White grains in ground coffee

I've been noticing that when I grind coffee on medium grind size for Chemex there have been relatively large lighter colored flakes. Are these bad?

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Johan_Edstrom_5586

I'd guess those are the chaffs from roasting, i.e the remnants of the outer shell on the beans.

If you are roasting yourself you can kinda sorta remove it, but it is always an issue that they'll

be flying around.

http://www.thecoffeefaq.com/5homeroasting.html

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Here you see em better.

Andrew_Hsu_30145

The beans are bought roasted, and yeah, I think chaff is exactly the issue. Does it affect the taste of the coffee and do I have any easy at-home options for removing chaff?

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Shake the beans really well before grinding and try something like a colander maybe?

I usually vacuum my roaster during the cooling process to get rid of the majority, it doesn't taste much of anything I think.

Matt_67991

I don't think it makes too big of a difference. If you want, maybe try shaking them to loosen them a bit.

This guy says to try a salad spinner?

http://www.home-barista.com/home-roasting/hottop-chaff-removal-and-cooling-for-less-than-20-t7802.html

prince_of_porcelain

@Johan - Glad to hear I'm not the only one who takes a vacuum to the roaster.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

@brian just seemed the easiest way to get it clean

I tend to do it a few minutes before the cooling cycle is over

t.stanoulis

Is it worthwhile to roast your beans at home? I understood that a skilled roaster with a reliable, consistent machine is not to be underestimated.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

I'd certainly say so. Besides, it is fun, interesting and tasty.

Home roasting was killed by the big batch roasters as marketing made

it seem "cheap" and peasanty - I can't stand commercial roasts anymore.

Matt_67991

@Thomas it depends on a variety of factors: how much you drink, whether you think you would enjoy roasting as a hobby, how much money you value your time at, whether you think your friends would like beans etc.

You can get fresh roasted beans from a bunch of good roasters, and they will be much more expensive than buying nice green beans, but once you factor in the time and hassle it takes to roast your own, as well as the space for the extra equipment needed, it may not be worth it to you.

t.stanoulis

To me personally, it actually sounds like it'd be fairly fun. I suppose my concerns are that it would be time-consuming, and that setup would be costly or take up space. Primarily my question is to ask whether truly it would produce a better product than a skilled local roaster. Generally I ask the guy from whom I buy beans how beans have turned out week-to-week, when he thinks they would be optimal for brewing, and so on, and I try to buy based on cupping; this way it's interesting to get to taste different beans or blends when they're most interesting.

Obviously, however, as this is ChefSteps, I'm totally intrigued by the notion! One more thing to tumble into, hahaha.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

A roaster isn't that expensive, stovetop or popcorn might be a good start, they aren't very consistent.

It takes me about 3x20 minutes about once or twice a week...

t.stanoulis

Well, that's cool. What trouble I've gotten myself into now!

Johan_Edstrom_5586

This isn't the "perfect" roaster, for that you are probably looking in the $k range.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/coffee-roasters/drum-roasters/behmor.html

But it does what it needs to do.