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Roaster Recommendations
Luscombe1940
Top  #1 Print Post
Posted on 03/26/2017 5:46 PM
Hi,
My name is Gary and I am a coffee addict.
A bit of my journey before asking for suggestions.

I have been roasting green beans for about 15 years.

Roasters:
I started with an air popper, then HGDB, then SCTO then mods to the air popper, a DIY perforated brass drum roaster on my gas grill and finally to an RK stainless drum for my gas BBQ Grill.

Brewing:
Along the way I also explored brewing options including the dreaded Mr.Coffee, pour over, Moka pot, Cona vac brewing, Technivorm drip, pour over, Heat Exchanger Espresso, double boiler espresso, Aero press.

Grinders:
Whirrly blade, cheap burr grinder, used-restored super jolly, Barratza Encore, Hario, zassenhaus, LIDO 2, Mahlkonig.

Current coffee bar setup:
Pour Over: Barratza grinder, Bonavita teapot, Hario cone.
Espresso: Mahlkonig grinder, Vivaldi II S1, DB Espresso
Travel set up: LIDO II and Aero Press

I have become a coffee snob and drink pretty much just what I roast.
Will occasionally try roasts from smaller distributors.

So here is my question.

I am looking for a roaster that will give me repeatable results.
One that I can program profiles and control the roast temps. I typically roast 1/2# to 1# at a time. So roaster capacity is 1# max. I would consider 1/2# max on the right roaster for me.

I am not interested in creating a coffee roasting business, this is for personal consumption only. although I do gift a lot of fresh roasted coffee. Over the years I have been looking at the commercial home roasters and have noticed that there are significant compromises and sometimes quality issues. the commercial roaster have much higher price points.

I have the RK drum and Gas BBQ set up now and roast exclusively with that method. I roast year round here in the Midwest in my garage with the door partially or mostly closed depending upon temperature and wind conditions. I am willing to heavily modify the RK/BBQ assembly but am not sure I can achieve the results I am looking for even after modifications, let alone what those modification would be. It appears that folks who use this roasting method use it as is without trying to tweak it.


Budget:
This is a slippery slope. You have to have one as I can not justify spending $3k-$6k on a roasting set up. I think I would want to set $2,000 as the max.

I see that the Artisan 2.5 is available at less that $3K. A bit over the $2k budget, not sure how it rates or if there are better options for my needs.

I also noticed a Kaldi from Korea has some following. Not sure on performance, parts etc.

Would appreciate any advice and suggestions. I am quite handy so modifications to create features and reliability are very doable for me.

Thanks for tolerating this long post. I have a feeling I am not the only one wondering about this and I suspect there have been some discussion and recommendations in the past.

Thanks in advance,
Gary
cross fingers
Gary
limb
 
turtle
Top  #2 Print Post
Posted on 03/26/2017 8:45 PM
It sounds to me like you are wanting a 1-2 lb commercial batch/sample roaster.

.
Mick - "Drinking in life one cup at a time"
"I'd rather be roasting coffee"

Roaster 1: San Franciscan SF-1
Roaster 2: Hottop B-2K+
Roaster 3: 2 kilo Chinese drum
Grinders: Mazzer Major - Forte BG (x3)
Pour over: Hario - Bee House - Chemex - Kalita - Bodum
Drip: Bunn CWTF15-1 & CW15-TC (commercials)
Espresso: Pasquini Livia 90 auto
Vacuum: Cona - Bodum
Press: Frieling - Bodum Colombia
 
renatoa
Top  #3 Print Post
Posted on 03/27/2017 12:15 AM
Artisan or sonofresco would be my choices for your budget.
Or, if a drum, check the Bullet R1
Roasters: DIY: TO based IR 200-640g
Commercial, moded: Skywalker, Dieckmann RoestMeister, Nesco, popper(s).
Electronics: TC4ESP (author), MS6514, USB/Artisan/Apps (contributor), PID controllers
Grinders: Potu ghost burrs, Arco, Xeoleo ghost burrs, Krinder, vintage PeDe Dienes, MBK Feldgrind, Kinu M38
Brew/presso: ALM pour over, Arin lever, Staresso Mirage, Hario Cafeor dripper, Flair Signature, Kompresso, Aeropress, Gaggia Mini
 
jkoll42
Top  #4 Print Post
Posted on 03/27/2017 3:52 PM
Hi Gary

Are you set on buying a premade or open to a build?

If you're set on not doing a build than as turtle said you're in a batch roaster range. There are a number of drum batch roasters from the big names you could find used. I would agree with renatoa that sonofresco would be a good choice.

If you are interested in sonofresco pm me - I've got an email of someone who can point you in the right direction for new/used etc and knows all the sono people.

If you want to save a ton of $ you can build and we can help but from your list of "necessary" coffee gear over the years I'm thinking you might want to just avoid the hassle Grin
-Jon
Honey badger 1k, Bunn LPG-2E, Technivorm, Cimbali Max Hybrid, Vibiemme Double Domo V3
 
renatoa
Top  #5 Print Post
Posted on 03/28/2017 12:58 AM
Jon, because you are so knowledgeable about "SF" smile can you tell me if there was any attempt to DIY, with a public build log.
Or at least a good people that can give me some hints.
Thank you !
Roasters: DIY: TO based IR 200-640g
Commercial, moded: Skywalker, Dieckmann RoestMeister, Nesco, popper(s).
Electronics: TC4ESP (author), MS6514, USB/Artisan/Apps (contributor), PID controllers
Grinders: Potu ghost burrs, Arco, Xeoleo ghost burrs, Krinder, vintage PeDe Dienes, MBK Feldgrind, Kinu M38
Brew/presso: ALM pour over, Arin lever, Staresso Mirage, Hario Cafeor dripper, Flair Signature, Kompresso, Aeropress, Gaggia Mini
 
jkoll42
Top  #6 Print Post
Posted on 03/28/2017 8:34 AM
So basically SF is a fluidbed air roaster. They run on LP or NG and gas control is on/off. Nothing particularly special about them they are just a well built USA built ready to go commercial air roasters.

There are tons of fluid builds in this section http://forum.home...rum_id=134 Once you get used to your diy roaster the roasts are going to be as good as a SF assuming it's built right and you roast right.

Ken Graham is the guy I know with SF connections. He is a member here but hasn't been active for a while. Link to the thread http://forum.home...rowstart=0

If you would like his email pm me. I don't want to post and have him spammed.

Jon
-Jon
Honey badger 1k, Bunn LPG-2E, Technivorm, Cimbali Max Hybrid, Vibiemme Double Domo V3
 
Moonshine
Top  #7 Print Post
Posted on 04/10/2018 1:58 PM
I have used the two pound Sonofresco with the ADR. The ADR software is kind of hinky, because whenever I transfer the profile I create over to say address "C", the controller on the roaster will cycle through addresses A through F and stop on F. I manually toggle the controller back to C where I had sent the profile from the laptop, hit the gas switch and start the roast cycle. The heat curve a lot of times does not follow the plot I laid out, and when I sent an e-mail to their tech support about it, I got a response back a week or two later that this is normal, and to just set the address to what I had before. I cannot say that was very encouraging.


I had looked at the 1 pound Sonofresco as a personal roaster (the two pound roaster is for a company I am in partnership with), because it does offer the option of profile roasting by including a 3 walled divider that can be dropped in the chamber which is 120 grams of bean each cell. It's easily repeatable, but if you just want to roast 1/2 pound of a specific origin, the Sonofresco is not for you. It roasts by volume instead of weight, and it comes with a measuring can. With the 1 kilo model, you put in two cans of bean and with the 1/2 kilo (One pounder), you use one can of beans. To had half would just screw up the roast dynamics of the bean. I know, because I tried it.

If you are looking for something that gives you the option of different charges, drum roasters are going to give you more flexibility. Hot Top roasters give you lots of control, but at $1600 for the B2K+ and $1100 for the B2K, I see roasters like the craft built Huky (Taiwan) and Kaldi Fortis (ROK)with double the roast capacity potential close to the same price. Both work with Artisan and are gas powered. The Aillio Bullet is of interest, but that is a roaster where you might consider a dedicated 20 amp circuit for. That heating coil is rated at 2200 watts, so assuming you have an outlet voltage of 115 volts, the current pull is 19.130434782 amps. (VxI=P). If 120 volts, the current draw will be a little bit lower, but if 110 volts, a 20 amp circuit breaker will trip.

This is just my two-cents worth.
Edited by Moonshine on 04/10/2018 6:02 PM
 
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