Getting the beans up to 300 quickly is ideal. You want to drive off the water as fast, then move into your developmental ramp. That was probably the best part of the FR+8, to me. With this roaster, you basically start out cold each time... I used to have 4 of them, but I gave 3 of them away over the years.
Doesn't conventional roasting technique dictate you start at low heat and ramp up? I'm not sure as I'm used to the FR Burn +8.
Thank you for that BW.That's hard to say, since I haven't used one yet... ;D
So if you had this 500 model and a nice Brazil what would you set the temps to and for how long?
:)
anyone have any personal hands-on experience with either of these machines? My local store (Green Beanery) has had the same note for a few months "Coming Soon! Expected in stock: end of December - beginning of January"
....They were depressing enough to make one feel buyer's remorse before their credit card had even cleared!
Heat Fan Minutes |
L H 2 |
H H 1 |
H (steadily reduce fan until as low as possible, while keeping beans moving) |
My first machine was the FR+8. It's been such a work-horse that I felt some loyalty and upgraded. I've Owned my SR500 for several weeks now and have tried the advice of SW, Burman, and the Fresh Roast manual.
I was using between 100-120 grams (less than the FR manual suggests), and I was having trouble with baking my beans--a few feeble cracks that passed for 1st crack, then a steady darkening, but falling short of 2nd crack. So my issue is keeping enough heat to keep the roast advancing.
I called Jim (?) at Fresh Roast to get his take on this. He suggested the following.
1. Using the full 4 measures of beans (43 cc apiece)
2. Dry my beans, which are pretty dense (Columbian BCT Supremo from Burman).
3. Use the following settings
Heat Fan Minutes
L H 2
H H 1 I got a first crack at just before 6 minutes and kept going until I entered 2nd crack. It took almost 18 minutes. It may have something to do with my electrical current. Actually, this extended time is kind of refreshing my FR+8 always ran hot and I had to work to keep hard to extend my roast times.
H (steadily reduce fan until as low as possible, while keeping beans moving)
This was today. I'll give a rest and see how it turns out.
Re: the 18 minute roast on the SR500. It was one of the better batches I'd done; however, taking these Columbians to FC++ is not my preference. I could still taste some English walnut, but it was pretty much eclipsed by a kind of thin carbon taste. Not awful, but not great either.
Tried again today. 2 minute L heat, high fan (using the SM shake method); 1 minute H heat, high fan; every minute after I took the fan down a 1/4 notch until almost L fan. Hit first crack between 4-7 minutes. Stopped it just before 2nd crack.
The good news for me, is now I can see progression and have a baseline for experimenting. I'm sure other people's mileage will vary.
That is great news. My two big peeves regarding the Freshroast is the low fan speed and the one temperature setting ... it does not give you too many options. Sounds like they have resolved those two problems.