Hi guys,

I was going through the Coffee Lover thread and I realized not much of discussion on roasting coffee. Occasionally some sifu would talk about roasting but conversation would somehow sidetracked to other aspects of coffee. I am starting this thread so that we can discuss in depth with regards to coffee roasting.

Any home/micro roasters sifu in the club? Would like to ask opinion on choice of roasting machine. I'm currently roasting with popcorn popper but think is time to take the plunge and get a proper machine.

I have short-listed three machines

1. Aillio Bullet R1



Pros:
- Looks. Really nice looking and small form factor
- All electric. Can use anywhere
- 1 kg capacity. Just nice for sample roasting and even small scale production
- Fully interactive with software for roast profiling

Cons:
- Expensive. 2624 USD
- New product. Just passed early release. Sorted out main problems but basically still a new product. No expert reviews yet

2. Hottop KN-8828B-2K+



Pros:
- Small form factor
- All electric
- Uses software as well for profiling
-Reliable, established brand
- Cheaper 1600USD

Cons
- Only 300g capacity

3 Sonofresco 600g/1.2kg roasters



Pros
- Simple operation.
- Easy maintenance. Only one moving part which is the fan. Since warranty would be difficult for import item, this is a plus point
- ?Air roaster (maybe cons to some people who prefer drum-roasting)
- Cheaper cost of running. Uses gas - just connect to cooking gas tank and electric for the fan
- Essentially a commercial machine, built to last
- Large capacity

Cons
- Large form factor. the 600g version is smaller but of course less capacity
- Expensive 600g 2595usd and 1.2kg 3595 usd
- Software need to add another 750 usd and also less robust compared to previous two.


Any sifus here have experience with these machines? Would really appreciate if can provide input. Of course there are other more professional sampler roasters options such as Quest M3, Huky 500, North Roasters but those are too big/bulky and the Wife says nono cos its ugly. Haha.

It will be great if can discuss on roasting experience and profiles here, too

Interested in your popcorn popper roasting experience.

I've tried roasting using an unmodified popper but the time to 1st crack was short - somthing like 4 minutes. I found it difficult to control the process. I'm now planning to modify the machine by running the fan off an old laptop power supply and adding a rheostat to the heating circuit so that I can better control the heat.

Hi KK131, nice to see fellow popcorn coffee roaster here. Yeah same issue I have encountered. The problem is we are quite limited with the control of variables with the popcorn popper. The temperature rise too fast and there are no time for the flavour to develop. I find it good for dark roasts but very risky for specialty coffees that shine with light to medium roast. Initially had the idea of modifying the popper too but the cover melted and I realized I have reached the limit of using popper for roasting coffee.

Hi all coffee roasting enthusiasts and sifus,

Would just like to introduce myself: very new to the specialty coffee scene (about two years), not doing this professionally (work in a bank).

On the coffee drinking aspect, I prefer espresso-based with milk (drowned), though also love to try out different brewing methods and tools. Cupboard now holds:
- various pour over filter holders
- French press
- Aeropress (favourite non-espresso)
- moka pot
- small copper-bottomed pot for Turkish
- various DIY contraptions to attempt cold brew

Espresso on a heavily modified Philips Saeco Poemia (depressurised, PID) . Dreaming of striking the lottery for a Bezzera Strega.

On the coffee roasting aspect, started about a year ago, popcorn popper (modified until short-circuited and almost set the house on fire), heat-gun/dog bowl (though usually just using a steel cooking pot, now using a Kaldi Wide stovetop drum roaster.

mdyyliew
My thots on your three options:

Bullet R1: if you can afford it, go for it! There's someone on the LYN coffee thread who has one.

Hottop: an old favourite. Pricy for what it delivers.

Sonofresco: if you think the other machines are bulky, this is an absolute monster! Also way out of my price range.

Quest/Huky not considered?

Wow, you have went through the various levels of roasting equipment! I'm not too much of a DIY guy so skipped the heat-gun/dog bowl idea. Thought of getting a proper machine so that I don't need to have upgraditis later.

Agree with the Bullet R1, but quite concern with the some issues they are facing now like infrared sensor haywire due to coffee oil and moisture problem with the circuit board (seemed to be resolved with applying silicone). Scared I spend a bomb to buy a white elephant at home. Who is the lucky fella with the R1?

How is your Kaldi? It does cross my radar during my search but overlook it as it does not have any software function for profiling right?
Wife doesnt like the industrial look of Huky. I might consider Quest. But still needs rigging to Artisan software compared to Hottop

Super short roasts are very common for popcorn poppers, and it seems especially so here as compared to the US. I think it has to do with our 220v compared to their 110v, which of course will result in a much hotter ET.

I have tried to put in a voltage regulator with some success due to my limited electrical circuitry knowledge; when I placed it to control the overall power, it worked. However, this way the regulator also reduced the fan speed. Too low and the beans would not churn. Too high and it would be back to too fast/inconsistent roasts.

When I tried to install the regulator to only control the heat (and a separate one to control the fan speed), the whole unit shorted out and plunged my house into darkness.

Now I'm exploring to put in a regulator for the heat gun, as a heat source for my stovetop drum roaster. This time I will keep the fire extinguisher handy........

has anyone tried sourcing a roaster from china?

I did go through the choices but somehow the slightly reputable ones like North Coffee and Bideli are still very expensive. Bideli quoted me 3300 usd for their 1 kg version and North even more expensive.
Then there are all the questionable options like the hotplate roaster.

Bro respect your DIY courage.

How is using Kaldi with our stovetop? Is it difficult to control the heat?

Heh heh...I think the roasting group are the more "hands-on, try anything" mentality.....

I don't have ant other drum roaster to compare to, but my "feeling" is that the Kaldi is an amazing home roaster, especially for the price. Compared to the DIY setups the roasts are super consistent within a batch (perhaps a given for drum roasters in general), and easy to get a decent roast. Now of course I'm trying to further improve quality and consistency between roasts, and here the very manual nature of the Kaldi shows its limitations. There is no forced airflow (which for drum roasters is a big limitation), no speed control over the drum (less of an issue) and only one analogue thermometer. Logging is by stopwatch, eyes, pen & paper.

There are a whole bunch of hacks that can be done on this machine, since it is so simple & basic eg. install an extraction fan, thermocouples hooked up to a logger, etc.

Still a loooong way to go.....

I'm roasting on the North at the moment so if you need opinions on it, let me know...
As for temp logging software, I built a custom Arduino/VB.net software for my roastery. Not as polished but way more flexibility for me to code whatever feature I feel like adding in

Hello all.

I want to intro myself as well.

Just a cheapo guy using a Whirley pop stove roaster to roast coffee.

I had started roasting coffee for the past 1 year since its much more convenience and economical.

Been looking to upgrade to a drum roaster, but my budget is bit limited at the moment.
Probably in the future, I will get something like @lowkl is using (Kaldi wide).

My method of brewing are pour over / french press / aeropress / siphon / moka pot(Bialetti Brikka).

This coffee roaster looks pretty neat as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4H3btYXdmI
http://www.feima.com.tw/index.php?route=pr...t&product_id=85

Yang Chia 100N from Taiwan. Cost about MYR 3.4k not including shipping and taxes.

Hi squallx840!

Wow! Whirley Pop! I'm sure anyone who has tried this or wok/pan roasting knows the amount of work and skill it takes to get a good roast....I know I have failed miserably with these types of roasting.

LoL. Its a hit or miss for me. I am too lazy keep a roasting notes/logs.
To get better result, I had to limit the amount of beans to about 100-120g. ( I normally roast around 200g once a week for my personal consumption).


... which is why I am surveying for an auto rotating drum roaster. But the roasters in market are way over my budget.

This post has been edited by squallx840: Jun 29 2017, 08:33 PM

I am currently using the R1 Bullet. Interesting machine. Hard to master a really good roast. So far it is a good investment for me!

Alot of control here but expensive. £1200
https://www.ikawacoffee.com/

https://www.thecoffeecompass.com/ikawa-pro-sample-roaster/

Fully understand not keeping logs. Pan, Whirly Pop, HG/DB, Popcorn ...all these require 100% visual and manual attention. No way you can control the roast and simultaneously take notes. I imagine the only way would be to video record while narrating comments, then later transcribe..... really too tedious and boring.

FYI the Kaldi Wide cost RM2K delivered. Best deal was on 11Street.my.

tribalsun

Fantastic! Please share your trials & tribulations on this gorgeous machine.

Wow. You took the plunge and went for the machine! Did you buy the pre-order version or the new version?
Did you order through their website and they sent directly to your house? Was there any additional tax?


What do you mean when you said it is hard to master a good roast? Does it have a very steep learning curve? I am considering to buy one but undecided whether it is worth the investment.

This is a glorified popcorn popper at a fancy price.

I like how you put it haha

Someday when I get back some time, I'm going to redo my popcorn popper roaster and add some software to it with PIDs

Please do, then share your comparisons between drum and fluid bed roasting methods. There's a lot of talk about the pros and cons between these but I haven't read of a side-by-side roast-off, using beans from the same batch, roasted to the same degree, then blind cupped.

I'm also itching to rig up my heat gun as the heat source for the Kaldi. That should address my current issues of insufficient heat and introduce high forced airflow. Would this make the rig a drum roaster or a fluid bed? Heh heh......

You used it before? Can share detail review to your statement?

I just didn't like the price and the quantity it can handle.

This post has been edited by patryn33: Jul 1 2017, 04:19 AM

Kaldi makes a lot of different types priced lower
http://www.home-barista.com/home-roasting/...ter-t44956.html

I bought the new version when the chaff filter changed to a better one. Ordered directly luckily was only charged gst. My friend got taxed 30% eventhough his was a smaller roaster. They deemed it as a commercial machine.

We need to learn alot of bean density and elevation and how to master a consistent colour roasting without scorching the beans and having a great aroma etc etc.

After every roast we need to clean everytime. So some people may not like it cause it is such a hassle. Haha..

Good to know you did not get an additional 30% tax on your R1. That would've hurt. Which roaster did your friend purchase? Good to know which one the Customs would consider a commercial machine.

R1 does sound like a lot of work. Do you need to open up to clean the R1 each time? That's one of the reason I am considering the Sonofresco fluid bed roaster. Seems simple enough with one moving part only which is the fan. Cleaning should be a breeze too as the coffee container can be removed and cleaned separately. Only issue is the consistency as the variables are harder to measure (airflow vs drum rotation) Not many articles on fluid bed roasters. Any body with experience on commercial fluid bed roasters?

ymeng85 sifu. Saw in the coffee lover thread that you took the path from coffee lover to roaster to opening your own cafe. Very inspired!

Wanna know how you improve your roasting skills? Through self learning or got take up SCA course as well?

Too tough to go for SCA course. Not only is it far but also expensive haha. I started this thing off as a hobby so was very careful about how much I'm spending on it

Alot of it is self learning, stalking forums and read. Also, be prepared to drink lots of bad coffee. Make sure you bring up your brewing skills along the way as well
And, really helps if you have awesome googling skills too. I find that it's more useful to search "how to highlight florals" than "how to roast better coffee"

Best place for knowledge source for me - lookup Mill City roasters on youtube. Plenty of knowledge videos. Helps that I'm using the same roaster haha

After every roast have to clean the chaff filter and also the cooling tray. I have seen our group pictures as some of the owners never clean it before and it leak some black liquid due to the chaff burnt. Haha. I bought it before raya so i think they want to cuti fast fast. So lucky me i guess.

So far i have been practicing on the ethiopian shakisso and manage to have some slight strawberry notes with tea like body which is really good as my customers tend to go to this kind of flavours.

Check out the roasting course.

https://shop.cloudcatcher.asia/collections/..._eid=74951132ad

Just curious, for home brewer, what makes you guys start roasting your own coffee beans?

For me, I was watching a documentary about Ethiopian coffee, and I saw the people there just roasted their coffee on a pan, outdoor, then I decided to try it out myself.

For me:

- the guarantee of freshly roasted coffee, available with short notice
- the cost effectiveness & flexibility, especially when compared to a coffee subscription
- the "meditation" that comes from the total & absolute concentration during the few minutes of a roast
- the geekyness of it all! Tons of technicalities, yet still has that artisan component.

Agreed with your points. I too roasted my own beans because it is more convenience.(although the quality is nowhere near compared to a proper coffee roaster)

Anybody been roasting anything interesting recently?

I had roasted the El Savador Supersonic beans from Cloud Catcher.
Turned out quite well despite my severely lacking roasting skills.(and equipment).

The beans have a "sweet" smell unlike other green beans which normally has a "grassy" smell.

Is it because of the bean's varietal or the way it is processed?

ah, yes the Supersonic is a Natural and thus comes with heavier fermentation
You get aromas close to whisky or cempedak which can be sweetish

ah, so the fermentation comes from the cherry itself which being left to dry.

I remembered trying a liberica beans which has overwhelming jack fruit notes few years ago, I guess that is probably using natural processing as well.
Too much nangka flavor, that I could not bring myself to like it. lol.

Yup, that flavor can be a love/hate thing. I'm on the side that loves it haha

I love coffee, especially the aroma, but I only drink it in the morning, because if I drink it even at lunchtime, then I won't fall asleep at night. But I still love this beverage.

Hey guys,

Is there any manual bean roaster that I can buy in local shop?

Thank you.

A dedicated coffee roaster? Don't think so, though with all the online shops you can easily have one delivered to your doorstep from many parts of the world.

ooo.... I forgot ...the last coffee expo Dankoff had a fluidbed on display. Pretty big & bulky for a small amount of beans though. I guess you can check that one too.

Non-dedicated there's always a popcorn popper, heat gun, whirley-pop, oven or even a wok.....

Looking for a simple one something like this actually,
http://www.auvelcraft.co.jp/coffee/

Hmmm.... interesting cube shape to eliminate the use of vanes/paddles. Such a design would mean the distance between the beans and the heat source keeps changing though....would that make a difference?

If this level of manual roasting is what you are looking for:

220V /110V Electric Stainless Steel Coffee Roaster Used In Gas Stove Or Electric Stove

Furthermore this unit has a motor.

Interesting design.

Looks pretty messy since the chaffs are flying around.
I guess it is meant to be used outdoor.

I would take a long consideration about the cost because you're going to get tired of it very quickly and look for upgrades
If it's cheap then sure, worse case it's still a nice deco item after you've moved on.

Otherwise, a popcorn machine will serve you better - no need manual hand turning and a separate stove

Just managed a first roast with Artisan logging on a Raspberry Pi. What an experience!

Learning points:
- touch screen - tak boleh pakai lah... with gloves (duh!)
- remote screen on phone via VNC - tak boleh pakai lah ... screen size & the need to scroll around serious usability problem
- Mastech 6514 temperature meter - connects to the Raspberry Pi via Artisan natively - Win!

Best feature:
- Phases LCDs - ability to continuously calculate expected times to reach the end of each phase is super super convenient!

Next things to do:
- really need to relocate the ET probe - temperature went up to 600C!!
- dedicated keyboard, monitor & mouse

and of course.... tweak the roast profile!

Nice! Enjoy the journey bro
Are you able to "try" the beans during roasting? Just making sure you mark yellow/end of dry correctly

Yes; the roaster comes with a tryer. However I can't seem to find a "definitive" characteristic or set of characteristics to identify when this happens. This is very different from the cracks, which can be heard.

I currently set my drying phase to end at 150c, since my FCs is around 200c on this thermocouple placement. This also corresponds with the Maillard reaction temperature, being between 140c to 165c.

Any suggestions?

Use your nose. Drying phase has a distinct fresh cut grass or hay aroma. The end of drying and start of yellow is marked by the color (of course) and the start of nutty or fresh baked bread aroma
This is why the tryer is so important - smell

For me this is ~170C where 1C is at 202C on my probe

hello,
anybody using a huky?

lowkl
thanks for the info.
the kaldi wide capacity is 300g right?
what might be the reason for adding a speed controller?
is the power or torque stated/ printed on the gearmotor?

roasted beans are getting costlier...
am considering to build a roaster to do some home roasting


This post has been edited by built: Nov 2 2017, 10:41 AM

Rated & tested capacity is 300gm. I doubt you can exceed 350g without beans spilling out of the rotating drum during a roast. On the other end I wouldn't do much less than 300gm as the thermometer/thermocouple readings would differ as contact with the beans may not be optimal.

Btw 300gm green gives you 250gm roasted, plus or minus max 6gm depending on roast level.

Reading the huge body of discussions pertaining to drum roasters, there doesn't seem to be consensus over the need to control drum rotation speed. IMHO the rotation is purely to ensure even heat and air distribution. As such I haven't bothered to mod the motor to control the speed.

I will check on the motor specs and revert.

Are you thinking of building your own?

thanks.

finding someone/ shop that is willing to do the fabrication and
testing would be the challenge. might end up with just buy a simple
one to try out first.

This post has been edited by built: Nov 2 2017, 01:07 PM

If you know the Ikawa then you know it's an elaborated pop corn popper roaster
If you're good with AutoCad/Sketchup and have acces to material and fabrication, makes more sense to hack/upgrade a popcorn roaster

I'm actually working on that but very very slow progress

was looking at poppers; there are a few good ideas on youtube.
but the 1200w thingy, power guzzler, puts me off...

zero knowledge on acad.
asked; but "too small" for fabshop.

guess i'll have to start with a drum/ cage sourced from ebay.
or just buy the cage type roaster with the ac gearmotor to start.

That's why gas roasters exists haha. For cost purposes. Also for the ability to drop/raise quickly

yeah...
stovetop is a simple and relatively cheaper option to start.

Actually, 1200w isn't too high an impact in terms of electricity. Most roasts are under 20 minutes including pre-heating, and doing back-to-back roasts means even shorter times. Furthermore, for some reason fluid-bed roasting is super super fast.... in fact, when I was doing it the big challenge was how to slow down the whole process!

It's about 57sen per KWh at the highest band TNB rate right now, so 1200w x 20 minutes(1/3 of an hour) = 0.4KWh which works out to be 22.8 sen per roast or lower.

HOWEVER....

I tried using my Kaldi Wide with a heat gun as a heat source; kind of a mix between a drum roaster and a hot-air fluid bed. My experience:

- in terms of ability to control the roast -- very good. I could easily control the heat and achieve my intended roast profile
- in terms of speed -- it could do super-fast roasts... all the way to 2C within 8 minutes!
- in terms of evenness -- very very good. All the beans were very evenly roasted

BUT.....

Yucks!! Bleahh!! I did about 6 roasts this way, and the taste for pretty much all of them was horrible! No flavour, no body. I tried short roasts, stretched out roasts similar to regular profiles, nothing worked!

So I'm back using gas....

you are correct.
i guess its phycologically when one sees 1200w...

Batch sizes on a popcorn roaster is like 60 to at most 100g without mods so that's the catch
On large batches production roasters (2kg/5g etc), the gas vs electricity gap becomes way more obvious

you are correct too.

the ideal capacity for me is 300g, about week consumption.
therefore am thinking of a 8"D x 6" L drum that will give me
some flexiblility to roast up to 600g or maybe a little bit more.

may i know the drum dimension of you roaster? thanks.

14cm diameter X 15cm length.

built and ymeng85; would you consider an infrared halogen heat source? Honestly, I'm fascinated about this and would love to test it out.

14D*15L about the size i learnt for a 300ish roaster.

still a lot to learn on roaster and roasting. i will avoid
or minimize electrical stuff for mine.

built and anyone else who is looking at stovetop drum roasters,

If the Kaldi Wide fits your bill, just to inform the best deal appears to be from Qoo10.my for RM2,549 less RM300 online coupon, bringing it to RM2,249.

Even ordering directly from GMarket is more expensive, as there is about an additional charges for delivery.

thanks for the info.
the other one that interest me is Rotate Fun, Taiwan.
they have RF200, RF300 and RF1200.
i was quoted below NT$8600, shipped, for the RF200.
that is about MYR1205. not bad eh?
can see the roaster in action on youtube.


This post has been edited by built: Nov 3 2017, 05:02 PM

Fascinating! Regretfully, much of the literature on these models is in Chinese.

Is the RF200 for 200gm or 300gm?

Please keep the forum updated on your decision, and if you get the Rotate Fun, please let us know your experience using it.

rated for 200g, but 250g max.

sure, will do.

This post has been edited by built: Nov 3 2017, 06:24 PM

Putting aside cost, any heat source will work as long as it's sufficient to bring the batch size to 200C within 6-7mins
The aggressive 6-7mins is so that if you ever need to go fast, you still can

If you're good with numbers and can do some research, there should be some math somewhere to tell how much BTU needed per 100g of coffee bean batch
Depends on the design and your device's heat transfer design

This post has been edited by ymeng85: Nov 5 2017, 10:33 AM

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09...._u=824n3bru7ac4

U may want to consider this roaster, i am currently using it... i guess its the best bang for buck roaster rated for up to 350G, but the sweetspot seems to be 200 to 250G for me, Coupled with a USB thermo probe and you can get some serious results. with total coast less den $1000 RM

Its a perforated drum, which means its very sensitive to heat control and air flow management is not needed. So far have been loving it, the build quality is really top notch.

Also take note that roasters usually operate below maxiumum capacity, for smaller home roasters the sweet spot is usually 50-70 percent of recommended capacity. Decreasing the beans increases the space surrounding the beans, resulting in better convection heat, ensuring better roasting eveness.

Seeing some videos of Rotate Fun 200, it seems the beans are being squeezed and pushed forward outside, with not much agitation like in a normal roasting drum and space between the beans, could cause problems with tricker natural process beans which need a lot of "breathing" space for even roasting.


Attached is a Guji natural process coffee i did over the weekend with my machine.


Attached thumbnail(s)

Very nice roast. No obvious issues. Well done
How is it tasting?

Thanks, gonna cup it tomorrow with some other roast i did that day, cannot wait to try.

Interestingly does natural process coffee tend to darken much quicker? Usually i aim for a development time of 20% as per Scott Roa books, however i realise this bean darken so much quicker, i had to drop it around 17% development time as it seems to be in the dark roast territory already..i am guessing it i wanted a medium to light roast i would have to drop it even much earlier, while 1st crack is still on going...

thanks.
the roaster looks like it is designed to use a portable butane stove.

was looking at many similar roaster on youtube as well.

i hope you don't mind me sending you pm if i need to ask you further.

This post has been edited by built: Nov 8 2017, 01:02 PM

Yes, the sugars on the outside layer of natural coffees will tend to do that. As long as you have your RoR controlled in that development phase, you'll be fine
I've done ~15% development time before and tastes phenomenal for espresso

Thanks for sharing.

This might be the thing that I am looking for.

I've been surveying in Taobao for a while as well, but could not get much result since I am searching using English word.

Nice , thanks for sharing! would sure like to get a new roaster to replace my current one. The whirley pop im using now is almost 4 years. Still going strong, roast around 280gms every 10 days.

Same here. Been using Whirley pop for 2 years now. Getting tired of doing the manual stirring.

Roasting on a budget with the whirley pop. 10-13 mins of hand cranking the whirley pop for weekly batch of freshly roasted beans.

Just ordered the coffee roaster from Taobao!

Total cost about almost MYR 700 including shipping and tax (since I paid using MB2u, 1.5%)

i was advised to wait until the rush cool down a little.

what do you guys think; order now or wait?

I dunno how you *can* wait! From the specs, it's a great deal (although I'm still very satisfied with the Kaldi I got which cost more than twice as much!).

Seriously, doubtful there can be a massive price change for this type of product.

One question to those already using it: how do you drop/discharge the roast when done? For the Kaldi I remove the hopper unit then tilt the entire roaster. I used to remove the heat diffusion screen but burnt myself (twice!) so now just clear out the ash along with the chaff.

Congrats and have fun!, remember to wash it before using for the first time as instructed by the seller..

not about the price.
wait till the warehouse and shipping activities ease up from yesterday big sales at Taobao.

from the picture, i guess... remove the hood, lift the entire drum and pour the roasted coffee out.

This post has been edited by built: Nov 13 2017, 01:58 PM

Yes to discharge the roast, wear oven gloves and remove the whole drum and pour the beans out... Takes less than ten seconds for the whole procedure.

Used to tilt the entire unit, but its slower and cumbersome/dangerous, especially when its hot, not a good idea.

Please be mindful of the smoke discharge especially in larger batches. Health first

Small non-commercial units like these doesn't have venting for the cooling tray to take the smoke away from the room so when you dump, a huge amount is released into the surrounding.
Wear mask please and keep the area ventilated if you're roasting inside

On the other hand, roasting outdoors is mighty uncomfortable (sweat, lots of sweating haha) and not to mention, you are getting challenged with difference ambient temp each time so you have to surf the charge temp for each time.

I've given up roasting indoors; even with the cooking ventilator at full blast the house still smells of smoke for hours, and the chaff gets everywhere (as I used to cool by pouring the beans from colander to colander in front of a fan).

Roasting outdoors can get very warm, but I got an exhaust fan hooked up for cooling the beans so when it's not cooling beans it's blowing on me.

Speaking of which, while the fan cools the beans down in less than 3 minutes flat, the chaff it kicks up into the air covers me & makes for a most unpleasant experience. Anyone has a home-baked cooling/chaff removal solution to share?

I was using the kitchen cooker hood too and the smoke was really bad even with extremely strong fans and ventilation. I am guessing your cooker hood is similar to mine whereby the smoke is filtered thru the cooker hood and the "clean" air is expelled back into the kitchen, which honestly to me is really pointless.

Starting out i was getting really shortness of breath lasting a few days after roasting. It was only after i bought a ventilator fan connected to air ducts positioned near the roaster which really improved things.. Using a series of air ducts i am able to suck the smoke directly out and push away out thru the windows..

For cooling, i am using a vaccum cleaner connected to a plastic pail, with metal colander, on top the vacuum is strong enough to pull cool air thru the beans, while the chaff is collected into the vacuum cleaner. Cools within minutes too..

Yeah, I saw the notice by Taoabao about the delivery might be delayed or something.
Anyway it is cheaper by Yuan 80 (about MYR 50 I think?) since I bought it on Single day.

Thanks bro! will do.

saw on youtube that they "season" the new roaster.

I thought seasoning a roaster was to roast a batch until totally hangus, to understand its "behaviour"/characteristics, eg. RoR based on different heat/airflow settings, 1C/2C temperatures.

It's green bean restocking time! Anyone want to join to do a group buy?

NAME PROCESS
Brazil Cerrado Dulce 17/18 FC Natural
Brazil Extra Fine 17/18 Natural
Brazil Pulped Nat. Fazenda Pedra Redonda Pulped Natural
Brazil Sul de Minas, ICATU Natural
Brazil Sul de Minas, OBATA Natural
Brazil Yellow Bourbon Pulped Natural
Brazil Yellow Catuai Pulped Natural
Costa Rica Tarrazu San Rafael SHB Washed
Cuba Altura Lavado Washed
El Salvador Finca Santa Adelaida Washed
Ethiopia Djimmah Jasmine Washed
Ethiopia Sidamo Guji G2 Washed
Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe Gr. 1 Kochere Washed
Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe Gr. 2 Washed
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gr. 1 Nat. Gedeb Natural
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gr. 1 Nat. Kochere Natural
Guatemala Antigua Los Volcanes Washed
Guatemala Atitlán Santiago Washed
Guatemala Coban Washed
Guatemala Fancy Agua Tibia Estate Washed
Guatemala Fancy Huehuetenango Washed
Guatemala Finca El Retiro Washed
Guatemala Finca Joya Grande Washed
Guatemala Huehuetenango Finca Victoria Champila Washed
Guatemala Huehuetenango Finca Victoria Champila (Maragogype) Washed
Honduras San Jose Washed
Indonesia Kintamani Honey Honey
Indonesia Robusta Fine Natural
Indonesia Toraja Kalosi Washed Washed
Kenya AA Top Washed
Mexico Chiapas High Land Washed
Mexico SHG ORGANIC/FAIRTRADE Washed
Nepal Mount Everest Washed
Nicaragua Finca Los Granadillos Washed
Nicaragua Finca Un Regalo de Dios (Yellow Catuai) Honey (Black)
Nicaragua Maragogype Nueva Segovias Washed
Nicaragua Pacamara - La Bendición Washed
Puerto Rico 360 Reserva Washed
Santo Domingo Barahona Washed
Uganda Arabica Bukonzo Cooperative (Fairtrade & Organic) Washed
Uganda washed Robusta Washed


CONDITIONS:
- 3Kg minimum (can get a deeper discount if 20Kg or more)
- need at least 2 pax (including myself) to make it worth it
- If you are in the Klang Valley area, I don't mind dropping it off. Outside Klang Valley, have to cater for delivery (either courier or you arrange for a pickup)


PM me for details.

Good timing.

Count me in!

Will PM you later once I am back home later tonight.

they do a few batches of cheap beans to understand the roaster and also to
get rid of the residual mineral oil on the steel plates by replacing with coffee
oil. this process is most critical especially for carbon steel drum.

cool...
pm you already.