Opinions of 1 pound sample roasters

[peterjschmidt]

After being in business for a bit over a year, I don't roast many batches under six or seven pounds. For instance, this morning I arrived at the shop and realized we were running low on our Peruvian French roast. We'd just finished a bag so it was time to get into a new offering. I opened the bag, scooped out seven pounds or so and fired up the roaster. When the bean mass reached 439* I pulled a sample with the trier and quickly put it in the freezer to cool. I did the same at 448* and 458* before completing the roast at 465*.

After a few minutes, all beans were cooled to room temp. Most of the beans roasted to French will be sold today and tomorrow. The small samples as well as a bit of the final product will be cupped Tuesday morning when my Guinea pigs arrive for our weekly experimentation. This way, we have samples from four different roast levels. Folks will buy the French roast but I'm interested in finding the sweet spot for this lot of beans.

But what do you when you need a different Peru, and want to sample several lots from your importer? Do you request/roast/cup samples, or take the word of the importer on the quality of their Peru?

And, saying chast's 3K roaster is a sample roaster comes off as a bit condescending. A 3K roaster is not a sample roaster.

@nickwin, you don't necessarily need a sample roaster to work out profiles that will translate over to your shop roaster; you simply need a reliably consistent way to roast 8oz. in order to give that coffee a thumbs up or down. I think you would well served by a Hottop or a Huky, the point being that you could keep your main roaster doing one task (making money) while at the same time a sample roaster could be preparing samples to cup.

 

[eldub]

I take the word of the importer when I order new lots of coffee. They know I'm only looking for their best lots.

We've only been in business for a year but I'm already regularly roasting batches twice the size a 3kg machine can handle. Not trying to be condescending, but I think a 3kg machine is one a professional roaster would quickly grow out of.

 

[nickwin]

I take the word of the importer when I order new lots of coffee. They know I'm only looking for their best lots.

We've only been in business for a year but I'm already regularly roasting batches twice the size a 3kg machine can handle. Not trying to be condescending, but I think a 3kg machine is one a professional roaster would quickly grow out of.

Remember it's all relative and depends on what kind of business you are doing (are you doing any wholesale?) In the general scheme of things a 12 kilo is still a very small roaster. Someone with a 30 kilo would say the same thing about your 12 kilo… and some roasting on a full bag roaster would say the same thing about a 30 kilo.

I know for a fact that I am going to want to sample cup every green coffee that I have the option to sample. Its not that I won't have any faith in importers, but because we might have different tastes and be looking for different things. The bottom line is importers want to sell all of there coffee and I only want to buy a small fraction of those. Beyond that, it's just the kind of person I am, I'll want to try each green 10 different ways to find its "perfect" profile. From what others are saying even a a 3 kilo roasting 1-.5lbs will be no walk in the park.

The Quest M3/Husky are looking like cheaper alternatives that would probably serve my purposes. But at the same time, even though the US Roaster 1 lbs cost 4x the Quest m3, its built like a true commercial roaster and should run for a lifetime, Whereas the Quest I'm not sure about.

 

[eldub]

I want to find the perfect roast level for each bag of beans as well. That's what a trier is for. Yesterday I roasted a single batch of Peruvian to four different levels by pulling samples from the barrel with the trier at each desired stage of development.

If you call Dan at US Coffee Roasters he will tell you that their 5 kg machine can easily roast one pound of beans at a time.

 

[nickwin]

I want to find the perfect roast level for each bag of beans as well. That's what a trier is for. Yesterday I roasted a single batch of Peruvian to four different levels by pulling samples from the barrel with the trier at each desired stage of development.

If you call Dan at US Coffee Roasters he will tell you that their 5 kg machine can easily roast one pound of beans at a time.

I understand you can use the trier to sample different roast levels within a single roast, but what about experimenting with different profiles?

 

[eldub]

I experiment with different roast profiles every day. Believe it or not, very few of your customers are going to be able to tell the difference. You will get compliments on your fresh offerings regardless of minute changes you make in order to perfect your product. And also keep in mind that your sample roaster and production roaster will both roast a bit differently, IMO. You might have to of different things on each machine to get the exact same results.

I'll always be looking to perfect my roasting technique. But in my experience, very few people have a sufficiently discerning palate to notice the subtle improvements I look to make each time I fire up the roaster.

 

[nickwin]

I experiment with different roast profiles every day. Believe it or not, very few of your customers are going to be able to tell the difference. You will get compliments on your fresh offerings regardless of minute changes you make in order to perfect your product. And also keep in mind that your sample roaster and production roaster will both roast a bit differently, IMO. You might have to of different things on each machine to get the exact same results.

I'll always be looking to perfect my roasting technique. But in my experience, very few people have a sufficiently discerning palate to notice the subtle improvements I look to make each time I fire up the roaster.

Very interesting. I appreciate you sharing the insights!

 

[nickwin]

Does anyone have any experience roasting a Husky/Quest AND a US Roaster or San Franciscan 1 lbs that could comment on how they alike and different?

 

[peterjschmidt]

Also, the trier may be large enough on a 12K roaster to pull out samples for cupping at varying temps, but on a 3K the trier is most likely so small that it would take at least 4 or 5 "trier-fulls" to get a sample for cupping, and at some stages of the roast, say at FC where the beans are going exothermic heading into 2C, in the time it would take to pull 5 trier-fulls of coffee the temps may have risen several degrees which would still be hard to interpret for future roasts.

 

[nickwin]

Also, the trier may be large enough on a 12K roaster to pull out samples for cupping at varying temps, but on a 3K the trier is most likely so small that it would take at least 4 or 5 "trier-fulls" to get a sample for cupping, and at some stages of the roast, say at FC where the beans are going exothermic heading into 2C, in the time it would take to pull 5 trier-fulls of coffee the temps may have risen several degrees which would still be hard to interpret for future roasts.

Very good point. I've seen this done on 12kilo's but it never occurred to me that it might be problematic on a smaller roaster with a smaller sampler.