Behmor 1600 Roast Profile -Burundi Coffee

Roasting Burundi Kabarore Commune Yandaro in the Behmor 1600 Plus

For me, 150 grams is the perfect roast batch size in the Behmor. What it lacks in volume, the smaller batch size makes up for with your ability to move through it start-to-finish at a reasonable clip. So when I came across this 150 gram bag of Burundi Yandaro in my stash, it only seemed fitting that it’s final run be through my Behmor 1600 Plus.

Looking back on my review notes, Yandaro needs to be developed into City+ in order to build sweetness, otherwise it has a grainy flavor that I find to be a little off-putting. To be honest, I still like it light, but I don’t feel the cup reaches its full sweetness potential until much closer to City+ roast.

I wanted to hit my desired roast time quickly, meaning in less than 12 minutes or so on the Behmor as that’s a reasonable expectation given what it is capable of. I’m providing a quick rundown of how the roast performed, rather than my standard chart. (To get a better idea how running the Behmor 1600 Plus at full power looks minute-by-minute, check out my other roast profile post.)

Hitting the cool button on the Behmor 1600 Plus at the end of the roast cycle
Hitting the cool button on the Behmor 1600 Plus at the end of the roast cycle

Roasting notes for Burundi Yandaro:

  • 150 grams green in / 125 grams roasted out = 16.5% loss (roughly C+)
  • Roast in manual mode at P5 (100% power)
  • 6:10 (11:50 LED) dropped heat to P3 at 310F in order to avoid Error Code 2 “ERR2”, overheating shut down
  • 6:45 (11:15 LED) back up to P4 as the temp begins to dip
  • 7:30 (10:30 LED) back up to P5 once fan kicks in
  • 10:15 (7:45 LED) 1st crack, decrease power to P4
  • 11:30 hit cool

My “profile” (if you can even call it that) rarely varies since I tend to roast high density coffee and generally want to highlight sweetness and acidity. Long, drawn out roasts can bake the coffee, leaving behind a pallid, flat cup profile.

The only times I decrease power are at 310F in order to avoid the overtemp error, which on my machine occurs right around 325F (differs from one Behmor to the next), and as soon as I hear the 1st snaps in order to keep from heading into a violent 1st crack.

Overall, I found Yandaro very easy to roast in the Behmor. The limited view into the roast chamber can be an issue if 1st cracks are hard to hear. Not the case with Yandaro, as the fracturing stage was defined and easy to hear. Yandaro does produce a bit of chaff which might be an issue if your roast batches are much larger than 1/2 LB.

Pour-over brew assessment:

For my first brew I used a Hario V60 with the coffee having rested just under 24 hours. I followed my normal 15:1 water to coffee ratio, using 30 grams of coffee and 450 grams of water.

The coffee was still a little gassy and will likely extract better tomorrow. Even so, I found the sweetness to be drawn out, persisting long into the aftertaste. The coffee showed a moderate vibrant side, with black tea-like impressions that add a crispness to the cup.

The grinds smelled a bit like toffee crumble, with something like chocolate biscotti and a sweet baking spice accent. The brew is very sweet and body buoyant. Flavor notes are also toffee-like, with a creamy caramel flavor that has a buttery-sweet flavor to it. Baking spice notes are discernible in the hot brew and infuse the sweetness with a hint of cinnamon powder, but are most notable after the coffee cools down some.

Yandaro is a tasty iced coffee too:

a visual comparison of two different iced coffee brew strengths
a visual comparison of two different iced coffee brew strengths

I don’t have a brewer specifically for making cold brew at home and opted for good old fashioned iced coffee. I have to say, when it comes to cold coffee, I prefer ‘thin and crisp’ to the dense, concentrated types. I find them to be more refreshing I guess. Icing my average brew ratio achieves just that.

I tried two different brew ratios for the iced coffee, starting off with my regular 15:1 water:coffee, as well as a stronger, 8:1 ratio. As you might expect there was a big difference between the two. The 8:1 ratio had more body and flavor. But the flavor is mostly bittersweet, as most of the top notes sensed in the warm cup are lost when ice cold.

15:1 was my preferred iced cup and I found the light body much more refreshing. The lighter extraction does have an affect on flavor, and there’s really not a lot of sweetness to be found. If you enjoy unsweetened iced tea like I do, this shouldn’t be a problem. But this is a case where I see no problem adding a little sweetener if need be it!

If concentrated cold brew is more your thing, instead of going with a stronger brew ratio, we carry a couple of home brewing devices that should start you off in the right direction: the Bruer, or the new Prismo attachment for the Aeropress both achieve fantastic small-batch cold brew coffee.

More on Burundi Kabarore Commune Yandaro:

Several rows of raised coffee drying beds at Yandaro coffee washing station in Kabarore Commune, Yandaro.
Several rows of raised coffee drying beds at Yandaro coffee washing station in Kabarore Commune, Yandaro.

Yandaro is one of a few East African coffees we liked so much that we bought a little more than we needed. Yes, sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomachs! That being the case, we’ve put the overstock of Yandaro on sale.

Check out the full review and ordering info on Sweet Maria’s, or on our wholesale site Coffee Shrub. Please note that the sale price will be calculated once the coffee has been added to your shopping cart.

Check out examples of the wet-process method on a 2015 Burundi trip:

5 Responses

  1. Hello Dan,

    This was the last Behmor Profile… Aug. 14, 2020. I’m guessing there will be no more, but I’d thought I’d ask any how. A DP profile.

    Dry Processed coffees are a thing I frequently have… usually one of four, but sometimes two or zero of 4-5. I’ve messed with what seems to me to be the standard approach to collect the inherently different densities of dry process beans into a consolidated first crack… push hard into first. That doesn’t work for me… first is spread out all over the place.

    Recently I’ve reread and dug into a Chris Schooley article on roasting dry process beans… https://library.sweetmarias.com/roasting-dry-processed-coffees/ Specifically the last two paragraphs… “Another approach to roasting DP coffees…”

    The digging into that I’ve done took me (again) to the SM 2012 “Stretchin’ out the Roast” series, particularly Part 3 on stretching out the drying stage. I feel like maybe I can do this on a Behmor… made my first try today so we’ll see what it tastes like day after tomorrow.

    To give you some information…

    151g (never any other amount), Eth. DP Dari Kidame… 50 F ambient… preheat (bulb wake-up) 1/4-start-0:30 w/ chaff collector. in.. 1/4-P5-D + time to the 12:30 max… load drum… start-P5-fast (16 rpm). Ran this to early-yellow (as early as I could see it… 6:48/5:42-in) and dropped to P4-slow there. Ran to (my view of) full yellow then up to P5-F (0:48 time interval). Dropped to P4-slow at first couple of pops prior to true first-crack start (about 0:17 time between). Listened for drop of first (0:57 from true start-first) and cooled 0:30 later (door open on cool 1 min., dump to your style vacuum box for another 3:00).

    Fair amount of ending-first at cool. Roast loss 13.6%. Beans seem C+ going FC (I’m literally terrible at figuring roast by looking at beans)… but not C or near there, for sure.

    To say… my charge weight of 151g and use of ‘1/4-P5-D + time to 12:30’ causes the fan to come on at 9:05 (3:25 into roast) and I’ve never run higher that 306 on “B” temp. (mostly
    less than 300 for max) and I often have 1:00 to 1:30 left on SM French to Vienna (or a little plus) roasts. This roast was 10:07 total time. Top end “B” temp 279… that’s low.

    Dan, I really don’t know why I’ve said all this. At least not when the original point is to see if you might be able to make time (have interest, that is) to mess with a dry process profile for a Behmor Plus. I suppose, the electrons have LOTS of room for words… and, in some views, the more words there are, the better things are likely to be… so, I’m contributing… =]

    Mike Krall

    1. Hey Mike, thanks for pointing out that our Behmor content is in need of a refresher! There will be more roast tips, specifically for the 2000 series and 1600’s that have been upgraded. I think given the amount of DP we have on the site right now, that’s a darn good place to start too!

      For now, I like your approach to toggling heat settings between P4/P5, and that’s basically mine too. I’ve said it before, but “stretching the roast” is kind of inherent to the Behmor, so my main objective has been how to knock those roast times down in order to keep from flattening the cup.

      Your roast variables and overall times look good to me, and I agree that 1:30 development/13.6% moisture loss is roughly City+ roast level. Most importantly, how does the coffee from this batch taste?

      In regards to the low B temps post fan kicking in, that’s totally normal. But I don’t think those numbers accurately reflect the temp in front of the heat coils, and your coffee is much closer to that than the side panel thermistor (especially if you’re using the fast drum speed!). If you haven’t already read my post about that discrepancy, you can check it out HERE.

      Thanks for leaving the comment Mike. I better get on that Behmor dry process roast post!

      -Dan

  2. Oh boy… I’m looking forward to this… =]

    Some words…

    I had read the linked work you put up… it was worth reading again… I learned more.

    The roast I mentioned with the 13.6% roast-loss started to show oil at 2 1/2 days… smelled and tasted that way, too. Unless I don’t understand (that IS possible) it’s not a solid C+. To say, it seems all of my roasts have less roast-loss for the degree of roast I feel I’ve arrived at than other folks… regardless of roaster. I don’t have an answer for that and I also don’t know if less roast-loss for degree of roast is desirable or not (is it?). I look into roast-loss off and on but never find anything “scientific”. If you know of something, I’d love to get pointed to it.

    On ‘B’ temps… I’ve gotten to a point I don’t think what I call ET (environmental temp.) has any relation to anything. One example (anecdotal, for sure) is in some of the Behmor Profile Series roast charts you have put up… minutes of temperature drop, and yet, the roast continues on in a “proper” manner and does not bake… beans end tasting well roasted. I feel it’s my lack of understanding of radiant heating… seeming like here it is always the overwhelming aspect of applying heat even as ET goes up, and then fan kicks in for increased convective heating (even as the fan flattens ET change and implies an amount less heating). One aspect of radiant heating I feel sure of is… as the beans change color and get darker, a given radiant energy puts more of it’s contacting heat into the beans. And I’m not sure just how much lowering of heat input changing to P4 or P3 actually does. I suppose, some one out their knows how hot the radiant heat is for the “P’s”, and I guess it wouldn’t surprise me to find out it’s WAY hot, even as the lamps start graying.

    Last thing… I don’t toggle to avoid overheat error, I toggle to increase/decrease rate of heating.

    Mike Krall

    Oh, I’ve got a guess… My guess is, a 16/32 rpm Behmor might have a higher bean weight “sweet spot” than an 8/16 rpm Behmor does (your and my chosen 150 gram load)… but maybe the faster speed(s) will just let a person do shorter roasts with that “best” weight… we’ll see… =]

  3. HELLO I HAVE BEHMOR 1600 BUT I HAVE NO SPAIRE PART,FOR EXAMPLE CARD OF POWER SUPPLY AND CARD OF SECRREEN.

    1. Hello. We sell a few spare parts for the Behmor, including the chaff tray/screen, and replacement grid drums. You can find those HERE. Are you also needing to replace your power cord? I think any 110v cord could be wired in, and I’d be happy to help point you in the right direction if needed. Feel free to email me if you need help figuring out specifics on any of the replacements: [email protected]

      Thanks!
      Dan

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