Hi all;

I am new to roasting; I have been roasting coffee in a PopLite popcorn popper for one year only, I usually roast for my espresso.
I enjoy a variety of beans (still exploring) and roast weekly (half a pound only)
I am trying to find a better solution because all the research I did suggests that the air popper roasts too fast and that is not good... I used a 50 ft power cord extension and yet the roasting process is really fast ( maybe 4 minutes to reach FC+).

I spent sometime reading around this forum and many others and got overwhelmed with the amount of information and wisdom I found...

I see all these complicated and expensive roasters and I am wondering about the difference in the cup that they can bring to the table.
for example: what is the real advantage of profiling over roasting traditionally using steady heat source? is there a noticeable difference in the cup?

Any roaster suggestion based on:
1. I am looking to roast 250 or 300 grams at a time (once a week);
2. I really want something that produces good coffee -- I can learn
3. not looking to spend a ton of money.
4. I want something convenient and easy to use.


Thanks;

Id say start with a Hottop..
I started with a Popper then Behmor> Hottop and now a North 1KG Gas roaster..
If you really like roasting get a Huky gas roaster is my opinion...

Heat Gun/ Bread Machine?

what is your budget? It is hard to give suggestions because not wanting to spend a lot of money is quite different for all of us. A grand isn't a lot of money when it comes to roasters but if you want a used Quest that is where you are starting before you get the add-ons. The info on this site is there if you're willing to do it. Some names to look into from $500 on up in no particular order...

Kaldi Wide
Huky
Quest

ajarmeh104 wrote:Hi all;

I am new to roasting; I have been roasting coffee in a PopLite popcorn popper for one year only, I usually roast for my espresso.
I enjoy a variety of beans (still exploring) and roast weekly (half a pound only)
I am trying to find a better solution because all the research I did suggests that the air popper roasts too fast and that is not good... I used a 50 ft power cord extension and yet the roasting process is really fast ( maybe 4 minutes to reach FC+).

I spent sometime reading around this forum and many others and got overwhelmed with the amount of information and wisdom I found...

I see all these complicated and expensive roasters and I am wondering about the difference in the cup that they can bring to the table.
for example: what is the real advantage of profiling over roasting traditionally using steady heat source? is there a noticeable difference in the cup?

Any roaster suggestion based on:
1. I am looking to roast 250 or 300 grams at a time (once a week);
2. I really want something that produces good coffee -- I can learn
3. not looking to spend a ton of money.
4. I want something convenient and easy to use.


Thanks;

I would say hottop. I started on a air crazy popcorn popper and went to a hottop b2k. The new version has adopted some of the mods owners of the previous versions have done them selfs. The big one is the BT and ET probes with a USB connection. This is vital to learning and repeating roasts. It has become a plug and play roaster. The hottop though does not support 300g batch. To have good control a batch should be around 210 g to 225g. Some even say lower. When I roast at 225g I am riding the heat at 100℅ most the roast. I typically go in with 215g so I can vary the heat with out losing momentum.

Other than that take a look at the Quest. I think it is similar batch size but no stock probes. It is pretty comparable to the hottop. Then you have Huky which is a slightly different animal but a highly praised roaster. I can't speak too much on these two since I never used em.

Without a budget, or a sense of priorities among the different factors you listed, it will be hard to get clear advice. Of the suggestions made so far, both the Hottop and the HG/BM have ergonomic challenges, so you would be giving up some of that "convenience and ease of use" in exchange for the low price. Of the two, the HG/BM will be able to do larger batches (300g was pretty standard in mine). But you usually have to build one yourself, and for some people that is more trouble than it is worth.

So what are your priorities? And how much are you willing to spend to achieve them?

I agree with Mark above, define your priorities, budget, and how far you want to get into roasting.

With that out of the way,
I started on a popper, just to see if I could turn green beans brown and they would taste like coffee. Shortly after I found I could do this and enjoyed it, I moved to the Hottop for about 2 years. After that I felt I needed more manual control, without doing all the DIY mods to the Hottop, so I moved into the Quest M3. I enjoyed the Quest very much and turned out some nice roasts on it. I added the BT and MET probes/fittings from HB member 'erics' and had Artisan logging all my roasts on the Quest. Then earlier this year I decided to dive waaayy into this and upgraded to a US Roaster Corp Sample Roaster.

I've enjoyed the journey and the learning along the way. As you can see there is a very wide range of options available out there, you just need to answer the opening sentence.

Thank you all for the great advises.
some more info:
trying to stay around $1000 (can up it a little if necessary)
not a handy man; so DIY is not easy for me.
not planning to become a professional; I just want to enjoy TASTY fresh coffee
I can live with 225 grams roasts

how about the Gene Cafe ? or even the Behmor 1600 ?
what would the Quest M3 or Hottop add to the taste in the cup?

also, I read that the Quest M3 is not designed for single roasts; it needs to be heated up and then used several times in a row...

I cannot offer much opinion on the Gene Cafe or Behmor 1600, beyond that I have read many here on HB who use them with success.

On the Hottop stock configuration it is designed as a 'single' batch roaster. I say this due to the safety built into the controls that requires a cool down before the heaters can be turned back on. There is of course a DIY modification which can remove that behavior. In the cup the roasts from my Hottop were good, but were longer in roast time and a little flat in comparison to what I have done after the Hottop. This is not to say that the Hottop could only produce 'flat' longer roasts, just my experience and probably more related to user side of the equation.

With the stock build Quest it is a continuous batch roaster without the above mentioned cool down safety. The Quest allows multiple back to back roasts without any forced cool down in-between, my best was 6 batches in <2.5 hrs. This does not mean that the Quest must only be used with multiple batches, it was perfectly happy punching out a single batch. With my Quest I mostly would roast two different beans or two different roast profiles (espresso and drip) of the same bean weekly. In the cup I felt my roasts on the Quest were more flexible in taste. I could roast faster and get a brighter coffee, or take it longer and hotter to reduce acidity and bring up the chocolates and roast tones.
To add to that, most drum style roasters will become more stable and predictable after they are thoroughly heated up. This heat up can be accomplished via multiple batches or a longer preheat cycle before the first batch. Normally I ran a little shorter on the preheat, then two 150g batches. First one to a lighter roast profile, then a second batch to a darker profile like FC. When I did run just a single, I would preheat almost like I ran a batch, heat to 40F above charge temp and hold for 15min, cool to charge temp, then charge my greens.

In my opinion drum style roasters perform best when your process allows them to fully heat up and store thermal energy. Roasting with shorter preheat cycles and single batches could be more the domain of hot air / fluid bed machines.

I would suggest exploring what others are using in your area; cold winter weather presents unique issues. The 50' cord raises some questions as well, are you roasting outdoors?

Yes, I roast outdoors in the summer and inside my unheated Garage in the winter. I am in Chicago suburbs so it gets crazy cold.