My second roast. There's a little bit of oil on some of the beans, stopped a little ways into second crack, what level of roast is this?
Posted Mar 4, 2013, 8:19 PM UTC
1112
I would call this full city plus because of the small amount of oil on the beans. Some beans are wonderful at this roast level. I hope it's excellent.
6
yep, FC+ seconded
1
I don't like the names. Just explain it the way you did titling the post.
3
A bit of an uneven FC+. You've got some insect damage there, by the way, might want to cull the beans with holes in them.
2
Thanks, I was wondering what that was.
2
Out of curiosity, why cull the beans with holes? Is the damage more than cosmetic, and will it noticeably impact the flavor?
2
Typically, holes indicate insect damage, meaning the seed was exposed not only to the maw of a little creepy crawlie, but also to the outside air and bacteria. If you've ever heard of the Potato Defect, this is essentially what allows that bacteria in. More or less, damaged beans are inferior, though they do not always have the most profound taste defects. In the interest of quality, I always cull pretty much anything that looks bug eaten, old, overdried, moldy, misshapen, underdeveloped, and so on.
2
Ah, thanks. I'll have to research this more. Tasted pretty good though (for a Vienna roast anyway...blah) :)
Edit: lol, I just realized I referenced a batch of coffee I just made, yet you would have no way of knowing that! Here it is anyway: http://i.imgur.com/fI6mX1T.jpg
Unless those are just burn holes from taking it all the way to French roast...
2
Ah, no that's actually a roast defect. The little craters are structural blowouts that happen when the heat is applied a bit too quickly during the progression into second crack. Insect damage looks like little tunnels, and you don't usually see the porous structure of the bean. Here's a visual glossary of some roast defects for reference.
3
I'm gonna disagree with others and say this is closer to a Vienna. But definitions vary. Regardless, it is a "dark" roast.
I tend to stretch out the time between first and second crack (3 minutes on average), so it's easier to gauge and time roast level. Roast levels are a spectrum, but these are my general guidelines on roast level:
*Right after first crack, up to a minute after: city
*Halfway between first and second, between 1-2 minutes after: city+
*Before second crack, 2-3 minutes after first: full city
*First clicks of 2nd crack: full city+ (still no oil on any beans, maybe just a bit after a week of rest, but very little)
*Second crack underway: Vienna (oil expressed on bean surface that really comes out on rest)
*End of second: French (oily immediately)
My definitions, again, are approximate, and are biased to my roaster and profiles. (drum roaster, relatively long profiles)
I agree that it might be closer to Vienna based on the amount of oil, but it is hard to tell from pics