What are you roasting today?

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Right on Dom! I am jealous . Are you going to roast indoors with the Behmor? I dont know too much about the Behmor except what I have seen on the S.M. site.

Blak Smyth, the Beans look like they are form Sweet Marias.

Yes I will be roasting indoors.
Did my first batch last night, made the house smell like burnt microwaved popcorn. YMMV
All the smoke detectors went off as well.
Next time I will open the window in the kitchen and turn on the range hood exhaust.

Yes Shane, Got the roaster and beans from Sweet Marias.

[Blak Smyth]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

Yes I will be roasting indoors.
Did my first batch last night, made the house smell like burnt microwaved popcorn. YMMV
All the smoke detectors went off as well.
Next time I will open the window in the kitchen and turn on the range hood exhaust.

Yes Shane, Got the roaster and beans from Sweet Marias.

Nice, after hearing that I went on their site and bought the sampler.
Shipped out the same day, can't wait.

I did some research on my roaster and it sounds like it is an okay unit. It is decent for indoors, the catalytic convertor is said to work well. The downside is it doesn't cool well. The review I read recommends taking the beans out and using a fan on them in a colonder. They recommend a milder bean because there is a long time in between cracks, maybe too long. Well I will give it all a go and see what happens.

[floydpink]

Dom,

From the look of the pictures, you have a nice roast that looks to be city plus, but it's hard to be positive.

First crack is similar to the sound of popcorn and second crack is more of a crackling sound, almost like rice crispies in a cereal bowl.

You should be able to hear first crack very clearly and it sounds different than second.

From my experience, smoke usually indicates you are in second crack.

I personally roast a bit darker for espresso but occasionally roast lighter and always wait for the first crack to nearly complete before cooling.

A scale as well as notes on your roasts is a very good idea in the beginning, although I know a big dixie cup is about 3/4 of a pound and I always scoop like that into the drum and haven't touched my scale in a long time.