acoustiks Senior Member Joined: 30 Jan 2004 Posts: 8 Location: Pennsylvania Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: no Grinder: Solis Vac Pot: no Drip: Braun Roaster: I Roast
Posted Sat Mar 19, 2005, 7:40am Subject: which should I buy?
Hello, pretty new to posting here. Anyways, It seems a friend of mine can get me green beans. He just gave me 5 lbs of Peruvian green beans last night. I don't have a roaster yet. I have been looking at the I-Roast and Alpenrost. Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
cjpeltz Senior Member Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 67 Location: Windsor, CO Expertise: I live coffee
Grinder: Solis Maestro Plus Drip: Presto Scandanavian Roaster: FR8, SC/CO, RK Drum
Posted Sat Mar 19, 2005, 1:48pm Subject: Re: which should I buy?
If you're new to roasting, I'd suggest the Fresh Roast. It's fairly inexpensive, and has a simple control to determine how long to roast the bean, with a cool cycle. The batch size of the FR is pretty small, but it kind of depends on who you are roasting for - if just for you, then this is a perfect size as you don't want to roast too large of a batch and have it sit around for more than a few days.
I've had the FR for about 3 months ago, with very little problems. Some beans don't produce even roast, but overall, I've liked the fact that I can roast a small batch in as little as 3-4 minutes.
Haven't tried the i-Roast, but I was looking into buying one. Bigger capacity and it offers roasting profiles. Only major complaint I've heard is the noise (my FR is very quiet).
Re: the AlpenRoast, also don't own this, but from other news postings, most folks haven't recommended it for newbies as you can't see the beans. And, for someone just starting out, you'll find it important to watch both bean color, smell, as well as listening for 1st/2nd crack.
Hope that's helpfu.
Jameva's Coffee (www.jamevas.com) "Connecting the World Through Coffee"
schrodingers_cup Senior Member Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 79 Location: minneapolis Expertise: Pro Barista
Espresso: Brewtus Grinder: mazzer mini Vac Pot: Santos Drip: melitta cone Roaster: hot top
Posted Sat Mar 19, 2005, 3:05pm Subject: Re: which should I buy?
hey, kinda new to raosting and dove right in with my first purchase which was a beautiful new hot top. I have two mad coffee drinking room mates and knew the capacities on the others just would not do. I am only 4 roasts in with it but man is it brain dead simple to make a decent roast. If you have the cash and know that its something you wanna do for awhile I'd put some thought into this model.
Posted Sat Mar 19, 2005, 5:46pm Subject: Re: which should I buy?
If budget is at all an issue, consider a hot air popper. It's a great way to learn and can be customized just as easily as a FR or Caffe Rosto.
If you want to do larger batches, you could spend the bucks on a Hot Top or try a stovetop popcorn popper or a heat gun. I used a Back-To-Basics popper on the side burner of my gas grill. With that I was able to do 1/2 pound (1 1/2 cups) batches easily. I now use a heat gun and can do 1 pound batches pretty easily. The heat gun method is a bit more hands on and perhaps not the ideal way to learn but ultimately an effective and satisfying way to go.
I learned by starting with a FreshRoast Plus. I eventually added a thermometer and a variac to achieve control over my profile. After a while, I got frustrated with the small batch sizes. I like the stovetop popper but I wore mine out pretty quickly. I've been using the same heat gun for close to a year and a half now. I don't know if it really matters how you start. Once you learn how to roast coffee, you can adapt that knowledge to other roasting methods.
Posted Sat Mar 19, 2005, 7:36pm Subject: Re: which should I buy?
I learned on a Toastermaster from Target, $15. You mightget lucky and find a used popper in a thrift store for <$5. Max capacity was 3 oz. I also spent over $30 hot rodding the popper to split wire it. Just realize that a freshroast is just a popper with a time and chaff collector.
Then I got a cheap $20 Milwalkie heat gun from and a $1 stainless steel dogbowl from Walmart (as a gift). I was able to easily for 1/2# and well up to 1#. Just had to stir alot and hold the gun close and actually use the gun to stir if I needed to get the temp up quicker. One of your friends may even have a heat gun sitting in his garage you can borrow to just try out.
I'm now currently using a supentown oven and stir crazy, $85 total new. I typcally roast 1/2# to 1# at a time. The max I ever roasted was almost 2#. You need a riser for the larger batches.
Knowing what I know now, in my opinion in terms of a ratio of equipment price/capacity/ease, the SCTO is the way to go.
My advice would be to try the cheapest means to just get started and learning (popper or borrowed heat gun). Then get the SCTO if homeroasting tickles your fancy.
acoustiks Senior Member Joined: 30 Jan 2004 Posts: 8 Location: Pennsylvania Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: no Grinder: Solis Vac Pot: no Drip: Braun Roaster: I Roast
Posted Sun Mar 20, 2005, 10:09am Subject: Re: which should I buy?
thanks for all the suggestions,everyone. I just may give the heat gun thing a shot as I own one anyway. But I'll more thatn likely end up buying one of the roasters you all suggested. Thanks again.
Posted Sun Mar 20, 2005, 8:30pm Subject: Re: which should I buy?
For your first try, it is a great learning experience to "sacrafice" your beans by roasting them to a crisp so you can see the full spectrum of roasting. You could still try brewing up your sacraficial roast just for fun before tossing them out.
For 1/2# with a heat gun it should take <16 min to do this. This is an outdoor activity since there will be alot of smoke.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 