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Coffee roasters

I am looking to upgrade my coffee roaster in the next few months. I am currently looking at the Allio Bullet, but would really like a propane roaster. Are there any other quality roasters in the same price range ($3k) or less that can roast 1Kg at a time? I appreciate any advice.

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Thanks, @Mick I really prefer a gas fired roaster, but I am having a hard time justifying a substantially more expensive roaster.

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Thanks, @Mick I really prefer a gas fired roaster, but I am having a hard time justifying a substantially more expensive roaster.

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By the way, a 2 Kg roaster would be a dream come true, but I am not expecting that to happen.

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Thank you, Sir. I will check into it, although to be honest, it may be above my home roasting budget. Certainly quite nice though. I am not opposed to a used unit, if it will perform better than the Bullet. I just want something that can do two plus pounds to make roasting less intense. I currently roast with a Behmor, which is great, but is frustrating when doing six or seven pounds of beans. I would charge cost if it were not so labor intensive.

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@Lightcs1776 I have been looking for a 5-10 lb lpg roaster. If I come across a 1k sample roaster in your $3k limit I'll let you know.
 
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@Lightcs1776 I have been looking for a 5-10 lb lpg roaster. If I come across a 1k sample roaster in your $3k limit I'll let you know.
I definitely appreciate it. I would love a 2kg roaster, but would be very content with a 1kg roaster, especially if it were propane generated.

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About the only thing I have heard about is guys building their own roasters based off a gas grill, buying a good quality drum, adding a rotisserie, maybe adding a temperature probe, but primarily roasting based on sight, sound, and smell. A lot of effort involved and prone to making mistakes.

I really like the Allio Bullet, its larger capacity and using induction. But I would have to roast a lot of coffee to come close to justifying the cost.
 
Are you familiar with the Cormorant CR600? It's only 600gr, but it works on propane, and well below your price point. Good quality roaster, quite compact, and great for home use. The only problem is half a year waiting list.
 
About the only thing I have heard about is guys building their own roasters based off a gas grill, buying a good quality drum, adding a rotisserie, maybe adding a temperature probe, but primarily roasting based on sight, sound, and smell. A lot of effort involved and prone to making mistakes.

I really like the Allio Bullet, its larger capacity and using induction. But I would have to roast a lot of coffee to come close to justifying the cost.
I just roasted 7 stuffed batches in my Behmor roaster (about a pound per batch). The time savings will make it worth it for me. I started off roasting on the BBQ grill with a cast iron skillet. It worked great, but would only allow very small batches. I have a habit of giving coffee to friends, especially our neighbors, so I tend to roast quite a bit since it is so cheap. The Honduras beans I currently have on hand were less than $3 a pound, although it was a 65 pound box.

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Are you familiar with the Cormorant CR600? It's only 600gr, but it works on propane, and well below your price point. Good quality roaster, quite compact, and great for home use. The only problem is half a year waiting list.
I looked at the Cormorant but I really want something that can shorten my roasting time. I like roasting, but can't say I love roasting. But I do love drinking cheap but quality coffee. The bullet would pay for itself within two years when compared to whole bean coffee at the local wholesale club.

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I looked at the Cormorant but I really want something that can shorten my roasting time. I like roasting, but can't say I love roasting. But I do love drinking cheap but quality coffee. The bullet would pay for itself within two years when compared to whole bean coffee at the local wholesale club.

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I'm roasting with Behmor myself for the last 5 years, and currently thinking of possible upgrades - as you are. CR600 is my leading candidate. I considered the Bullet for some time, but eventually came to conclusion it was too complex for my taste. Not to use, but to maintain: it has some very smart and very proprietary electronics and induction heaters nobody will be able to fix besides the original Danish company. Whereas the Cormorant is a piece of stainless steel with a gas burner. I myself will serve it practically indefinitely.
As to the smaller batch, I think comparing to out current Behmor, taking some 18 min to make 400gr batch (another 13 min to cool) and needing an hour rest before the next one - the CR600 with 12 min / 600 gr and the ability of back-to-back roasting is a big improvement anyway.
Programmed profile roasting you can only have with the Bullet, but the Cormorant comes fitted for Artisan - so you get the close monitoring of the process, which is all you need to achieve good repeatability of your roasts. I have modified my Behmor to do exactly that, so I know how easy it is even on a more inert machine.
This was my thought process when I decided the Cormorant was the better option for me (YMMV). Still haven't pulled the trigger though :)
 
I'm roasting with Behmor myself for the last 5 years, and currently thinking of possible upgrades - as you are. CR600 is my leading candidate. I considered the Bullet for some time, but eventually came to conclusion it was too complex for my taste. Not to use, but to maintain: it has some very smart and very proprietary electronics and induction heaters nobody will be able to fix besides the original Danish company. Whereas the Cormorant is a piece of stainless steel with a gas burner. I myself will serve it practically indefinitely.
As to the smaller batch, I think comparing to out current Behmor, taking some 18 min to make 400gr batch (another 13 min to cool) and needing an hour rest before the next one - the CR600 with 12 min / 600 gr and the ability of back-to-back roasting is a big improvement anyway.
Programmed profile roasting you can only have with the Bullet, but the Cormorant comes fitted for Artisan - so you get the close monitoring of the process, which is all you need to achieve good repeatability of your roasts. I have modified my Behmor to do exactly that, so I know how easy it is even on a more inert machine.
This was my thought process when I decided the Cormorant was the better option for me (YMMV). Still haven't pulled the trigger though :)
Agree that is a good point. After cooking on a few times on an induction hotplate I really like the speed and control of applying heat. Coming from a Behmor I could certainly live with a simpler Bullet design (just some basic knobs and dials) rather than a more sophisicated profile control which might fail sooner. I imagine that a decent induction design could last a lifetime and not fail unless something overheated (as long as any capacitors associated with the inductor are easily accessible for service). Still that Cormorant CR600 might be more foolproof for the long term since there is no embedded electronic control.

I have roasted nearly 300 pounds on my Behmor, which works out to about $1/pound. If I had a Allio Bullet that would have been $10/pound which means I might just be breaking even as compared to buying from the local roaster near my work. I enjoy coffee enough to home roast and pay a little more, but on some level I want to break even after some years. I almost wish I roasted enough to justify upgrading. :)
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
I've enjoyed my Hottop for the nearly 2 years I've had it. It's easy to use, clean, and maintain. If it comes to it, it's easy to repair (and current support is excellent). It's a fraction of a price of the Bullet or Cormorant. It's quicker at roasting and cooling than the Behmor. You can upgrade it for close monitoring and Artisan capability at purchase, or you can until later if you so desire.

While I agree that the ability to program a roast has limited utility, I have enjoyed doing some minimal programming to take care of the some of the things I always do (or always do with a certain bean or blend). I use Artisan mostly for the monitoring and to record the roast for later study, if desired, but that programming is a mighty nice perk.

The downsides are that (1) it's still pretty pricey for a home roaster, (2) especially because it only roasts 250g at a time (although I've no issue at all roasting 300g), and (3) it's still just a resistance heating element. For pricing, they do pop up used from time to time.

I know it fits few of your criteria beyond being an upgrade from a Behmor, but I figured I toss in my two cents.
 
I think that a 1kg gas drum roaster for under $3k would be quite a unicorn. A bazillion years ago I got rev1 of the alpenrost and a couple other drum roasters. My consistency was poor but I was getting hooked on the process.

Then my brother got a 2kg Ambex for a screaming deal. It was a trade in for someone moving to a larger machine and the company didn't want to deal with the repairs/shipping back to their location. We would use that for several years before I bought a mill city gas roaster a couple years ago. I was on the fence about 1kg or 2kg but SWMBO and projected wait times tipped the scale to a 2kg machine. I am glad I got the bigger one. I roast 2kg every 10-14 days with an occasional double batch tossed in here and there.

I think in your range I would try to find the local sales folks and see if there is a trade in that they don't want to ship. Or you could check out the small roasters and look to buy their machine when they upgrade to a bigger one. You will need to be lucky in your timing but might score a good deal by talking to the right person at the right time.
 
@Mick, I am unsure what the Ambex drum is made of. If I had to guess I would think it isn't cast iron but I will ask my brother next time I talk with him. I know mine is double wall steel.
 
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