Thread: coffee roasting

i agree, the rotiserie motor would work, and temp control would be an issue, but to cool, just take a hair drier on the cold setting and turn it loose and your done, for now i think i will stick with my method, untill i can afford one of the larger drum roasters

You can get one of the stovetop roasters with a window to look through. Or you could even make a window. But you sound like you're doing fine going by sound and smell alone. I have been using an iroast 2 for about a year now and it makes for a bright cup. It is pretty adjustable and easy to use. It has a built in cooling function, too. Fairly low maintenance. The downside is that it is loud and you can only roast 1/4 to 1/3 of a pound at a time.

One pound batch size is a tall order. I use a hottop to roast with. For one pound batches you will have to go with something like a grill roaster or one of the small batch commercial roasters. You can pick them up for around $8000 although there are a couple new options coming from Asia.

You may want to take a look at the home roasting forum at home-barista.com.

cannon, i have found that the whirly popper works great for roasting 1lb batches, when i originally started that is what i used, i had to stop roasting for a while due to financial constraints, but now that its not so tight i am gonna start again, i have the whirly pop, i want to progress up to the hot top, when i can, buuuuutttt, they are very expensive, so maybe in a few years

The Behmor 1600 roasts a pound at a time and is about $300. I am very happy with mine. I started with a Poppery II popcorn maker, but got tired of roasting every other day. Now I roast up a pound and don't worry about it for a week. Highly recommended. Sweet Maria's has a fairly comprehensive review if you want more info.

Originally Posted by ixtapalapaquetl

The Behmor 1600 roasts a pound at a time and is about $300. I am very happy with mine. I started with a Poppery II popcorn maker, but got tired of roasting every other day. Now I roast up a pound and don't worry about it for a week. Highly recommended. Sweet Maria's has a fairly comprehensive review if you want more info.

Dude, with a handle like that you must be related to Mr Sasquatch. You his cousin or something?

The only caveat with the Behmoor is if you like really dark roasts it may not be the machine for you.

i have read that the behmor has a hard time getting larger batches to full city+, i was looking at that for a bit, but i like a very dark roast, so i have to keep that in mind

I started home-roasting about two years ago, with a thrift-shop West Bend Poppery II hot-air popcorn popper. It could handle just about 2/3-cup of green coffee beans.

About a year ago, I moved up to a West Bend Poppery hot-air popcorn popper, which I then modified (fitted glass chimney + air-vents around the fan intake). It can handle 3/4-1-cup of green coffee beans. It takes two batches to fill a 1-qt spaghetti-sauce jar.

At first, I bought all my green coffee beans from Sweet Maria's; but now I buy from them and from the Green Coffee Buying Club -- both are excellent sources of high-quality product, and reasonable prices.

My Stash

I've found that being able to see the progress of my roasting beans through the glass, more than makes-up-for the smaller-sized batches (whether smaller batches end-up taking longer to roast a larger amount of coffee is not an issue for me, and I'm not at all sure if the total roasting time is any longer than for a unit which could roast 1/2-lb at once).

I cannot bring myself to drink coffee away from home (other than at work, where I grind and brew my own home-roasted beans). I look at this as a Good Thing.

i drink so much coffee in general, that doing small batches usually wont work for me, that is why i like the whirly popper, 1 lb usually lasts me about 6 days roughly, so it never goes stale. on a side note, i do get to finally try monsoon malabar, my green supplier gave me a 8oz sample to try, so i cant wait.

I've been roasting for 2 years now. I started with an air popcorn popper, but soon purchased a Fresh Roast. It's still going strong. I roast for myself and partner. Since I brew in a French press I drink only a cup a day. The coffee is so rich brewing that way (I would think a vacuum brewer would produce the same results without the sludge) that I can't drink anymore of it. If I used a drip brewer with the paper filters I could drink several cups a day because the paper would filter many of the oils. I also get my supplies from Sweet Marias.