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My Behmor manual suggests profiles 1 and 2 for hard beans, 3 and 4 for soft low grown beans, and 5 for Island beans, city/city+. I've been roasting Rwandan beans on 3 and it's the best, but a little flat, and bread like. Profile 4 seems to over roast (tobacco like) and profile 5 is very over roasted (flat, bitter, grainy and unpleasant). Profiles 1-2 seem to scorch the heck out of anything and the roast time is super fast and the result charred tasting coffee. I am following the guide and am roasting for a minute and thirty seconds after the first crack. I have not attempted to manually control the temperature. For a Rift Valley bean which default profile seems to work the best, and should I generally try to go longer or shorter after the first crack?

Edit: I should mention I am cooling the beans rapidly by opening the door when I end the roast and force air into the roaster with an electric leaf blower.

Edit #2: I am waiting 24hrs before cupping. More or less trying to follow scaa guidelines.

Edit #3 Attached is a plot of how I have been roasting. I know it says "BT" in the legend, but this is actually environment. The thermocouple was very close to middle/bottom of the drum, but not quite touching. I have not attempted to increase the drum speed at or during FC yet. This is my baseline. I will attempt to increase the drum speed next time. enter image description here

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  • For a little clarity. What percentage of your 1.5 min after first crack are you looking at? What was your overall time? I look for about 18% development time after first crack for my Rwandans. You also might look at other sites that are more geared toward home roasters . I do not have much experience on a a behmor. Only a Huky and much larger production roasters.
    – roasterbob
    Jul 15, 2016 at 13:26
  • Not sure what you mean by "what percentage after first crack?". The total roast time is in the ballpark of 9:00 for 1/4lb (initial weight). So first crack is happening between 7:30 and 8:00
    – Nick
    Jul 15, 2016 at 23:24

1 Answer 1

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Your times are right where they should be. Can you control the airflow and/or temps while you are roasting in a Behmor? If so, try to increase the airflow near or after the first crack.

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  • Yes, but I have not attempted to run it manually yet. But since you said the times are right I'll try that. I have not measured the chamber temperature to see what is actually happening with a thermocouple, that's the next thing I'll do to find out what my baseline is. Do you generally vary the airflow throughout the roast or keep it fairly constant?
    – Nick
    Jul 17, 2016 at 2:22
  • It is a common practice to increase airflow near or after first crack
    – roasterbob
    Jul 17, 2016 at 17:09
  • I can control the drum speed of the Behmor, but that is about all I can do to increase the airflow. I'll experiment with that.
    – Nick
    Jul 18, 2016 at 12:22
  • I migrated part of your comments to an answer. Can you expand your answer with a citation about the reason for increasing airflow or what it does to help the roast? Is there anything else about temperature curve during the roast that would help? Or something else from your experience in roasting similar beans? These would help improve this answer. You asked great questions to help refine the original post; very helpful. As pointed out before, you should be able to use comments for this now.
    – hoc_age
    Jul 18, 2016 at 13:18

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