Owner`s manual

10
Second Crack - After first crack ends there is usually a period of about one minute before second
crack begins. By that time, the beans are a delicious-looking, dark shade of brown. Second crack can be
a little more difficult to hear as these sounds are lower in volume, but once you learn to distinguish the
sound it is unmistakable. It is a more muffled, subtle sound than first crack. If first can be described as
breaking pencils, second sounds like breaking toothpicks. Generally, once second crack really gets going
the individual cracks occur with much greater frequency than the sounds during first crack.
The beginning of second crack is an indicator that the coffee is nearly done and you should be ready
to end the roast very soon. When second crack begins to diminish, most coffees are near the end of their
preferred-flavor profile, and when second crack ceases the beans are on the edge of being ruined and are
approaching the ignition point.
Timing of the Cracks
So that you will have some idea of when to expect some of these changes, please refer to table on the
following page as you progress through your first roast. The times shown times are to be used as a rough
guideline only. There are many factors that can affect the various times at which to expect the following
changes. These influencing factors can include:
• Beans chosen (different varieties have various roasting characteristics)
• Actual weight of beans (can vary depending on your scale’s accuracy)
• Volume of beans (250 grams of one variety can take up more space than the same weight of another
variety)
• Size of Beans - some beans are very small (peaberry) and some quite a bit larger (Colombian Su-
premo)
• Ambient air temperature and humidity
• Moisture level of the beans
• The voltage in your home (it can vary as much as 12-15 volts from place to place)
For the KN-8828, use a stopwatch and begin timing from when you pour the beans into the machine.
For the KN-8828D in its “Auto” mode, use the time displayed on the digital readout as a countdown timer.
Watch those times and compare them to the times in this chart and the description of the roasting process
described in the third column. Remember, this is a rough guideline so don’t worry at all if your roast times
differ. Also, do not stand right in the smoke plume. It is difficult to sense the aroma that way and smoke
can be an irritant to the respiratory tract. Smell the smoke from a distance away from the machine where
it is less dense.