2023 - State of home coffee roasters

[defspace]

My trusty old Behmor 1600 has ascended to the great rotating drum in the sky after years of service. What's out there now?

I drink about a pound a week, so 1 pound or greater capacity would be ideal. I'd rather not roast during the work week if possible. It looks like Behmor has a new 2000AB, which would fit the bill, but all major life decisions require the input of the Vsalon brain trust!

[Mark Kelly]

Depends on how hands on you want to be.

IMO the key to quality roasting is learning the characteristics of the roaster and how to adapt the profile to different beans, so I am biased towards a system with lots of input control and good monitoring rather than ease of use. Hard to go past Artisan freeware roast profiler: add a good quality temperature logger* and you are gold.

Until I get my new rig sorted I am a happy user of the "corretto" setup: a modified breadmaker and a quality heat gun. I can do batches up to 1 kg green weight, depending on the bean: easy things like Colombians at the higher end, with trickier things like some of the dry processed Ethiopians I get best results at a lower charge weight (say 750 - 800 g).

I use 294 grams (roast weight) of coffee a week and my wife gets through about twice that, I find it fairly easy to keep up the kilo or so a week.


*I use the Amprobe TMD 56 which is excellent but expensive, over twice the cost of the corretto setup itself. This will come into its own when and if I get my new roaster sorted. Apparently the Yoctopuce thermocouple bridges work well with Artisan and they are a whole lot cheaper but I haven't used them myself.

[COVRTDESIGN]

I just bought some Dunkin Donuts whole beans today, does that help at all?

I usually do local beans such as Corvus coffee or Huckleberry Roasters, but nothing is open right now, rude. I'd like to start roasting my own beans, but not sure if I want to get another expensive hobby. haha. That Behmor is impressive though!

[defspace]

Depends on how hands on you want to be.

Pretty hands off. Thanks for sharing your process. I'm always impressed with your level of detail and analytical approach to...everything. I've just sent you a PM about something totally unrelated.

I'd like to start roasting my own beans, but not sure if I want to get another expensive hobby. haha. That Behmor is impressive though!

My conservative math says my old Behmor paid for itself 2-3x over!

[Too Tall]

The Behmor has been doing me right. Learning to manage the roast process and not use the pre-sets was key.

That's my story.

[COVRTDESIGN]

Pretty hands off. Thanks for sharing your process. I'm always impressed with your level of detail and analytical approach to...everything. I've just sent you a PM about something totally unrelated.


My conservative math says my old Behmor paid for itself 2-3x over!

Don't make me look at it anymore. HAHA, I don't need more toys.

[rwsaunders]

Until I get my new rig sorted I am a happy user of the "corretto" setup: a modified breadmaker and a quality heat gun. I can do batches up to 1 kg green weight, depending on the bean: easy things like Colombians at the higher end, with trickier things like some of the dry processed Ethiopians I get best results at a lower charge weight (say 750 - 800 g).

A modified breadmaker…hmmm. I have one sitting in the basement that I haven’t used in years after I switched to baking bread in a Dutch oven. I wonder if my wife would notice it sitting on my workbench?

[rwsaunders]

Looking to be a Beta tester for Behmor and their Jake Kilo V2.0?

https://behmor.com/docs/Behmor%20Jak...0Beta%20JN.pdf

https://behmor.com/jake-kilo-roaster/

[Mark Kelly]

A modified breadmaker…hmmm. I have one sitting in the basement that I haven’t used in years after I switched to baking bread in a Dutch oven. I wonder if my wife would notice it sitting on my workbench?

Mine is fairly heavily modified to achieve increased bean agitation but you can do smaller quantities, up to say 700g, with minimal modification.

All you really need is to make the agitator paddle run continuously, generally by adding a manual override switch into the motor circuit.

[Too Tall]

Looking to be a Beta tester for Behmor and their Jake Kilo V2.0?

https://behmor.com/docs/Behmor%20Jak...0Beta%20JN.pdf

https://behmor.com/jake-kilo-roaster/

Outstanding. I've had my eye on that for something like three years? That has been a VERY long launch.

[defspace]

The Behmor has been doing me right. Learning to manage the roast process and not use the pre-sets was key.

That's my story.

You rocking the new 2000AB?

[Too Tall]

You rocking the new 2000AB?

YAZZZZ :) It's fine, I've had it for about 2 yrs. No hiccups. Learn how to hack to programming and your are golden. I learned the hard way, lots of ruined beans!!!!
Below is the code. Keep notes and you'll get into a groove.

Screenshot 2023-02-11 at 08-10-33 behmor_tip_sheet__3.pdf.png