Pan Roasting Coffee - Part 2
September 27, 2007
Our first try at pan roasting was a complete bust, but we had a few tweaks in mind that we thought would be crucial to improving the quality of our pan roasted coffee.
- Constant agitation, thinking back on it this seems completely obvious but at the time I thought stirring the beans every couple minutes would be sufficient.
- No grill lid, I know this trapped a lot of the smoke the beans were giving off and added to the “extra roasty” (read: burnt) flavor of the beans.
- Closely monitor the heat, using our new infrared thermometer we were hoping to keep the beans and pan at a reasonable temperature, ideally under 500 degrees Fahrenheit on the pan if possible.
So we tried again; stirring the beans constantly, adjusting the flame on the grill, and taking temperature readings every minute or so. We let the beans rest all the next day. They were still very burnt tasting.After this dismal second attempt Jacob emailed Grendel for some insight into where we might be going wrong. He recommended we try a wok, as opposed to a cast iron skillet, which would allow us to roast with the lid on and still agitate the beans sufficiently.So a wok it was! This time we did it on the grill again but with our trusty wok Grendel recommended.I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
After thirty-plus minutes that was as dark a roast as we decided the beans were going to get. Barely past first crack and a lot of chaff. I think the problem in this case was the wok was not absorbing enough heat from the flame due to its size and shape. As you can see in the shot with the infrared thermometer the pan itself was only about 360 degrees.But we had a responsibility to try the coffee regardless of what we knew was coming. Yep, the beans were baked, not good at all, dry and chaff-ey tasting, like roasted wheat, with a strange fibrous mouth feel that coated the roof of my mouth and my teeth.So we have dutifully tried pan roasting and failed repeatedly. I am sure we will come back to it but for now I want to make good, or at least drinkable, coffee. So next we will be roasting with the popcorn popper, which I hear is pretty easy and fun.
Hey, I was looking at how your wok was set up. You probably didn’t get the right temp out of the wok b/c it was losing heat on the sides. Go to a take-out chinese place and look how theirs is set up. They have some sort of method of focusing all the heat from their burners on the center of the wok, or they just have about 8 burners focused right on the center. There’s a really great “Good Eats” episode by Alton Brown you can look up. It takes you through making a homemade wok set up.
It’s great to see the busts as well as the things that work well.
My pan roasting instruction actually mentioned to have an well sealed lid on the wok & continually shake it to move it around. The lid keeps the heat in.
I use a cast-iron skillet for my roasting for its heat inside is consistent and temp stable. But before I pour the beans into the preheated skillet, I use a cornpopper to de-chaff the beans first.