Home Roaster Question re choice of roaster best suited for manual lever espresso machine

[r-gordon-7]

My wife & I are interested in buying a home roaster. My specific question - which I've not really seen covered here (yes, I've searched) is, what particular attributes are most important when looking for/selecting a home roaster to roast only small quantities of beans specifically and exclusively for use in a manual lever espresso machine - no drip, no French press, no vacuum, no stovetop - not even an automatic or semi-automatic espresso machine - just a manual lever espresso machine (ours is a Gaggia Factory 106).

Secondarily, when selecting a home roaster to roast beans for a manual lever espresso machine, is the particular roaster as critical as, for instance as the grinder is, in connection with manual lever espresso machine use (e.g., will the cheaper ones - Nesco & iRoast 2 - adequately work for this use)?

Background: We only drink coffee on weekends and only out at the beach house where we keep our Gaggia Factory lever machine. As we enjoy the process ("the ritual"?) of manually pulling the espresso as much as (if not more than) the actual drinking of it, we thought we'd also enjoy the process of home roasting... We pull/drink about two or three doubles, each, on Saturday and again on Sunday mornings (and only on those weekends when we're out at the beach house), so, we're only talking about roasting a small quantity of beans no more than once each week a day or two before we head for the beach house. The small capacity of the Nesco or I-Roast would be fine for our needs, assuming the results of one or the other roaster is satisfactory. We do live near a good quality purveyor (often mentioned in these forums) of freshly roasted beans, so buying our small quantity of freshly roasted beans each week to bring out to the beach house hasn't been a problem. However, as we enjoy the "pull it yourself" nature & ritual of the manual lever machine, we thought we'd also enjoy the "roast it yourself" process at home each week a night or two before leaving for the beach house (instead of going to the store to buy the roasted beans as we do now) - if, with practice, we could do pretty much as well roasting-quality-wise at home.

Practical considerations - we have counter space limitations as well as budgetary concerns which preclude our considering any of the larger and/or more expensive home roaster models.

So, among the choices are issues:

- Hot Top & Gene / too big & too expensive - probably overkill for our needs
- Behmor / too big
- Bravi / too big & can't see or watch the beans (which we really want to be able to do)
- Stovetop popper/ too much smoke & can't see or watch the beans
- Popcorn air popper / spousal issues ("vetoed") - just a little too funky...
- Dog Bowl "roll your own" / even bigger spousal issues ("absolutely vetoed") - much too funky!

That pretty much leaves two from which to choose:

- Nesco
- iRoast 2.

From the descriptions I've read of those two, it seems the I-Roast 2 (due to its somewhat better programmability) offers somewhat greater control over the "roast profile", whereas the Nesco (due to its slower roasting/longer roasting times) offers somewhat greater control over the "degree of roast". My question really boils down to this - how do those factors (or any other relevant factors) translate into which one of those two roasters (if either) would be better suited specifically for roasting small quantities of beans exclusively for use in a manual lever espresso machine?

Thanks,
r-gordon-7

[cafeIKE]

My setup

I seriously council you against it.
If you are dead set on it:

-A Fresh Roast is quiet and quick, perhaps too quick for espresso. You can futz with it to make it quite usable, but then your counter will look like mine.
- The Nesco is slow and quiet and can make an excellent roast.
- The iRoar is very loud and some, not all, think it makes a crappy cup.

[r-gordon-7]

Ian,

Thanks for the reply.

Sounds like your recommendation (assuming I am dead set on trying) would be the Nesco...

But what are the reasons for your counsel against trying? (Other than that I might end up with a counter that looks like yours? Actually, there's really no chance of that - the kitchen is very much my wife's dommain and for the whole roasting adventure I'll be lucky to be accorded as much counter space as your power supply & variac alone take... and probably no more than just what one or the other takes...)

A "bare" Nesco will probably fit in the alloted space, so if it will do the basic job of adequately roasting beans for espresso to be pulled on a manual lever machine (even though the Nesco lacks the the ability to control or tinker much with the "roast profile") - well then, the Nesco's probably the choice...

Thanks
r-gordon-7

[cafeIKE]

But what are the reasons for your counsel against trying?

Other than
'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step' & 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions'
none really.

As long as you realize that for quite some time, you'll probably just have fresh coffee. The likelihood of achieving great coffee is directly proportional to the effort expended: Search out great green. Find a cool, dry place for your green stash. Keeps lots of notes. Measure the line voltage. Record the ambient temperature and humidity. Make some vented jars. Plan on being home Tuesday to roast. And so on. And so on. Become REALLY frustrated when you can NEVER duplicate the most sublime coffee you roasted last week. [One of the absolute best Yrgacheffe SO I ever had was roasted in a Nesco and the fellow that roasted it nearly went insane trying to reproduce it. ]

If you decide to give it a go, just remember pick up 250g at the local roaster for the weekend...

[Randy G.]

Roasted coffee is best when left to rest for a few days (at least two I would say), particularly for espresso. Roasted and used right away will probably not result in satisfactory results regardless as to what roaster is chosen. That is, of course, a matter of personal taste.

Keeping in mind that I have not tried the Nesco, but from what I have read it takes a long time to roast. That was my major complaint concerning the first couple of models of the Hottop. Having the choice to have a shorter roast is important I think. I have gotten good results using the iRoast2.

I have reviews of the iRoast2 as well as the Hottops on my website. I do independent contract work for Hottop, but only because I believe that it is a quality product and it works.

[another_jim]

The Nesco (aka Zach & Dani) is, in essence, a very small convection drum roaster, and like all drums, you can speed up the roast by using a smaller dose. Going to 80-100 grams rather than the 125- 150 grams called for, and manually cooling the roast, will produce a very acceptable cup. The smoke eater does work.

The Iroast will produce a better cup, if it is properly calibrated. When it came out, roughly one unit in four was properly calibrated, and the rest produced miserable to no roasts. If you are not put off by playing musical roasters under warranty with Hearthware, the manufacturer, it's not a bad choice.

The Hottop is the only off the shelf roaster without a lot of negatives.

[popeye]

Having owned the iroast2 (now with my father) and currently owning the behmor, I offer my observations:
1. I roast 150g in the behmor. Any more and I don't get to first crack in under 10 minutes. (and i have 122v) Any less and the roast suffers. That's actually just about the same amount i roasted in the iroast2, and it's perfect (or possibly just under) for the amount of espresso i drink in the "window" of the beans. If by "too big" you were referring to batch size vice physical size, I respectfully disagree. If you were referring to physical size, it's the size of a small toaster oven. Trust me, you want a behmor over a toaster oven.
2. The iroast2 was hit or miss for me for vacpot/aeropress/french press. Some were great, some were burnt/flat/grassy. For espresso, most beans were too bright. I was reading about people doing single-origin costa rica, and all i got was lemon juice. The behmor does great SO for most beans.
3. the iroast2 is too loud and smoky for indoors. It's decently louder than a loud hairdryer/vacuum cleaner.
4. I'm definitely biased, but i've owned both. The iroast2 has potential, and if i didn't do so much espresso i might have kept it around. But i'm enjoying the behmor so much i was considering picking up one for my dad for fathers day (even though he's already got the iroast2).
5. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[djmonkeyhater]

I have a Nesco and I have found it to be easy to use, forgiving, inexpensive, reliable and an immense amount of fun. I've learned a great deal from it. My greens come from Kent. Larry's Brewing Supply on 212th.

It's not too loud, doesn't take up much space, and is surprisingly good on the smoke front. We've done 80 batches and it is still chugging along. I do some batch logging and experiment quite a bit with degree of roast. At this point I have tried about 5 varietals and created some blends. Blends amount to my 4 or 7 year old randomly scooping various types and then naming it after a Pokemon character.

I keep it, a notebook, a gram scale, the greens and some paper bags in a file box when not in use. It is super-portable and I will take it to people's houses and roast there. Most coffee drinkers will go weak in the knees with your freshly roasted beans compared with 99.9% of anything store bought.

I load it with 125g of beans and get about 105-110 out in 11-13 minutes. I do not use the factory cooling cycle. When I hit a chosen time after second crack (15-45 seconds) I open the lid and dump it on a broiler tray that I put under a fan. They are cool in two minutes. I have not considered monitoring the voltage or logging temps at this point and through my notes, I can get pretty consistent times and weights.

There are not many things that I have spent $150 on recently that I enjoy as much starting with the last tank of gas in my Ford Van.

[r-gordon-7]

Thanks. I've pulled the trigger and ordered a Nesco.The Nesco was (and still is) on back order at Sweet Maria's - but I was assured the Nesco was in stock at a different on-line source. So, I placed the order last Wednesday through the outfit that claimed to have 'em in stock. It was supposed to ship by last Friday - but didn't. They now tell me it will ship today, but so far hasn't... In the meantime, the 8-Pack Espresso Green Sampler I ordered from Sweet Maria's (well, they weren't out of stock on the beans...) on Wed. has arrived... So, as soon as the Nesco ships & makes its way across the country I should be in business...

r-gordon-7