Owner`s manual

44
XI - Tips and Hints
Storing Coffee
There has long been a debate as to the best way to store coffee. Green coffee is easy to store. Left in a
cloth bag in a cool, dark, dry place, green coffee will keep for as long as a year with little difficulty. Placed
in the back of a kitchen cabinet away from the dishwasher or stove will probably be just fine for quite some
time. Cloth bags are best as they let the coffee breathe and they eliminate the possibility of condensation.
Roasted coffee is another matter all together. Once roasted the clock begins to tick. Whether kept in
the refrigerator, in air-tight bags, packed in nitrogen, or vacuum packed, roasted coffee changes chemi-
cally over time and soon becomes stale. The best advice is to keep fresh-roasted coffee in a closed, sealed,
glass container in a dark cool cabinet and try to use it relatively quickly. Fancy storage procedures like
vacuum packing or packing in nitrogen might be slightly helpful in the short run, but once exposed to air
the benefits these methods provide are soon lost.
For drip, coffee is best used in less than two weeks from the time it is roasted. For espresso, try to
consume your roast within no more than about one week to ten days. As you become accustomed to having
fresh coffee you will be able to easily taste the difference between freshly roasted coffee and that which
has been stored too long. One benefit of home roasting is that you can roast only as much as you need for
about a week and never have to taste stale coffee again.
There are some exceptions to this. Some coffees, such as monsooned Malabar coffee from India,
benefit from a rest period of as much as ten day to two weeks after roasting. As you use different coffee,
pay attention to how they taste over time. If you find they taste better as the last of the roast is about to be
used up than when fresher, try allowing a longer rest period for the next batch before you brew them.
Back to Back Roasts
If the roaster has not cooled sufficiently after the last roast cycle it will not be possible to start a new
cycle right away. If you attempt to restart the Coffee Roaster when it is too hot it will automatically go into
the cooling mode until the machine has cooled sufficiently. This is evidenced by the rotation of the agita-
tion arms in the cooling tray and the fans running.
When the machine has reached the appropriate temperature, it will start beeping to signal you that
it is time to add the coffee as described earlier. At this time you can proceed by filling the machine with
beans, and continue a normal roasting cycle. This protects the machine from overheating and the beans
from being scorched by being added to a too-hot drum.
Roasting Tips
A lot of factors can affect the roast level of the coffee but there are some things you can do to fine-tune
your roast. If the roasted coffee comes out too light try using a longer program or adding “Plus” time on the
KN-8828P-2K, or program more initial time into the KN-8828B-2K. You can also reduce the batch size
from 250 to 225 grams of beans. If, on the other hand, the roasted coffee comes out too dark, try increasing
the batch size to 270 grams or decreasing the roast time. Experiment with different roast times and batch
sizes to find the taste that you like and the amount of coffee you can use before it begins to lose flavor.
If a batch of coffee is ejected accidently during the roast but is not dark enough it is best to discard
the beans. Coffee goes through a chemical process during the roasting cycle and this reaction cannot be
repeated- you get one chance. It would be like trying to unscramble, then re-scramble an egg. It just can’t
be done.
Dark and Decaf Coffee
Be careful when roasting very dark. When you reach second crack, the cracks first increase in pace,
become quite active, then decrease again. If you hear the frequency and number of the cracks during sec-
ond crack begin to slow down it is a warning that must not be ignored. The beans are about to be burnt,
and if the roasting is not stopped, it has the potential to become a fire hazard. Learn to listen for the cracks
and use them to help you achieve perfect roasts.