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Best roaster and set up to begin
GMoverRate
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Posted on 02/02/2024 6:50 AM
Hi guys, I'm new here, my name is Giacomo, I'm from Italy and it's been a year and a half since I started my journey in specialty coffee. Now I would like to start roasting on my own. I have a budget of 600€, what should I buy?
 
allenb
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Posted on 02/02/2024 2:52 PM
Big welcome to HRO! While I'm going to defer to our other members and admins to help answer your question on what machine to buy, I will give some advice on what you want to end up with regarding functionality. Do not buy a roaster that you cannot see environment and bean temperature and also stay away from any roaster that you cannot take complete control of the roast manually.

Post often and have fun!
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
btreichel
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Posted on 02/02/2024 11:40 PM

Quote

allenb wrote:

Do not buy a roaster that you cannot see environment and bean temperature and also stay away from any roaster that you cannot take complete control of the roast manually.

Post often and have fun!


While Allenb is right, thats also not a 600 euro roaster,Shock So, get something you can get consistent roasts from so you can learn what happens with coffee's from different origins. AKA focus on what's in the cup.
 
renatoa
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Posted on 02/03/2024 1:56 AM
Could be, times changes... Just have a look at Hottest Threads panel ;)
 
GMoverRate
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Posted on 02/05/2024 4:21 AM
Thanks for the welcome. I was looking at something that could control beans temperature, but there are not available options for that budget (at least without modifying it). I was thinking about Gene Café CBR 101 or the Behmor 2020sr plus, from the reviews they look like the most consistent ones for the price.
What do you think about them?
Other than the roaster, what are the must have to start roasting?
 
Ben N
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Posted on 02/05/2024 9:14 AM
Lots of beans, so you can roast again and again.

If you can DIY an sr800 and TC4+ to control it would be a great starting place. It isn't a drum, but it would get you a full logging suite, and PID control to work with if you want. 220 gram max capacity means you can roast often and learn more.
 
renatoa
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Posted on 02/05/2024 10:31 AM
For fluid bed machines, as SR800 or other DIY similar concepts, a newbie should be aware about excessive noise and gases, if a proper exhaust is not implemented.

Some persons could be sensitive to these factors, that are exacerbated for this type of roasters.
 
allenb
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Posted on 02/05/2024 11:07 AM

Quote

For fluid bed machines, as SR800 or other DIY similar concepts, a newbie should be aware about excessive noise and gases, if a proper exhaust is not implemented.


I find in my roasting a similar quantity of smoke between my 1/4lb drum and my fluidbed roasters of the same capacity. Noise is obviously more in the fluidbeds and good to point out. On the other hand, I've never found the noise from most fluidbeds to be particularly annoying or troubling.

As far as the Behmor and Gene roasters. While many have been able to get good results from the Behmor, and I have one, it does not allow one to learn roasting in the classic sense but might be fine if you are not looking to progress into the nuances of roasting to pull all of the fine detail a coffee has to offer. Same goes for the Gene, many have gotten great results but it presents many of the same quirks in lack of control as the Behmor. So, it depends on what your end goals are but as we know, our goals evolve over time and sometimes we kick ourselves if we limit how far we can go by our choices.
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
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