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Home coffee roasting

#181
DigMe said:
I have seen one but only because I have a Behmor. :D

It's really small. Be sure you get the one with slightly smaller grid holes or you'll get a lot of beans falling through (especially certain Ethiopians and peaberry). I bought my behmor when it first came out and it had the larger grid. Then I bought the smaller grid when that came out and it was much better.

I wonder how it would hold up in grill usage especially with the long arms you'd have to put on each side of it to make it reach to the edges of a grill.

How about this: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

brad
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The Bohmer has a 1lb capacity, does it not? The one you link looks like a good one too.

lowsound
 
#184
^ The reason being that you will have to add some long extension arms to the Behmor canister and it's not a real beefy canister. I don't personally see a real practical way to do that and have a stable product but I'm sure I haven't thought of everything.

brad
 
#185
iamlowsound said:
Big problem in a BBQ set up is getting it off heat fast into your cooling contraption. How is the door on the Bohmer for getting open easily?

lowsound
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The door opens easily and quickly enough though with this setup you wouldn't need to be grabbing it out of the grill and immediately opening it.. you could just turn off the grill, open the lid and let it keep spinning. That's basically how the Behmor cooling cycle works.


brad
 
#186
This BBQ roaster project is going to be a learning process and I figure will take some time to get it all fine tuned, with a few pounds wasted along the way. Who knows, if it gets to be too much work, we may scrap the idea altogether. It will be a fun way to hang out with my coffee geek friends though while we work on it. No doubt many shots will be shared during the process, which I am totally fine with.

-Mike
 
#187
DigMe said:
The door opens easily and quickly enough though with this setup you wouldn't need to be grabbing it out of the grill and immediately opening it.. you could just turn off the grill, open the lid and let it keep spinning. That's basically how the Behmor cooling cycle works.


brad
Click to expand...


Never thought of cooling in that manner. I'll have to see how well it works. What RPM does the Bohmer run at?

Mike:
It shouldn't be too hard to get a decent roast as long at you have a good thermometer that is accurate. I envision some not so great, but still drinkable roasts before it is all dialled in. I don't expect I'll have to toss any away.

lowsound
 
#188
iamlowsound said:
Never thought of cooling in that manner. I'll have to see how well it works. What RPM does the Bohmer run at?

Mike:
It shouldn't be too hard to get a decent roast as long at you have a good thermometer that is accurate. I envision some not so great, but still drinkable roasts before it is all dialled in. I don't expect I'll have to toss any away.
Click to expand...

I believe the RPM is somewhere between 10-15. This cooling with this method will work just fine, I guaranty it. When I first got the roaster I was worried that the cooling would be too slow but actually I think a slightly slower cooling cycle affects the flavor positively once you know when to cut off the heat so you don't overshoot it. Once you get the grill lid up and the heat off this will be very effective.

If it were me I'd be expecting to toss some batches. I've experimented with so many different roasting methods and the more freeform it is the more likely you are to need some throwaways to get it dialed in. Grill is pretty free form. One of the things is you have to figure out the temps for your particular setup and it can vary widely depending on where the probe is. This has been my experience from roasting in an SC/CO, an air popper and a manual crank popcorn popper over a hot plate. Once you figure out the temps and how they behave in your machine though it should be no problem. I would budget for probably 10lbs of training beans if it were me though. It's a minimal cost in the long run.

brad
 
#189
I agree Brad. We're expecting some "eh, not so much" results as we get everything dialed in. One of the people helping is working on a Excel spreadsheet to document all the variables so we can record the results we get in case we want to go back to something and tweak it. It's turning into quite the operation, which honestly is taking some of the fun out of it for me. I see this becoming more work than fun, which will ruin it for me. But hey, if I want to roast and sell beans, this is where I have to go.

-Mike
 
#190
Yeah, Mike.. that's def. not how I would probably do it.. I do use temp probes but overall I'm more of a "feel" guy when roasting but the spreadsheets are the way to go if you want to create and sell a consistent product.

brad
 
#191
We've been roasting by 'feel' as well so far. I much prefer that method throughout the entire process, even down to making the drinks. I see myself dropping out of this project at some point, but I'll at least help them get it up and running. It was me and one other guy at the beginning, but he brought in two more people who want to be involved, and they are taking it to the next level.

-Mike
 
#192
I can honestly see myself taking it to the next level quickly. I love spreadsheets and tracking stuff. I have a few people on the lookout for a BBQ being given away so I can have a dedicated one and I can insulate it for better heat retention and distribution.

I see myself selling to friends and family, but nothing beyond that. Although my inlaw's neighbour owns a coffee shop, but their coffee sucks and it is the best in town. They have no idea what they are doing. $7000 espresso machine and a Super Jolly and couldn't produce a decent shot to save their lives. I don't think I would want my name near that.

lowsound
 
#195
iamlowsound said:
$7000 espresso machine and a Super Jolly and couldn't produce a decent shot to save their lives. I don't think I would want my name near that.

lowsound
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Wow.. sounds like a little education would go a long way. Unfortunately the owners and managers of these types of places often don't have the humility and experience to accept that their product is inferior and that they could learn how to make it better.

brad
 
#196
iamlowsound said:
They have no idea what they are doing. $7000 espresso machine and a Super Jolly and couldn't produce a decent shot to save their lives. I don't think I would want my name near that.
Click to expand...

When I traveled for work, I saw lots and lots of this. I often met the same resistance Brad mentions when I offered some ideas up.

It's unfortunate since making good coffee really isn't that difficult in my opinion. But maybe folks like us see it differently. For me, it starts with a passion for the product. Maybe some of these owners/employees are more concerned with the $$.

-Mike
 
#197
We had one place here for a while (that didn't last long) where the lady was grinding for espresso in a magic bullet!! Thankfully we now have this place that is getting all of this national attention and it has actually caused another popular local coffee house to step up their game as well.

In another case a friend's daughter was opening a coffee house in a nearby town and she brought me some coffee beans and asked my opinion of them. This was their number one choice. I did a tasting with it and the profile and roast was very much like Starbucks house blend. I suggested that they might differentiate themselves from starbucks by offering quality lighter-roasted coffees and focusing on flavor instead of competing with them with a very similar product. They didn't listen either. They're also out of business. Quality coffee is the way to go these days with a much more educated public IMO. Otherwise people are just coming for the ambiance and ambiance is pretty cheap and easy to find.

brad
 
#198
DigMe said:
Wow.. sounds like a little education would go a long way. Unfortunately the owners and managers of these types of places often don't have the humility and experience to accept that their product is inferior and that they could learn how to make it better.

brad
Click to expand...


I am in a small town and they are the only place to offer espresso based drinks, so they are still in business. Their bread and butter is that they are a chocolate shop that makes their own. Still wish I could go in and place with their espresso equipment.

lowsound
 
#199
When we lived in New Hampshire, it was over an hour to a decent coffee shop. The first year we lived there, we had one 20 minutes away, but the owners sold the place and the new owners turned it into a bar/restaurant. They still had the espresso machine, a very nice one, but it was seldom used. I was afraid to ask for an espresso drink as no one appeared qualified to prepare a good drink. That, and it sat at the end of the bar next to some beer taps. It screamed (to me anyway) 'we don't care about this machine, but it looks too expensive to throw away'.

-Mike
 
#200
MJ5150 said:
When we lived in New Hampshire, it was over an hour to a decent coffee shop. The first year we lived there, we had one 20 minutes away, but the owners sold the place and the new owners turned it into a bar/restaurant. They still had the espresso machine, a very nice one, but it was seldom used. I was afraid to ask for an espresso drink as no one appeared qualified to prepare a good drink. That, and it sat at the end of the bar next to some beer taps. It screamed (to me anyway) 'we don't care about this machine, but it looks too expensive to throw away'.

-Mike
Click to expand...


You should have made them an offer on it! I know I would. I always keep my eye out for coffee equipment from shops closing down. You can find killer deals, I just haven't found the right one yet.

An update on my Yergecheffe, I took the last roast fully into second crack until there was a little oil on the beans. Makes a very tasty dark roast. Wife isn't a huge fan of it, but I enjoy it. Eight days old and still getting better. This is the longest I have had any around.

lowsound
 

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