iRoast Profiles / Q&A / Tips & Tricks

[Chris]

I wrote a little article last year about this very subject:

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/07/iroast2-guide/


Chris

[headchange4u]

I did 3 roasts this weekend, 2 of the Kenya and 1 roast of the Indonesia Flores "Jade" from SM. The 2 Kenya came out almost the same, although I used 2 different profiles. My first batch of Kenya was the only one I managed to sample and it was much improved from what I was getting from the Poppery II. Yummy. I gave a cup to my brother and he keep talking about what a great cup of coffee it was, but he normally drinks Folgers, so that's to be expected.

I managed to get the Indonesia to go the full 15 minute cycle, with the first crack appearing at about 11 minutes into the roast, and I ended up with a nice borderline city+/full city roast. The first crack was much more pronounced with this bean and I had almost no chaff as compared to the Kenya. The Indonesia was one of my favorite selections when I first started roasting, but the smell and taste of the bean (I always eat a couple of beans just after roasting) seemed very different from what I have been used to. I will know more after it rests for a day or so.

It may have been my imagination, but the Kenya seemed to want to roast faster and get darker more quickly than the Indy. Of course the profile I used with the Indy spent a much longer time at lower temps than the profiles I had used previous.

Thanks to everyone who gave me input and help.

[Lektrk]

I wrote a little article last year about this very subject:

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/07/iroast2-guide/


Chris

Chris,
If your voltage is fluctuating day to day I wouldn't worry about it too much it is likely your power companies fault. If it is fluctuating that much when you turn your I Roast on or from receptacle to receptacle you should have your electrical system checked, it should not vary more than a volt or two between receptacles (could be different phases) or under load.

[headchange4u]

I am having a very odd occurrence with the Organic Korate Natural Sidamo that arrived in the mail today. As soon as it came in I threw a batch in my iRoast and started roasting. I used a profile that had worked well for a couple of other beans, only slightly modified. I noticed as the beans roasted that the roast did not look even. When the roast finished the beans stopped agitating during the cooling cycle, something that has never happen before. After cooling I dumped the beans on a cookie sheet to examine them and there was a very wide variance in the roast. Some beans still looked yellow, almost as if they had barely been roasted. Other beans very very dark and starting to get oil spots on them like a Vienna roast. I have a habit of eating some of the beans when they come out of the roaster. The darker beans tasted okay but the beans that looked very pale and almost under roasted tasted horrible. I dumped that batch.

Later in the same day I decided to roast another batch with the iRoast and I got the exact same issues as before, even the beans stopped agitating during the cooling cycle. I thought something might be wrong with my iRoast.

I pulled out my Poppery and roasted a batch in it. I had the same thing happen; wildly uneven roasts. I ended up tossing all 3 batches in the garbage.

Anyone ever run into anything like this before?

[BoldJava]

I am having a very odd occurrence with the Organic Korate Natural Sidamo that arrived in the mail today... When the roast finished the beans stopped agitating during the cooling cycle, something that has never happen before. After cooling I dumped the beans on a cookie sheet to examine them and there was a very wide variance in the roast. Some beans still looked yellow, almost as if they had barely been roasted. . .

I am unfamiliar with this Sidamo but assume it is a dry processed bean which will have quakers -- beans that don't roast to any degree.  Don't weed them out.  You should also expect to have a variety of colors in a dry processed coffee, unlike a wet processed coffee which roasts very uniformally.  Two different horses.

Scramble thru the trash and see if you have those roasts segregated.  Give them 4 days and I bet you enjoy the cup.   

B|Java

[Ascholten]

Yes it can happen.  Some beans are, oh how to say... rougher or more friction on them than others.  Given this, they don't agitate or need more force to get moving along.  When I seen this happen Id pick up the I roast and spin it around at about a 45 degree angle to swirl the beans around and help it agitate.  When they start sticking in the chute and not coming out this would help them agitate and get a much more even run.  Really chaffy beans can sometimes have a similar problem.

Another trick is to loosen the top a bit so that there is more airflow through the unit, and this can help get them moving again.  (This trick though may mess with your temps a bit and you might need to cook em longer)

Another thing you can try is to use less beans.  If you are doing a 150 gram batch,  try a 140 next time.  Less beans would mean less weight on top of the beans in the chute and hopefully they move better too.

There is no cut and dry solution unfortunately and you have to play a bit when you get bothersome beans but they CAN be successfully roasted in the I roast.

HOpe this helps.

Aaron

[headchange4u]

I am having a very odd occurrence with the Organic Korate Natural Sidamo that arrived in the mail today... When the roast finished the beans stopped agitating during the cooling cycle, something that has never happen before. After cooling I dumped the beans on a cookie sheet to examine them and there was a very wide variance in the roast. Some beans still looked yellow, almost as if they had barely been roasted. . .

I am unfamiliar with this Sidamo but assume it is a dry processed bean which will have quakers -- beans that don't roast to any degree.  Don't weed them out.  You should also expect to have a variety of colors in a dry processed coffee, unlike a wet processed coffee which roasts very uniformally.  Two different horses.

Scramble thru the trash and see if you have those roasts segregated.  Give them 4 days and I bet you enjoy the cup.   

B|Java

Aha. I see now. I don't think I'm gonna go digging through the trash but I will roast another batch and I will keep them and allow some rest time. I should have asked before I threw them out but I was afraid the quakers would ruin the cup. I will know better next time. As the old saying goes, a wise man is a fool with many scars....

[SusanJoM]

I also need to add my thermal probe before the next roast because I really think that's gonna help dial things in.

The thermal probe upgrade was the best thing I did for my iroast when I owned it.  I used a type K and you can get the cover on without drilling.  Just put a 90* bend near the tip of the wire so it sits in the bean mass and then run it up the side of the glass and out the top.  When you put the chaff collector on it just fits a little tighter. 

Actually you can just loosen the glass, lift it up a bit, put the thermal probe directly into the center where the bean mass will be, and then tighten it all up again.  Makes it even easier to handle and less easily dislodged when opening the top, adding beans, emptying the chaff collector, etc. 


Susan

[roastingnerd]

This is an old thread but I had to add my experience.  When I saw the beans I was roasting stop flowing freely in the airstream I figured it was either a blocked airstream or the beans were getting too heavy.  I noticed that the hull collector was very full and figured it was blocked airflow.  I had been using a cup of beans and I found that some beans had a lot of hulls and were more dense so you got both plugging and too much weight.  I started weighing each batch with a diabetic scale and limited the batch size to 150 grams max.  Never had plugging again.
  I use an IRoast1 and generally try to use stage 1 to get the beans heated through.  I use 5 min at 365 for all beans for this purpose.  The second stage I set to 450 but the temp registered  normally rises slowly to about 408 degrees after 3 minutes.  That lets me set the last stage to 385 degrees where the beans darken slowly enough to get a close setting on the time.  If I want a dark roast where the beans are starting to show oil sheen I just increase the time of the second stage as needed.  I have been roasting with my first Iroast for about 2 years and the only problem I have is a loose lid on the chaf catcher.  I tape it in place each run.
  My secret is to let the cool down complete and the indicator go from "end" to "1" or something.  Then I hit the roast button and immediately hit the cooldown button.  That gives an extra 4 minutes of air cooling for a total of 8 minutes.  I think that keeps the working parts happy.

[roastingnerd]

I've already entered this thread to answer the specific questions posted originally.  Now I'm looking for help from other users of the I-Roast 1.  Mine is so noisy that I can't hear the cracks.  I used to hear them with a popcorn popper but not with the I-Roast.  My fan must be noisier than everyone elses.  I have used this for over a year and keep a journal of every roast with temperatures on the gage at various intervals (usually every minute after the first couple for each stage).  For me I just record my impression of the final color and if the beans got oily.  Later I record my impression of the coffee brewed with my Aeropress.  I have only 4 catagories: 1.  Good coffee.  2. Too light (under roasted). 3. Too dark (oily like Starbucks--bunt flavor).  4. Great coffee (invite someone to enjoy it).

[Pyment]

My wife was very pleased that I gave away my old iRoasts this weekend to my nephew. Somehow she didn't see the point in having a back up to my Gene Cafe which is back up to my Toper Cafemino.

Anyhow it has been a long time since I used an iRoast (they are original iRoasts), so I didn't have a get started quickly lesson to give him.

So, what are the essential iRoast tips? (other than B/Java's complaints about noise)

[roastingnerd]

Second time I posted so bear with me.  I got rid of my old Iroast and got an Iroast 2.  I have settled on a simple technique that gives me the exact degree of darkness I want.  I use 340 degrees for 3 minutes for stage 1 to warm up the beans.  Then I use 395 degrees for 4 or more minutes for stage 2 depending on the darkness I want and the bean.  The Panama Elida i use 4=6 minutes.  I must use only 120 grams or else the chaf blocks the collector.  I use 140 grams of Bali Blue moon or Rwanda – Abakundekawa because they have less chaf.  The less oily beans take longer.  I have resorted to 60 seconds or less at 460 degrees to get that final push.

[roastingnerd]

I see tht I am the only one posting on this thread.  I guess all the IRoast users have given up, but me.  I just have been roasting some decaf that I got here about a year ago.  Don't know what or where because the label came off and my Sharpie label wore off.  I found that without chaff the roaster performed entirely differently.  Couldn't get the indicated temp above about 385 deg.  That was after 3 minutes at stage 3 set to 460 deg.  Every stage was about 50 degrees less than regular coffee with lots to chaff.  I now think the roasting profile differences people have experienced with this roaster are more to do with the amount of chaff on the beans than the thermostats themselves.  No wonder Hearthware gave up too.

[ecc]

Don't give up too soon, seems like Hearthware isn't throwing in the towel yet!

Parts are back in stock, https://www.i-roast.com/asp/pro_02_05.asp, and they list new roasters in stock as well.


I found that high chaff is more of a problem than low chaff. For decaf, just save some chaff from the last batch in the top catcher to insulate things a bit.

[roastingnerd]

ecc: I'm glad to find someone still reading this thread.  Are you still using your IRoast?  I'm happy they are still kicking.  Now, if they only would supply the parts to repair the controller mine would be worry free.  It's the second one and I won't consider another even if it is so kitchen friendly and controls smoke so well.  But, I just don't have room to indulge in a large footprint roaster.  I better not stock up on too many beans because if this one fails too, I may have to go back to Starbucks or Millstone or whatever.