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New coffee roaster

My Nesco Homeroast (or whatever the last name was) burned out today while roasting some mexican coffee for my brother's in laws, visiting from Nigeria. Not the best roaster around, but it outlasted the hot air popcorn popper I started with. Probably repairable, I think it was just a cap that let go in the motor speed control circuit, but it stinks enough it may have been the motor itself.

I'll probably tear it apart this winter, replace the blown cap and anything else that looks iffy, and see if it runs.

In the mean time, I got a barely used Behmor 1600 for a decent price to try out. I'm hoping to get more of that "fast roast" flavor missing in the Nesco (it was pretty slow in comparison to the hot air popper) and was slow to cool.

Not exactly what I'd planned on doing with $300 on the first of January (I really need a new lawn mower engine, for instance), but I'm not about to diddle around forever looking for a deal and drinking grocery store coffee.

Wish me luck!
 
1600 is a decent inexpensive home roaster.

You can fool it into producing good results.

Pre heat.
Have some welding gloves and take the basket out as soon as possible.

I used one for a while and was satisfied.

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There's some really nice coffees out there to be found while you're looking for a roaster rather than the grocery store drivel.

Good luck with the search, though!
 
I love my 1600 plus. While I have larger capacity roasters on my wish list, the Behmor consistently produces good roasts. Enjoy your roaster.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
I also like my 1600+, but if you want to roast 1lb batches, it won't be too fast. Preheat it for 2-3 min. Fast cooling is a bit of a problem too - especially for darker roasts. Taking out the basket (with gloves!) and cooling externally could be a solution.
Good luck!

P.S. Its shortcomings aside, I'm not aware of a better roaster in this price category
 
I will probably continue to roast 8oz or so batches. Unless I'm giving a bunch away, that's more than enough for a week of normal use and I don't like to keep roasted coffee around much longer than that.
 
Fast cooling is a bit of a problem too - especially for darker roasts. Taking out the basket (with gloves!) and cooling externally could be a solution.

I had a different roaster, but made a simple cooler from a plastic bucket, extraction fan at the bottom sucking air down, and mesh sieve at the top. Took minutes to make, and cooled beans rapidly.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
That's a great roaster for the price, but you'll need to keep your roasts pretty simple. It's tough to get much nuance from a Behmor, but you can get some truly solid coffee from one. I enjoyed mine and am grateful for the experience I got from it before getting my Hottop.

I second Mick's recommendations about roasting. Preheating is important, but you have to be careful not to overdo it, or the automatic safety will shut you down. I was roasting 300 g batches on the 1 pound setting, and that worked pretty well. Cooling really is an issue, but there are all sorts of ways to deal with that.
 
cooling with a behmor. well, i open the roaster door about 2 mins. into COOLING cycle, with dirt devil in hand to vacuum away flying chaff. this is the accepted way of faster cooling, according to the behmor manual.
i too pre-heat, never had the emergency shut off feature kick in, because i only pre-heat for 1 min. 45 sec., per the manual recommendation. best results for me are setting the roaster at 1 pound, and only roasting 1/2 pound batches, again, per manual recommendations.
 
I usually roast 15+ oz batch sizes in my Behmor 1600 after preheating. I always assumed I might be losing out a little on the maximum flavors, but based on everyone else's technique here maybe I am missing more. :letterk1: Though the resulting coffee is so much better than what is in the grocery store that I remain satisfied with the roaster.
 
Couple minutes pre-heat, then set for twice the weight I'm actually roasting using P1 works well if I hit the P3 button at first crack. End up with just about exactly what I want, about half light and half dark patches on the beans. I think I will like this roaster once I get it all figured out.

I'm using it on the deck, bought a 15A extension cord for that (and the band saw in the garage). Would be better to use a closer outlet, but I don't have one and don't want to put one in just to roast coffee! Same reason I bought a propane smoker.
 
Couple minutes pre-heat, then set for twice the weight I'm actually roasting using P1 works well if I hit the P3 button at first crack. End up with just about exactly what I want, about half light and half dark patches on the beans. I think I will like this roaster once I get it all figured out.

I'm using it on the deck, bought a 15A extension cord for that (and the band saw in the garage). Would be better to use a closer outlet, but I don't have one and don't want to put one in just to roast coffee! Same reason I bought a propane smoker.

Use a 10 gauge 20 amp extension. The loss with a long 15 amp is notable.

Putting in an outlet is best. I've done that twice and need to do it again :07:

I am using a 15 foot 20 amp 10 gauge extension for now. Using a meter I see no drop with a cord that short and heavy.
 
It's an eight foot cord, I got the shortest I thought would reach. Doesn't seem to cause any issues. Putting in an outlet would be a huge hassle through a concrete wall....
 
It's an eight foot cord, I got the shortest I thought would reach. Doesn't seem to cause any issues. Putting in an outlet would be a huge hassle through a concrete wall....

Hammer drill :)

That is what I did to get power to my SF-1. Brought 120vac and 240vac through the hole. The outlet is just 2 feet from the mains panel.

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