Thanks! It appears I have entered a few deep rabbit holes recently inspired by B&B ( this and fountain pens)
Coffee Roasting Methods Discussion
- Thread starter Mick
- Start date
I know from first hand experience that the fountain pen rabbit hole is deep and seemingly never ending.
Enjoy drinking your first roast and many more roasts to come.
Enjoy drinking your first roast and many more roasts to come.
Roast #2 in the books:
8 ounces Tanzania Tarime Town Peaberry to FC
8 ounces Tanzania Tarime Town Peaberry to FC
WOW... been a long time since I used my Behomer. Maybe its time to dust it off?
Shoot, yeah! Go for it!
Another roast today: Colombia Planadas Tres Fincas from Sweet Maria's. Smells amazing... looking forward to brewing it for the first time tomorrow!
If you have a roaster (almost any roaster) you need to roast. I have to drive at least 30 minutes from my home to get beans as good as the ones I roasted at home (and the cost a lot more). And the Behemor is better than most. Enjoy your coffee!
2 8 ounce roasts yesterday:
- Congo Kivu Kalehe Cooperative to City
- Bali Panelokan Village to City+
- Congo Kivu Kalehe Cooperative to City
- Bali Panelokan Village to City+
- Thread starter
- #170
It's been a couple years of roasting and the control panel on my old B model has finally given up. I've brought it back from the dead a few times but this last time I feel is the the last round up. Power up... beep beep... shut down... rats 
SO.....
I've ordered an upgrade kit from the manufacturer that will bring the old work horse up to a KN-8828-2K+ model (the latest incarnation of their coffee roaster).
http://hottopusa.com/news.html
USPS sez the kit will be here tomorrow
The upgrade requires I break the roaster down to the main frame again and replace the rear wall along with a more powerful burner, two probes, and a computer interface to the roasting software I have been using on the old setup. They've basically added all of the mods I have done but in a production machine (no bubble gum and paper clips).
SO.....
I've ordered an upgrade kit from the manufacturer that will bring the old work horse up to a KN-8828-2K+ model (the latest incarnation of their coffee roaster).
http://hottopusa.com/news.html
USPS sez the kit will be here tomorrow
The upgrade requires I break the roaster down to the main frame again and replace the rear wall along with a more powerful burner, two probes, and a computer interface to the roasting software I have been using on the old setup. They've basically added all of the mods I have done but in a production machine (no bubble gum and paper clips).
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Nice to hear that hottop provides long term support for upgrades. Hope your new roasts will be as good as the ones before having the official mod/upgrade kit.
- Thread starter
- #172
Parts arrived... No I need the time to break the roaster down again
I only have coffee to last me until the weekend so I may be working harder the lower the bean supply gets
I only have coffee to last me until the weekend so I may be working harder the lower the bean supply gets
I'm keeping my eye on this thread, Mick. The Hottop roasters look mighty interesting.
- Thread starter
- #174
It is a bear doing this without any tools. I borrowed a couple screw drivers from a friend to get it back this far. Need to get some zip ties tomorrow to tidy things up before buttoning it up completely.
A few hours here and there is about all I can spare. The upgrade is pretty straight forward. Take it all apart and put it all back together.
A few hours here and there is about all I can spare. The upgrade is pretty straight forward. Take it all apart and put it all back together.
Gee, Mick. When you put it like that, I guess there's nothing that's not pretty straight forward.
- Thread starter
- #176
Got it all back together, ran it through the "test burn" and did two back to back roasts.
First roast: Brazilian Daterra Monte Cristo.
Second roast: Sumatran Toba Bagka Peaberry.
The new roaster runs different temps then my old set up did. Placement of the probes are different and they use a different type of probe. I used aircraft cylinder head temp probes on my old mod and Hottop uses a K type that is a little different. Theirs are smaller probes that are placed in different locations so they will read temps differently at the bean change times I am used to seeing.
A little seat of the pants roasting and I will be comfortable with the different times and temps of events.
It's nice that the Hottop has a LARGE window in the front so I can watch bean development and smell the changes. I can pretty much ignore the time temp readings for a while until my mind gets into this new routine.
The only scale I have down here is the grounds hopper on my Forte BG so I set it to manual, filled the grounds hopper with green beans, shoved it back in the Forte and shazam... 225 grams of green beans to roast
First roast: Brazilian Daterra Monte Cristo.
Second roast: Sumatran Toba Bagka Peaberry.
The new roaster runs different temps then my old set up did. Placement of the probes are different and they use a different type of probe. I used aircraft cylinder head temp probes on my old mod and Hottop uses a K type that is a little different. Theirs are smaller probes that are placed in different locations so they will read temps differently at the bean change times I am used to seeing.
A little seat of the pants roasting and I will be comfortable with the different times and temps of events.
It's nice that the Hottop has a LARGE window in the front so I can watch bean development and smell the changes. I can pretty much ignore the time temp readings for a while until my mind gets into this new routine.
The only scale I have down here is the grounds hopper on my Forte BG so I set it to manual, filled the grounds hopper with green beans, shoved it back in the Forte and shazam... 225 grams of green beans to roast
Completed roast #200 today. Roasting 15.4 pounds of Colombian Excelso on P1.
I usually roast about 15.3 ounces each time with just a few 1/2 pound roasts mixed in. I estimate that roughly 15 * 200 roasts ~= 188 pounds of green beans have been roasted thus far. At least the roaster has paid for itself by now.
I usually roast about 15.3 ounces each time with just a few 1/2 pound roasts mixed in. I estimate that roughly 15 * 200 roasts ~= 188 pounds of green beans have been roasted thus far. At least the roaster has paid for itself by now.
- Thread starter
- #178
After 6 months of weekly roasts, I can equivocally state that the plus model (or mod to take an older machine up to it in my case) is one fine home coffee roasting machine.
Anyone considering home coffee roasting as a serious hobby should put this machine in their cross hairs, along with some other fine examples of professional class home coffee roasting machines.
Had this modification/model been available several years ago I would not have gone through all of the drill and tap, solder and wrap, modifications to my older B model, I'd have just made the leap up front.
.
Anyone considering home coffee roasting as a serious hobby should put this machine in their cross hairs, along with some other fine examples of professional class home coffee roasting machines.
Had this modification/model been available several years ago I would not have gone through all of the drill and tap, solder and wrap, modifications to my older B model, I'd have just made the leap up front.
.
Thanks for the update Mick. I've been roasting on a Behmor 1600 for a few years and the Hottop looks like a great replacement machine.
- Thread starter
- #180
I upgraded my Behmor to the plus model. That made a BIG improvement in performance and control. I still have to anticipate the end of the roast because of the longer cool down time.
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