Best home roaster for small batch roasting?

#1: Post by **chrislynburge** » June 11th, 2016, 2:38 pm

I am currently in the process of searching for a home coffee roaster. I would love to roast enough to be able to sell at local farmer markets on the weekends. I wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations on a home roaster that is worth the money. I am currently leaning towards a Hottop Programmable roaster. Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks!

#2: Post by **keno** » June 11th, 2016, 3:28 pm

If you are serious about wanting to sell at farmer's markets I don't know why you would even consider a Hottop.

I've never roasted with one but according to the manufacturer the capacity is 275g which is a little under 10 oz of greens. By the end of your roast you will be left with about 8 oz. I don't know what size bags you intend to sell but you'd need 2 batches per 16 oz bag, 1.5 batches per 12 oz bag, or 1 batch per 8 oz bag. Each batch will take you a minimum of 15 minutes, probably 20 or more if you factor in cooling the roaster back down (the Hottop was not really designed for back to back roasts). Assuming you can do 3 batches an hour for two 12 oz bags, and you net $6 per bag you'd be making $12 per hour at most. Hardy seems worth it to me.

Most people roasting for farmer's markets would
roast on a machine that can handle 1.5kg per batch or more. If you can net 3 pounds per batch then you can get three 16 oz bags or four 12 oz bags per batch which starts to make it worthwhile.

Ultimately the size of the roaster really depends upon how much you will be roasting at a time. Plus you want a size that allows room for your business to grow. If you don't have the $ for an adequately sized drum roaster then you might consider a fluid bed roaster like the Sonofresco.

#3: Post by **9Sbeans** » June 11th, 2016, 5:08 pm

This thread might be belonging to the Buying Advice. By all means you have to learn more about the roasting and to love this process before even dreaming about selling your roasted beans to others.

Acquiring a roasting machine won't necessarily guarantee you with the equivalent knowledge. There is plenty of info on this forum for you to sifting through. For example, there were good discussions in Sonofresco vs Drum Roaster , and at the bottom of that page there are related topics. I'd also recommend a book, the coffee roaster's companion, compiled by Scott Rao, and the chapter 17 of this book briefly explains the machinery choosing. "Capacity" is the most important determinant, and I second keno, a Hottop just won't cut it.

#4: Post by JK » June 11th, 2016, 5:36 pm

Check out the Bullet 1KG Roaster..
It just started shipping...
I seen this at the show in Atlanta and was very impressed..
https://aillio.com/

If not check out the North Coffee Roaster 1KG

These are my choices..
I have owned a North 3-4 years now..

#5: Post by **johnny4lsu** » June 11th, 2016, 8:14 pm

Definitely not a hottop.

#6: Post by **Unrooted** » June 12th, 2016, 1:51 am

My HG/bm roasteing does 300 gram batches...

#7: Post by **turtle** » June 12th, 2016, 10:45 pm

If you are thinking of selling coffee do not go smaller than 2 ti 3 kilo in size.

http://www.sanfranroaster.com/sf-6lb

http://diedrichroasters.com/coffee-roas ... rs/ir-2-5/

#8: Post by **drgary** » June 13th, 2016, 2:17 am

You might want to discuss your needs with one of our sponsors, Mill City Roasters. They sell North, which makes larger sizes than their 1Kg. Having owned a Hottop I agree that it's nowhere near enough capacity for roasting coffee to sell.

#9: Post by **day** » June 13th, 2016, 3:38 am

I interpreted this post a bit differently. I read it as, primarily a home roaster, but would be nice to dabble in local markets with some more than ideal roasting hours.

I had a bunch of text but decided to delete it. Here is the short of my position.

So based on current availability I vote:

1. Huky for budget and willingness to really put in time pursuing markets at relatively small return
2. North for what seems clearly easier control and better build but same situation as for markets, more of for the discerning home enthusiast in my mind (initially the route I was taking) and quite a bit more investment with very little improvement on return.
3. Used Sonofresco NonADR for quick in/out without a lot of work. Great for casual home roaster and for non discerning markets. ADR option sounds nice and looks nice--I think fluid bed has a lot of potential but the videos I saw showed the ADR fluctuating 10degrees F uncontrollable throughout the roast, even from FC on, which kind of kills it at 750 dollars more, in mymind. Might be worth it if found used though.
4. 1KG Mill City for a cheap intro into a better farmers market option without going broke-especially if you can find a used one.
5. Artisan 6M if you want to jump off the cliff self-funded focusing on spending a limited budget on quality green coffee and are focused on marketing/advertising or can figure out how to control it properly-potential for big returns if you can execute it properly.
6. Anything more gets much more complicated and expensive and doesn't sound to me like the direction you were headed.

Aillio would probably be worth the risk, and I now regret not getting in on preproduction

oh well! There are also a bunch of china direct options, Huky has a solid base, but the other larger options were too confusing for me and seemed like too big a risk. Probably great deals direct out there somewhere if you know how to get them. Nontheless, I vote option 1 based on your initial post, option 4 if you have a decent budget but aren't trying to go big time.

#10: Post by **drgary** » June 13th, 2016, 10:22 am

For clarification, 1 KG Mill City = 1 KG North. I own the gas version, bought just before Mill City became the US distributor for North. It's terrific and will crank out larger batches than rated if you buy their upgraded gas regulator. It has commercial build quality, not comparable to a Hottop.