Roasting Coffee

Roasting Coffee was Originally Posted on September 26, 2013 by lavarock

Some of you are coffee lovers and I wanted to pass along a way to save a bit of money. Granted, you have to LOVE coffee.

I normally take green coffee beans into town to have them roasted in the big machine, but I end up with 18 pounds of roasted coffee at a time. When I need to do a test roast or roast a small batch, I needed a better solution.

Some home roasters use a hot top (popcorn popper), some use the oven and some even a fry pan. That is fine if you want to play, but if you are a serious coffee fanatic, you need something a bit more dependable and consistent. I ended up searching the internet and review sites and found a small home roaster.

For under $300, I bought a Behmor 1600 roaster back in October 2008. Here is my review after 5 years. The system works the same as when I first bought it. Unlike a regular home roaster, I roast for a few customers and neighbors. You would be amazed what you can barter with freshly roasted coffee

In the 5 years I have roasted over 380 batches of coffee with this machine.

The unit looks like a small toaster over with a cage inside to rotate the beans. It uses halogen bulbs to roast and is pretty smoke free so I can set it on top of a counter or the stove in the kitchen. It plugs in 120 volt service. For “island” coffees, I can get a medium roast of about 13 ounces of roasted. To get a darker roast I need to reduce the amount of green coffee in the unit so that the beans get a bit hotter. There is a countdown timer and cooling cycle.

The unit is well built and the only maintenance I do is a periodic clean burn (empty unit) to remove any moisture and oil. Twice I have opened it up and cleaned the electronics card. Occasionally I do the suggested inside cleaning with Simple Green and wipe it clean and then wipe it with clean paper towels.

If you drink lots of coffee, you might consider finding a company or local supplier who will sell you green beans and roast them yourself. The savings can be good compared to paying someone else to roast for you. You also can adjust roast level to your own taste.

Anyway, just wanted to say how much I enjoy my own little unit.