Behmor 1600 Coffee Roaster - 1st Look - Page 10

[lparsons21]

This might be more of a CG question but...has any Behmor owner noticed what I have?....that the roasts take maybe an extra day to really set up, but there is a slightly longer 'shelf life" as a result....Misty Valley really came alive day 3.

Yes, I've noticed that. I remember a thread somewhere talking about the longevity of our home roasted beans vs the commercial roasts from the pros. The pro stuff was holding up better for a longer period of time.

Maybe it is because of the method of heat of the Behmor compared to the hot air that most other home roasters are using. I wonder how this compares to a Hottop roast?

One other thing I've noticed is that while it does seem to take a day extra or so to fully develop, some of the early taste tests have been surprisingly good too. I tasted a Sidamo one day out of the roaster and was just blown away with the smell and the taste. It has almost always taken 3 or 4 days for the berry note to develop at all, with this one the berry was there after 24 hours. Who knows how much better it is going to get in the next 3 days or so.

[lparsons21]

Steve,

Thanks for the charts, interesting.

I keep looking inside the roaster trying to figure out a way for someone to put a temp sensor in the bean mass, but if there is a way, I sure can't see it. The mesh chamber just spreads the beans out so well that there really isn't any 'bean mass' to put it into.

[stevendouglas]

I keep looking inside the roaster trying to figure out a way for someone to put a temp sensor in the bean mass, but if there is a way, I sure can't see it. The mesh chamber just spreads the beans out so well that there really isn't any 'bean mass' to put it into.

The problem isn't the mass of beans, it's getting a probe in a closed, moving basket. The only way to do it, is to make one end non-moving. This would require redesigning the basket so that the non-square end (i.e., the left side) is stationary while the rest of the basket moves; then just shove a thermocouple probe into the beans. It's not impossible if you know how to do stuff like that. However, I probably couldn't do it, or couldn't do it in the time I have.

Steve

[popeye]

somewhere i've seen pictures of a hole drilled inside the left axle (through the ~1/4 inch rod) with a thermocouple threaded in that way. The thermocouple actually came out of the left side of the machine, if i remember. But that still seems to be the way to do it - in through the center of the left axle. hey, you can even pick up a small-hole cylinder if you screw yours up.

[stevendouglas]

a hole drilled inside the left axle (through the ~1/4 inch rod) with a thermocouple threaded in that way. The thermocouple actually came out of the left side of the machine, if i remember.

I don't think that would work because the thermocouple and wire would still have to turn.

[farmroast]

somewhere i've seen pictures of a hole drilled inside the left axle (through the ~1/4 inch rod) with a thermocouple threaded in that way. The thermocouple actually came out of the left side of the machine, if i remember. But that still seems to be the way to do it - in through the center of the left axle. hey, you can even pick up a small-hole cylinder if you screw yours up.

any idea where you might have seen this?

[JonR10]

any idea where you might have seen this?

Here it is http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/...e/homeroast/333876

[farmroast]

Thanks Jon

[popeye]

Well, the thermocouple doesn't have to turn if it is sheathed and becomes the axle, in effect.

I'm too lazy to quote, but on the previous page people mentioned getting to first crack in 8 minutes. I can't seem to get to first crack any sooner than 10 (usually 10:30) and my voltage is 122! It drops to 120v during roasting, but that's still high. I know the heating element cycles on and off during roasting, and it seems to be doing it in response to temperature. Once my beans hit first crack, and start putting out a lot of their own heat, the heater always cycles off for an extended period of time. There is some kind of thermal probe in the machine, right? I mean, these profiles aren't blind, are they? Another thing that makes me suspect this is that my times are the same regardless of 150g or 200g batches. It seems temp driven. So could my probe just be calibrated to the low end of the scale (or high end - the machine thinks it's hotter than it is?) That would cause it to take more time to reach first crack than most.

[prof_stack]

Well, the Behmor certainly roasts better when there is proper voltage present. Last week I found that our grid and a long extension cord were the reason for the long-ish roasts.

The Kill-A-Watt meter along with a Variac Powerstat helped today's roast of 1/2# (P1) go very nicely with 1C coming at 10:00 and 2C commencing at 12:45.

That's more like it.

[IMAWriter]

Well, the Behmor certainly roasts better when there is proper voltage present. Last week I found that our grid and a long extension cord were the reason for the long-ish roasts.

The Kill-A-Watt meter along with a Variac Powerstat helped today's roast of 1/2# (P1) go very nicely with 1C coming at 10:00 and 2C commencing at 12:45.

That's more like it.

That's actually on the fast side....as I may have mentioned, my Behmor is the last pre-production model...nearly identical to what y'all have....but maybe the current roaster is slightly improved for heat retention or some such....
I ask Joe.
My roaster was taking about 11:30/12:00 elapsed time to first crack for a Guatemalan......1/2# P1/C, with a bit of temp manipulation before hitting start...a full # usually got me to 1st around 16 minutes or so....
my voltage is always at least 121v....
IMO, avoid extension cords with any roaster, unless wishing to slow things down.

[prof_stack]

That's actually on the fast side....as I may have mentioned, my Behmor is the last pre-production model...nearly identical to what y'all have....but maybe the current roaster is slightly improved for heat retention or some such....
I ask Joe.
My roaster was taking about 11:30/12:00 elapsed time to first crack for a Guatemalan......1/2# P1/C, with a bit of temp manipulation before hitting start...a full # usually got me to 1st around 16 minutes or so....
my voltage is always at least 121v....
IMO, avoid extension cords with any roaster, unless wishing to slow things down.

Well, the cord from the Behmor is pretty darn short! Anyway, I'm using a 12-gauge extension cord that shows no voltage drop. I'll try an outlet closer to the source.

Does your voltage stay at 121V during most of the roast? I kept mine around 118-119V. I hope I'm not screwing something up in the circuit boards!

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

[IMAWriter]

Well, the cord from the Behmor is pretty darn short! Anyway, I'm using a 12-gauge extension cord that shows no voltage drop. I'll try an outlet closer to the source.

Does your voltage stay at 121V during most of the roast? I kept mine around 118-119V. I hope I'm not screwing something up in the circuit boards!

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

Joe syas the ideal start point is 120 or so with voltage readings dropping to 116-118 when the heat is at it's zenith...exactly what I get...121--118...anything in the 112-114f range will not get 'r done properly.
I'd say, even more then ambient temperature variations (say a room/garage temp of between 50f and 80f) it's the VOLTAGE requirement that's most critical to successful operation of the Behmor.
I had no trouble, even with the air conditioner running full blast upstairs.
Lucky, I guess

[prof_stack]

Joe syas the ideal start point is 120 or so with voltage readings dropping to 116-118 when the heat is at it's zenith...exactly what I get...121--118...anything in the 112-114f range will not get 'r done properly.

I'd say, even more then ambient temperature variations (say a room/garage temp of between 50f and 80f) it's the VOLTAGE requirement that's most critical to successful operation of the Behmor.

Yeah, my roasts had voltage in the lower range, down to 111V. I now agree that voltage is more important than ambient temperature, even though today's roast was done outside with 40F temperature.

[prof_stack]

Funny story:

Today I brought some 1-day old roasted Ethiopian beans to give to a couple fellow teachers. Before they got the beans, a couple of my students, who both work at $tarbucks as "baristas" (loosely defined, I think), came over to smell the beans.

Now they want me to roast some for them, just raving over the aroma. I wonder how fresh the roasts are that they get to push-button into espresso.

This was a [P2] profiled roast. Now that the voltage is taken care of, the Behmor is really shining.

[DigMe]

Funny story:

Today I brought some 1-day old roasted Ethiopian beans to give to a couple fellow teachers. Before they got the beans, a couple of my students, who both work at $tarbucks as "baristas" (loosely defined, I think), came over to smell the beans.

Now they want me to roast some for them, just raving over the aroma. I wonder how fresh the roasts are that they get to push-button into espresso.

I'm pretty sure that their house blend beans are often a week or less out of the roaster. They don't get to smell them that much though since the grounds are all contained inside the grinder part of the superautos.

brad

[mike]

Yeah, my roasts had voltage in the lower range, down to 111V. I now agree that voltage is more important than ambient temperature, even though today's roast was done outside with 40F temperature.

Recently the temperatures here have WARMED, and my roast times are extending by a couple of minutes (1c from 9 min to 11 min) under all the same parameters. I've even checked the voltage, and I'm 120v when the heaters are off, and 118v when the heaters are on. Voltage is not the problem, nor the ambients increased from 40F to 60F

I don't know whether to hope that something environmental is going on (increased humidity leading to beans absorbing more moisture, etc) or to think that I'm starting to see early life failure of the heaters.....

Dan is leading the blind tasting of Yirg done to City/City+ using the 5 different profiles tomorrow. I'll publish the learnings on HB over the weekend after I get the notes.

[JonR10]

I don't know whether to hope that something environmental is going on (increased humidity leading to beans absorbing more moisture, etc) or to think that I'm starting to see early life failure of the heaters.....

Do you think it's possible that higher ambient temps could affect the heater cycles?

I noticed a change in heater cycling activity when I (mistakenly) boosted the voltage a bit too high, and that seemed to lead to longer roast time. When I backed the voltage down to normal the roaster acted "normally" again.

Dan is leading the blind tasting of Yirg done to City/City+ using the 5 different profiles tomorrow. I'll publish the learnings on HB over the weekend after I get the notes.

Oooooo - this should be very interesting! I can't wait to see the results....

Thanks Mike!

[HB]

Oooooo - this should be very interesting! I can't wait to see the results...

Mike wasn't able to make it, but we had a good turnout. I would like to write up our results in a new thread before talking with Mike so as not to bias my thoughts (he didn't say which coffee samples were roasted with which profile; they were simply labeled A/B/C/D/E/F). In addition to the five Behmor roasts, Counter Culture contributed their own sample of the same coffee roasted to their standards. We had no difficulty picking the winners (or more accurately, eliminating the losers). More later...

[realdoctor]

Ken -

Bill Elder (a Mad founder) actually took the slogan from a poster in the back of McSorley's Ale House in New York. McSorley's was a hangout for design students from Cooper Union, including Elder. Both Alfred E. and the slogan apparently originally appeared as part of a local political campaign in NYC in the 1930's. I don't have an exact date, but definitely substantially before 1955.

Alas, McSorley's is long gone and I have heard nothing about the fate of the poster.

There was a quartz halogen roaster on the market a few years ago, sold by the Korean manufacturer Imex (of Cafe Rosto fame). I can't recall anybody that bought it. I vaguely remember that it had a bad reputation for reliability.

JR