Mmm, coffee

Still have several pounds of Guatemalan Antigua but couldn't pass up a Roaster relief sale on some Rwandan, 6 pounds each of Mushyoni and Maboro. 12 pounds for $36. Ordered from Coffee Bean Corral Tuesday and arrived in 2 days......

Good to see that Coffee Bean Corral is still going - I got my start in home roasting through Russ and Coffee bean corral over 20 years ago.  

Cool, just ordered some more of my favorite to get the free sample pack for National Coffee day yesterday. Love to see what roaster you use. I like the simple Barwell I use. Nice even roasting.

Still have several pounds of Guatemalan Antigua but couldn't pass up a Roaster relief sale on some Rwandan, 6 pounds each of Mushyoni and Maboro. 12 pounds for $36. Ordered from Coffee Bean Corral Tuesday and arrived in 2 days......

Good to see that Coffee Bean Corral is still going - I got my start in home roasting through Russ and Coffee bean corral over 20 years ago.  

Cool, just ordered some more of my favorite to get the free sample pack for National Coffee day yesterday. Love to see what roaster you use. I like the simple Barwell I use. Nice even roasting.

I’ve never seen that unit before. How’s the cooling and chaff catching?  I’ve used everything from cast iron pans to popcorn poppers over the years but now I’m using the Hottop. I like it.

I’ve never seen that unit before. How’s the cooling and chaff catching?  I’ve used everything from cast iron pans to popcorn poppers over the years but now I’m using the Hottop. I like it.

Pretty much a manual endeavor. Once I get to where I want I dump it nto a rectangular wire basket and flip it continuously to cool some and to loosen chaff which generally blows away. I've considered the Fresh Roast Freshroast SR500 but it only does 1/4 pound at a time. Tjis will do over a pound although prefer to do 1/2 pound at a time to not tax the unit as it is cheap and I'm pretty certain the components aren't the best. I'll have to check out the ones you mentioned. Below are short videos of 1st use. Not bad for a $70 unit

https://youtu.be/4fs39ssT1G0
https://youtu.be/z7pKAdSls5o
https://youtu.be/HGZ7v1DsyeI

Hottop looks like a quality unit but steeper than I'm able to play with

Hottop looks like a quality unit but steeper than I'm able to play with   

Yeah, it’s a bit pricey and the price has climbed in recent years.  I used a fresh roast for a number of years and I found that the fluid bed (ie,hot air) roasters give a brighter cup than the convection roasters. The small batch was inconvenient. I tried a cheaper behomor a few years back. It was just ok and then it literally exploded. Pop and big flash of light from the electricals smoke etc. It was off warranty by then. Disappointing quality. 

If you’re into DYI there’s some resources on Sweetmaria.com.

Hottop looks like a quality unit but steeper than I'm able to play with   

The Barwell looks like a modified popcorn popper. It seems to do the job but I’d be concerned with a 20 Minute roast time. The risk of baking the roast would be high I think.  With a hot air popcorn popper I was getting full city roasts in under 4 minutes. There was no time to step away even for a moment.  The coffee was excellent but the down side was no chaff collection (not that big a deal) and no cooling function. Batches were small too but short roast time meant I could do multiple roasts in a reasonable time period. I rigged up a cooling system with a box fan and a perforated pizza pan. Crude but effective. 

As far as cost goes, I find that when I need funds for something like coffee roasting I just cut back on shaving purchases

Marko All good thoughts and insight. So far with more than 20 pounds roasted I've been happy with it and the results. I'll check out sweet Maria's again as I have once briefly. The Fresh Roast air popper has chaff collection now and will check that out for my next one. Thanks for the tips

Marko All good thoughts and insight. So far with more than 20 pounds roasted I've been happy with it and the results. I'll check out sweet Maria's again as I have once briefly. The Fresh Roast air popper has chaff collection now and will check that out for my next one. Thanks for the tips

Happy to exchange information with a fellow roaster. I enjoy doing it. you can go as high or low tech as you want. I love that morning cup of coffee.

Roasted another pound of Guatemalan Antigua and a half pound of Big Black, an African Indonesian Blend. Here's how I de-chaff and cool down in my shop with a window air conditioner. I normally use 2 hands but it gives you the idea.
https://youtu.be/PlB4C9-AjOQ

Hottop looks like a quality unit but steeper than I'm able to play with   

It seems to do the job but I’d be concerned with a 20 Minute roast time. The risk of baking the roast would be high I think.  With a hot air popcorn popper I was getting full city roasts in under 4 minutes. There was no time to step away even for a moment.  

I have been thinking about this and realize that the air poppers are at more like 400°, I think which would make for a quicker roast for sure. These roasts are at 240°, so much slower roast and second crack is second crack which is controlled by the heat on the bean, not the length of time that it's roasting. I think that must be the difference that we're looking at cuz I'm getting good results. anyway that's the only explanation I can come up with the fact that it's a longer roast but still comes out good.