Are there any other home-roasters in the community? I live in an area where the commercially available coffee tends to be pre-ground and stale. Over the years, I’ve started roasting my own coffee. Feel free to chime in to this post if you do the same or if you’re curious about it and we can compare notes on technique!

  • mo_@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been home roasting off and on for 11 years and love it! I also source my beans from happy mug and primarily use a behmor 1600 (old version), but I’ve played with an old popcorn popper too.

    It’s been a great hobby (and a good excuse to clean up the garage in the early stages of the roast lol). Someday I would love to get something with a larger capacity and a separate cooling tray, but prices seem to jump pretty fast.

    • Bob SmithOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      I started out with a popcorn popper! I recommend those to friends who want to try something smaller at first. They’re also great for people who don’t want to stink up their kitchen. I considered getting a Behmor a few years ago. After having used it for a while, what are some of the pros and cons?

      • mo_@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        1 year ago

        Popcorn poppers are definitely a great option for getting started! The batch size is the only downer. As for the Behmor:

        Pros

        • Large capacity: Well, relative to others of a similar price point. You can do up to 1lb, but I typically do 0.9 or a little less to make sure I can take the roast a bit darker.
        • Ease of use: It is really straightforward to use. After doing a handful of roasts I felt confident I was going to get a decent output.
        • Durability: I might just be lucky, but my Behmor is still in tip top shape after 11 years. You do have to stay on top of cleaning, but it’s just a quick spray of simple green with a microfiber cloth and running it through an empty roast.
        • Smoke suppression: While not entirely smoke free, the Behmor dramatically reduces smoke output.

        Cons

        • Lack of control: Tied to the ease of use, there isn’t much fine tuning to be done. I believe this has been significantly changed in the newer model - which allows fine tuning and tweaking on heat, etc., in addition to the roast profiles.
        • Cooling: It can take a bit longer than I would like to cool the beans. They cool in the roasting chamber as opposed to a tray. I end up opening the door when I go into cooling, which helps a ton but negates the smoke suppression system.
        • Roast Time: The roast time runs longer on this than most, around 17-18 minutes for a pound. I’ve worked around this a bit by roasting a little under the setting amount.

        Overall I love it and have been really happy with my coffee. The new Behmors look really slick too.

        • Bob SmithOP
          1·
          1 year ago

          Thank you for the detailed reply! This is the kind of perspective that you never get from the company website.