So I'm going off the deep end. I found a virtually brand new West Bend Poppery II today at the thrift store and spent the most satisfying four dollars that have left my hands in a while. It's the black body 1200v for anyone interested. I'm reading up on profiles and watching the youtubes by sweet maria's. I'm planning on a show down between the popcorn popper and the dog bowl and have a couple of questions for anyone kind enough to humor me. First, have any of you tried an infra red thermometer with a laser sight?

http://www.tooldiscounter.com/ItemDispl...&kw=RAYMT4

I used one years ago on an industrial project and was super impressed when first introduced to it. It seems like with the heat gun / dog bowl method you could alternate between wooden spoon and thermometer to vary the distance of the heat gun during the roast. I've read a little bit about polling places as far as the air above the beans or the surface of the equipment, but I'm curious if anyone has any experience with the laser thermometer as far as on the surface of the bean temps?

My second question is whether it's worth it to rig up a barbecue grill type set up to stabilize temps? I was thinking a gas powered campstove and cast iron frying pan under the dog bowl out in my garage.

Third, I already asked Jim due to one of his earlier posts about mods to the Poppery II to separate the fan and heat element and possibly PID control or something simpler (read cheaper) maybe a dimmer to control the heating element. He gave me some great general directions and I'm going to enlist an electrician friend to help with the mod, but if anyone has more idiot proof / step by step directions I would greatly appreciate it.

Sorry if any of this has been asked previously I searched pretty extensively but eventually got a bit excited and am ready to order the beans so any help is huge. Thanks.

I did about 300 roasts using bowl and heat gun. I think you'll find it better than the popper. You can at least roast 16 ounces. After 5 roasts or so, you will quickly learn that there is nothing you can do or that is needed except your senses. No need for aux. heat. No need for a thermometer (which won't measure interior bean temp anyhow). It will become second nature. It is one of the best ways to learn what is going on because you can see, smell and hear everything.

I've been roasting with this method for about five years. It's great being able to roast a pound at a time with not much equipment, and it's faster than going to look for some freshly roasted beans, especially in Traverse City, MI. Lately I've been getting upgraditis though, and wanting to get a Behmor, especially after I got some Intelligentsia Black Cat. It was so much better than what I've been doing, I was really disheartened. As my husband said, "you almost cried!"

It's funny, I tried a bag of Black Cat, and this is heresy on this list, but my first reaction was, "Wow." And yet somehow I never finished the bag! It's super impressive, but for me was lacking something or maybe was "too much" of a good thing. An analogy in the wine world would be drinking a California late harvest Zinfandel and saying, "wow", but not wanting to finish the bottle and not running to uncork the next one!

Anyhow, I don't believe you will get better roasts using a Behmor. Maybe you ought to investigate a few other possibilities:

1. Are you using good green beans?
2. Are you getting the roast done for a pound, in 12-15 minutes?
3. How are you cooling it?
4. Are you waiting for at least a day or two?

I found that rapid cooling made a huge difference. By rapid, I mean in 14 seconds! Before that I used some mist until I ruined 2 batches of coffee. They came out sour. They were the only two batches I've ever ruined. I also poured from one colander to another. That took 3-4 minutes depending on air temp. My solution is a shop dust collector. You can get a cheap one for less than $100 at Harbor Freight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2mRgPpIFxA

dan

I bought a smaller dogbowl and I've been trying 8 oz batches instead of doing a pound, and I do think it's working better, so thanks a lot for the help.

Although I no longer roast using a heat gun/dog bowl setup, this thermometry system worked well for me.

Jim

I've been roasting with a heat gun for a few months... my first exposure to home roasting. A roast is taking 35 to 40 minutes for a 1 lb batch. I'm wondering if this is too long. Is it important to get the roast done in under 15 minutes, and rapidly cool? My cooling takes a minute or so with my fan/colander.

That does sound awfully long.
I'm sure you've already read this, but just in case you haven't seen it-
http://www.homeroaster.com/heatgun.html

I had not seen that article... thanks! I think I've been maintaining a greater distance from to gun to beans than the article recommends. I had been concerned about localized charring. I'll give it another go tomorrow.