Did anyone crack this nut successfully? And got a good nordic roast? I’ve been trying but have not succeeded.
Nordic roast are characterized by being light and fruity roasts, very suitable for ethiopian or kenyan beans for instance. A luminary in this category is Coffee Collective, their coffees are amazing - sour & fruity, almost tastes more like tea than coffee. I’m trying to emulate this.
I’ve tried the light roast described in the manual (I’m on the bullet R2) - preheat to 230deg C, and then stop after first crack + 45 sec.
With this approach I get some of the flavour I want. But since I stop the roast while first crack is still ongoing, I also get a lot of grass flavour that I don’t want. Conversely if I run the roast to FC+90sec, I skip the grassy flavour, but instead I don’t have the fruity and sour flavours anymore.
i think you need to focus more on the maillard phase of the your roasting, if you are aiming for such a short dev time. try extending the maillard phase and then cup. you could also try extending the dev time, but keeping the same drop temp…then cup
i’m no expert… but once i hit 320, i drop the temp a notch and up the fan speed a notch. then when i hit 350, i do the same, how much depends on the bean. once i hit fc, i drop the heat and up the air again. my goal to drop by 400 for most beans. some beans i roast to slightly over, but none over 405. i’m focusing a lot on heat management during the maillard phase.
i think you need to focus more on the maillard phase of the your roasting, if you are aiming for such a short dev time. try extending the maillard phase and then cup. you could also try extending the dev time, but keeping the same drop temp…then cup
Thank you. Do you use pre-set recipes or do you sit and punch buttons while the roast is ongoing?
Stuart-> yep, my wilfa V1 got destroyed by an underdeveloped light roast from a poor vendor. Wilfa V2 churns through it.
i do manual roasting for the most part. paying very close attention to the ROR and making tweaks to achieve the Profile I envisioned. Once I have a profile I love, I’ll use that for playback mode. playback mode is very important for me, because I need to have that consistent product that customers are looking for. it’s easier with larger roasters, but roasting on a 1kg roaster takes a lot work to achieve consistency. but the semi-automated feature of the Aillio is what caught my attention, otherwise I probably would have gone with a Mill City Roaster.
yes I do. and I say that because I found myself struggling to control the roasting of certain beans. for example, when I roast Pacamara beans, those beans are so huge and can absorb so much heat, that if you are not careful you can easily overshoot your intended drop temp. So Rao has helped me to manage such difficult beans, by explaining how to gradually cut heat, make micro airflow changes and adjusting drum speed. All these helps me to nail the precise amount of heat delivered to the beans and using the ROR chart to visually see that. if I can get to my drop temp and then hover at that temp for 10, 15 or 20 sec to get the desired development, I know i did my job right. I’m no expert, but listening to local roasters and big name guys like Rao has helped a lot.
Hey man,
There is something about it in the Coffee Collective book. I recommend reading the roasting chapter if you are able getting hands on it. Their approach seems rather different from Scott Rao’s.