Hi all

I am rather new to coffee roasting and am currently roasting on a popcorn machine... However, I want to upgrade. I would like to learn more about roasting beans and hope to one day start supplying friends and family when I am able to produce a nice roast..

At first I was looking at the Behmor 1600, then the Hottop Prog. however after reading reviews they sound too automated for my liking. I then came across the Quest M3. It looks great and manual. This scares me a bit as I am not sure if it will be too difficult for a beginner like me.. however I don't want to outgrow the more automated systems and want to upgrade in a couple of months.

I was almost about to purchase the Quest when I came across the Huky500. Unfortunately there is little information regarding the Huky and almost no back to back comparisons between the Huky and the Quest. Of course there are the obvious differences such capacity and the fact that the Quest is electric... Although I would like to know if the Huky is also capable of small roasts of 150gms or does it prefer larger (250 to 500gms) batches only?

I got the following from the info from the manufacturer of the Huky.

The direct flame Roaster (Can change into the half direct flame)
specification:
size：40*19*35cm （L*W*H）
weight：( around 6kg)
Voltage:110V~220V
Drum: Solid drum or perforate drum
material：(drum T2.5mm stainless steel ) 2.5MM#304 　diameter130MM。
cover:super shining stainless steel。
handle:(Hardwood )
Drum rotation speed: perforate drum (48rpm) or Solid drum (72rpm)
Temperature measuring：(dual system ,analog (Drum temperature ) and k-type digital reading(bean temperature))。
Fuel source：(liquefied propane gas (LPG) ) or butane
Batch capacitor：150g~ Max500g。
Exhaust fan and cooling :6 inch casting fan
Bearing: Full Ceramic Bearing

I note that the manufacturer says that he can change to a half direct flame. Does anyone know when this would be of benefit? Did I mention the I am new to roasting...

I like the neatness of the Quest ie: don't have to muck around with a separate gas unit but then again I have read from some that gas is much more controllable than electric... decisions decisions...

Has anyone used both the Huky and the Quest? If so, I would really appreciate your thoughts!

Cheers

MV

I have both I would go with Quest M3 unless you really, really need extra capacity. That extra capacity comes at price of ease of use. You can setup Quest M3 indoors with simple pipe next to exhaust on the back (does not even have to be permanently attached) and you can roast indoors year around. Its easy to control and repeat profiles. Its not hard to use at all. Its civilized way to roast.

I also made the giant leap from an air roaster to drum roasting. If you opt to buy the Quest M3, I made this handy cheat sheet for myself until I got my bearings. Put it up on my site in the hopes that it'd be useful to others as well.

Tekomino - It's interesting that you say the Quest is easier to use. This is the kind of feedback I am looking for. I was reading that to use it to capacity (300gms) you need to help it along with a heat gun. I didn't really like the sound of that and started thinking the Huky is the way to go.

I also thought, from reading earlier posts, that the Quest being electric was harder to control than the Huky being gas controlled. Any thoughts on this?

I assume from what I've read that both are capable of back to back roasts?

Thanks for the cheat sheet Ultramatic! Haven't had a look at it yet as its only 640am here in Melbourne... Time to go to work...

Thanks heaps for the responses so far, very much appreciated!

Here is the thing, people roast very successfully with almost anything at all. What I think comes down to is how you take to the roasting with the given roaster. For me Quest worked the best and I had zero problems getting it to work from get go.

When I say Huky has steeper learning curve (again this is relative to me), I mean that to roast 500g you need fairly strong heat source. With strong heat source you easily fall into the trap of overcorrecting. If your roast is not progressing like it should you just crank up the heat/air to catch up, right? But I found that this actually has adverse effects on roast quality. So you have to be fairly deliberate and precise. Your heat and timing should be just right so the roast can progress "smoothly" to get best results. This takes lot of roasting and lot of time, at least it did for me. I see "no sudden moves" as important for excellent quality roast.

On Quest due to its electric nature, you can't do "sudden moves" since everything is pretty much pre-planned by your drop-in temp. Once you get some basic timings worked out, you crank out killer roasts much, much easier...

Both Huky and Quest will do back to back no sweat as long as you want. I roast 225g batches with Quest and usually do 4-5 batches in row.

Thanks for the detailed response. From what you have said I'm now leaning towards the Quest, particularly since I have little roasting experience.

I do love the look of the Huky but I guess that the aesthetics must come second to consistent roasts:)

If anyone else has any thoughts on the Huky versus the Quest I would love to hear from you!

I had to make the same choice as you. At fist I was thinking the Huky was the one for me. But after researching it I realized the the Quest was a mini Ferrari of a roaster. It gives you all the control you could need and the selling point for me was the back to back roast I could do. I like the fact I can do 150g roast and gain more experience with out waisting allot of coffee. Good luck

Thanks Luke. Glad to hear from from another happy Quest owner!

Based on the earlier response it appears that both the Quest and the Huky can do back to back roasts. Given that I plan to roast for family and friends I like that!

I also like the fact that the Quest can happily do 150gm roasts, because I'm sure I'll kill a few beans along the way and I'd much rather throw away 150gms than 300gms at a time! I'm curious what the minimum roast size is for the Huky..?

I got the Huky this week. I hadn't considered the quest because I wanted to do more than the quest's batch size. My gf and I each usually have 30g pourovers, which means about 4 days of coffee only on 250g roast, and I'm looking to explore the coffee's roast over a period of time; I guess once you "get" the roasting, the smaller batch size will be better for the feinschmekker so you can truly narrow in on the best the coffee has to offer after rest and can both rotate between coffees and roast the same one more often without piling up a stash.

I come from a home-made kkto which was initially effective, but then started to have problems.

This thing is tiny, but massive. I've run the machine once, just to test it out, results weren't bad considering I did it blindly. I was quite amazed and happy to see this thing run smooth, look great, and even the little ee-ee-eee-eee noises from the drum rotating made me smile.

It was a hit on my street, several people I've never met came to see what I was up to

It is a little bit of a pain to do the last minute juggle, move the exhaust out of the way and dump the beans. I'm okay with that since it's years easier than my kkto experiences, though I will be looking into moving that elbow off to the side. The process will become more enjoyable and easier once my station is setup with the tc4 logger and I don't have to shuffle things in and out of the garage. So far I'm quite happy.

MvO wrote: decisions decisions...

While I don't use a Quest, I would also assert that you would have greater control with the Huky, certainly in terms of heat production, ventilation strength and fan control, without having to resort to additional boosters such as a heat gun for higher batch sizes. There's less hysteresis with a gas burner, which means that heat can be delivered and reduced with quicker response, which is good for any course corrections if they come up. This becomes more exception than rule, once you settle into a rhythm of using your preferred batch sizes and bean varietals - it really does become more automatic after awhile; when to apply heat and fan appropriately to control the roast, etc. That said, keep in mind with a large gas burner, there is not really an upper end to power, and so you do really need a MET probe as your primary metric for roast control and keeping any eye on drum temps, and its good that Kuanho provides this option now.

Flexibility with the Huky - in that you are free to choose drum type, burner, and exhaust setup - is admittedly somewhat of a double-edged sword in that it presents a kind of "Roastivors Dilemma" of decision-making that you are not burdened with when getting Hottop or Quest, where the decision is made for you. OTOH, you are freer to experiment with the Huky configuration, since is it has a kind of a "Maker" flare to it that invites experimentation. It's in no way an appliance and you need to adapt it to your setup, namely due to gas fuel used as a heat source instead of electricity. The good news is that Kuanho provides a number of integration options to help this along.

I realize now that it's the heat source that really anchors the kind of machine the Huky is versus the Quest. The Huky is really more a poor-man's Mini 500 than richer-man's Hottop or alternative to the Quest. You have to be deliberate in the choice of having a gas setup. For some, this is a going-concern and not an issue since they already have a gas source, whereas for others they would have to commit to adding a gas source. For my circumstance, I choose to integrate the Huky with my Bluestar stovetop range in my kitchen, and so I enjoy roasting indoors the same as those who choose to roast indoors with a Quest or Hottop. Once you have your setup down, ease of use is not a problem. That said, nothing beats the portability of a plug-in device of an all-electric roaster.

The other "Roastivors Dilemma" choice that keeps coming up is solid versus perforated drum, and the affect this choice has on the operational characteristics of the Huky and resultant roast profiles. For example, choosing a solid drum changes the flow path of ventilation in the system significantly, but this change would be more in line with how the Quest air flow path works. As such, comparing the performance a solid drum Huky to a Quest may be a more fruitful comparison, and at similar relative batch sizes.

Regarding batch size, the lower limit on the Huky is about 150g, anything less means the that the bean mass does not cover the temperature probes, and your BT readings will register higher. On the upper end, you'll never have to heat gun your way to 300g and beyond.

So overall, MV, I think you've touched on the main differences already. The Quest is more self-contained and proven with an established user base and the Huky is more flexible with greater capacity, but still in the latter stages if early adoption, with avenues yet to be charted. It is not clear quite yet if the so-called adoption "chasm" has been crossed for the Huky, at least in the English-speaking market. If you are comfortable with this, then the choice is yours, and hence the "dilemma".