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Suggestion for newbie
HarryReece2761
Top  #1 Print Post
Posted on 11/24/2013 12:15 AM
Hi everyone,

I'm a big fan of expresso and cappuccino. I use a grinder and coffee maker at home.

I'm now very interested in roasting coffee at home. What equipment should I buy to start my first roasting?

Thank you!
Welcome to my blog: http://www.bestto...iews4u.com
 
Koffee Kosmo
Top  #2 Print Post
Posted on 11/24/2013 1:04 AM

Quote

HarryReece2761 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm a big fan of expresso and cappuccino. I use a grinder and coffee maker at home.

I'm now very interested in roasting coffee at home. What equipment should I buy to start my first roasting?

Thank you!


What type of roaster are you contemplating
DIY or Off the shelf ?

As you have toaster oven tests on your blog - Why don't you try the Behmor 1600 Roaster as it's built on a similar platform

http://www.behmor...r-1600.php

KK
I home roast and I like it. Designer of the KKTO
Roaster Build information
https://homeroast...ad_id=1142

https://docs.goog...lide=id.i0
Blog - http://koffeekosm...gspot.com/

Bezzera Strega, Mazzer Robur Grinder, Pullman Tamper Convex,
(KKTO) Turbo Oven Home Roaster.
 
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boar_d_laze
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Posted on 11/24/2013 9:19 AM
Do you want to build your own roaster, or buy something ready made? (I know zip about the first, and a little about the second.)

How much coffee do you want to produce per week?

What level of consistency do you need?

How much trouble are you willing to go through?

How much are you willing to spend on the roaster?

Let's start with the last question, since money is the bottleneck through which all else must flow.

You can do a lot with home made equipment if you're willing to invest time, energy and ingenuity, however experience also plays something of a role -- especially if you're designing from scratch.

You can do a lot with inexpensive equipment as well with time, energy and ingenuity -- but don't expect miracles. There are trade-offs with inexpensive equipment. Usually in capacity, consistency or both.

Let's take a few f'rinstances:

At well under $100, a dog-bowl / heat gun roaster can put out some pretty good results. However, it's very difficult for any user to get consistent results from roast to roast. Too many variables.

At about $150 a small air roaster like an SR 500 allows at least a little user control, and is capable of fair consistency; but it roasts very small batches.

At $300, the Behmor mentioned in the previous post is a wonderful value. It roasts in reasonable quantities (it's capacity is nominally 16oz, but 8oz is its best charge and anything larger than 12oz is problematic) and roasts consistently. As far as I know it's the least expensive, consumer friendly, drum roaster on the market. However, it has significant limitations in terms of how much actual "profiling" the user can do; at least without significant modification.

At $900, a HotTop modded with thermocouples and a "Phidget" and attached to a computer running free software can do most of the things a large, commercial sized, gas roaster can do; and allow the user to produce very consistent, nuanced roasts -- profiled to extract the best qualities of whatever bean or blend was chosen. But even with computer control, the HT is a bit unresponsive. So roasting at a high level takes planning and anticipation.

The good news about the HT is that it can roast at a very high level indeed. The bad news is that (a) it costs $900 bucks or so to get it right; (b) that whole unresponsiveness thing; (c) it maxes at 8oz charges; and, like the Behmor (d) it's not really a "batch roaster," in that it has to cool down for at least ten or fifteen minutes between roasts.

So it goes.

Your thoughts?

BDL
USRC 1lb Roaster, Chemex+Kone, Espro, Various FPs, Royal Siphon Vacuum, Yama Ice Drip Tower, Bunnzilla, La Cimbali M21 Casa, Ceado E92.
CookFoodGood
 
HarryReece2761
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Posted on 11/24/2013 9:52 AM
Koffee Kosmo & boar_d_laze, thanks for the reply!
The questions and answers are very useful. They give me a great start to do some research.
Welcome to my blog: http://www.bestto...iews4u.com
 
snwcmpr
Top  #5 Print Post
Posted on 11/24/2013 9:57 AM
This where I started....... http://www.sweetm...ctions.php

Ken in NC
--------------
Backwoods Roaster
"I wish I could taste as well as I wish I could roast."

As Abraham Lincoln said "Do not trust everything you read on the internet".
 
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