I am at the 12th roast on my R2 and came from Behmor 2000. I kind of developed a phobia of scorching the beans, but really want to bring them to the espresso roast level. On my first two roasts I had scorching. How de we deal with Sumatra to have it done for the Espresso, somewhere in the neighborhood of Vienna, but without oily spots and batch that I was working with is 500g. Ror is my other question, it’s ither my OCD or I just have to take it easy on concentrating all my attention on the perfect ROR, R2 is so fast and beautiful that I can’t hold all those horses, it’s like riding a Ferrari after Ford Escape lol.
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Here are some general rules of thumb that helped me
-The temperature readings won’t be the same as on the Behmor so you can’t directly compare them.
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aim for an overall time of about 13 minutes, with 3:00 to 3:30 minutes of development time. I haven’t had a lot of tasty espresso roasts that were shorter, and longer roasts lose a lot of flavours.
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you might need to keep the power levels in the higher ranges going into first crack in order to make sure you can reach a good end temp. This depends on the type of beans. Some of them lose momentum really fast after cutting power and others don’t.
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the last minute or so of the roast should be at lower power and higher fan speeds to prevent burning.
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trying to make a perfect ROR curve will drive you crazy. It’s a good reference to follow when you find a roast profile that you do like, but focusing on the other variables first is a better use of your time. Coffee with a weird ROR curve tastes just fine, all other things being equal.
Hope this helps
First of all, there’s no such thing as “espresso roast”. The grind is what determines the type of brew. Roasters usually do “espresso roast”, not because it is specifically for espresso, but to ease the burden on baristas in busy professional environments because lighter roasts require a bit more puck prep. You can brew dark roast filter, light roast espresso, etc. When you’re doing it at home it comes down to taste. It’s not that you must over roast or under roast to drink anything.
Second, you are making too many adjustments and they’re all late and unnecessary. Since you don’t have many roasts under your belt, I’d suggest starting from the Morten Münchow course that will help you, among other things, get rid of your RoR watching.
Hope that helps and happy roasting.
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I am not comparing Behmor temperatures it’s a completely different animal, yes. You just took a lot of anxiety and worrying from me by explaining it the way it should be done, especially about ROR I did was going crazy about it by keeping it steady and was missing the main thing which is site, smell and hearing it, just like I was applying it to Behmor. Thank you very much!!!
I suppose one should be clear about what is meant by terms like espresso in the context of roasting, thanks for the reminder.
What I meant was if I am roasting coffee that will be used to make espresso, I find that a slower roast with a longer development time tastes better. I will finish the roast at a higher temperature if I want it to be a darker roast.
In contrast, when I am roasting coffee that will be used to make a filter cup, I think a comparatively shorter development time than that tastes better, even for darker roasts.
Anyhow I know everyone has their own rules of thumb. I’ve tried a lot of the ones that have been posted and I’ve learned a bit each time. There isn’t just one right answer, thankfully. I’ve learned to be less of a perfectionist when roasting. I think picking the right bean has more of an impact on the taste of the cup rather than having a perfect roast profile. I would have saved myself a lot of frustration if I’d realized that sooner.
Well, it was clear what you meant the first time around and that’s why I said what I said. Those are commercial industry parameters, not of any individual in particular. I don’t really care how you roast, but it’s personal taste and preference. If you’re happy with something, just stick to it, but that is you, not roasting for espresso or filter.
Well, if it’s specialty coffee, you can’t go wrong, even with those barely going over 80. The perfect roast profile exists as much as any other mythological creature. There’s your perfect roast profile, which is real, that you can reach by trying different things. That’s why I told you about the Morten Münchow course. It’s an excellent starting point, it’s free and Münchow doesn’t tell you how to roast. However, if you’re happy with your results, I’m happy for you. Enjoy roasting and all the best.
Scott Rao Masterclass: Allongé vs. Standard Espresso: Roast Level, Flow Rate & Flavor
I hear you. I didn’t know those were commercial standards, I’m self taught with help from the internet. Apologies all around to everyone that already knew that stuff. It took me a while to catch up to you all.
While I did take that course and have watched a bunch of other videos from other sources, I was very rarely able to replicate what was happening. I couldn’t follow the coffee-mind guidance and hit the targets they specified, despite trying different batch sizes and settings. I found it frustrating. This isn’t a criticism of the course, I thought it was informative and great! I’m just saying I had a very hard time applying the lessons.
It really bummed me out that I couldn’t roast the way that they were doing it. I felt like what I was roasting was subpar. I probably gave up too soon following their advice. But I don’t always have time to spend roasting and cupping and repeating. At a certain point I just want to enjoy my time roasting coffee and drinking it. Over time I settled on an approach that works for me on this roaster, not knowing that is a general standard.
Anyhow, like you said, everyone can roast however they want, and if the coffee tastes good that’s all that matters. How one goes about learning is also a personal thing. I might be in the minority here but figuring it out on my own by trial and error is part of what makes it interesting, and I feel like a rule of thumb is more helpful sometimes. I wish I would have known more of them sooner, I would have been a lot less fussy about it.
No apologies needed since you haven’t said anything worthy of one. Maybe I should apologise for coming across differently than the way I intended. And I must apologise for much more because I was exhausted and obviously my brain went on a holiday. I thought you were the original poster. That’s what little sleep and too much work does to you. 
However, your approach is the best approach. You cannot replicate what others are doing. The thing to replicate from the course is colour, not much else. The profile doesn’t really matter, but watching, smelling and hearing does. Also, a colour meter is a really essential piece of equipment. I hope you have one. It kind of tells you where you are and what you need to do for your next roast.
Anyway, your roasts look fine. I was wondering how come you’re going into the first crack that late with those settings, but then I saw your drum speeds so that’s it. So sorry for the confusion once again, and happy roasting.
Thanks for the reply!
Your comment about going into first crack late because of the drum speeds is interesting to me because I’ve noticed the opposite, at least on those beans. But if I’m reading this article correctly,How coffee beans move within a revolving drum. (Also: Why you should be anticipating a revolution in the coffee industry.) | by Aillio | Medium, one would expect to reach first crack with higher drum speeds. Is that what you’ve experienced too?
Thanks, happy roasting to you too
I’m sorry for being blunt, but there’s not really much to discuss about drum speeds. Higher drum speed equals faster roasts, lower drum speed equals slower roasts. Somewhere on this forum I’ve made the same mistake assuming it was the other way around, but it isn’t, and I was promptly corrected in a couple of seconds. But you’re compensating with lower fan speeds and high heat application for longer periods, so you get there in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe you had different settings with another roast at D9. I don’t know, and I wouldn’t be able to find out since it would take me too much time to find the specific roast, because you have many. If you post links to the exact roasts you’re referring to, I’ll gladly explain why you’re under the impression that lower drum speeds yield faster roasts. Now, how that impacts the flavour is another question. If you’re satisfied with the result, there’s really no need to change much. Whatever works for you is the best approach.
thanks for the reply. that saves me a lot of trouble. it might have been different settings. i had started another thread about drum speeds trying to figure this out. I’m going to post a comparison of 2 profiles I just did over there. the short version is that I did 2 roasts the same, just varying drum speed and it didn’t have much of an effect at all.