# Gene Cafe Roast Profiles



## MikeHag

The Gene Cafe is still in the box, but I'm planning to do my first roast this week. I've always intended to take a methodical approach to roasting and that goes for my first roast. I've taken a look as some profiles found online (John Despres), and have emailed Eddie Dove to ask if he will send me some of his profiles. In the meantime my first draft profile will be along the following lines. If any Gene Cafe owners have any suggestions please fire away.

The beans are a semi-washed Brazilian bourbon. I believe they will not be particularly hard, and I'm taking this as a cue not to overdo the initial ramp up to 1C, hence the profile below, which is Eddie's 'root' profile.

1) Preheat the Gene Cafe and let it do it's cool down.

2) Load ~230 grams of coffee

3) Set the Gene Cafe for 30 minutes (arbitrary, you will stop it when it is done), use a stopwatch or timer to track time.

4) Set the Gene Cafe for 300 F, hit start and let it run at this temperature for 5 minutes.

5) At 5 minutes, raise the temperature to 435 F

6) At 10 minutes and 30 seconds raise the temperature to 456 F for the remainder of the roast

7) Stop the roast at the desired level

8) Cool immediately external to the Gene Cafe (I have a standalone cooling tin)

9) Return drum to Gene Cafe, hit start then stop and allow it to run through a normal cooling cycle.

10) Repeat for next batch

Cheers!


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## CoffeeMagic

This is the profile I generally used for the Gene:


Preheat to 100C

Load beans - around 250g

Set temp to 150C for 5min

Then 235C until FC

Once crack is rolling drop to 225C

Gauge roast by colour and smell - roughly 3min after FC for a medium or Full City


Very rarely would I go into second crack unless looking for a dark roast. Beans can either be cooled in the roaster or do Emergency Stop & cool.


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## Ian_G

I'm not into roasting at all, but I've read a bit about it. One of the problems with electric roasters when considering profiles and repeatability is the power supply. You may not know that the supply voltage in the UK is variable and does vary depending on time of day. Breakfast time and tea time being lower than mid afternoon due to demand. Anyway the point is that different voltages lead to different rates of warming/roasting, or so I've read. The only way round this is to always roast at the same time of day, or buy a power regulator thingy - you can get them from some hifi outlets. What they do is "condition" and regulate the power supply so that your turntable does n't suddenly slow down or speed up. Obviously they should do the same sort of job for temperature - neither too high nor too low. It may seem like a step too far, but I thought it made sense, especially when we're talking of very precise measurements of time and temperature.

FWIW.


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## MikeHag

Thanks Ian. Yeah, this is an issue that Vintage has mentioned before. I do have a variac, which is currently configured for use with my other roaster, but perhaps I should investigate making it interchangeable between the two. Good call.


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## ChrisP

Power fluctuations tend to be a problem with some roasters such as the Hottop because they're a closed loop system meaning they use predetermined set points and timings to achieve a roast. This is the main reason why I bought the Gene Cafe as it actually has a temp sensor and turns the heater on and off until it reaches the selected set point so power fluctuations don't really come into the equation.

I'm a bit lazy when it comes to roasting. I generally set it to 240 deg C and let it run until desired depth of roast. Usually 18-20 mins depending on bean type. I find this makes an exceptional tasting coffee and are more than happy with the result. I can't be bothered manning the machine and altering temps. I also just let it run through its built in cooling cycle. I also don't bother pre heating as it isn't like the roaster has a large mass that needs to warm up. The bulk of it is plastic and the roasting chamber is very thin glass that heats quickly anyway.


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## MikeHag

Thanks Chris.

Yeah I think a lot of people adopt the max-temp approach. But since getting into coffee I've always been really interested in experimenting with different settings, analysis and methodology. I really want to sit there during the roast, watching, smelling, logging and tweaking. With the totally anal approach I'm wanting, I think voltage may matter because of repeatability. If the voltage drops between two roasts then I would imagine the Rate of Rise would vary, so the taste would to. But to be honest I'd probably be ok with that as long as was aware of it.


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## MikeHag

Here's a link to a zip file containing the roasting log and profiles for a load of different beans from different regions. It was all created by Eddie Dove of http://southcoastcoffeeroaster.blogspot.com/

Here's what he sent:



> A ZIP file with many profiles is attached; some DECAF profiles are included. There are two files within for the Ethiopia Organic Idido Misty Valley. The one dated 02-09-2007 is the one in which 4 different profiles of that bean are compared. Below each profile is a tracking of the Gene Cafe temperature readings that you can compare to yours and adjust as necessary. I did get a bit lazy with my cupping notes, but these were the best profiles I came up with for these beans. I hope these are helpful and provide you with a good reference from which to adapt so that the roasts are most satisfying to you.
> 
> Respectfully,
> 
> Eddie


The files: http://www.box.com/s/lu84ynd0rfoitk5p744g


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## gazbea

If you are really worried about voltages being different then maybe a computer UPS may be of use?


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## MikeHag

What sort of price do they go for?


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## truecksuk

I don't know if this'll be of any help but try http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Servers/cat/UPS


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## gazbea

APC are the standard UPS of choice so you can find cheaper and you can find more expensive. You will find that most small businesses will have one somewhere in their server cabinet as will many larger companies.

For a billy basic APC UPS - £65.08 (Clicky link to Amazon)

The more you pay, the bigger the battery so the higher the load rating is. The battery is more relevant for keeping servers running for a certain amount of time during a power outage so they can be shut down cleanly. Also helps them powering off if their is a power spike.

In your case, the voltage will be nice and constant to your roaster/espresso machine/kettle and should avoid fluctuations in power as you will be running on a trickle charge as you power your roaster through the battery.

I haven't used one myself for this purpose (roasting) so may need to do a bit of homework first but the basics should be the same as it is with server equipment.

You would more than likely need one of these too 'nother Amazon clicky link. Ignore the price as you will be able to knock one together yourself for cheaper and give you the cable length you actually need


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## MikeHag

Awesome







Thanks Gary. Great info!


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## CoffeeMagic

So this isn't seat-of-the-pants roasting







? Do people really need that kind of precision for home roasting?


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## gazbea

Not really. Depends how paranoid you are!







However, I'm assuming Mike is going to be roasting on site at the new cafe eventually so may be more worthwhile there









But I agree, it is overkill for a home user but the information is now here. Besides, looking at half the home setups on here it wouldn't surprise me if someone put one in place lol


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## MikeHag

Probably overkill for most folks Ron. I generally prefer to approach all my home coffee stuff with the same rigour I would like to apply on a professional basis. I like to do the best I can do, and push my own boundaries. I don't ask anyone to do the same







But I'll help anyone who wants to.


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## MikeHag

gazbea said:


> it wouldn't surprise me if someone put one in place lol


I believe vintage was looking for a way to stabilise his voltage many months ago.


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## vintagecigarman

I became aware of how my voltage fluctuated - from between 235 - 245, and even more at times - and that this directly influenced how long it took to get the degree of roast that I wanted. My solution is a lot less sophisticated than the gear mentioned above. I put a simple voltage measuring device in the plug, that reads out the current voltage. Given that knowledge, I can reasonably predict how long the roast is going to take compared to a median time. Works for me - but I do like the solution being proposed here and would follow with interest if anyone adopts it.

Sent via Tapatalk


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## freebluela

Thanks guys for the tips!


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## P.B

I own a Gene Cafe and moved from a town center location to a rural location. After the move I could not get the same bean to second crack before 20 minutes! Previously it had been a ~16 minute roast, now I was baking the beans rather than roasting and they tasted quite poor incomparison. Eventually I found out that my voltage was about 215-220V. Once I'd installed a variac and I could push my voltage up to ~235V I could push the beans into first crack rather than limping through the roast and baking the bean and get back to the same result as prior to the move.

If the voltage is too low for the Gene Cafe, and I'm reliably informed the Hottop suffers the same, I found I could not get the beans hot enough fast enough the get a decent roast.

Paul


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