# Gene Cafe Roast Profiles



## NickR

I've been roasting my own coffee for around 10 years. Starting off with a modified prima popcorn popper, progressing on to a Hottop and eventually upgrading to a Gene Cafe. This has been modified to give full control of the elements. I've gradually built up my own theories on roast profiles. However recently I've been using some professionally roasted beans. These have been a bit of an eye opener and have undermined my confidence as a roasted. 250 grams of my beans only fill about 75% of a Illy tin, whereas professionally roasted beans fill up to 95%. I've also noticed that the professional beans are far easier to grind in a hand grinder than my own. The professional beans have far more flavour in the cup with far more sweetness than I get with my own beans.

My roast profile is based on 3 distinct phases and for most beans is something like:-

1. Remove the moisture - not to fast room temp to 220 deg C approx 8 minutes

2. First crack - 220 deg C - 230 deg C 8 - 13 minutes

3. 2nd crack - 230 deg C - 238 deg 13 - 16 minutes

I'm now thinking that I've got to get a more active 1st crack - the gases should swell the beans to a greater degree than I am achieving at present.


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## 4085

Hi Nick,

I too have been roasting via Gene Cafe for many years now, and I have the mods done as well. Do I remember you from the old davec coffeetimeuk forum? 250 gms of green will always shrink between 10 and 20% once roasted. I do not hand grind and suspect that part of your problems lie there. What sort fo machine are you using for your coffee?

I have experimented loads with profiles and the likes and I still remain to be convinced. I find that the Cafe starts off slowly, in time o warm through In winter I always pre warm the machine. I use 236 as a benchmark. Once first crack has come I sometimes switch into dimmer mode, sometimes not. I find the best results come from not roasting too darkly. Roasting 250gm a time gives me 8 roasts per batch. I bulk buy through bellabarista so I get 9 x 2 kg of beans, so there is time to experiment

I rarely ever find a bought roasted bean matches, let alone betters the ones I produce. I do not say that because I think I am clever and better than everyone else. I say that from drinking coffee for years. People on here rant enthusiastically about a certain bean vendor, but I find his bean quality often poor and never roasted enough.

Can you expand on te style of coffee you drink and the equipment you use, and where you get your greens from....for starters!


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## 4085

Knowing your bean also helps. The characteristics from country to country vary. On Monsoon Malabar, my preference is 226 for 14 mins 30 seconds, others like it darker. But profiles are more for machines that only follow them, ie hottops. The pleasure from the Gene is that it is you, a timer and a heat setting.


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## Chris_on_caffeine

Hi, I don't know anything about the Gene Cafe roaster, but from reading what you said I think 220c for 1st crack is too high. Bring the heat down and replace with more time. Greens shrink in weight, but gain in size when roasted. Hope that helps


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## 4085

Nick, if you have the same mod as me, where you have re routed the wiring through a dimmer switch, then this allows you to regulate the wattage not the voltage. This in turn allows you to stretch the roast out once first has been reached. Therefore, forget about drying the beans etc. Some beans welcome being turned up at first into second, others dont. Are you checking your voltage before roasting? The Gene is really affected by low voltage. If mine is below 238 v I do not bother and just wait. HAve you got acces to the old roasting notes/charts from the old forum still?


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## The Systemic Kid

I bought a Gene roaster quite recently so am definitely in the learning stage. My first attempts were pretty acceptable - Kenyan Peaberry and Honduras. I was very cautious and erred on the light roast side. Then I tried to roast a batch of Peaberry to medium/dark roast. Not good. Beans were really hard and the grinder struggled. I am intrigued by the dimmer modification - is it difficult to do? I am lucky with my mains voltage. It's pretty constant around 247 volts. I have also read about PID modification. Again, is this difficult modification to carry out and is it worth it?


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## NickR

Thanks for you comments dfk, your right I was on the ****************. We seem to have almost identical roasting experience. (Same tutor). I have tried getting to 1st as fast as possible (about 11 minutes) but I still don't get the expansion of the bean that commercial roaster seem to get. I'm drinking coffee (aerobie) roasted with this profile now, and not liking it very much, it tastes of oats. I'll try a pre heat roast next time.

Systemic Kid, the modification is easy if your happy playing with electricity, I'm not convinced of its value though. I've come to the conclusion that the basic control system as supplied is fine.


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## 4085

Nick, if you can be arsed, send me a pm and I will give you my address. Send me 250 gms of a green you know, I will roast it and send it back done my way, for you to compare. I thought that the commercial roasters tend to roast faster than us mortals. I find not many roasts unless it is bitter, go beyond 16:30 and many nearer to 15 mins. I tend to go more by look and smell than the info the machine gives me. I have 3 voltage meters and they all give different readings at the same time!....so can you rely on the digital display? Alos, for fun, set a stopwatch against the Gene timer....I have and sometimes it is not accurate.

So, what I am saying, is go with your nose and experience rather than profiles and display information



NickR said:


> Thanks for you comments dfk, your right I was on the ****************. We seem to have almost identical roasting experience. (Same tutor). I have tried getting to 1st as fast as possible (about 11 minutes) but I still don't get the expansion of the bean that commercial roaster seem to get. I'm drinking coffee (aerobie) roasted with this profile now, and not liking it very much, it tastes of oats. I'll try a pre heat roast next time.
> 
> Systemic Kid, the modification is easy if your happy playing with electricity, I'm not convinced of its value though. I've come to the conclusion that the basic control system as supplied is fine.


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## Geordie Boy

I too have only recently bought a Cafe Gene. I've done around 20 roasts so far (slowly working through a Bella Barista bulk buy) and at the moment roast to a common profile (150degC -> 220degC -> 230degC -> 240degC ->235degC with a hold time at each temperature) so I can notice any of the differences due to bean type/ambient temp etc from a standard. In terms of timings for the roast, I'm finding that the temperature control of the machine is having the biggest impact for me as say if I hold the machine at 220degC for 1 minute, the temperature can drop down by up to 5degC during it's control process before the heater turns back on, this thus increases the time overall for when the roast gets to the next set temperature (e.g. 230deC) as it now can have 15degC to rise instead of 10. Therefore I can definitely see the benefit of a PID type mod.

Generally I find a roast to last around 16.5 minutes. The fastest being 16 and the slowest 17.5, and that gets me to a Full City level with everything so far being drinkable (and 1 in particular being superb). However I have noticed that there isn't much of a window for which to stop the roast for the preferred roast type (30s seems to make a whole world of difference).

Once I feel I know what I'm doing I'll have a look at tweaking the profile.


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## 4085

Geordie Boy, the heater element switches on and off but does not really effect the internal or bean temperature. HAve a look at this link

https://creator.zoho.com/davec_coffeetime/coffeetime-shared-roasting-log/#Form:roastlog

choose the second tab along, and click on roast log information detailed view. In there is you scroll the drop down filter box to near the bottom, you will find roasting logs on dozens of beans. Usually all beans of a country have similar needs, so if you cant find the exact bean, just read through a couple from the same country.

Personally, I do not think the Gene appreciates profiling and you are better off taking it to first crack without setting the temp too high for the bean.


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## Geordie Boy

To be honest, the first time I did a roast it didn't come out too well doing a set temp so I tried one of the profiles in the Bella Barista guide. It resulted in something quite drinkable so at the moment I'm using it for pure consistency (in fact nothing since has come out bad). I plan to play with the profile soon so will start looking at what everyone else is doing.


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## NickR

I've been of the opinion for a long time that when starting a roast the temperature should be held back until the beans are dry. Failing to do this results in the outside of the beans becoming scorched which then dominates the flavour of the roast. To be honest, this is the taste you get in most hight street shops, particularly Costa and Carluccio's Napolitan roast. Recently I found this:-

http://www.frcndigital.com/coffee/advancedroast.html

This is a very radical roast profile. The temperatures even when converted to Centigrade don't really apply to a Gene Cafe because of its different method of roasting. However the principal of drying phase, quick temp rise to 1st crack and then slow finish does apply.

I've just tried this:

0-7 min 20-150C

7-12min 150-220C

12-15min 220-236C

15-20min 236-238C

The slow start has greatly extented my overall roast time, something I'll try to reduce. I've not tasted this profile. I'll report back.


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