The First Roast, Second Take

This thing is new. There's no way I'm stopping at one batch. The owners manual of the iRoast says you must wait a minimum of 2 hours in between batches, but the supplemental instructions that came from Sweet Maria's said you must wait at least 20 minutes. 20 minutes it is.

I certainly wanted to create a lighter batch, but was also concerned about roast time. It seems like what I have read indicates I should be roasting in more like 8-10 minutes, not 6. So this time around I decided to use the custom profiles setting on the i-Roast to see if I could slow things down a bit.

I finished off the 1/2 pound sampler of the Mexico Organic Nayarit Terruno, but because I used 130 grams the first time, there was only 98 grams left. I have read that with fewer beans, the roast will move faster. No problem, I will take that into account in my custom settings, which are:

350 degrees for 3 minutes
400 degrees for 3 minutes
460 degrees for 4:30 minutes

I also decided that the smoke was not nearly as big of an issue that everyone made it out to be, so I did away with my make-shift exhaust system.

Here were my results:

1:00 267 degrees - straw color
1:30 312 degrees - tan color
2:00 340 degrees - consistent light brown
2:30 360 degrees - I begin to notice loose chaffs floating in the chamber
3:00 380 degrees - the beans are increasing in size and turning to a brown color 3:28 398 degrees - I notice the first audible cracks
4:00 420 degrees
4:30 437 degrees
5:00 450 degrees - based on my last batch experience and the look of the current beans, I hit the cool down button. I want to have something to drink the following morning.
5:30 318 degrees
6:00 244 degrees
6:30 196 degrees
7:00 167 degrees
7:00+ 3 smoke alarms go off in my house simultaneously. I look up and notice a very visible cloud of smoke. I guess the home-made exhaust did a much better job than I though. When Andrea came home that night she thought I had burned a batch of popcorn. It took about a full day for the popcorn smell to fade. Note to self, work on exhaust problem.

Here is a picture comparing the first 2 batches. The temperature readings were surprisingly similar from batch one to batch 2. I guess because the profiles were not different enough, and it takes time to ramp up to a certain temp. But the difference between 5 and 6 minutes is pretty large.

The next morning I cupped my coffee. Because of the way I am--I don't like to waste anything--I decided that I would create my own special blend of 1/2 of each roast. The result was fairly impressive considering I burned the first batch. The flavor was not the greatest because of the burnt beans that I used, but the coffee was surprisingly clean and noticeably nutty. The results are definitely enough to keep me going for another day.