D-Roast

[Geronimo]

Thanks Steve, great feedback. I was particularly chuffed to be compared to Rao's defect kit.
I have attended his course and have learnt from his kit, particularly with respect to detecting baked tastes.

cheers

Damian, on roasts that have a noticeable crash/flick, can you pickup that they are baked? Cheers

[Geronimo]

@Damian: Hmmm, looks like you didn't have the power for it, you might need to reduce the fan speed

I get almost exactly the same result as @Beanz that there isn't enough power after about 9 min. When I look at the fan profile it is flat after 4 min and on a very high level (1510 RPM). What is the reasoning behind this? What does it do with the roast? If I'm going to try this profile again I will lower the fan speed. What will happen with the result then?

Further to Steve’s comment on using the DarkSide fan speed. If you didn’t know. You can import the fan profile.
Open D-Roast in Studio -> Tools -> Merge Profile -> select DarkSide And Open -> Check Fan Profile curve, and merge
Make any tweaks required from a time point of view or use a transform profile in tools menu to make necessary adjustments.

Good luck

[nrdlnd]

Thank You @Steve for the tip and thank You @Geronimo for holding my hand whilst explaining how to do it in Studio. For me it's a rather steep learning curve but I'm beginning to see the possibilities. I've stretched the time a bit to have some margin and I'm eager to try the modified profile.

Besides I've already tried Steves Darkside.kpro on a couple of Brazilian beans and I got a very good medium roast for espresso with a Brazilian Yellow Bourbon at L=4.6. It was sweet and it extracted well. I may try it at 4.7 or 4.8. There were no problem with not enough power so I think this fan profile will work with D-Roast.kpro.

[JamesG]

Besides I've already tried Steves Darkside.kpro on a couple of Brazilian beans and I got a very good medium roast for espresso with a Brazilian Yellow Bourbon at L=4.6. It was sweet and it extracted well. I may try it at 4.7 or 4.8. There were no problem with not enough power so I think this fan profile will work with D-Roast.kpro.

You're based in Europe as well? The voltage parameters are lower than in NZ (I think 230 +/- 15V), and we were often on the low side (under 220V). Reducing the fan speed at the tail end (even manually) has worked well for me. We eventually had a local network upgrade that has made our voltage more routinely at a higher voltage, so less issues of recent.

[nrdlnd]

@JamesG: Yes I'm in Europe. My machine was made for 220V and we have 230V so it should suffice. It could be that the line I'm on in the house has losses that shows with higher amperage. Thanks for the tip anyway and I will try it.
Edit: Eureka! I think I've found out what the problem is! The kitchen hood (the evacuation fan) is on the same power line and it's on max during the roasting session. I will have to connect it to another group during roasting. I'll see if it helps!

[Angela]

I'm a bit late to the party. just tried Damian's profile on some Brazilian Cerrado beans that I've had for a while - and not got too much from - other than long waits. Just brewed a coffee straight after roasting an am very impressed with this profile - lets hope the coffee hold up as it matures.

[nrdlnd]

I'm a bit late to the party. just tried Damian's profile on some Brazilian Cerrado beans that I've had for a while - and not got too much from - other than long waits. Just brewed a coffee straight after roasting an am very impressed with this profile - lets hope the coffee hold up as it matures.

Interesting that D-roast seems to get good results on a Brazilian Cerrado! Scott Rao has The Three Commandments of Roasting. 1. Thou Shalt Apply Adequate Energy at the Beginning of a Roast. But he also says that less dense beans that are more natural processed may need less energy in the beginning.

I have looked at the preheat settings of some of the profiles for the KL:

D-roast 1050W
NinjaTurtle 1100W
1200-1500 GTTT 1200W
1200-1500 RTD 1050W
Darkside 1050W
Hoos test3 600W
Brazil Dark 750W
Brazil 550W

The two last profies are developed for Brazil beans that mostly are natural or natural pulped. The D-roast has a rather high preheat setting but also a rather high fan speed in the beginning of the roast.

A German professor once said: "Ob Theorie un Praxis übereinstimmen dann sind beide falsch" (If theory and practice are the same then both are wrong).

[Damian]

Damian, on roasts that have a noticeable crash/flick, can you pickup that they are baked? Cheers

Yes, you can taste it in cupping.
If you've never tasted defect-free roasted coffee, you're unlikely to know, and often people are so used to it, they prefer some baked defects when comparing.
Where it really makes a difference is in Espresso, particularly at higher brew temperature, higher pressure extractions.
Prevent roast defects and you will never get that astringent bitter taste that is so common.

I've been revisiting some of the older beans I had written off as pretty ordinary prior to getting my Kafelogic roaster, and am blown away by how good they are when roasted without defects.

In particular
An India Elephant Hills bean, tasting so close to a Columbian Geisha and at less than 1/10 the price.
A Panama bean in milk that is so much like black tea, you can't even call it coffee.

[Geronimo]

Damian, on roasts that have a noticeable crash/flick, can you pickup that they are baked? Cheers

Yes, you can taste it in cupping.

Thanks. Very interesting. I guess Scott Raos defect kit would be a good thing to consider for myself.

Talking of higher brew temp and pressures, you’ve got the bees knees of Espresso machines aye . . . . a Decent. If so, you’ve got the best of all worlds, including replicating a lever.

Cheers
G

[Damian]

Yeah, the DE1 is an awesome machine