Coffee_Cigarettes Senior Member Joined: 12 Aug 2007 Posts: 178 Location: Norman, OK Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Wed Jun 4, 2008, 1:23pm Subject: Looking to start home roasting, need advice on what roaster to choose
I am going to be purchasing a coffee roaster in a few months, the National Science Foundation is giving me 4K to research this summer and I am going to put at least 1/4th of that into furthering my coffee addiction. So now I am browsing Sweetmarias.com with only a faint idea of what I want to get.
Would the gene cafe be a good choice? Or should I be looking at the HotTop? I will be living in an apartment, so the HotTop's need for ventilation could mean that I would burn down the whole complex unintentionally... e
Also, besides the roaster, what else do I need to get started? Anything I should consider?
Thank you for any advice or guidance you can offer!
CoffeeRoastersClub Senior Member Joined: 6 Jul 2005 Posts: 2,515 Location: Connecticut Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Vintage La Pavoni Lever... Grinder: KitchenAid Pro Line Burr... Vac Pot: Vintage Silex Drip: Aeropress, French Press Roaster: "Little Tyke" BBQ Drum,...
Posted Wed Jun 4, 2008, 5:00pm Subject: Re: Looking to start home roasting, need advice on what roaster to choose
The people at Invalsa.com have a wide choice of roasters and beans right from their farm in Bolivia. The company is very helpful and knowledgable on all aspects of coffee roasting and related issues, and have the Hot Top and Gene available. I would recommend that you give them a call at 1-978-363-8100 and also visit their site at Click Here (www.invalsa.com)
I have used them many times in the past. They are excellent people.
malkore Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Posts: 210 Location: NE Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Thu Jun 5, 2008, 9:41am Subject: Re: Looking to start home roasting, need advice on what roaster to choose
Sweet Maria's is also an excellent company to work with.
I have a fresh roast 8 that I got in January 2008, and just got my Behmor 1600 yesterday. the fresh roast is a good 'single person' roaster especially if you're not drinking a full 12 cup pot every day, since its 3oz batch is about 12-14 cups of normal drip coffee.
my problem is my wife and i drink more coffee than that, and thus the behmor was ordered.
Posted Sat Jun 14, 2008, 7:55pm Subject: Re: Looking to start home roasting, need advice on what roaster to choose
I too started home roasting recently and after lot of research decided to go with the Behmor. Have been pretty happy with it so far, but I have not used any other roaster so can't offer any comparisons.
Posted Sun Jun 15, 2008, 4:46pm Subject: Re: Looking to start home roasting, need advice on what roaster to choose
I started with a Fresh Roast also, and did have really good results. But, it was taking way too much time roasting small batches. So, I got a Gene and really love it. I'm not only able to roast larger batches but I get much more consistent results.
Posted Sun Jun 15, 2008, 5:02pm Subject: Re: Looking to start home roasting, need advice on what roaster to choose
The Behmor seems to have a good smoke suppression system which is probably more advanced than many other roasters that just use filters. If smoke is a concern, you might want to check that one out as plenty of others are happy with theirs. It does a pretty good sized batch on top of that.
djveed Senior Member Joined: 14 Dec 2008 Posts: 1 Location: Stamford, CT Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Breville Cafe Roma Grinder: Capresso Infinity Roaster: West Bend Poppery II
Posted Tue Dec 16, 2008, 1:13pm Subject: Re: Looking to start home roasting, need advice on what roaster to choose
What provides a better roasted bean? The iRoast-2 or the Behmor? What provides a darker roast? Which is a faster roast (i.e. which avoid "baking" better)?
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