an air popper that I usually roast 100-140g of coffee in and there's no way I could do it inside. When I take it to FC levels, it's usually already generating smoke and my clothes get permeated from being outside with the roaster doing more than a batch of coffee. I'm not sure if the double walled chamber will do anything except to keep the outside cool, and for the $200+ that they want for it, I think I'll wait for it to successfully launch and read some reviews on it.
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May 8, 2018 14:46
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Yeesh, I can’t imagine wanting to roast coffee every few days.
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May 8, 2018 14:50
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Clark Nova posted:Yeesh, I can’t imagine wanting to roast coffee every few days. That's a good point. With my air popper, I'd usually roast 2-3 batches of 100-140g at a time, and that would get me through a 1-1.5 weeks. The way the video appears to handle things is they are trying to market it towards people that think fresh is the best and you should roast your coffee immediately before brewing every morning. In the video it says you can roast enough for one cup or one pot...but the the FAQ says it's designed to work best with 100-120g. I can't imagine waking up every day to roast 17g of coffee for my aeropress, not to mention the outgassing. But then their FAQ says that their research led all over the place regarding outgassing and that they encourage people to experiment with different times and figure out what works best for them. Ok...
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May 8, 2018 15:00
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nwin posted:That's a good point. With my air popper, I'd usually roast 2-3 batches of 100-140g at a time, and that would get me through a 1-1.5 weeks. The way the video appears to handle things is they are trying to market it towards people that think fresh is the best and you should roast your coffee immediately before brewing every morning. In the video it says you can roast enough for one cup or one pot...but the the FAQ says it's designed to work best with 100-120g. I can't imagine waking up every day to roast 17g of coffee for my aeropress, not to mention the outgassing. But then their FAQ says that their research led all over the place regarding outgassing and that they encourage people to experiment with different times and figure out what works best for them. Ok... I think the general consensus and what I've found is that the beans keep roasting or outgassing for several days and you don't get near the flavor in the first day as 2-7 days later. The whole thing looks very beta to me. Their smoke containment seems poorly thought out.
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May 8, 2018 15:17
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I let mine cool on paper plates for a few hours, and then put them in bags with check valves and squeeze every so often. If it doesn't gas for at least a day, the extent of blooming makes it unmanageable to brew. If I have a big batch, I will roast a bunch in a day and draw from it like normal to time out the taste to my preference. Half of the nesco is a catalytic converter, and it is easily tolerable in my apartment. You can smell it enough anyways to time out roasts; I find myself going by sound and smell as opposed to going by the timer on it anyways.
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May 8, 2018 16:14
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I enjoy drinking coffee too much to get into roasting.
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May 8, 2018 17:44
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Buying coffee is starting to get too expensive IMO. I go to this place called Verve coffee and even their blends are over $20 for 12oz. I might need to roast again.
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May 8, 2018 19:27
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Clark Nova posted:Yeesh, I can’t imagine wanting to roast coffee every few days. Ugh, I can't imagine not having fresh coffee. I use a Behmor and roast (for espresso) 8oz every 3-4 days. I guess you could go a week or so if you're doing brewed coffee, but if I pull a shot with week old coffee I can barely get a quarter inch of crema.
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May 8, 2018 20:06
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Mu Zeta posted:Buying coffee is starting to get too expensive IMO. I go to this place called Verve coffee and even their blends are over $20 for 12oz. I might need to roast again. I have had their beans, and while they are good, I'm not sure they're $20 a bag good. They've gotten well enough known I imagine they're trying to pad their margins to account for it. I guess single origin and direct from farmers and all that is probably part of it. A bag of beans just shouldn't run you over $20 unless it's really something special. That being said, I still think there's a place to use Robusto, and that's next to a campfire in a makeshift french press that's really just the small pot you brought with to boil water. It's a new experience of coffee making, only $500 for a weekend with as much coffee as you want to drink. All the hipsters were just doing it a couple weeks ago, so you know it was cool for a moment.
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May 8, 2018 20:07
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I got to play with the Ikawa home roaster at this year's London Coffee Festival and I'm totally sold on low capacity home roasting to be honest. It only does 50-60g at a time but takes 15 minutes and doesn't need the multiple day off-gassing period of bigger roasters. They supply roasting profiles to use via their app and it's pretty simple to tweak compared to older home roasters. They roasted 50g in 15 minutes while brewing me a cup with some beans roasted a few hours previously and it was really nice and well developed. I took the freshly roasted beans home and brewed a really good cup that evening. The noise/smell/smoke was properly minimal and I wouldn't have any problem using it in my kitchen. The only stinger is the price tag - £1300 - which is too much for me at the moment. Maybe in a few years when it comes down into three digits.
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May 8, 2018 21:49
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God dammit. I bought a nespresso in December and have been loving that and it has me seriously wanting to buy some sort of super auto and all the necessary supporting tools. I put this Delonghi on my wishlist and am trying to talk myself out of pulling the trigger on it. God dammit.
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May 8, 2018 21:54
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you came to the wrong thread, fucker, cause guess who bought a cheaper version of that model and is absolutely in love with it? it's me. i'm the one who bought the cheaper model and is in love with it now's a pretty drat good time to buy, seeing as the cheapest it's ever been was $30 cheaper and that was years ago (though this is only direct from Amazon, third party sellers have gone even lower). I guarantee you'll love it way more than the nespresso. my morning routine is so much more enjoyable now, I wake up, turn it on, push a button, and bam, cafe-quality coffee right then and there. we're all filthy enablers in here.  graph of the price trends over the past year, not much fluctuation in terms of discounts. red line is third party - used, which is a no thanks. blue is third party new, and green is amazon directly. Qubee fucked around with this message at 22:40 on May 8, 2018 |
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May 8, 2018 22:33
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kim jong-illin posted:I got to play with the Ikawa home roaster at this year's London Coffee Festival and I'm totally sold on low capacity home roasting to be honest. It only does 50-60g at a time but takes 15 minutes and doesn't need the multiple day off-gassing period of bigger roasters. They supply roasting profiles to use via their app and it's pretty simple to tweak compared to older home roasters. Those things look really nice, but that price is just obscene to me for the end result. It's super cool and all but so much of that is just unnecessary to me for something of that batch size. I would only be willing to spend that much on a roaster if I were making money with it personally. I use a Behmor and roast at night anyway so it's ready for brewing in the AM. I'm actually considering getting a roaster that is sort of the opposite end of that tech which is a motor driven metal rotisserie drum that I can run in my gas grill. A friend of mine who loves my coffee and owns a store approached me on coming up with a blend of coffee branded to her shop. I just couldn't brew enough in my Behmor to even make the effort worth it. But for maybe $500 in equipment I could gas roast about 5-10lbs at a time.
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May 9, 2018 01:51
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I currently make coffee as follows: 8 o'clock red whole Columbian beans Shittiest electric spin blade grinder 15:1 in a French press for 8 minutes (it tasted kinda weak when I did much less than this. I measure with a food scale) It turns out much better than work coffee, but I suspect I could do way better without huge investments. What would you suggest as the first couple steps? Assume no home roasting available, I have horrible ventilation. I have a moka stove pot as well. I'll define huge investment loosely, but my current setup is like dozens of dollars, so orders of magnitude higher is probably a little much. silvergoose fucked around with this message at 04:38 on May 9, 2018 |
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May 9, 2018 04:35
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The only upgrade I suggest is a better grinder. If you can handle manual grinding then a Hario Skerton Pro will produce much better tasting coffee. Also you should try brewing just 4 minutes after you upgrade the grinder. The Hario will let you adjust the grind size unlike the electric, and that is crucial. The grinder is your main problem.
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May 9, 2018 06:49
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A burr grinder would probably give less sludge. Five minutes with slightly more coffee might get a better result.
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May 9, 2018 06:52
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rockcity posted:Those things look really nice, but that price is just obscene to me for the end result. It's super cool and all but so much of that is just unnecessary to me for something of that batch size. I would only be willing to spend that much on a roaster if I were making money with it personally. I use a Behmor and roast at night anyway so it's ready for brewing in the AM. I completely agree about it being wildly overpriced. I got the impression the commercial model is selling well (they namedropped a bunch of WBC competitors who used it for their competition beans) and they're hoping home prosumers who'll drop four digits on an espresso machine would be tempted to add this to their collection too.
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May 9, 2018 07:05
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Consider a Chemex and a permanent metal filter along with a better grinder, yeah.
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May 9, 2018 13:24
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Qubee posted:you came to the wrong thread, fucker, cause guess who bought a cheaper version of that model and is absolutely in love with it? it's me. i'm the one who bought the cheaper model and is in love with it You're not helping. So what else should I grab when I pull the trigger? Knock box for the dregs I assume. Anything else? Do I need a tamper or does it do that for me?
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May 9, 2018 15:05
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Qubee posted:you came to the wrong thread, fucker, cause guess who bought a cheaper version of that model and is absolutely in love with it? it's me. i'm the one who bought the cheaper model and is in love with it What is this tool you are using to make your pricing report? I need this as much as I need a super auto.
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May 9, 2018 16:20
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CamelCamelCamel I assume
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May 9, 2018 17:10
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:You're not helping. I am here to help you spiral further into the all-encompassing addiction that is coffee. No need for a knock box my dude, the DeLonghi has an internal knockbox with a neat little warning light that tells you when to empty it. I get through about 10 coffees before it kindly asks me to clean that poo poo out. porktree posted:What is this tool you are using to make your pricing report? I need this as much as I need a super auto. ask and ye shall receive, it's incredible. can use it to set up pricing alerts and everything. only caveat is using it turns the Amazon link into a referral one that pays camelcamelcamel, so if I'm feeling particularly tight-arsed, I'll open a brand new Amazon page before buying. https://camelcamelcamel.com
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May 9, 2018 17:11
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I'm back with an update about my coffee sludge problem. It's gone. My only changed variable was that I skipped the lovely electric grinder and borrowed a hand grinder. No coffee dust, no white cloud at the top of my coffee. Weird. I still wonder if it's a chaff problem or a sticky coffee resin problem. It still weirds me out that it tasted like peanut butter, but I'm over it. Hand grinders are my new favorite love/hate relationship. I don't really have a dog in the roasting fight, but since I started a month ago, I see no reason to stop roasting with a convection oven. It only takes 10 minutes tops for me to make a half pound of decent medium roast (FC?), stirring via transfer from one oven pan to another. The flip takes maybe ten seconds and the whole process is done in 20 minutes. I just pour, shake it flat and throw it back in. Convection ovens rule and the roast has little variation bean-to-bean. It also makes it easy to do gradient roasts; some light, some medium, some dark. Plus a convection oven is about as expensive as some of those roasters I'm seeing.
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May 9, 2018 18:21
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Can't go wrong with a heat gun and a stainless steel dog bowl. Well, unless you don't like smelling like french toast and being covered in chaff.
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May 9, 2018 18:56
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Qubee posted:I am here to help you spiral further into the all-encompassing addiction that is coffee. No need for a knock box my dude, the DeLonghi has an internal knockbox with a neat little warning light that tells you when to empty it. I get through about 10 coffees before it kindly asks me to clean that poo poo out. I am so weak willed. At least when I ordered it was $515. So...beans. I know not to use "espresso roast" beans that are oily, so what should I be looking for in a good bean for this contraption? If it helps, for regular coffee my go to is sumatran.
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May 9, 2018 19:23
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Qubee posted:ask and ye shall receive, it's incredible. can use it to set up pricing alerts and everything. only caveat is using it turns the Amazon link into a referral one that pays camelcamelcamel, so if I'm feeling particularly tight-arsed, I'll open a brand new Amazon page before buying. Awesome. I feel like there is a DJI Mavic in my future. You are a trusty enabler.
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May 9, 2018 19:38
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:I am so weak willed. Now you're in for it... Where are you located? There's good mail order options out there but it's always nice to be able to walk into a cafe and ask them to talk you through flavor profiles, brewing methods, etc.
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May 9, 2018 22:52
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JohnCompany posted:Now you're in for it... Virginia Beach
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May 9, 2018 23:22
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Decided to try out the French Press for work mornings and give the Behmor a break for a bit. Seems like my heartburn issue was probably more caused by Friday night's drinking, the coffee has been fine all this week. I've noticed that when I give it a minute to bloom, I'm not really getting any bubbles, is that potentially from soaking with too much water? edit: Did a little googling, looks like my beans are just old.
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May 10, 2018 19:43
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^burtle posted:Decided to try out the French Press for work mornings and give the Behmor a break for a bit. Seems like my heartburn issue was probably more caused by Friday night's drinking, the coffee has been fine all this week. Yeah, I only get bubbling if I'm brewing within a few days of roasting.
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May 10, 2018 21:43
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Hi thread, So my old school flat-burr cusinart grinder finally is kicking the bucket and I'd like to upgrade to something newer. I ordered a capresso infinity (plastic one) and it really feels cheap to me, like I'm going to break this thing in a few days. Am I expecting too much out of this price point (~$150)? Is the stainless steel model capresso/baratza encore a better buy for long term use? I really only use it for drip in the morning and the occasional French press so I don't need anything fancy or over the top. I've read enough on here to know I'm not interested in buying something espresso-capable for home. The other option is to just get another cusinart...they even make a conical version of this thing. I've had mine for like 8 years and used it literally daily with pretty great results, never skipping a beat 'till this week, these things seem to be built like tanks... Any recommendations?
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May 11, 2018 03:24
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The Baratza Encore is probably what you want, yeah. It's not as nice as the Virtuoso but it's only $140 and is a fantastic and reliable burr grinder for the price point. You can sometimes find refurbs for cheaper on the Baratza site too, but it's fairly rare.
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May 11, 2018 03:41
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Sydin posted:The Baratza Encore is probably what you want, yeah. It's not as nice as the Virtuoso but it's only $140 and is a fantastic and reliable burr grinder for the price point. You can sometimes find refurbs for cheaper on the Baratza site too, but it's fairly rare. This is what I sort of thought... Is the virtuoso worth the extra $$? There is a refurbished one in their website.
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May 11, 2018 04:13
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