# My first 2 roasts with gene cafe 101



## Robbo (Feb 17, 2016)

I finally got hold of a Gene after posting in the wanted section and here are the results of my first and third roasts. The second went straight in the bin!









Beans were Brazilian, from Coffee Compass (250g roasts) The first on the left was done 4 days ago and the other has just finished.

For the first one i tried to follow the gentle rise gentle finish but it i didnt hear first crack which threw me all off. I ended up still waiting for first crack when it was almost too dark and then lowering from 238 degC to 232 for a minute before putting into cool down. It smoked quite a bit towards the end and smells a little burned. End weight was 205g The coffee tastes ok with milk. (I drink brewed in clever dripper or brazen filter, usually black if its good stuff!)

For the second one i tried setting to 240 deg. The plan was to wait until first crack hold for 2 mins then cool. I must have missed first crack again as the beans went very dark and started leaking oil during cool down. I binned them as soon as they cooled.

The next one (on the right) i decided i obviously cannot hear first crack so I'll go by colour. I set temp to 235 and time to 17mins. I did think i heared the crack at about 9 mins and 230 deg so i left temp alone and finished at about 14 mins. End weight was 210g To me the colour looks alot better but i am yet to try them as i prefer to rest for a few days.

Im wandering if anyone else have trouble hearing first crack and is colour a good guide to use in this case?

I would welcome any opinions or beginners advice you can offer.

Cheers, Robbo


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## iroko (Nov 9, 2012)

Hi Robbo,

I've been roasting on the gene for a few years now and still struggle to hear 1st and 2nd cracks, I tend to hear 2nd more often.

I tend to roast by colour, hitting the cool down button about 20 sec before where I want to be.

I normally roast to the pic on the left or slightly darker, be careful near the end of the roast as things happen quickly and you've gone too far.

You could try roasting to 240 and if your not hearing any cracks see how things are going and maybe drop down to 235, looking for about

16-16.30 mins.

It might be worth buying a voltmeter to check your voltage, I normally get between 236- 241. Not so good when I'ts too low.

The more you roast the better It gets, have fun.


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Have a look in the home roasting thread todays roast as there are plenty of gene 101 roasts in there with some advice on how to hear first crack etc.

Can be difficult to hear and some beans next to impossible. One bean to try if you want to have pointer is old brown java or monsoon Malabar as these you will definitely hear over the fan noise.

If the beans you roasted taste ok and you kept a roast log ( if you didn't you will need to) you should be able to replicate if temp of where you roasting and voltage roughly the same.

Keep plugging away.

John


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

I would suggest dropping the temp, even more so this time of year, try at 236 or even 234.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Get that thing modified.


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## Robbo (Feb 17, 2016)

Rob1 said:


> Get that thing modified.


This is something i was planning on doing. I see you have yours fitted with dimmer mod and bean mass probe. Can you offer me any advice on the best way to do this? parts required/suppliers/instructions, etc?


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

See my thread and visit the link to the original project for an updated version. Do the dimmer mod first and see how you get on.


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## Robbo (Feb 17, 2016)

Roasted the last 255g of brazilian today before i start either the Papua New Guinea or the Costa Rican at the wkend.

I set temp at 236 as advised. Time to 17 min

The data i recorded is below;

No warm up

Temp at 8min 200c

Temp at 12min 224c

FC heard at 14min (i think, still not sure, very frustrating! )

Full temp (236) at 15min (should it take this long?)

Cool down at 16.5 min when it looked the right colour

Final weight 208g ...does this sound about right? I seem to be dropping a lot of weight, i was expecting a yield of around 225 from 250g greens.

Final result looks good to me, somewhere between the 2 other roasts i did with these beans which is what i was aiming for.


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

16.8% loss on your roast (250>208)seems about right for the level of roast shown in the picture. 10% loss (250>225) may be more than a little underdeveloped in the gene and thus not nice to drink at all.

Looking at my logs from the gene this is in the right area broadly but really dependant on what you were aiming for in terms of roast level as darker will lose more weight and lighter less.

Different profiles will have an effect on your loss % and is a matter of trying a couple of different ones with each bean origin to see what works best with the gene and would be best to do this on the same day so you can taste the differences at the same time whether that is by cupping, drip/filter etc or espresso (assuming when you referenced gentle rise earlier you are the BB supplied handbook for the gene written by Davecuk)

Keep plugging away and if not keeping a detailed roasting log there is a template available from the coffeetime wiki written by Davecuk also

John


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