I just ordered a new Behmor 1600 from Burman traders and I am very pleased with the attention Garry Burman has shown me.I expect delivery on Friday. That being said does anyone have any tips to help me with my first few batches? I am graduating from a WestBend PopperyII I believe and I like my roasts a wee bit into second crack. Thanks in advance.
Any tips for a new Behmor user?
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Since you already home roast, you are well prepared to dive in. I would recommend starting out with the P1 profile, the most basic one before experimenting with others. Behmor has reputation for roasting better at 1lb setting than 1/2 or 1/4 but I have little first hand experience to back that up. That said, you might want to start with smaller batches to gain more experience and develop a better feel for the machine, but then again if you want to experiment with profiles other than P1 it is better to use whatever batch size you think you intend to use in the end so that you are only playing with one variable instead of two.
As you probably know, behmor has some reputation for not generating dark roasts at full rated size. In my experience and reading about others one of the main factors that comes into play is output voltage, that some household circuits have too great of a voltage drop before reaching the machine and that accounts for much of the variation between individuals. I tend to roast 13-14 oz of beans on the 1lb setting to give me a margin of error just in case, but I now have a better understanding of when I can roast a full pound, either when ambient temperatures are above 75F or with 30-60 seconds of preheating. One can certainly over roast and set the coffee on fire so it is not a question of heat output, only how the profiles are programmed into the machine.
Related to that, someone on another list recently pointed that the first generation behmor machines had a larger chaff tray which reflected more heat and therefore roasted faster. That while the smaller/improved chaff tray gives more visibility into the machine while roasting this has caused the roast times to slow down (as the pre-programmed profiles did not change). To which another person chimed in and said that they lined their chaff tray with foil and the roast time was decreased by 2 minutes. I don't think these foil lining measures are needed, but if you find your roasts slow it could be a remedy. I may try this technique during winter to stretch the number of times I can roast outdoors. I don't like to roast when temps are below 60-65F, as there is quite a difference when compared to roasting at 80-85F.
It depends on what you mean by roasting a wee bit into second crack, as you may find the behmor to be a pain or hit your sweet spot....by that I mean you need to kill the roast a bit ahead to prevent too much coasting and over roasting. Once you enter 1st crack you can immediately hit cool to stop it but there is some latent heat build up which cannot be dumped all at once. You can open the door so that it can cool down faster, which is why I like to roast outside. Roasting outdoors also gives one flexibility in opening the door between 1st and 2nd crack to drop the temps and extend the cycle at the expensive of wasting electricity, a way to get some control over the profile. Overall, the machine is pretty simple to use, once you learn a specific coffee and its signs you should be able to get the roast level you want from the machine.
As you probably know, behmor has some reputation for not generating dark roasts at full rated size. In my experience and reading about others one of the main factors that comes into play is output voltage, that some household circuits have too great of a voltage drop before reaching the machine and that accounts for much of the variation between individuals. I tend to roast 13-14 oz of beans on the 1lb setting to give me a margin of error just in case, but I now have a better understanding of when I can roast a full pound, either when ambient temperatures are above 75F or with 30-60 seconds of preheating. One can certainly over roast and set the coffee on fire so it is not a question of heat output, only how the profiles are programmed into the machine.
Related to that, someone on another list recently pointed that the first generation behmor machines had a larger chaff tray which reflected more heat and therefore roasted faster. That while the smaller/improved chaff tray gives more visibility into the machine while roasting this has caused the roast times to slow down (as the pre-programmed profiles did not change). To which another person chimed in and said that they lined their chaff tray with foil and the roast time was decreased by 2 minutes. I don't think these foil lining measures are needed, but if you find your roasts slow it could be a remedy. I may try this technique during winter to stretch the number of times I can roast outdoors. I don't like to roast when temps are below 60-65F, as there is quite a difference when compared to roasting at 80-85F.
It depends on what you mean by roasting a wee bit into second crack, as you may find the behmor to be a pain or hit your sweet spot....by that I mean you need to kill the roast a bit ahead to prevent too much coasting and over roasting. Once you enter 1st crack you can immediately hit cool to stop it but there is some latent heat build up which cannot be dumped all at once. You can open the door so that it can cool down faster, which is why I like to roast outside. Roasting outdoors also gives one flexibility in opening the door between 1st and 2nd crack to drop the temps and extend the cycle at the expensive of wasting electricity, a way to get some control over the profile. Overall, the machine is pretty simple to use, once you learn a specific coffee and its signs you should be able to get the roast level you want from the machine.
RoasterThing aka BehmorThing might be an interesting tool for you to track your roasts and green inventory. Originally targeted at Behmor users, the author has continued to improve it and make it useful for all home roasters. I downloaded a copy a while back but have not used it, which is not meant as a negative or positive statement, just admitting that I was too lazy to make use of it while roasting.
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Thank you for the info. The plug I plan to use is very close to the panel and nominal voltage 119.6 so should be ok and its also in the garage where I normally roast. i have a small laundry room with an outside and inside door when the weather is cold so I should be able able to keep things fairly constantI run mac so the Roasterthing software is a no go for me but thank you for the help you have given.
I personally like the P3 profile as it is very versatile. I also like doing half pound roasts, and have very good results with that. Although I do not roast past just a pop or 2 of second crack, you could go really really dark in my opinion; but the chaff can easily start a file.
I pre heat my machine for about 30 seconds; or a minute if it is really cold in my garage. One really important tip is that once you begin the cooling cycle, let it go for about a minute with the door closed and then after that minute open the door and let the cooling cycle finish with the door open. This will help cool the beans quicker.
I think it is a great machine. Hope you enjoy.
J.
I pre heat my machine for about 30 seconds; or a minute if it is really cold in my garage. One really important tip is that once you begin the cooling cycle, let it go for about a minute with the door closed and then after that minute open the door and let the cooling cycle finish with the door open. This will help cool the beans quicker.
I think it is a great machine. Hope you enjoy.
J.
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- #6
Thanks I like my beans Full City or just a tad darker at the most and lighter doesn't bother me either. Sometimes I want to taste the fruityness and sometimes the darker notes. That is one nice thing about the air poppers you can micro manage your roasting. Thank you for the tip. One day to go! Yahooooo!!!!!.
Cool...I took several weeks to decide between the Behmor and the GeneCafe...I ended up going with the GeneCafe, so I have no advice for you.
Have fun!! If you want to swap some beans/roasts let me know!
Have fun!! If you want to swap some beans/roasts let me know!
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- #8
Thank you I could be interested in that. What do you have now?
I have like 10lbs of various beans right now...Ethiopian Yirg, Bolivian Shade Grown, Columbian, etc.etc. I'll PM you a list...
Aside: I wonder how many home roasters we have here on B&B...
+1 on all of this.
I use P1 quite a bit, I roast smaller, 250 gram batches for beans from Ethiopia where I want to emphasize brightness but normally roast 300 - 350 grams. I've got the old style chaff tray and have tried the foil trick, but don't use it. P3 is good for low grown beans (Kona, etc.) and espresso.
I would add to the above that you may want to run the Behmor for 1 to 2 minutes with the chaff tray in and the drum out to pre-heat the Behmor. Doing this for much over 2 minutes can cause the Behmor not to restart because of the temperature sensor, but most Behmors will run up to 2 minutes and then restart no problem. I believe that Behmor actually recommends a pre-heat of this sort (though maybe only one minute) for the new style chaff tray. I hit the stop button, pull out the chaff tray with an Ove Gloved hand, put in the drum real quick, put the chaff tray back in and hit start.
I also like to cool my beans externally after a couple of minutes in the cool cycle. The Behmor does a great job cooling down the beans to a couple hundred degrees but can take much longer—probably due to latent heat in the roaster—to bring the beans to room temp, so I let the Behmor do the initial work and then stop the roaster, pull the drum, restart the cool cycle real quick and dump the beans in my been cooler which is the top of a double-boiler steam pan set with holes in the bottom (thrift store find) fitted tightly into a food storage cylinder I picked up at Smart and Final years ago with a hole cut in the bottom to fit the hose from a shop vac to it.
I also use and recommend RoasterThing. I've got the temp logging board which helps me plan and control my roasts and track my inventory.
Have fun!
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More then you might think... we've got a contingent of wet shavers on the Green Coffee Buying Club forum that come over here so I suspect that there's a lot of cross-pollination. I think it's the old DIY, getting back to basics appeal that also brings in home brewers as well (planning to make a small mead batch this year).
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- #12
Great tips and love the cooler!!!
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Ok The Behmor showed up I did a couple roasts and didn't ruin either and one is actually spot on in color so we'll see how it tastes later. The first is is a vienna roast or damn close. oops. haha Its ok I'll drink it. I think. Just like shaving with straights once you try it you see its actually fairly simple to get the job done and all thats needed is the fine tuning. I haven't figured out where to put the coticule yet but I will. lol
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- #14
Just thought I'd share a couple pic of the unit for anyone interested. I'll take some pics of the roasts in the coming days. I was having having trouble understanding the settings but after I sis a couple roasts I it helped me understand the settings. To me it is about as as easy as you can ask for for.It is well designed in my mind.
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Nice pictures. I am curious how you will like the taste of the brew from your first roast. I have not used any of the other home roasters, but in terms of difficulty and learning curve I think the Behmor is closer to DE shaving that straight shaving. ...Even if one does not reach the perfect roast level having fresh coffee is a plus. ..Sprinkle in some variety from the expert (experienced) roasters in your area and you will enjoy your coffee more than ever.
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