Roasting coffee at home - temp guide?

Hey home roasters (Kit et al) --

What resources have you used in developing your roasting curves? Are there books or websites that have been helpful to you?

I finally took the plunge. I've got a brand spanking new I-Roast 2 and a whole bunch of beans. After spending way too much on mail order roasted beans I want to try it myself.

Thanks! You helped me see the light.

Cool, the iRoast 2!! I have roaster envy. I went for the Fresh Roast 8, which is a much smaller roaster. Mine does enough for one pot, and that's about it. I have my eye on the Gene Cafe half lb roaster, but $495 seems a bit much for a hobby roaster.
I've use mine inside by putting it in the fireplace (outside in summer). The smoke gets a bit heavy on some beans, especially the Brazilian. I've experimented with different settings and listened for first and second crack. All I can say is, there is a lot of difference in taste in beans. A bean from Guatemala may taste much better after second crack (dark full city roast) than say a Yemen which to me tastes better with a lighter roast (little past first crack), but it's all personal. I would compare it to wine, in that you can put really pretentious descriptions to coffees and after awhile it actually makes sense. I've found the best way to taste some of the beans is to brew and then let them set and cool to barely warm. Find the one that seems like something you'd want to write about in LTH forum, and roast another batch and serve it hot to a group of friends, see how they respond.

I have found Sweet Maria's to be the best source of really quality beans (sweetmarias.com). And with each order they give you what they recommend as the best roast setting for that particular bean. You can spend hours on their website reading bean reviews.
There is also a local source for beans, Hans at coffeemaria.com. He also has some good beans.

After a lot of practice, I don't think much of Starbucks, and am a little critical of Intelligensia. Basically I am a coffee snob. Welcome to the club.

I hear you. I'm a horrific coffee snob thanks to a job I had a few years ago. I buy my beans (roasted) from terroir, and that's it (okay -- exception was I bought direct from Rancho Aloha in Kona last year. Soooo good). So after shelling out way too much over way too long, I've finally committed to this -- and yes, I got everything from Sweet Maria's. So there aren't any great resources out there other than SM's website?

Schuyler wrote:Find the one that seems like something you'd want to write about in LTH forum, and roast another batch and serve it hot to a group of friends, see how they respond.

And don't forget to write about it on LTHForum!