Home Coffee Roasting

[rotuts]

heat gun roasting :

 

https://www.home-barista.com/search-results.html?q=heat+gun+roasting&ie=ISO-8859-1&cof=FORID%3A9&cx=partner-pub-1874394195286019%3Aih80ev-qwtj&siteurl=www.home-barista.com%2Fsearch.php&ref=www.home-barista.com%2Fsearch-results.html%3Fq%3Dhome%2Bmade%2Broasting%2B%26ie%3DISO-8859-1%26cof%3DFORID%3A9%26cx%3Dpartner-pub-1874394195286019%3Aih80ev-qwtj%26sa%3DSearch%26siteurl%3Dwww.home-barista.com%2Fsearch.php%26ref%3Dwww.home-barista.com%2Fhome-roasting%2F%26ss%3D8032j22485952j19&ss=3049j694835j17

 

 

I like this one , uses a bread machine for the churning :

 

https://www.home-barista.com/home-roasting/bread-machine-heat-gun-roaster-t48875-10.html

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[scubadoo97]

Heat gun roasting was my first intro into home roasting.   After a while you get tired of holding the gun for 10+ min and stirring.  I actually mounted the gun on a mike stand.    
 

from there moved onto the turbo oven/ stircarzy  popcorn popper method.   The heater disconnected from the stircrazy,    Used that for years until just getting the Gene

[Kim Shook]

I know @Zeemanb is very experienced in roasting his own beans.  Not sure that he comes to eG anymore.  

[chileheadmike]

Zeemanb hasn't posted here for a long time. 

For several years he used a hot air popcorn popper. I still do. He said he got a real roaster,  Belmor I think.

[rotuts]

I have the HotAitRoaster

 

from SweetMariS

 

as a spare  , in case my System breaks down

 

I have not used it   So I cannot personally say how it roasts at different levels

 

https://www.sweetmarias.com/nostalgia-electric-popcorn-popper.html

 

they give you 4 lbs of coffee ' free '  of your style coffee your choice

 

that about 26 $ right there

 

to get you started.

 

If you are thinking of roasting , $ 20 is a reasonable starting point.

 

if you dont like roasting ,

 

you can pop ' coffee flavored ' popcorn  until the coffee flavors vapoprize

 

Win-Win Id say

 

and I dont work for them

 

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[Zeemanb]

On 3/8/2020 at 10:19 AM, Kim Shook said:

I know @Zeemanb is very experienced in roasting his own beans.  Not sure that he comes to eG anymore.  

 

Holy crap, I haven't signed in here in so long that I don't even know what email address I used to use. 

 

Yeah I had great luck for about a dozen years using the Poppery II hot air popcorn popper, and have only ever bought my beans and supplies from Sweet Maria's. About 2 years ago I bought a Behmor roaster from a friend, and that would be a great investment for anyone who is remotely serious about being a home roaster. As simple or as insanely nerdy as  you want to make it. 

 

If you're brand new, hot air popper is the way to go. You can get one for super cheap on eBay, just stick with a model recommended on Sweet Maria's because some do not work well roasting beans. It is probably the best and easiest way to learn about 1st crack, 2nd crack, etc. Just keep a close eye on your roast, especially with a brand new popper, because the one drawback is how quickly they roast. Too quickly isn't as coffee nerd-friendly, and you will, for sure, at some point completely destroy a batch, lol.

[rotuts]

if any one takes the plunge to be a NewCoffeeRoaster

 

w the HotAirRoaster

 

Id be interested in how it ends up working for you.

 

and dont forget , you need some green beans to work with!

 

wait , that's at sweetMaria !

 

I still dont work for them  .....

 

but they owe me a few lbs of "FreeBeans ' on my next order

 

why ?

 

once you roast at home , you will always roast at home

 

Im not saying its like Crack 

 

I have no experience  w Crack 

 

just a lot of experience w 1st C  and 2d C

[rotuts]

this ref comes from Sweetmaria's

 

where i buy my green coffee beans and don't work :

 

https://legacy.sweetmarias.com/library/new-video-air-roasts-closeup-on-roast-levels/

 

as Ive mentioned , their air popper is only $ 20 , and comes w 4 lbs of green coffee

 

they select the beans , but they don't sell ' seconds '

 

if you enjoy your cup of coffee , Ill warn you right now  

 

you will become hooked on roasting your own , better , cheaper , and

 

the blend is completely up to you !

 

pls post if you try this.

[TdeV]

@rotuts, I ordered coffee and the popcorn popper from Sweet Maria's today. 😀

[rotuts]

@TdeV 

 

excellent  I hope you enjoy it.

 

and the AP can roast to your desired roasting level.

 

for some reason , i can't view imbedded videos 

 

so I am not albe to see SM clip.

 

eveything about SM  is top notch.

 

wish I could figure out the imbedded problem ,  

 

but dont want to fiddle w  Adobeflash or other add-ons 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[TdeV]

I have sent you an email about your Apple issues.

 

Will let you know how the coffee works out!

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

@rotuts, I ordered coffee and the popcorn popper from Sweet Maria's today. 😀

 

Good luck with the coffee roasting!  I used the popcorn popper for quite a while and it was a good learning opportunity.  I found the Sweet Maria videos very helpful. Do take notes on your batches. 

Two downsides from my perspective.  First, it's LOUD but you can't just turn it on, set a timer and walk away. I found it helpful to stir the beans around a bit in the beginning to help ensure an even roast and you want to listen for the cracking sounds so you need to stay pretty close to the noisy thing.  If you've got some noise-cancelling headphones, try them.  My Bose over-the-ear headphones that I use for plane travel very much helped to muffle the popper noice but let me hear the cracking sounds.  Maybe mine was unusually loud or I am unusually sensitive to noises, but I found that aspect quite unpleasant.

The second issue was the relatively small volume of beans that can be roasted at a time in a popper.  Not a problem just for myself but when I had coffee-guzzling guests, I was needing to roast more beans almost every day or sit there for a long time doing multiple small batches.  A few stretches of caffeine addicted houseguests led me to go back to buying coffee.  I should reconsider roasting the beans again I'm unlikely to be hosting crowds anytime soon! 

[rotuts]

@blue_dolphin 

 

excellent points 

 

as a reasonably cheap 

 

introduction method ,   w all the drawback you have

 

suggested 

 

it is a way to try to decide if  

 

home roasting 

 

improves your Personal  Perfect Cup  

 

if it does , then   

 

based on Personal Economics 

 

one might move on to something  more substantial 

 

or not

 

 

[rotuts]

Im a fan of SweetMaria's   Ive been getting green coffee from them

 

for a long time.  I dont work for them.

 

this post is to point out , no matter where you get your green beans

 

or if you are only beginning to think of home roasting

 

SM has a huge amount of interesting information on their site :

 

https://legacy.sweetmarias.com/library/423-live-stream-roast-levels-rerun/

 

I found this interesting , even though Ive been roasting for some time

 

the video is fairly choppy as it was a live stream

 

keep that in mind.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[jimb0]

New coffee order. We've been centralizing around this ethiopian. Not my all-time favourite, but a good coffee nonetheless. I regret not getting more of the Kenyan I got last time as it was phenomenal, full of red fruits. 

 

I haven't tried any black honey processed beans, yet; roasted yesterday and will probably try tomorrow. I like buying from this company because they're dedicated to buying ethically sourced beans. Not quite to the point where I'm buying large bags of beans, but I see it coming; I think next month I'm going to start offering coffee (at cost, since it's not really legal to run a business roasting coffee from home) to the neighbourhood, at least during the pandemic.

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by jimb0 (log)

[rotuts]

@jimb0 

 

looks like a nice selection.

 

maybe you should try some of these some day :

 

https://modernfarmer.com/2013/10/flight-jacu-bird/

 

pre-sorted by the Jacu Bird , it having an eye for the juiciest berry on The Bush.

[jimb0]

23 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@jimb0 

 

looks like a nice selection.

 

maybe you should try some of these some day :

 

https://modernfarmer.com/2013/10/flight-jacu-bird/

 

pre-sorted by the Jacu Bird , it having an eye for the juiciest berry on The Bush.

I’ll keep an eye out but at > $50/kg, not sure I’ll be buying it anytime soon   

 

I suspect at some point we’ll map out some of the biologies of these pre-digested coffees and recreate them through modifying the fermentation process. 
 

Also, I’m willing to bet that at least some of what makes this coffee good is what makes all of their coffee (not that I’ve tried from this place) good - an eye to maintaining the biodiversity of the growing area and producing coffee a little more in tune with the environment. Combine that with their labour-intensive picking and processing methods, and, well. 

[rotuts]

its :

 

1 ) hype

 

2 ) scarcity 

 

in some sort of combinations .  for sure .

 

Kona coffee from Hawaii is similarly way over priced.

 

many ' experts ' suggest that very good to the best coffee from Guatemala 

 

is as good or better than Kona.

 

we wont get into the discussion of Jamaican (High) Blue Mountain 

 

just now.

 

roasting your own is a great deal of fun !

[jimb0]

Of course that's part of it, but a lot of the expensive coffees stem from the substantially increased labour that goes into them, Hawaii included...takes some work to pickup and clean bird poop.

 

 My favourite coffees are largely kenyan.

Edited May 21, 2020 by jimb0 (log)

[rotuts]

@jimb0

 

no,  not so  much

 

branding , advertising   etc

 

does the trick

 

up to you , as you are roasting 

 

do a double blind or a triple blind and see for your self

 

I did get some Poop Greens a long time ago from SweetMarias 

 

I did treat them fairly 

 

and , they were not any better then  the greens I roasted at that time

 

same for Kona ., as Kona is a very big place 

 

and low mid etc matters a lot for the Bush

 

not for me.

 

enjoy you roasting experiences 

 

it's in your  Personal Cup 

 

 

[rotuts]

this from an email from SweetMaria :

 

an air popper it seems but with controls :

 

https://www.sweetmarias.com/popper.html

 

I don't know anything else about it.

 

it might be a fine way to start to home roast 

[rotuts]

P.S.:  I got this roaster just now

 

as a back up   etc

 

w 8 lbs of their choice of ' Good for Espresso ' 

 

SM has very good deals on ' sampler sets of green coffee ' 

 

Ill give it a whirl and report back.

[Annie_H]

On 9/11/2021 at 11:50 AM, rotuts said:

an air popper it seems but with controls :

That is interesting with the controls. I wonder where it came from. Has a 50's vibe. I like that it has a ten minute timer, switches to a three minute cool-down after 7 minutes, but you can dial back a few minutes if it has not hit second crack. (or a personal preferred roast). We like full-city with a bit of oil but not 'oily' like an expresso dark. 

Yes, the trial 4-8 pound samplers are a good deal and a good way to try new beans. This recent order was the first time in ten years I opted out. Last month we really liked a Guatemala variety so I stocked up the same batch before they ran out. 

In all the years I only had one sample bag that did not roast properly, tiny beans, and were so rock hard after roasting they jammed my burr grinder. Fortunately a bit of surgery fixed it. 

I still recommend new to roasting to try the red popper with 4 lbs of beans. 20$. I still use one at the beach house. But that is non working vacation time so not a time crunch issue. 

 

[chileheadmike]

This looks pretty cool. Anyone try it? This think looks like the iRoast 2 I had for a while. I went back to my popcorn popper because it did a better job. 

[Annie_H]

It appears they just launched a couple weeks ago. Link, HERE 

Sweet Marias just posted their yTube video just a few days ago. 

I've been using a FreshRoast 800 for about a year now. It holds 8 ounces. Love it. The Behmor lasted about two years

and never cared for it. Fussy.