New monitoring system for my homebuilt coffee roaster

This system was designed by a group effort of Homeroasters. It uses a customized Arduino and a custom "Juice box"(to measure voltage off the variac).  It monitors Time, ET(environmental temperature in the roaster), BT(surface bean temperature), RoR(rate of BT rise/min.) and Juice(voltage from the variac to the main heating element). It uses the custom designed pGesha software program. Here is a link to the hardware and software, tc4
I can hook up to a computer through USB or view on the LCD display.
I'm about to mount the monitoring hardware in a project box.

This was a roast of Ethiopian with an extended
finish for espresso.

George Howell, Terroir Coffee: "How to" Videos

George Howell  has put together some new informative videos. George is a leading authority in specialty coffee.
Coffee bean fundamentals
Coffee brewing principles
Coffee freshness and storage
Drip coffee brewing
Manual coffee brewing
George's "How To" videos

Home Coffee Roasting Competition: Judging Videos

A fun event! My entry was in the Single Origin category. Tom Owen Judge
The top video is the single origin roasts
The below video is the blends

DreamRoast, Driving with Bean Temp. RoR

The Dreamroast now has a bean temp. RoR(rate of rise) meter. The datalogger in the back left displays the ET (environmental temp.)in the roasting pot. And the BT (bean temp.). The DMM displays the rate of rise of the bean temp/min. A Homeroaster made the circuit board to connect between the thermocouple and the DMM.

The live numerical RoR works really well with manual control roasting.

***A new control system is arriving soon***

Books: Scott Rao books on Espresso and Coffee Brewing

Scott Rao has many years of experience in the world of coffee. He has in the recent past written 2 books, the first being "

The Professional Barista's Handbook" about espresso and his newest, "Everything But Espresso" about brewing techniques.

These books are well written and helpful for professionals as well as anyone who wants to better understand the art, science and best techniques for coffee preparation.

Scott Rao's Books

Darker vs. Lighter Roasted Coffee

There a several differences between a darker roast and a lighter one. I divide the taste in the cup into the flavors in the coffee and the roast flavor(similar to the char taste of BBQ or broiling, producing carbonic acid). The darker the roast the more "roast" flavor will be in the cup. There are also various flavors in the coffee that will be stronger or more subdued depending on the degree of roast. Coffees that have fruited
(berry, stone fruit, apple, lemon, ginger and or nutty flavors (depending on the origin and varietal and type to processing)will shine at a lighter roast while chocolates will stand out more at medium to slightly darker levels. Vienna and French roast levels will be dominated by "roast" tastes. The quality of the coffee beans is much more important in light roasts. The growing conditions, care in picking and sorting, insect damage, molds, care in processing, handling, shipping, storage etc. will all effect the final quality. These are called defects in green coffee beans. Many beans are only dark roasted to cover up the defects in the beans. Light roasting quality beans takes much skill but when done properly yields a fantastic cup. I highly recommend trying lighter roasts from a quality Roaster.
check out this related post: "Fresh" Roasted Coffee Beans

Sweet Maria's launch a New Web Home Coffee Roasting Forum

Sweet Maria's, The best dedicated online vendor of green coffee beans for homeroasters has just launched a new web forum site. Tom and Maria Owens have one of the finest online businesses on the web. They provide a wealth of information for the homeroaster including other coffee related resources. Tom travels the world to find the finest farm grown coffees. Many of the coffees are bought directly from the farmer or cooperative who are paid well for them (farm gate™ direct trade). The coffees are often specially packaged at source to maintain quality and freshness. Tom provides detailed descriptions and cupping notes on all the beans offered. New Forum
Sweet Maria's also offers a weblog, a Roasted weblog, a email discussion list, and a Coffee image gallery

"Kick It Up for Coffee Kids" Benefit Auction, during May at Homeroasters.org

Lots of great items for homeroasters and more!!!
Throughout the month of May 2009, Homeroasters.org is conducting
auctions on a wide variety of items, many of which the specialty
coffee industry donated with jubilation. Items up for bid range from
assortments of top-quality green coffee, to magazine subscriptions,
grinders, brewers, roasters and much, much more; all proceeds going
directly to Coffee Kids.

Coffee Kids® Grounds for Hope was born out of the specialty coffee
industry by Bill Fishbein in 1988. Coffee Kids® has distributed over
$4 million dollars in funds “to help coffee-farming families improve
the quality of their lives.” With four distinct areas of focus, Latin
American countries have realized improvements in healthcare, education
for children, community-based projects and micro-credit loans that have
enabled over 4,000 women to own their own businesses and support their families.

If you would like to bid on an item, please register as a member of Homeroasters.org and enjoy the auction.
Kick It Up for Coffee Kids Auction Homeroasters.org link
cheers,
farmroast

"Terroir Coffee" say's it all

George Howell of Terroir Coffee Co. introduced me to the word "Terroir" a few years ago. A word I wish had it's equivalent in English. It's a term not simply explained or understood. In fact it may take a lifetime journey. For coffee it's the "all" that's in your cup. The rains, winds, sun, soil life, stewardship, processing, handling, transport care, storage, roasting just being a few. How important is "Terroir" in our coffee and in all our foods and fiber we consume? It is the most important concept we need to understand. Terroir coffee does not just quench our thirst or perk our day. Terroir coffee fulfills all. Here's a link to George Howell's Terroir story. Story

Hand Coffee Mills-Coffee Grinders-Manual for Brewed and Espresso

To brew great coffee or espresso the quality of the grind is extremely important. The grind must be even with just the right amount of fines for espresso for the proper bind of the puck. Too many fines will produce a bitterness to the cup along with sediment. The rest of the grind particles need to be consistent with good surface area.

Coffee is best ground rather than chopped/diced. The whirly blade grinders are not really coffee grinders in the traditional sense because they chop/dice the beans and produce a poor result. Coffee grinders use hardened steel burrs either flat or conical for grinding. The quality of the grind will depend on the the quality of the grinder. Electric grinders can be bought for $50.- $2000+. More money will get you a better grind and better durability. The quality of the grinder is most important when producing espresso. A decent home espresso grinder is $200+. Many will buy a used commercial grinder such as the Mazzer mini or super jolly for $200-$400 as they are built for years of trouble free grinding. The problem with these commercial grinders is they are quite large and heavy and expensive.
So what if you want a quality grind from a durable and smaller grinder for less than $100. Consider A Hand Coffee Mill! A good quality hand mill can produce a grind on par with top commercial grinders. They can be adjusted for fineness of grind. The best co. still producing these mills is Zassenhaus and can be found on the Sweet Marias coffee site. I find the old grinders by Zassenhaus, Dienes and KYM are the most beautiful in design and the highest quality build. You just have to find one in good condition that spent more time on display than it did grinding coffee! New no-name replica box hand mills have poor quality burr sets and should be avoided.
There is a family owned site that refurbishes old mills and offers them for sale. They do great work. www.orphanespresso.com

A forum thread with lots of pictures and info on hand mills.
Shown are a few pictures from my collection of old coffee mill. between the 1920s and 1950s.
Hand Mill disassembled Wall mounted model