Posted Fri Jan 11, 2013, 4:07pm Subject: Christmas Gift
For those of you who have been looking at my Z&D posts for the past ten years this will come as a shock. As you may have figured out I loves my highly hacked Z&D but was not at all fond of the Nesco company.
A few months ago after my last roast heater blew I attempted to build a mica-less roast heater. It managed to soften plastic parts while failing to deliver sufficient heat to the roast chamber. I guess I should have taken more fluid mechanics classes but us electricals only had to take the first one. The plan was to use some of the old mica as a pattern and make new heaters but I was so bummed the machine just sat and I learned to roast in a pan on the stove. I have a good range hood. I was going to get back to the Z&D but my wife took pity on me got me a Hottop KN-8828B-2K for Christmas.
I am learning this machine and am getting where I can do some good roasts with it. So far I have refrained from hacking it and I will leave it be until the warranty is over.
I like this machine a lot but I do have critiques:
The cooling could be faster. My poppery 1 with heater disconnected would get the 5 oz from the Z&D cooler than the Hottop get the 8 oz in five minutes.
More power I had about 700 watts at my disposal in the Z&D and the Hottop has about 700 Watts for a much more massive machine.
Bean temperature probe. I had a bean temperature probe in my Z &D. This Hottop has the K type probe. The book shows the profile displayed vs. that for a probe in the bean mass. If they know how to put a probe in the bean mass why don't they just do it?
They make you wait a long time after a roast for the machine cools before you can roast again. With the Z&D I regarded the first roast the preheat for the second roast. Of coarse my roast heaters were consumables.
After the warranty I want more heater power, a bean temp probe, and a more powerful cooling fan.
Question for observant Hottop owners with a good memory. There is a painted warning on each side of the machine. The one in front (display side) is red. The one in back is brownish. Did they start out the same color?
germantownrob Senior Member Joined: 2 Dec 2007 Posts: 2,017 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Duetto 3, A Dead Oscar Grinder: Vario-W, Preciso w/Esatto,... Drip: Brazen Roaster: Diedrich IR-1, HT B
Posted Fri Jan 11, 2013, 4:42pm Subject: Re: Christmas Gift
Great gift from the wife!
I always preheated my HT past the beep since a first roast was never the same as consecutive roasts. The older temp probe was not even close to reliable so adding a BMP was a pretty quick mod, I never gave the warenty much thought, but the new probe seems far more reliable.
Doing back to back roasts was normal for me. After the first roast is done and the beans have dumped I would remove the front cover plate, pull the filter, and blow a fan into the chamber (after vacuuming up the chaff first). I believe the roaster was ready to roast again at 166f but I would usually bring it down lower before pre heating to 300ish for the next roast. I could get almost 3 roasts an hour doing this. The quicker of the roast chamber and the fan helped the beans cool quicker.
I will look around HB for the post, don't hold your breath lol, for the member that put a 900w heater in it. I personally had plenty of power and control to do 225g roasts in under 16min, often I did 300g roasts in under 18 min but needed full power for most of the roast
Bitches_Brew Senior Member Joined: 4 Feb 2009 Posts: 764 Location: indiana Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: yes Grinder: yes Vac Pot: no Drip: no Roaster: yes
Posted Fri Jan 11, 2013, 9:20pm Subject: Re: Christmas Gift
congrats on the new roaster phil! it's "the gift that keeps on giving" ;)
"You can write down how to make the perfect cup of coffee. But to make it really good, you have to play something fictional, you have to dress up, you have to think, This is the most important thing."
JGG Senior Member Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 1,343 Location: Kentucky, US Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: PID Silvia; PID Alexia Grinder: Mazzer Mini E (A), SJ; Rocky... Roaster: Hottop D w/PID; Thermometric...
Posted Fri Jan 11, 2013, 9:30pm Subject: Re: Christmas Gift
I can't imagine that a BT probe through the bean chute cover would create any warranty issues. Not as elegant as through the rear wall, but mine continues to do the job nicely.
Posted Sat Jan 12, 2013, 2:35am Subject: Re: Christmas Gift
Nice gift! I've been roasting on a HT B-2K for over a year now and love it. I have added extra probes for BT/ET through the back wall. As Rob said I preheat much hotter than the HT calls for usually around 300-350f. I think the HT has plenty of power I can hit first crack in 9-10 minutes easily. Enjoy your gift it is a great roaster.
My expensive purchases are coming to an end very soon with both my kids starting private schools in the next two years. I think my wife finds it easier to just say get it then to listen to a year of research, comparisons, pros and cons, etc, lol.
Posted Sun Jan 13, 2013, 7:09am Subject: Re: Christmas Gift
There is a thread on the sweet Maria's forum with user experience and advice on the Hottop. It's been helpful for many new users as it does not take into account any added temp probes.
I have probes in mine, but roasted for a few months without them too. Honestly, the coffee doesn't come out tasting any better, but I have more room to adjust and change the roast. When I say that the coffee is not necessarily better, that's because it has always been great... Aside from one roast of a Kenyan bean that went way too fast. A sour mess. Yuck.
Also, I spoke to Michael at Hottop right after getting bean probes installed and he didn't bat an eyelash at my question about the warranty being compromised. He had just helped me with a control panel/bean probe malfunction. He personally knows the guy that did the work on my machine so that might be part of it, but you coul definitely do a bean probe through the chute without issue.
Posted Sun Jan 13, 2013, 10:51am Subject: Re: Christmas Gift
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the linc. I'll do that temp probe mod. I'll probably get a new cover to drill on so I'll have an unmodified machine should any warranty issues arise.
Phil
germantownrob Said:
My expensive purchases are coming to an end very soon with both my kids starting private schools in the next two years. I think my wife finds it easier to just say get it then to listen to a year of research, comparisons, pros and cons, etc, lol.
germantownrob Senior Member Joined: 2 Dec 2007 Posts: 2,017 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Duetto 3, A Dead Oscar Grinder: Vario-W, Preciso w/Esatto,... Drip: Brazen Roaster: Diedrich IR-1, HT B
Posted Sun Jan 13, 2013, 11:23am Subject: Re: Christmas Gift
PJK Said:
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the linc. I'll do that temp probe mod. I'll probably get a new cover to drill on so I'll have an unmodified machine should any warranty issues arise.
I believe the replacement chute covers are only $10.
I did find more info on the 900w element, it was something JohnB was able to get from Michael from some testing on the 1lb model. They are not available. One of John's mods that allows for the extra power was he added bigger agitation fins to the drum. Page 3 of this thread is some of the discussion. Click Here (www.home-barista.com)
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.
![PJK: MVC-487S.JPG](javascript:ImagePopup("/images/59991/MVC-487S.JPG", 640, 480, "PJK: MVC-487S.JPG");)
= No New Posts since last visit 