IMAWriter wrote: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.

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.

lparsons21 wrote: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

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.

popeye wrote: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.

popeye wrote: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?

farmroast wrote:any idea where you might have seen this?

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

Thanks Jon

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.

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.