Coffee Roasting     Gas Pressure too low for ideal roast times

2021-12-08 23:52

Gas Pressure too low for ideal roast times

Hi all,

My name is Travis and I am the owner of SasKoffee Roastery in Saskatchewan, Canada. We just recently got our digital control 3kg roaster set up and running. Ive done a couple roasts with the spare beans I had sitting around as I wait for our new beans to arrive. We converted our garage into a commercial roastery so we do have some limitations. One of them, my gas pressure limit is 1.3 Kpa, and I believe due to this I am unable to complete my roasts in the 10-12 minute duration. While scowering the youtube page I have noticed that most roasts are starting at 2 - 2.4 Kpa.

Is this something I just have to accept? Any suggestions as to how to counter this and prevent roasts from going too long?

Typically I am not hitting first crack till around the 9-10 minute mark.

Any suggestions help!

Travis

SasKoffee

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2021-12-09 05:06

Hi Travis.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with your first crack time hitting around 9-10:00. As a matter of fact, I'd be surprised if most of your coffees don't cup better.

Beyond that, you have a couple of options. First, try increasing your charge temp to the maximum the seed can withstand without automatic heat defect.

If you need to, you can run the drum speed at maximum and a medium airflow too increase convective heating and minimize conductive contact time in the drum.

This may get you to full capacity with good results. If you're still struggling, reduce the charge size to 2kg until you get some traction on the machine.

Steve

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2021-12-09 15:12

A little late to the party, but I was having this issue with my 3KG digital, too. I'm tapped into a domestic gas supply here in the UK, maxing out at around 1.4 kpa. During the winter, this can often drop to 1.2 kpa due to gas central heating usage.

I was attempting full batches, but the longer time taken (around 12:30 for a 3kg batch of Brazil natural espresso, roasted medium) would give a roasty flavour and bake out a lot of the acidity. To achieve this, I was charging at 400f and hitting with max gas immediately. Generally, I never really felt in control of the roasts and was always aware the machine was operating at the maximum for my circumstances.

I've since taken the batch size down to 2.3kg and find it's far, far better. I can drop a batch of the same coffee in around 10:30, feel a lot more in control and have lost the roasty, baked flavours. In reality, I've not lost any hourly capacity either due to the quicker roast times.

I wish I'd done it earlier!

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