Hi everybody. I just received a Poppery II with 1200 watts off eBay. Tried roasting tonight and the first batch(1/3 cup) never reached 1C. I tried 1/2 cup and it did reach 1C but never made it to 2C. I waited patiently for around 8-9 minutes. So I stopped the roast and will use the beans for my wife's drip in the AM. What's up guys? Do I need to invest now in a Poppery I? It has 1500 watts. Is my unit not functional? Is it too weak to make an espresso? Thanks!

Incidentally, I was roasting a Brazilian coffee bean.

Dose: Fill the roaster until the room temperature green beans hardly move or don't move at all. Stir for the first minute or two until the beans start to move. That is the correct dose for poppers without controls.

Safety Stat: all popcorn poppers have a safety thermositat that cuts out the heat. In most cases this cuts out at too low a temperature for roasting coffee. Since defeating the stat voids warranties, makes the popper a fire hazard, makes people giving such instructions legally liable, I am, of course, advising you never to use a popper for roasting coffee, or to mess with the safety circuits.

What do you mean by "defeated"? Do I need to modify the Poppery II in order to use it?

Yes, How-To: Make a popcorn popper coffee roaster, Roasting coffee with a popcorn popper, and Air Popcorn Popper Method elaborate.

My stock PII won't hit 2nd crack before 8-9 minutes, so it may have been close, and this can be a very good thing since most poppers run too hot. You can use the PII lid to direct the heat down, and this will preheat the air going into the popper, giving you more efficiency and higher temps.

CHAD

Ok, went home yesterday and did some modifications.#1-I put more beans in--about 3/4 cup. #2--I put the machine's yellow plastic top on to redirect the hot air back to the machine. #3-I put the machine in a smallish box and partly kept the lids closed while it did it's thing. Voila'! 1C at about 4-5 minutes. 2C at about 6 min past 1C. Keeping the heat in was key(I live in western NY-cool weather). I was thinking though, as it gets colder would a popper with 1500 watts be more appropriate for winter roasting?

The original Poppery or Popcorn Pumper are much better built machines (the heating section is cast aluminum, not silver foil, the motor is 110 ac, not 12 volt DC)), so if you one, it is a good to get it.

However, if you roast outdoors, always use a box. Wind chill works on roasters even more dramatically than on human bodies, so that even gas grill based roasters will stall out in a cold wind. A wimpy grill is 25,000 btu/h, and that is equivalent to about 6.5KW, so adding few hundred watts won't cut it in the cold

frank wrote: Voila'!

Awesome.

CHAD

frank wrote:Ok, went home yesterday and did some modifications.#1-I put more beans in--about 3/4 cup. #2--I put the machine's yellow plastic top on to redirect the hot air back to the machine. #3-I put the machine in a smallish box and partly kept the lids closed while it did it's thing. Voila'! 1C at about 4-5 minutes. 2C at about 6 min past 1C. Keeping the heat in was key(I live in western NY-cool weather). I was thinking though, as it gets colder would a popper with 1500 watts be more appropriate for winter roasting?

You'll still need a box or equivalent over the 1500W roaster for outdoors roasting in winter.