[creative nickname] wrote:I was talking about an electric, hot-air popcorn popper. You could set it up in your garage, and put a bowl in front of it to catch the chaff. This is how a lot of folks try out home roasting; it does small batches quite quickly (usually in less than ten minutes), and there are no cranks to turn. I used this one.

The small batches are nice because, at first, you will ruin a fair amount of the coffee you try to roast. Losing a 60g batch hurts a lot less than losing a pound!

Ahh ok I see what you are saying now. I thought you were referring to one of those Whirly poppers with the hand crank. I watched the video with these air poppers on Sweet Maria's. Hmm, this really gives me something to think about. Might be a great way to jump in cheap and then progress from there.

Is there anything y'all can point me to regarding adding a dimmer and thermometer...a video, a thread or a how to? I'm not Mr Handyman but I think I could handle doing these type of modifications. I did the DIY approach on a lot of my homebrew gear so I think I could handle this.

I relied heavily on some of the threads on Homeroasters.org when I did my popcorn popper mods. The specific mods you want to make will depend on the model you buy, so I'll hold off on recommending particular references until you've made that choice.

I started out with a Caffé Rosto, which is a dedicated air popper. I moved from there to a Gene Café (which I still have and use). For the last two years I have been mostly using a Behmor. My advice to you is to start with the Behmor. It is reasonably priced, easy to use, has a generous batch size, and yields good to excellent results IMO. (I know many people go down to the Goodwill store and seek out various used kitchen appliances to turn into coffee roasters - Jiffy Poppers, Stir Crazies, bread roasters, heat guns, etc. If that kind of tinkering appeals to you - go for it. If you just want to roast coffee.....)

Thanks guys! While I don't mind tinkering with something if I have to, it doesn't really appeal to me with a popcorn popper.

I think you've helped me make a decision...thank you!

Jeff