Best home roaster for Yemen lover?

[Coffeecritter]

Ooooh! Christmas is coming and my honey asked me, "Sweet thing, is there a roaster you'd rather have than that home-made contraption you use?"

I've been roasting with a SC/TO for four years, now, and have been happy with the set-up. But when you get asked a question like that it gets one to thinking .....

Here's the scoop:

- I roast only for espresso. If I want volume/dilution I'll make an Americano.

- I go through about 2 1/2 to 3 lbs of beans/week.

- I'm seriously hooked on Yemens. They're a big part of most blends I like and I use them for SO espresso as well. So that takes out drums with big holes.

I don't roast inside. We're blessed with a fairly temperate climate here in Texas and I enjoy sitting out on the porch with a book and my roaster going. So smoke/chaff control is also not an issue.

I do not own a gas grill and don't particularly want one, or I might consider a BBQ drum. But that takes roasting off the preferred front porch location and might require larger batches than I want to roast at one time.

So I'm calling all you home roasting gurus for the benefit of your wisdom and experience. Oh - and let's keep the price below $2000 .

SMS

[Kaffee Bitte]

Drum roasters aren't out completely. I use a drum that I made myself, using 5/32" holes in a perforated sheet. These holes will on occasion get a bean stuck in the, sometimes even very large ones, but rarely do the small beans ever make their way outside the drum.

Just make sure that the roaster can handle the high chaff dry process coffees and you should be fine.
There are many options out there.

As far as BBQ grill drums go (and I know you aren't keen on the idea of the BBQ) it is possible to roast as little or as much as you want in one. You just have to alter the gas settings for the load and watch fairly closely.

[cannonfodder]

I have been very happy with my HotTop. I have roasted a few hundred pounds and it is barely broken in.

[cafeIKE]

I have been very happy with my HotTop. I have roasted a few hundred pounds and it is barely broken in.

If you have a life, 3lbs a week in a HotTop is about 4+ hours and a Royal PitA.

[Spresso_Bean]

What about a Behmor with the soon to be released drum for smaller beans? That's something you can have going while you read a book compared to something more manual. Just a suggestion.

[cannonfodder]

Yes it is, so maybe a few is a little high but a couple would not be an exaggeration although lately the drum has been silent. The new programmable unit looks nice but my 'E' still works well for an amateur roast. To get the most from the bean more control is needed and much more experience than I posses. A one pound sample roaster would be nice but expensive.

[Coffeecritter]

I'll give them a call at Sweet Maria's and get their opinion.

The HotTop's tempting, since I usually roast in 1/2 lb increments of any varietal at once now, even though I have successfully done nice roasts of 1 lb. with my current setup. Don't know whether the Basic or the Programmable would be better for my purposes, since I'm not a "set and forget" kind of roaster. I like to be present for the process, if that makes any sense.

(Maybe that's why I prefer B&W darkroom work to color - I get to watch the changes as they happen.)

Sue

[Niko]

I love the Hottop "P", the control is awesome.
I just got the Behmor today...
what more could I ask for?

I love the B&W dark room as well but I prefer printing in color on my Durst roller transport machine. Swishing prints around in a tray gets tedious after a while

[grong]

I love my Back to Basics whirling popper roaster. It is heavy stainless steel, and with the addition of a thermometer you have full control over the roast. I regularly roast 1 pound of greens at a time. So, 3 pounds in about 45 minutes. Of course you will need a Cajun Cooker or some other burner to heat it up. My roaster has roasted hundreds of delicious pounds, and the unit is a bargain at around 50 dollars.

I use a 20 dollar shop vac for my cooling gizmo, which draws air through a collander.

Good luck.

[Niko]

I love my Back to Basics whirling popper roaster.

I have one of those too!
It's a really fun way to roast

[prof_stack]

... I've been roasting with a SC/TO for four years, now, and have been happy with the set-up. But when you get asked a question like that it gets one to thinking ...

Here's the scoop:
- I roast only for espresso. If I want volume/dilution I'll make an Americano.
- I go through about 2 1/2 to 3 lbs of beans/week.
- I'm seriously hooked on Yemens. They're a big part of most blends I like and I use them for SO espresso as well. So that takes out drums with big holes.
SMS

The soon-to-be-available Behmor drum with small holes should do the trick if you're thinking about the Behmor. I roasted a 1/2# of Yemen Mocha recently in the TO/SC and that system did a great job getting the flavor from the beans. Nice blueberry aroma, too. I'll get the small-mesh drum later after seeing how others' fare with it.

[Coffeecritter]

Thanks, Prof_stack -

My Behmor was delivered last week! I figured I'd branch out into big beans for awhile and be ready for the Yemens by the time the small mesh drum became available.

I must say I'm impressed with the Behmor. I can easily produce a FC+/light Vienna roast with some consistency. The first espresso roasts are now at their peak and they're at worst as good as my average TO/SC product and in some cases much nicer. For example, I taste lots of distinct flavors from SM Donkey decaf that I didn't get before.

It sits on the second floor verandah on a small coffee table next to the shop vac. I can sit and sip and read a book as long as I look up and pay attention when 1st crack begins.

Sue

[popeye]

It's funny you mentioned SM Donkey Decaf on the Behmor - of all the coffees i've roasted on my behmor, I'd have to pick that one as the "most improved." Of course, I probably just got lucky, but that roast was the first decaf espresso i've enjoyed straight. I usually just do decaf for nightly lattes. It was ridiculously fruity, but in a caramel sense, not with overpowering acidity.