r/roasting

Hey everyone!

My coffee cherries have been ripe for a few days now, and I need to pick them soon. However, I’m really stuck on the post-harvest processing steps and could use some guidance.

​I had an earlier batch that ripened, but my processing didn't turn out well at all. I suspect it was a fermentation issue. I couldn't figure out how to get rid of that slimy mucilage layer, so I just dried the beans with it still attached. As a result, the beans shrank a lot, and removing the parchment (the second skin) became nearly impossible.

​my research suggested that after depulping (removing the outer skin), I should puree the skins, mix them back into a container with the beans, and let the whole thing ferment for 20 days. I'm highly skeptical of this approach because it sounds like a guaranteed recipe for heavy mold, especially for a small batch like mine.

​What is the most reliable, foolproof method to process a small, home-grown harvest like this? I want to safely get them from cherry to roast-ready green beans with the best possible results. How do you handle the mucilage removal and fermentation for micro-batches to avoid mold?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

Like probably everyone here, I used to dial in new bags by vibes: pull a shot, wince, nudge the grinder, repeat. 5–15 shots per bag, and by the next bag from the same roaster I'd forgotten everything and started over.

Two changes fixed it for me and I want to share them because they're free and they work regardless of gear:

1. Bracket, don't creep. Fix your dose (18g) and target (36g out, 1:2). Shot 1 tells you which side you're on: sour = finer, bitter = coarser. Then make a decisive grind change — big enough to land on the other side of good. Shot 3 splits the difference. Timid single-step adjustments are why dialling in takes fifteen shots.
2. Write everything down, per bean. Not in your head, not "I think it was around 2.4." Dose, yield, time, grind, and one line about taste. The magic isn't the logging, it's the recall: next bag from the same roaster, you start one adjustment from dialled instead of starting from zero.

Disclosure: self-promo below. I did this in Apple Notes for a year and it was miserable to search, so I built a small web app for myself: it pins your best-rated shot per bean as your dial-in, pre-fills your last settings when you log, and charts drift as the bag ages. It's at pullshot.vercel.app, free to try on your current bag. Built nights/weekends — happy to answer questions about the method or the tool

for 4th of july, i decided to do 2 roasts since i'm out of coffee... i was always curious to know what's wrong with my roast although it tastes good and friends like it, but i wanted to find ways to improve more. it's interesting to see how my roast is analyzed by chatgpt against ROAS roast methods. i think i'll give it a try with the suggestions in my next go around.

https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6a4a0052aac88191809b92dc2722b1be

i know AI is not always right.. but curious to see if anyone else had tried it too?

I just bought a 6 months old second hand Behmor 2020SR and tried to roast it today. I put in 250 gr of green beans, pressed the 400g/1lbs setting and P1. About 3 or 4 minutes into the roast a lot of smoke stsrted coming from the exhaust on the backside of the roaster.
I’ve now tried it without green beans and the same thing happens.
The unterior seems pretty clean, not a lot of built up chaff there. What could be the cause of this and how should i go about solving it?

Before reading this please excuse my excitement and lack of knowledge. I am as green as the coffee I'm roasting at this.

Stumbled onto what seemed like a really good deal for dipping my toes in at an entry level. Whoever used it last kept it in good condition so with some light cleaning it was ready to go again. Came with a full write up from Sweet Maria's from 2006 on how to get decent results from that specific roaster. I do not think the thrift store employees even went through the box since there was shipping manifests with personal info on it (which is how I know what year they bought it).

I picked up a pound of Uganda Bugisu from happy mug since the tasting notes sounded great for the price, ran it for six minutes, and got probably the best cup of coffee I've brewed yet despite how limited the parameters are on the machine. Got first crack somewhere around 20-30 seconds before it finished which was within where happy mug recommended roasting these beans. Been a really enjoyable first experience with the hobby.

I know it's a really limited machine and probably extremely unevenly roasting the beans, but man that was so much fun and the results were far beyond my expectations. I'm excited to mess with more varieties and experiment.

My first roast using stove top. Any advice?

I'm using Arabica prau from central java, Indonesia, processed with black honey triple yeast double mosto.

Batch 1

Yellowing: 4:30

First Crack: 9:30

Drop/Finish: 10:30

Batch 2

Yellowing: 4:00

First Crack: 8:15

Drop/Finish: 9:45

I don't know the bean's moisture content or the altitude (MASL) where it was grown.

The first photo is batch one and second photo is batch 2

i roasted 2.5 lbs of a wet hulled sumatran bean and am looking for some advice. it tastes sour and acidic despite trying to aim for a darker roast. i dropped the coffee at a bean temp of 413 F and landed at 16% weight reduction.

the coffee doesn’t taste full bodied and is quite acidic. it’s nutty which is a note i’m going for but not balanced. any advice on this roast? i’ll try to drop around 418 on the next batch and report back on the flavor.

i roast on a buckeye bc 3.5 (3.5lb capacity) and only roast in 2.5 lb batches. i did not change airflow and all temp changes are noted.

thanks for the advice in advance!

Hi all, I’m new to roasting and just had my first shipment from Verden Green Coffee. Super happy with the quality of it, but I’m unsure of my setup. I ordered some Brazil and Ethiopia. Would you look at my equipment and give me some feedback on what I could improve? Thanks!

These are my first roasts, it's a soft peaberry from Brazil. I was aiming for a light medium roast on my gene cafe cbr101.

The left was the first one, with a more steady rate of rise but I roasted it for 13m30s and it ended up quite dark.

The one on the right was 12m , it looks more uneven and possibly underdeveloped. I messed up the ror for this one and stalled at around 6-7 minutes , after initially jumping up about 16C from minute 4 to 5. All good learning though and I'll aim for a ror of 5C per minute in my next roast from 4 to 9 minutes.

Just as general look, I charged to 200, dropped the beans in, brought it down to 180 for a few minutes, went to a max temp of 235 up to first crack then finished at 225C.

Would love your tips on trying to get a more even roast on this peaberry.