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Roasting Coffee?

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stormydog
stormydog Posts: 67
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
A friend of mine is in the coffee business and is interested in trying to roast some coffee beans on the egg to make up is own coffee. Anybody ever try this or have any suggestions on how to make it work?
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Comments

  • tach18k
    tach18k Posts: 1,607
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    After roasting coffee in my garage for many years, I don't think an Egg would make the best ideal roaster. Now others have used their old gas bbq with a kit for roasting coffee. I use a special roaster and it handles up to 1 pound. If he is serious, then head here for all the answers.

    http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/homeroast
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  • SkySaw
    SkySaw Posts: 656
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    Roasting coffee in a barbeque is a great way for the home roaster to produce more than a couple hundred grams of beans at one time.

    However, I do not think the Egg is well suited to roasting coffee, primarily for 2 reasons:

    1) the beans need to be agitated. Without stirring them around frequently, they will roast unevenly, and that's not good.

    2) beans are best roasted according to a temperature profile. The tendency for the BGE to sustain a single temperature is great, but it does not fluctuate quickly enough to start the beans high, bring them through 1st crack, and then bring the temp down to ease into 2nd crack.

    I think the BEST setup for roasting coffee beans would be a nice clean Weber kettle with an RK drum http://www.rkdrums.com/index.htm, and a BBQ Guru. Most home coffee roasters will use a gas BBQ and a few temp probes to do their roasting.

    Finally, I have been looking into getting a Guru, and trying to figure out how to use it to roast my coffee in addition to handling the pulled pork. I notice that Guru also sells what they call a power raptor. Many home-roasters will use a hot-air popcorn popper to roast small batches. A guru with a power raptor hacked to the heating element should make a very nice home-roaster with excellent temperature profiling capabilities.

    Mark
    https://plantbasedbbq.wordpress.com
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  • Doug in Eggmonton
    Doug in Eggmonton Posts: 1,999
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    If it's the smoke he's after then a cold smoke setup like the ones they are using for cheese and a standard small roaster like an IRoast or Behmor / Hottop if they fit inside to roast the coffee.

    Decent roasts can be had using a wok over direct heat and constant stirring.

    Doug
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  • lowercasebill
    lowercasebill Posts: 5,218
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    yes i have tried it and no i do not have any 'good' suggestions.
    i put a handle on a stainless strainer and propped the dome open a little so i could shake the beans...

    rigging a rotissirie would work and such a thing is available for gas grills..

    i have roasted on stove top, convection oven, open flame [weekly for a year], the egg , popcorn poppers,
    and now own a behmore roaster.

    roasting is an art , practice is required, doing it the first time on an egg should be considered and experiment so know one is dissapointed

    beans have to be kept moving at all times to prevent burning

    sweetmarias.com is a wonderful resource for info and a source of green beans

    [i roast 6 to 7 lbs per month.

    email if you have more questions

    bill
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  • tach18k
    tach18k Posts: 1,607
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    Behmore roaster, I have one also, I also have had the Iroast2, Hottop and FreshRoast8.
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  • Doug in Eggmonton
    Doug in Eggmonton Posts: 1,999
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    What's you take on the strengths of those 4. I have an IRoast 2 that I do about 1 lb a week in. That would only be 1 raost in the Behemor and so I am looking into it.

    Any info would be appreciated.

    Doug
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  • Doug in Eggmonton
    Doug in Eggmonton Posts: 1,999
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    Actually not the behemor as it doesn't draw air. But I bet you could get good smoke on the beans doing it this way with my IRoast 2.

    Doug
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  • lowercasebill
    lowercasebill Posts: 5,218
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    which one is/was your favorite? so far i am happy with the behmore [or as happy as i can be when it comes to these kind of things] see my reply to doug
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  • tach18k
    tach18k Posts: 1,607
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    Oh big improvement with the Behmore, I really like the Hottop it seemed simpler and easier, I had the second model, digital timer one. I sold that for the Behmore.
    Behmore has a learning curve, I do about 14oz a week which works out to about enough coffee for 32oz of coffee per day, I make two 16oz cups everyday.
    Coffeegeek.com has lots of info on it. I post as 'steamer' on that site. The main thing is letting your roast rest for 5 days with the Behmore, where the Hottop was 4 days only. At about the 8th day the coffee is about at it's peak. In general that's all fresh roasted coffee. My normal on hand coffee's are, Kona, Kannapalli, Jamaican, Blue Mountain, I have others from Africa, Costa Rica.
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  • Doug in Eggmonton
    Doug in Eggmonton Posts: 1,999
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    You and I roast from opposite ends of the coffee world. My stash is Sumatrans, Brazillians, with a Kenya Getwathumbi and a Panama Elida. Are you mixed up with GCBC at all? They are a great resource.

    I wonder what the cofee tastes like after 8 days absolutely longest any of it ever lasts is 7 days and thats rare. :whistle:

    Thanks for the advice, I've got a dueling hobbies problem right now. That nice Behemor, that nice Jet combo planer/jointer or that nice Guru. Just after I bought that nice Egg. I could leak a lot of cash in a short peroid of time if I gave in to my wants. :blush:

    Doug
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  • lowercasebill
    lowercasebill Posts: 5,218
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    behmore works well but i have not been able to master the diferent roast profiles some of them would not take me to second crack .. i use basic roast profile and watch it for the last 5 minutes.. cool cycle is in the machine and that heat must be accounted for..
    other wise , for my current needs , based on size and prie i am happy but i want a pro machine B)
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  • lowercasebill
    lowercasebill Posts: 5,218
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    what about japanese knives and water stones???
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  • Smokin Tiger
    Smokin Tiger Posts: 352
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    bill

    Don't get him started on Japanese knives and water stones or he will have to take on a 2nd job. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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  • swamprb
    swamprb Posts: 97
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    I've been roasting for over a year with an RK 4lb drum and a converted Weber 1000 LPG grill. I mounted Weber thermometers on the right side and center in the lid and just let it rip wide open until first crack then turn the gas to low and open the lid for a few seconds and roll into second crack. Depending on what I'm roasting 9-13 minutes per pound then into my bucket cooler and onto the next batch. Sweet Marias is my main source for beans presently, but have purchased locally from Caffe Lusso.
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