Gene Cafe CBR-101: Solved scorching on 100g honey-processed beans with a stepped soak, but completely missed First Crack. Advice on sensory cues & profile timing?
Hey,
I'm dialing in ~100g micro-batches of Indian specialty coffee (Baarbara Estate Honey-Sundried Arabica) on a Gene Cafe CBR-101.
After running into contact scorching and facing high-temp charges, I switched to a stepped drying soak:
Preheat: 160°C (4 min)
Drying Soak (0:00–4:00): Held at 150°C–160°C
Ramp (4:00–11:00): Stepped through Maillard up to ~235°C
Result: The soak 100% eliminated scorching (bean faces are clean with zero charring or tipping), but created a new issue:
Charge / Output: 103.0g in \to 94.8g out (7.96% weight loss)
Drop Time: 11:00
Issue: I dropped at minute 11 based on surface browning, but never heard First Crack at all. At under 8% loss, the core is clearly underdeveloped (tight center creases, heavy surface wrinkling). The gentle soak pushed the timeline back, and the blower motor (~65–70 dB) plus honey mucilage masked any early clicks.
Questions for experienced Gene Cafe roasters:
Soak Timeline: When using a 3–4 minute soak at 150°C–160°C on small loads, what minute mark does First Crack typically hit for you? Should I be expecting it past 11:30–12:30?
Non-Auditory Cues: On small, quiet honey batches where snaps are muffled, what visual or exhaust markers (chaff blow-off surge, smoke smell/density, face smoothing) do you use to verify First Crack is rolling?
Batch Size: Is roasting 100g simply fighting machine physics too hard? Am I much better off standardizing at 150g–200g for proper bed tumbling, or is 100g reliable once dialled in?
Any suggestions or profile tweaks would be greatly appreciated!