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Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

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Discussions > Coffee > Home Roast > Well I got my...

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Grimlea
Senior Member

Joined: 7 Aug 2007
Posts: 135
Location: North America
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: DeLonghi Caffe Figaro
Grinder: KitchenAid ProLine burr...
Drip: handheld single cupper
Roaster: Digirosto Pro 1500+HD,...

Posted Fri Oct 26, 2007, 4:34pm Subject: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday, late afternoon. A few not so good things first. Although they give the impression that this is a Plug & Play machine it most definitely isn't. The first thing is the electrical service that it requires. It needs a 30Amp 110/120Volt service and fuse. I don't know about commercial establishments but I can guarantee that most residential building are not wired for it and it's very dangerous to just re-fuse a 15Amp service It also needs a NEMA 20Amp outlet. Again most households don't have this. Where a normal house has outlets that look something like this (l l) A Nema 20Amp looks like this (l -). Luckily I did my research and installed the proper wiring, fuse and outlet. Second, the phrase "Perfect Smoke Elimination" mean "Not Perfect Smoke Elimination". Here I was lucky. I have a window within a meter of the machine and a simple household fan in the window dealt with the small amount of smoke the machine puts out. Third, the manual is a typical Oriental, English as a second language, sort of, ambiguous set of instructions. Again here I did my homework and downloaded it from GreenBeanery long before I got the unit and was able to clear up anything I was confused about. It also helps to download the manual for the Digirosto Pro Power and read it. The last thing is, it says Shipped Next Business Day on the web page. This should be interpreted to mean "It takes us 4 days to prep the machine before we can ship it". Now down to the Digirosto. It weighs about 40 kilo (90lb) so although it's not exactly portable it can be manhandled around. Set up on my table in the basement, it looks like something out of the old, pre-fifties Flash Gordon serials. As I said, I had read the manual fairly well so I had a pretty good idea of what I was doing. I filled the water tank with water. This is a must even if you don't plan on using the water quenching feature because it also supplies the built in fire extinguish. I then used the built in scale to measure out 500g of Java Estate beans. Hit the weight input button, poured the beans in the bean slot, input #8 for bean colour and medium bean type. I then hit the start button and sat back and watched. With the 6min warm-up it took 24min before it went into cool down and another 8min to cool the beans before ejecting them. For some reason the water quenching didn't work on the first roast but that's no biggy, It just means you have to wait before you can taste them. The beans came out as a City+/Full City. Very even in colour, nice texture and no oil. I tasted them this morning after about 12hrs de-gassing. The taste was fairly balanced but I would have like to taste a little more body in them. I'll try them tomorrow after they've had a little more time to de-gas. I did a Java Estate/Yirgacheffe 2 to 1 blend at the same settings as the last one, just before writing this and it came out the same as the last batch only the water quenching worked this time.

Larry .............................. .............................. Mrs. Tweek: Well have some coffee boys. I'll brew up another pot for later. Kyle: Coffee? I don't think I like coffee. Mrs. Tweek: Oh you'll like this coffee, it's fresh. Mr. Tweek: Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm.

Posted Fri Oct 26, 2007, 4:56pm Subject: Re: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

I thought I'd add the Auto Roast profile. (Click for larger image)

Larry .............................. .............................. Mrs. Tweek: Well have some coffee boys. I'll brew up another pot for later. Kyle: Coffee? I don't think I like coffee. Mrs. Tweek: Oh you'll like this coffee, it's fresh. Mr. Tweek: Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm.

Posted Sat Oct 27, 2007, 9:35am Subject: Re: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

Tried my first roast after 36hrs and my second roast after 20 hrs. I have to re-evaluate the roast color. It is definitely a Full City to Full City +. I had a few beans go into SC but there is absolutely no oil showing. This means that both roasts are darker than I like my coffee, so my next roast will be a #7. On the up side, there was definitely more flavour after waiting for de-gassing and with the Yirgacheffe blend the fruitiness really came through, much more than I've tasted with this bean before. On Auto this machine is simpler to operate than my iR2. For anyone interested, the heating unit is inside the drum and there are two bean mass temperature probes.

Larry .............................. .............................. Mrs. Tweek: Well have some coffee boys. I'll brew up another pot for later. Kyle: Coffee? I don't think I like coffee. Mrs. Tweek: Oh you'll like this coffee, it's fresh. Mr. Tweek: Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm.

richberman
Senior Member

Joined: 10 Oct 2007
Posts: 3
Location: Pennsylvania
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: krups
Grinder: DeLonghi
Drip: krups moca
Roaster: i-roast

Posted Mon Oct 29, 2007, 2:30pm Subject: Re: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

Grimlea, Please keep up the posts as you use your new machine. I'm interested i reading even if I don't reply. thanks rich

Posted Tue Oct 30, 2007, 9:48am Subject: Re: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

Well, I've put 5 roasts through so far and as far as I'm concerned it's still roasting to dark at #5 setting. This could be because of my stubborn insistence that these are medium beans instead of green beans (med. and green are 2 of the 3 bean type settings). My next roast will be at the green bean setting and we'll see how that works. The green bean setting is supposed to change the profile by dropping the temps by 2C. Other than the degree of roast I have no complaints with the Digirosto so far. It couldn't be simpler. My attitude may change if I have to go in a reprogram the roast profile. This is supposed to be operator doable but I'm going to have to get help with this one if I do because I can't make head nor tails out of the manual. OOPS: I just reread the manual. It would seem that water washed beans fall into the GREEN BEAN category and I've been trying to force them into the MEDIUM category. My bad!!! For any one interested the three categories are: Green (-2C) green in colour Arabica beans that look large freshly harvested beans with a lot of moisture water washed beans (DOH!!!!) Medium (0C) beans that range in colour from green to brown medium sized beans beans harvested a year ago or dried while in storage beans that are slightly green in colour Brown (+4C) brown beans small and hard beans beans that look dry or have been stored for a long time sun dried beans Robusta beans wet and dark green and heavier than average beans

Larry .............................. .............................. Mrs. Tweek: Well have some coffee boys. I'll brew up another pot for later. Kyle: Coffee? I don't think I like coffee. Mrs. Tweek: Oh you'll like this coffee, it's fresh. Mr. Tweek: Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm.

Posted Wed Oct 31, 2007, 2:22pm Subject: Re: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

Well I changed the bean setting to Green Bean and reset the colour back to #6, put through 450g and didn't see any difference in colour from my last batch. Then today I traded some fresh roast for buffalo meat. I did a roast up while the person waited. I put through about 1200g at #5 and definitely got a City+ roast. I'm very happy with the results but the roast took 45min from the start of warm up to the end of cool down. So in reality we're looking at about 3lb an hour for output. It's a good thing I'm not looking to mass produce. Don't be fooled into thinking that this machine is just a set and forget auto machine. It is also a semi auto that the operator can temporarily change some of the times and temps and it can also be used as a full manual where the operator changes the roast times and temps on the fly.

Larry .............................. .............................. Mrs. Tweek: Well have some coffee boys. I'll brew up another pot for later. Kyle: Coffee? I don't think I like coffee. Mrs. Tweek: Oh you'll like this coffee, it's fresh. Mr. Tweek: Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm.

Posted Wed Nov 7, 2007, 11:36am Subject: Re: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

I put through a 2 to 1 blend of Java Estate and Yemen Hatari Mohka three days ago. I going to call it my Yule Roast and send it to people for the Xmas season. I did them at a #5 colour setting and a medium bean setting. The Java should be at a green bean setting and the Hatari at a brown bean setting but because I combined them I thought I'd try a medium. In fact I started with a #6 colour but because the beans were darkening faster than I wanted I reset the colour to #5. The roast came out a nice even City+. I tried some the next day and wasn't completely happy with the results. I detected a bitterness in the cup and not enough body for the blend. I revisited the roast three days after the roast and it was everything I had hoped for. It has a very deep full bodied flavour with just a hint of sweetness and little to no brightness. Even after the cup had cooled to tepid it still had absolutely no bitterness to it. A very rich tasting blend for the Christmas season, that I think people are going to be pleased with.

Larry .............................. .............................. Mrs. Tweek: Well have some coffee boys. I'll brew up another pot for later. Kyle: Coffee? I don't think I like coffee. Mrs. Tweek: Oh you'll like this coffee, it's fresh. Mr. Tweek: Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm.

Posted Thu Nov 8, 2007, 1:31pm Subject: Re: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

Well, this is my last post in this thread until: I start roasting in semi-auto or manual. Something goes wrong. I get a question. A Summery: This machine is incredibly easy to use. It can be used by an untrained person to get good, consecutive roasts. It does minimum 400g (200g in manual) and maximum 1.5kg roasts. It has a built in fire extinguisher and a built in scale that inputs the weight of beans into the machine. It factors in ambient temperature and line voltage when roasting. It is easy to clean and the drum has a self-cleaning function. It requires minimal venting (an exhaust fan near the chimney). All the roasts that I've had off this machine have been palatable. It has a very small footprint (15.6"W x 17.7"D x 20"H) and sits on it's own turntable. It's an ideal machine for a small coffee house that wants to do it's own roasting or a small retail or home based business. Unfortunately It's expensive ($6K CDN new). It only does three lbs an hour. It requires an electrical service that are not normal in most locations (30A. 110/120V. with a 20A NEMA outlet).

Larry .............................. .............................. Mrs. Tweek: Well have some coffee boys. I'll brew up another pot for later. Kyle: Coffee? I don't think I like coffee. Mrs. Tweek: Oh you'll like this coffee, it's fresh. Mr. Tweek: Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm.

richberman
Senior Member

Joined: 10 Oct 2007
Posts: 3
Location: Pennsylvania
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: krups
Grinder: DeLonghi
Drip: krups moca
Roaster: i-roast

Posted Thu Nov 8, 2007, 1:46pm Subject: Re: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

Let's hope you don't need to test the fire extinguishing feature! Rich

Posted Mon Dec 24, 2007, 2:00pm Subject: Re: Well I got my Digirosto Pro 1500+HD yesterday

Well I'm experiencing my first problems with owning the Digirosto. It's with GreenBeanery Rather than with the machine itself. To do some decaf I had to reset the first temperature on the roast profile to a lower setting. Using the factory settings was giving me a to dark roast at the lightest setting I could put it on. Using the Manual I thought I had done a temporary adjustment. Unfortunately I mis-read the instructions (easy to do) and permanently set this temperature. I tried contacting GreenBeanery for help getting it back to the factory default. It took three days (five counting the weekend) and three e-mails to get a response. To their credit when they did respond they phoned me. Unfortunately the person I was dealing with didn't know about my particular machine (she is there roaster and uses the next generation Digirosto). She had someone else that may have had the information phone me. That person contacted me and after a short conversation he indicated that he might have the info that I needed at a different location but wouldn't be able to give it to me until after the New Year because he was tied up with a GreenBeanery project (which was obviously more important that customer relations). I sent off another e-mail, cc-ing everybody, describing why I needed the information and what not having it was doing to my business. They finally forwarded my e-mail to IMEX. Unfortunately they forwarded my last e-mail that described what not having the info was doing to my business rather than the one with the problem in it. IMEX replied back, stating, they had no idea what GreenBeanery was talking about (of course) thus, delaying fixing the problem even more. Well now, after two weeks I'm finally in contact with IMEX directly. We'll see how that goes! As for the Digirosto itself, I'm loving it. I've put 65lb through it so far (it keeps track for you) and have found the only problem, other than the one mentioned above, is that it does smoke, so you do need good ventilation. I have to admit though, that a 3lb roast puts out considerably less smoke than my iRoast did on a few ounces.

Larry .............................. .............................. Mrs. Tweek: Well have some coffee boys. I'll brew up another pot for later. Kyle: Coffee? I don't think I like coffee. Mrs. Tweek: Oh you'll like this coffee, it's fresh. Mr. Tweek: Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm.

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