2nd Roast is a La Florida

The second batch of coffee I roasted with my new Behmor 1600 roaster was a full pound of La Florida from Peru.  According to the label on the green beans from Roastmasters.com "La Florida is a large coop in the Chanchamayo Valley. ... it is grown at over 4000 feet and is sun dried." 

At over 4000 feet, it is considered a high-altitude coffee and thus a smaller and harder bean.  So for this coffee I used the P1 profile on the Behmor.  This is the high heat profile used for the higher altitude coffee and roasts the coffee faster than the other profiles.  Again, the timing on the roaster couldn't have been better.  With the default time for 1 pound of coffee, the first crack started with 3 minutes left and stopped with about 30 seconds left.  Then, I could hear the crackling of the second crack starting just as it went into the cooling cycle. 

The Behmor 1600 in operation.

When the cooling cycle fans kicked in there was a whole lot of smoke pouring out around the seal in the upper lefthand coner of the door.  Good thing I have the roaster set up on my workbench out in the garage.  Probably would have set off the smoke detectors if I had had it in the kitchen.  The manual for the Behmor states this is normal until the seals have cured after several uses. 

The results can be seen: 

The beans turned out a nice dark brown.  Since it stopped roasting just as the second crack started only a small percentage of the beans are oily. 

If you leave the door closed the chaff catcher, which can be seen in front of the drum, does a great job of coralling all of the chaff coming off of the beans.  The instructions state that you can speed up the cooling process by opening the door while it's cooling.  However, if you open the door quite a bit of the chaff can blow by the catcher and out the front of the roaster. 

The result of this roast is very mild and smooth full city roast. 

Cheers,
Java

My new Behmor coffee roaster

Coffee roasting is a great way to get a feel for the various coffees from around the world.  You can't beat fresh roasted coffee.  I was taught to roast coffee using a hot air popcorn popper by Stefan on Maui.  He came by to replace our flooring and taught me how he roasted his coffee during his breaks.  The roasting coffee smelled great and the fresh roasted coffee tasted even better.  So I had to run out and get a "roaster."

Note the chimney I had to build for it.  Without it the beans would all fly out.  The chimney is made out of two cans and a wire hanger for a handle.  The small one fits in the popper.  The top edge of the smaller one is then notched at 1/4 inch intervals and folded over.  This gives it a tighter fit when inserted in the larger can.  Combined they provide enough height that most of the beans stay in the roaster.  The roaster can go from 0 to French roast in less than 5 minutes.  However, it can only roast a 1/4 cup of beans at a time.  This roaster has served me well for about 4 years.  I'll have to keep it around when I want to add a darker roast into the blend which is one thing my new roaster can't do.

On to my new roaster.  I have watched home roasters on and off for a few years now and most have been pricey for what they offer.  Typically smaller batch sizes and not worth the price for me to upgrade.  However, I have recently been roasting more coffee and started seriously looking for one to do larger batch sizes.  That's when I found the Behmor 1600.  Very good price point and can roast up to a pound of coffee at a time.  I ordered mine from Roastmasters.com and it included 8 assorted pounds of green beans and free shipping.

Note the size of the roasting drum.  It can hold up to a pound of coffee and continually stirs the beans as the drum rotates providing even heating to the beans.

My first roast using the Behmor was a half pound of Colombia Concordia Santa Monica.  It's a very high altitude coffee making the beans somewhat smaller in size. 

Note how the beans grow in size when they are roasted.  The beans for this particular roast nearly doubled in size.  The Behmor roaster was set to 1/2 lb of beans with profile P1 (the default,) which is the highest heat setting.  I loaded the drum with the 1/2 lb of beans and place it in the roaster.  I pushed the 1/2 lb button and then start.  Easy as that.  12 minutes later I had a full city roast.  The roaster manufacturer said the timing would allow the roast to just reach the second crack and it started 10 seconds before switching to the cool cycle.  Outstanding!  Didn't have to adjust a thing.


Now for the taste.  The slower roasting, compared to the hot air popcorn popper, gives the coffee a more mellow / smoother taste.  Just as the lable states, it has a dark chocolate feel to it.  A very smooth taste compared to the air popper.  Somewhat bland but still much better than store bought beans!

Happy roasting and sipping!
Java

My brewery's first batch - up and running again

It's nice to finally be able to get my brewery up and running again after a three year break.  The break was due to exorbitant shipping costs where I was living.  Now I'm back in the land of reasonable shipping again.  For the best shipping deals, from past experience, I've usually gone with Williams Brewing or MoreBeer.com.  I decided on the Rogue's I2PA kit from MoreBeer which is a hopped up IPA.  I also went with their recommended liquid California Ale yeast from White Labs.

The I2PA Kit includes a light malt extract and 4 different kinds of hops.  Not sure if I can specify which ones without giving away the recipe.  

For brewing, I use a turkey fryer that I got from Lowe's a few years back.  It has a 7 gallon capacity and sits on a propane burner stand.  As windy as it was, it took almost an hour to bring 5 gallons of water to a boil.  While the water was heating up, I went through the kit and lined up which ingredient was to go in when.  The malt extract now comes in a foil pack that makes it easy to warm up by soaking them in hot water in the sink.  I tried squeezing one out cold and was cramping up before I was done.  Heating the malt so that it pours out works much better. 

Once the water reaches a boil, I turn off the heat and pour/squeeze in the malt.  I had to stir for about 5 minutes to dissolve the malt so that it wouldn't burn on the bottom of the pot.  You have to make sure it's dissolved before turning the heat back on.  Bring it back up to a boil and start the clock for the 60 minute boil.  I add in the bittering hops at the start of the boil.  At 30 minutes I add the flavoring hops.  In between, I clean and sanatize the fermentation bucket and two Cornelius kegs, one for this batch and the other for the next one.  At 15 minutes left, I throw in the aroma hops.  I normally use bags for the hops, but I couldn't find any so I just threw all the hops in the wort.  A little whirlfloc added in the final two minutes to finish the brewing process. 

To cool the wort, I use my wort chiller that's been sitting in the StarSan solution in the fermentation bucket.  It can cool the wort in about 30 minutes with the help of the colder air outside.  Once cooled to under 76 degrees, I pour it into the fermentation bucket and add the liquid yeast.  For fermenting, I use a bucket with a spigot installed a couple of inches from the bottom.  That makes it much easier to drain it into one of the kegs when finished.  I use a beer line hose and a beeker of tap water as an air lock.  Normally, the air lock should start bubbling within a few days.  However, this batch still wasn't showing any signs of starting at the end of three days.  So, on the fourth day, I went to a local shop and picked up a fresh batch of yeast similar to the California Ale yeast.  I threw it in and it was bubbling vigorously within 24 hours.   

After 10 days,  the fermentation was finished and it was ready to keg.  Remember, I threw in all the hops?  Well, the spigot is apparently not high enough and was embedded in the muck at the bottom.  I had to drop back to siphoning from the top.  Once it is kegged, it needs to be carbonated and chilled.  I learned a way to cheat that works alright.  I put the keg into my kegerator (a converted chest freezer) and connect the keg to a CO2 tank.  With the CO2 pressure cranked up to 40 PSI and the keg shaken occassionally, the CO2 will slowly dissolve into the beer.  Presto, it's carbonated in less than a day. 

The results:



A very good, hopped up, IPA.  Aaaah, nice to be brewing again.

I wanted to close with the quote from Benjamin Franklin that I've seen in a few locations.  However, I was disappointed to read the following:

An excerpt from UrbanLegends: For the record, here, in a letter addressed to André Morellet in 1779, is what Benjamin Franklin actually did say:

Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.

(Source: Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003. p.374.)

Oh well.  Guess I'll have to find another quote that's related to beer... 

Happy brewing to everyone out there!

Java