Coffee Roasters.

[Arthur J Cummings]

About home coffee roasters. Advice please.I use a coffee press, Rancilio grinder, and have been buying the freshest roast beans I can get from a coupla local coffee shops who are happy to sell me their beans. I know their roasting schedules etc. and well, you know the rest.Sweet Maria's is great and I'm using their roasted beans as well. I also don't store them, and grind them daily . I use them up in a week ( Max) or less.
You members, gave me good advice on Shaving the wet, DE way , as well as good advise on Coffee My.Shaving is now excellent in every respect!I'm enjoying the ritual of the process,although my wife insists that my playing of Handel's Water Music" loudly at 6.A.m as part of the ritual ranks right up there near the top ,in terms of irreconcilable differences.
So Home roasting- How? Which method? Equipment? Sweet Maria's has some suggestions, but I would like to get you Girls/ Guys ideas.
The scope of member's interest and expertise really astounds me.Looking forward to being reastounded .
Connman= Art Cummings

 

[Straight Arrow]

I have had good results using the hot-air popcorn popper method. If you do a search you will find a lot of posts on this subject here on B&B. It's great fun to roast your own!

 

[JeffNYC]

I use a Stir Crazy/Convection Oven (SC/TO), a.k.a. Turbo Crazy. You should look at CoffeeGeek.com, if you haven't already.

 

[HlSheppard]

I started about 10 years ago with a Hearthware Precision that is still functioning to this day (unlike many of them). In addition to that I have the now renamed "Zach and Danny's" roaster as well as the newer Hearthware product, the I-Roast (the first version). I've also owned an Alpenroast for a while.

They all have things that they do better than others, etc. But, in my opinion - I love fluid bed roasting the most (i.e. air).

 

[sphughes]

Arthur,

My $.02 fwiw.

I second the advice to check out www.coffeegeek.com as well as search here on this forum. There are many pieces of advice and invaluable comments based on people's experience. If you have reached the point where you are considering roasting your own, I am very excited for you. You are going to enjoy the ride and the quality of your coffee will improve exponentially IMO.

On to equipment.........I use a Gene Cafe and I LOVE it. It gives me complete control over the roasting process and most importantly to me, it allows me the ability to duplicate the roast. While I enjoy almost every roast I do, some are complete home runs. I keep good notes on what I do so I can easily find the sweet spot again.

The important thing to remember is that each machine/method has it's own nuances or characteristics and you need to be aware of them. For example - Some will criticize the Gene Cafe for a cooling cycle that is too extended that allows the bean to 'bake' as it cools. Knowing your machine allows you to:

a.) Adjust your roast profile to account for the cooling cycle.
b.) Remove the beans immediately and transfer to an environment for quicker cooling.
c.) Do nothing and let the machine do it's thing and still get GREAT beans.

My point is getting to understand whatever you select. I could go on and on, but I will instead offer to answer any questions you may want to ask me. You will enjoy the experience!!!!

-Scott
(I write this as I drink a moka java I blended and roasted 72 hours ago)

 

[Scotto]

As usual, the answer depends on how much you want to spend versus how much convenience you want, amount of coffee you drink, etc. I started with an iRoast2, which worked well, but I found myself roasting way too often due to the relatively small batch size. I like to keep regular and decaf versions of both drip and espresso beans on hand, so it became a hassle. Recently I upgraded to a Gene Cafe, and the improvement in quality is astonishing, plus you can do larger batches as well as back-to-back roasts. No matter what method you use, the end result (and variety) is light years beyond anything you can buy.

If you want to tinker around for small initial investment, you can always do it in a pan, popcorn popper, etc.

 

[JeffNYC]

When I started getting into this, I found anything able to roast more than 1/2 a pound was pretty expensive. That's why I went with the Turbo Crazy. It's like a McGuiver project, and cost less than $100 to put together for me:

http://homeroast.pbwiki.com/SCTO

Most would recommend starting with a popcorn popper as the investment is minor, until you are determined to go into it. The Turbo Crazy has quite a following on CoffeeGeek.com, and I would argue one of the most used home roaster outfits (skim around and look at people's equipment profile).

Until I found that site, I was pretty ignorant regarding coffee and espresso. Not unlike how I was until I found this site and SMF!

Jeff

 

[BroJohn]

Most would recommend starting with a popcorn popper as the investment is minor, until you are determined to go into it. The Turbo Crazy has quite a following on CoffeeGeek.com, and I would argue one of the most used home roaster outfits (skim around and look at people's equipment profile).

Jeff

Like Jeff says, I thought I'd start with a Air-pop type popcorn popper to get my feet wet, then migrate to the purpose-built coffee roaster.

Once I learned to roast coffee in the popcorn thingy, I just never made the migration. There are some wonderful coffee roasters available, and I should probably make the move, I just never did. Maybe when my current popper burns out in another year or so, I'll make the move --dunno. As Jeff indicates, the investment in an air popper is minor and it's easy to get started.

-- John Gehman

 

[Padron]

I bought a basket that goes on my propane BBQ rotiserie, it holds a maximum of 1 pound.

I have only used it a couple times so far but it seems to work well, it cost about $60 delivered. I found it on e-bay...

 

[azguy]

If you know the roasting schedules of several local purveyors and consume what you buy in a week or less, why in the world would you want to roast your own coffee? Roasting equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars will most certainly outmatch any $100 or so investment you're thinking of making--and I'm assuming your roasting proficiency is equal to someone doing this for a living on a daily basis, which is unlikely. It would be like entering a cooking competition with an Easy Bake oven up against a Viking range.
As Don Corleone once stated in another context, "is this necessary?"

 

[BroJohn]

If you know the roasting schedules of several local purveyors and consume what you buy in a week or less, why in the world would you want to roast your own coffee? Roasting equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars will most certainly outmatch any $100 or so investment you're thinking of making--and I'm assuming your roasting proficiency is equal to someone doing this for a living on a daily basis, which is unlikely. It would be like entering a cooking competition with an Easy Bake oven up against a Viking range.
As Don Corleone once stated in another context, "is this necessary?"

Yes, it *is* necessary. I buy the green beans that I favor for far less than I can buy roasted coffee. I roast it to my desired result. Sorry, but most places over-roast coffee. They just seem to roast the hell out of the beans, and burn all the subtle flavors out of it.

I, for one, am not convinced that some of these coffee shops know all that much about coffee anyway. Most of them are in the steamed-milk business.

-- John Gehman

 

[ouch]

If you know the roasting schedules of several local purveyors and consume what you buy in a week or less, why in the world would you want to roast your own coffee? Roasting equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars will most certainly outmatch any $100 or so investment you're thinking of making--and I'm assuming your roasting proficiency is equal to someone doing this for a living on a daily basis, which is unlikely. It would be like entering a cooking competition with an Easy Bake oven up against a Viking range.
As Don Corleone once stated in another context, "is this necessary?"

I used to buy my coffee from Zabar's, which I believe has the highest turnover of any retailer in the country. It was all crap.

As for the expertise of the giant conglomerates, I hold Starbucks responsible for the over-roasting of a good percentage of the world's beans, and my branch features a barrista who bears an uncanny resemblance to the guy who works in the shoe department at Macy's.

If you want something done right, do it yourself. And if you don't think a person armed with a Viking range and high end knives and pans can be outcooked by someone with an Easy Bake oven, you haven't met my wife.

 

[JBHoren]

Like Jeff says, I thought I'd start with a Air-pop type popcorn popper to get my feet wet, then migrate to the purpose-built coffee roaster.

Once I learned to roast coffee in the popcorn thingy, I just never made the migration. There are some wonderful coffee roasters available, and I should probably make the move, I just never did. Maybe when my current popper burns out in another year or so, I'll make the move --dunno. As Jeff indicates, the investment in an air popper is minor and it's easy to get started.

What a surprise, finding this thread on B&B! Just yesterday I bought a brand-new West Bend Poppery II on eBay for all of $27.15, including S/H. I'm excited about using it to home-roast coffee, and found lots of How-To information about doing so on the Sweet Maria website.

I am attracted to the DIY aspects of home-roasting coffee, both in terms of becoming knowledgeable-about and skilled-in the "art", as well as the personal and palatal enjoyment of drinking coffee which I've roasted, ground, and brewed on my own.

As with wetshaving, I admire everyone who has the "vision" (or whatever is needed) to reject being a passive consumer, and embraces a more "get-involved" direction in his/her own life. I can only hope that my "coffee rotation" will be substantially less than that of my razors, soaps, creams, and EDTs.

NB: In his 1980s book Future Shock, Alvin Toffler used the phrase "High-Tech, High-Touch" -- the more we are involved with high-tech devices in our daily lives, the more we need a correspondingly increased amount of quality contact with people. Wetshaving, and the decidedly "low-tech" approach of re-inventing a popcorn-popper as a coffee-bean home-roaster, then hand-grinding what I need at the moment and brewing it in a French press, appeal to me and enhance the "high-touch" content of my life.

 

[BroJohn]

What a surprise, finding this thread on B&B! Just yesterday I bought a brand-new West Bend Poppery II on eBay for all of $27.15, including S/H. I'm excited about using it to home-roast coffee, and found lots of How-To information about doing so on the Sweet Maria website.

I am attracted to the DIY aspects of home-roasting coffee, both in terms of becoming knowledgeable-about and skilled-in the "art", as well as the personal and palatal enjoyment of drinking coffee which I've roasted, ground, and brewed on my own.

As with wetshaving, I admire everyone who has the "vision" (or whatever is needed) to reject being a passive consumer, and embraces a more "get-involved" direction in his/her own life. I can only hope that my "coffee rotation" will be substantially less than that of my razors, soaps, creams, and EDTs.

JB --

When my last air popper gave out, I managed to replace it with an eBay purchase that was under $4 plus $5 or so s/h.

There have been a quite a number of good threads on coffee here at B&B, with a *lot* of good info. Do an advanced search of the 'Speakeasy' forum for all threads with 'coffee' in the title. There's a number of good threads on roasting using the air poppers, as well as a lot of info on beans, grinding, making coffee with different types of makers/brewers, etc. A couple of B&B'ers are in the coffee business, and some are long standing enthusiasts with good depth of knowledge.

-- John Gehman

 

[JeffNYC]

If you know the roasting schedules of several local purveyors and consume what you buy in a week or less, why in the world would you want to roast your own coffee? Roasting equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars will most certainly outmatch any $100 or so investment you're thinking of making--and I'm assuming your roasting proficiency is equal to someone doing this for a living on a daily basis, which is unlikely. It would be like entering a cooking competition with an Easy Bake oven up against a Viking range.
As Don Corleone once stated in another context, "is this necessary?"

I agree that if you have easy local access, are happy with the roast profile, know when it was roasted, like the variety, and are happy with the price, you take away a lot of the incentives to home roasting. That is, unless you are the DIY-type that enjoy being involved in the process. For me, it is a great hobby that has taught me a lot about how little I knew about coffee and espresso.

It hasn't been my experience that home roasting is to Easy Bake as professional roasting is to a Viking range. It's more like a homemade burger on the grill vs. McDonald's (or even the best local burger place)... Which is better to you?

And as to "is this necessary"..not sure that makes a lot of sense in a forum dedicated to shaving!

 

[Scotto]

If you know the roasting schedules of several local purveyors and consume what you buy in a week or less, why in the world would you want to roast your own coffee? Roasting equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars will most certainly outmatch any $100 or so investment you're thinking of making--and I'm assuming your roasting proficiency is equal to someone doing this for a living on a daily basis, which is unlikely. It would be like entering a cooking competition with an Easy Bake oven up against a Viking range.
As Don Corleone once stated in another context, "is this necessary?"

I'll disagree with the notion that a super-expensive industrial roaster will produce a better product than a $500 home roaster- they are built for different purposes. Anyway, the other major reason is variety. I have at least 30 different varieties of green beans in my stash, ready to be brought out depending on my whim. Each of those can be roasted to many distinct levels, making the number of flavor permutations huge. Compare that to the few varieties you will be able to get from a local roaster and the difference is obvious.

 

[Xert]

Scotto, is it possible to manually program the cycles on the Gene Cafe, as you can do on the iRoast?

 

[Scotto]

The Gene Cafe has much more control - the time and temperature can be changed on the fly by turning a knob. The control over temperature has much finer granularity than the iRoast as well.

 

[ouch]

I'll disagree with the notion that a super-expensive industrial roaster will produce a better product than a $500 home roaster- they are built for different purposes. Anyway, the other major reason is variety. I have at least 30 different varieties of green beans in my stash, ready to be brought out depending on my whim. Each of those can be roasted to many distinct levels, making the number of flavor permutations huge. Compare that to the few varieties you will be able to get from a local roaster and the difference is obvious.

30 already? You,ve got it bad.

 

[Arthur J Cummings]

If you know the roasting schedules of several local purveyors and consume what you buy in a week or less, why in the world would you want to roast your own coffee? Roasting equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars will most certainly outmatch any $100 or so investment you're thinking of making--and I'm assuming your roasting proficiency is equal to someone doing this for a living on a daily basis, which is unlikely. It would be like entering a cooking competition with an Easy Bake oven up against a Viking range.
As Don Corleone once stated in another context, "is this necessary?"

There is a keypoint here I would like to insert.I started this thread, since I found that one of the local purveyors I trusted had several " master Roasters". There was a distinct difference in the quality of the roasts over a 2 month period. Same Coffee Beans-different people roastings equals the " Tower of Babel" I guess. I RETURNED one batch which was plainly "Baked" not roasted. My daughter had the first cup from this batch, and asked if it was a 'different coffee bean." I had brewed it in a coffee press, same amount ( measured etc>that I always di. it was burndt
The dealer replaced the coffee N/C no questions asked, leaving me to believe he might have ahead other complaints.Also' you are correct in that " "it is not necessary" But If there is a better way , I'm going to try it.

Connman