# Why do my Brazilian Santos beans smell fishy after 7 days?



## ddoyle (Sep 6, 2017)

Anyone know why, is it the roasting or storage or bean quality?

Beans where roasted to medium-dark and looked very even with no scorching and put in ziploc bags


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

No idea why it smells like that but I've had it from professionally roasted beans and from my own. It seems to vary in intensity. I always use glass jars to store mine and the professional bags I open are foil lined at least. My advice is to avoid breathing in when opening the bag.


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## ddoyle (Sep 6, 2017)

Will hold my breath next time







I think its worse with dark roasts?


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## DaveP (Jul 14, 2017)

Maybe bags with the 1 way valves are better than bags / containers that can not exhale... maybe


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

I don't know why people refuse to put a photo up.....are the beans oily or showing signs of oil spotting..how dark is medium dark compared to say chocolate?



DaveP said:


> Maybe bags with the 1 way valves are better than bags / containers that can not exhale... maybe


I don't use bags with 1 way valves any more, I totally seal them. The fish thing is usually a roasting problem. I have coffee bagged from 30 days ago, they don't smell fishy when I open the bag.


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## ddoyle (Sep 6, 2017)

Medium-dark and stored in ziploc bag at room temp roasted using Gentle Rise, Gentle Finish profile. No oil. Colour is somewhere between milk chocolate and dark chocolate.









I too perfer not to use valved bags because I don't want any volatiles escaping or risk any oxygen getting in.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Well surprisingly no signs of early oil spotting. Usually the early fishiness smell is when roasted too fast/too hot. They look OK though, but sometimes it's hard to tell, depending on the roaster used.

Quite often after a few months very dark coffee can get that fishy smell.


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## DaveP (Jul 14, 2017)

My version of a 'medium' Brazilian Santos

Took it outside to avoid any colour balance issues.

The bag is reused... so any smells may be lingering, but no fish


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## ddoyle (Sep 6, 2017)

Looks good, I just use a Gene Cafe and the profiles in the Bella Barista Guide. Maybe it's just my roasting skills or lack of.


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## DaveP (Jul 14, 2017)

> Maybe it's just my roasting skills or lack of.


Maybe just as an experiment on how to start a learning curve .... get / beg / borrow a dog bowl and a heat gun









Its very hands on (and great fun and also very cheap) and a lot can be learned and understood from varying the heat gun distance.


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## ddoyle (Sep 6, 2017)

DaveP said:


> Maybe just as an experiment on how to start a learning curve .... get / beg / borrow a dog bowl and a heat gun
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Heatgun method was how I roasted before getting the Gene. I had some good results with the heatgun method. Now trying to prefect the Gene method. I upgraded to the Gene to get better temperature control.

Here's a pic of my heatgun roasted Ethiopian Sidamo


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## DaveP (Jul 14, 2017)

> Upgrade to the Gene to get better temperature control.


Which may well be a better answer, rather than taking any notice of 'profiles' at this time.

Sure, profiles at a certain stage maybe a wondrous thing but keeping things as simple as possible works to a good acceptable level. roasting rather than baking.


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## ddoyle (Sep 6, 2017)

I meant better temperature control to enable me to do profiling. But I think you're right, I should just focus on the max roast temp for now and profiling can come later.


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## RDC8 (Dec 6, 2016)

Do you have any other greens to roast? or only the Brazil Santos?

Try another bean and see if you have the same problem.

If the aroma persists, you could always write to the SCAE and suggest a new additon to their sensory wheel











ddoyle said:


> Anyone know why, is it the roasting or storage or bean quality?
> 
> Beans where roasted to medium-dark and looked very even with no scorching and put in ziploc bags


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## ddoyle (Sep 6, 2017)

@RDC8

I have some Colombian Supremo that I roasted a couple of days ago, it smells sweet, chocolately and nutty, no unpleasant smells (yet) .

Looks like other people have noted fishy smells in coffee and might be linked to ethylmethylamine which has a fishy odor. http://thefrenchexit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/why-does-coffee-smell-fishy.html

Maybe a bad roast has more ethylmethylamine ?


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