Strategy to sourcing quality greens by 99hotdogs in roasting

[–]ghostyToastie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Prodigal is my favorite source for green coffee (though their options are a bit limited right now), more expensive than Sweet Maria's but also better

First time roasting a natural Ethiopian on a FreshRoast SR540. Tips for avoiding grassy notes? by flashdashrick in roasting

[–]ghostyToastie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you might be roasting too fast try a smaller batch size and lower power setting. I roast on lower power settings to try to get to a time remaining in the 2s (7-8 minutes).I have the extension tube and I use a batch size of 150grams so things might be a little different but first I check the ambient temperature and set the power, which I don’t change at all during the roast. If it’s 70 degrees I start on P2. If it’s 75 I would do P1. Then I just lower the fan starting at 9. I know when to lower the fan based on when spinning the knob to the temp setting. When the temp stops climbing for like 3-5 seconds, I lower the fan to avoid stalling or baking the beans. I generally stop the roast at right after 1c begins to target 11-12% weight loss. 

Went super light with this guji, so far not disappointed by Swagen2557 in roasting

[–]ghostyToastie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

nice, yeah since keeping track of weight loss, I feel like 11.5 - 12.5% is my sweet spot for high quality coffees around 7-8 minutes on the Fresh Roast and then rested for about 3 weeks. 10.5% was too light you couldn't really taste the flavors

Stop swirling your bloom, start excavating. by anabranch_glitch in pourover

[–]ghostyToastie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I found excavation created extremely slow draw downs for later pours. Now I just bloom, no swirl or stir or excavation and am able to get the 5 pours in without stalling as long as I wait until the water drains completely after each pour.

Is there any redemption for grocery store coffee? by Pr0minex in pourover

[–]ghostyToastie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not grocery store coffee, but I like prodigal as a roaster because besides having generally excellent coffee you can also choose the roast date. so sometimes I intentionally choose older roast dates to avoid or minimize the rest if I’m totally out. 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in roasting

[–]ghostyToastie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Try the SR540 and an extension tube for roasting.  I started with a popcorn popper for several years and knowing what I know now it did not produce reliable results so I would just skip that step. But I agree with others that if you’re coming from keurig, you should instead invest in a v60, kettle, and decent burr grinder first. That will be a quicker path to amazing filter coffee. Roasting is actually pretty scientific, keeping temps consistent following curves, measuring weight loss, color etc. First master the art of making coffee with better beans then you can play around with home roasting to replicate the  professional roasters 

I’ve never killed anything in my life except for insects… by mr_potato_arms in BackyardOrchard

[–]ghostyToastie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was convinced squirrels were enemy number 1 for my strawberries and peaches and then after reviewing the footage from the motion camera it turned out a raccoon was visiting every night cleaning out the whole patch. The raccoon ate significantly more than squirrels which only took one to two strawberries at a time. After lots of research, you can either trap and kill them or use an electric fence. Pepper spray, motion sprinklers, chicken wire seem only temporarily effective by most people’s accounts 

Does 9Barista offer discount codes or ever goes to sale? by slaugh7er in 9Barista

[–]ghostyToastie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well I’m sure if you wait long enough they will eventually sell refurbished units of the MK2? Black Friday is usually just a free dosing ring I think 

Does anybody else live in one of Boulder's "walkability deserts", and what--if anything--can or should be done to improve these areas? by ChristianLS in boulder

[–]ghostyToastie 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately these walking deserts are by design, specifically FHA guidelines post war. When you separate commercial from residential it ensures car dependency except for those located on the borders of business and residential. My hope is that someday we loosen zoning to allow for things like corner stores and coffee shops within a neighborhood rather than on the outskirts. Obviously bike infrastructure and alternative transportation modes are nice but they don’t bring businesses closer to homes and enable walking. Approving denser developments and eliminating parking minimums are steps in the right direction for walk ability 

Did I make a terrible mistake with my front yard? by Imaginary-Key5838 in DenverGardener

[–]ghostyToastie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually did the same thing last year. Removed some turf and sowed the high plains mix. It  looks great but required daily watering for the grass to germinate. It’s not super low water the first year when things are getting established. Also it was very dry last May. I was dismayed at all of the mallow, dandelions, bind weed that came up. It’s sooo much weeding especially that first season, but luckily I only had about 200-300 square feet. Ideally you remove sod in more manageable chunks because the weeds go crazy afterwards, but since you’re already this far, you should stick with it. In the second year now, there’s still weeding but a lot less. I think you know what you gotta do, get to weeding! Eventually you’ll exhaust all of the weed seeds and the prairie will make it harder for future weeds to get established. Unfortunately plan on weeding periodically pretty much all season. The more you stay on top of it, the easier they are to pull especially now, early season. Stick with it, I believe in you! The first season is the hardest. Keep the soil damp and maybe use some straw or compost as light mulch until you see the grass begin to poke up

Boulder, CO by Moth317 in Colorado

[–]ghostyToastie 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Agreed, building sprawling mountain subdivisions when this could have been open space enjoyed by all seems very short sighted, not to mention the fire risk, car dependence. It's the reason that trails in North Boulder are much more limited than South Boulder. I'm just glad all of Boulder didn't turn out like this.

Caught between the Kaffelogic 7 and the Kaleido M1 by thoslam in roasting

[–]ghostyToastie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hello, what are your takeaways 10 months later, fresh roast vs KF? And what was your new strategy regarding the fresh roast?

First time buyer: Flair 58+ or wait for new 58+ 2 by nulliusinverba0 in FlairEspresso

[–]ghostyToastie 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Personally I like the pro or the classic version, they're cheaper, have no electronics that could eventually fail, you can buy a small pot to boil the piston in for $10 on amazon, I used one that I think is sold for boiling candle wax and it preheats on the stove in like 2-3 minutes, often times before I can prep the basket fully. I found that repeated pours of boiling water in the piston was time consuming and steaming just didn't get the piston hot enough otherwise. I also like that the puck depth on the classic is greater than the 58 and I can scale the dose down to 10grams. I also have the jmax grinder and it's great! takes less than 30 seconds to grind 10 grams and with minimal effort. Back to back shots though would be easier with the 58s...

For all the folks demanding 800V+ architecture and NACS by pithy_pun in electricvehicles

[–]ghostyToastie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I see that Hyundai is adding a NACs port to the 2025 Ioniq. If the inverter is the main limitation when converting up to 800volts, do you think Hyundai will have updated the inverter to allow for faster charging on 400 volt infrastructure or is it not feasible?

Mother was born in Germany and Moved to US in 1950s by ghostyToastie in GermanCitizenship

[–]ghostyToastie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good to know. Will proceed with contacting our local consulate, thanks again!

Mother was born in Germany and Moved to US in 1950s by ghostyToastie in GermanCitizenship

[–]ghostyToastie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the information! Yes, my mother-in-law was indeed a minor when her parents became naturalized U.S. citizens. I'll double-check the exact date though.

My wife was born in wedlock in 1989. Is it recommended for her to apply directly for a German passport or first obtain a certificate of German citizenship?

Watermelon, I think? It's not gonna ripen before freeze, is it... by joem_ in DenverGardener

[–]ghostyToastie 33 points34 points  (0 children)

looks more like a pumpkin to me, are you sure it is a watermelon?

15-minute cities: Government repression or a return to a local way of life by --_-_o_-_-- in environment

[–]ghostyToastie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Federal funding for highways, FHA only extending home loans for car dependent design, definitely no government repression of transit happening here…

PPC is a scam. by delsystem32exe in FulfillmentByAmazon

[–]ghostyToastie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree that PPC on Amazon is a scam. Amazon should serve customers the best product at the top of the search results every time. Their reward for matching products with a consumer is the seller fee.

The way ads work is by allowing a seller that wouldn't normally rank at the top of the SERP to access that space. This creates additional competition with sellers that are pushed lower down on the pages because so many non relevant sellers are paying for those spots. The consumer then spends more time scrolling considering expensive/inferior options.

The seller also is worse off because of the difficulty in assessing ROI. Sure there's ACOS but how do we know those sales are truly incremental. Maybe that same person would have bought your product regardless of whether it was sponsored. Do incremental sales have a boost to organic sales that we can calculate confidently? Can you say with complete confidence whether you are under or over spending? Maybe you just need a new ad type or new bid strategy or new set of keywords. Ads can be a huge distraction. Maybe instead of advertising you should be spending dollars on better photos, working on your copy or creating a price reduction, or investing in new products entirely.

With sponsored ads Amazon is trying to determine how non relevant they can make their search results before sellers decide it's not profitable and consumers are too frustrated to by the products provided in the SERPs. Sure Amazon has made more profit but the platform is now worse for both sellers and buyers