Time to first Crack seems way too quick???

[LoftCoffee]

Hello Everyone,

I have been roasting on a gene cafe as a hobby for the past year and recently decided to enter the 'more serious hobby' category and purchased a 5kg roaster. I've done a few roasts and can't seem to figure out why first crack is showing up really early. I started out at 200C and first crack came at 2 min mark after charge. I lowered temp to 180C and it happened at about 3.5 min. I lowered to 150C and it never came at all. Something just doesn't right to me. Any thoughts out there? Would venting be causing a higher temp than the readout?

Turns out I'm as green as the beans I'm roasting when it comes to the new roaster. :-?

 

[ensoluna]

Hello Everyone,

I have been roasting on a gene cafe as a hobby for the past year and recently decided to enter the 'more serious hobby' category and purchased a 5kg roaster. I've done a few roasts and can't seem to figure out why first crack is showing up really early. I started out at 200C and first crack came at 2 min mark after charge. I lowered temp to 180C and it happened at about 3.5 min. I lowered to 150C and it never came at all. Something just doesn't right to me. Any thoughts out there? Would venting be causing a higher temp than the readout?

Turns out I'm as green as the beans I'm roasting when it comes to the new roaster. :-?

hello.
1. what kind of roaster do you have? some photos you can post?
2. you said that it is 5kgs roaster which is quite big for "hobby roaster". when you roast your beans, how much lbs or kgs did you put into the roaster?

thanks

 

[LoftCoffee]

5kg Toper. I've only been roasting one pound at a time. I realize it is a small size, but thought it wouldn't make that large of a difference.

 

[Musicphan]

Drop temp is fine. What are your gas and airflow controls on the roaster?

 

[ensoluna]

5kg Toper. I've only been roasting one pound at a time. I realize it is a small size, but thought it wouldn't make that large of a difference.

well... there is a problem. if it is 5kg (11 lbs) roast, you need to put at least 7 lbs of beans in order to roast them properly. by the way, why did you buy such a big one? unless you are planning to make a business out of it?

 

[LoftCoffee]

You never know where life will take you. It's good to leave doors open. Thanks for suggestion. I can always drop more beans in. I thought it might be more than that.

 

[LoftCoffee]

Just a single damper that I can manually open full or close on the top and a temp control that regulates the gas temp. I've got the damper at about half.

 

[ensoluna]

You never know where life will take you. It's good to leave doors open. Thanks for suggestion. I can always drop more beans in. I thought it might be more than that.

Yes, better to leave the doors open. Also, Yes, it is just that in your case. just drop in more beans!!!!!

 

[ensoluna]

You never know where life will take you. It's good to leave doors open. Thanks for suggestion. I can always drop more beans in. I thought it might be more than that.

also, when you drop in the beans, make it sure that temp is between 200C to 205C. and it should drop between 160C to 155C. and start rising. you should get the first crack around 195 to 205C...

 

[solock]

Charge size is very low for the drum area in your roaster, Way too much heated mass for that quantity of beans, and I would bet that your beans arent even hitting any temperature probes that are set for a typical load size on a 5k roaster. I need at least a 5K load on my 10K toper to get controllable roasts, and closer to 7K to make everything sing...

 

[Musicphan]

As mentioned.. load size is super small for that roaster. I would start maybe the smallest at 1/3 capacity (3ish lbs?). I would leave your airflow closed til you start seeing yellowing then open it up. Keep the gas off/low first 60 seconds then apply gentle heat.

 

[ensoluna]

As mentioned.. load size is super small for that roaster. I would start maybe the smallest at 1/3 capacity (3ish lbs?). I would leave your airflow closed til you start seeing yellowing then open it up. Keep the gas off/low first 60 seconds then apply gentle heat.

Mike, are you sure that 11 # roaster can handle 3# load? I have 25 lbs roaster and I can not really go down below 15 lbs.... well.... I have "made in Guatemala" roaster, so it might not have the same tolerance that better roaster has, ha ha ha.

 

[Musicphan]

You should be able to... as long as you can adjust gas down low enough. Ideally you should be using 80% of the capacity .. I.E. 5K = 8.8 lbs target load.

It's tough to be consistent with small loads... and on some machines you simply won't be able to sample via the trier. For example, on my 12K I can't pull very good trier samples with a load lower than 3K.

 

[ensoluna]

You should be able to... as long as you can adjust gas down low enough. Ideally you should be using 80% of the capacity .. I.E. 5K = 8.8 lbs target load.

It's tough to be consistent with small loads... and on some machines you simply won't be able to sample via the trier. For example, on my 12K I can't pull very good trier samples with a load lower than 3K.

completely agree with you on this.

 

[LoftCoffee]

You should be able to... as long as you can adjust gas down low enough. Ideally you should be using 80% of the capacity .. I.E. 5K = 8.8 lbs target load.

It's tough to be consistent with small loads... and on some machines you simply won't be able to sample via the trier. For example, on my 12K I can't pull very good trier samples with a load lower than 3K.

thanks to both of you guys. I roasted a 3k batch yesterday and it turned out better. I've been reading a lot about shutting gas off or setting really low after charge like you suggested Mike so I will do that next. My only problem now is........What do I do with all this coffee?? I want to keep experimenting but I haven't slept in days. Lol