Coffee Roasting Weather and roasting
@richardbright
Posted in Coffee Roasting
Weather and roasting
I was roasting this past weekend and I noticed immediately something was off with my roast. I live in Southern California so the weather is pretty consistent year round, so I haven’t encountered any issues roasting on my 3kg out of my detached 20x20 garage over the past several months. Fast forward to this past Saturday, the weather was slightly cooler during the day when I typically roast and it was really windy - and I usually roast with the garage entry door cracked/open (not the large door). The roasts tended to runs a little hotter than normal. The overlap percentages lined up pretty well with only a 1% or so difference in the yellowing/Millard phase and development phase.
Any words of wisdom for planning and reacting to these variations as they are sure to occur again. I also took a mental note to never roast when it’s windy out.
NOTE: we cupped the roasts and they tasted good but were a little more developed than our target profile calls for.
Thanks!
Weather is always an issue, but a lot less of an issue for a permanent installation.
Absent that, you'll likely be stuck rolling with the punches.
One thing I've observed, and plan to focus/study with my new small roaster is that humidity has an effect. Here in KS we get days where green coffee temps have been in the 45 to 50 degree F range and then the warm front pulls up at a 65-75 degree day with high humidity. Makes it incredibly difficult to dial in sometimes. So you might need to see if your humidity levels are way different. I agree with @sgreen though. You just have to have reps on the machine to figure it out and try to stabilize those conditions as much as possible. Sometimes it is impossible to do though and then you have to rely on sensory skills.
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