rama wrote:My current Hottop struggles with minor dips in voltage. That may be acceptable for an amateur device, but anything targeting the "prosumer" level that expects me to run it with a Variac on anything less than perfect power is setting themselves up for failure. I hope that's not the case here.

I'm sure that HT doesn't "expect" you to run a Variac with any of their roasters but if you don't have a reliable or ideal power feed that is always an option. I get 117v max from my outlets so I use a variac to give me a continuous 120v+ feed when I'm roasting. My HT-B will roast just fine on 117v but won't give me the 1c times I'd like to see with the batch size I want to use.

I drive my HotTop on a dedicated 20 amp line in the workshop, did not know there was a higher wattage element available for it. I actually need to replace the element on my roaster. After 5 years of use, it has actually started to sag and will brush against the drum on occasion. Then I have to open it up and bend the element back a little. Once day it is just going to give out.

cannonfodder wrote:I drive my HotTop on a dedicated 20 amp line in the workshop, did not know there was a higher wattage element available for it.

There isn't which is why I said it was the one and only 900w element so Michael wouldn't get swamped with email requests. When I was visiting Michael back in Sept. he told me that the factory had originally tested the early roaster prototypes with 720w & 900w elements. They went with the 720w version but he thought that there was still a 900w element at the factory & when he visited the factory in November he found it for me.

I'm pretty happy with the extra power & if there was enough interest I could look into the possibility of having a batch made up. If anyone thinks they might want a 900w element, if I could provide them, they can send me a PM & I'll start a list & look into it.

Wait, if the current HT-P is @ $1000, the M3 is @ $1200, this might cost something like $2K...that's getting too close to the price of a Mini 500 Roaster!

It also might cost $1500. Who knows at this point. When Michael first told me about the 1lb'r 22 months ago he felt that it would come in several hundred $$ higher then the P model. That may no longer be the case but I know he is aware that it would be a hard sell at $2k & I'm guessing that it will be much closer to the $1500 price range. We'll just have to wait to find out.

JohnB. wrote:There isn't which is why I said it was the one and only 900w element so Michael wouldn't get swamped with email requests. When I was visiting Michael back in Sept. he told me that the factory had originally tested the early roaster prototypes with 720w & 900w elements. They went with the 720w version but he thought that there was still a 900w element at the factory & when he visited the factory in November he found it for me.

I'm pretty happy with the extra power & if there was enough interest I could look into the possibility of having a batch made up. If anyone thinks they might want a 900w element, if I could provide them, they can send me a PM & I'll start a list & look into it.

Having more power needs to be usable power. Without John's fin mods that extra power may have not been usable power. Drum size, batch size, agitation and air flow have to be in balance with heating power. Especially with our fast and demanding profiles.

That's correct, without the larger fins I doubt my 350g loads would have turned out well even with the 900w element.

how about a propane version?

Propane would be the pefect machine for most

Glad to see this new roaster. Wish it good luck. I share the opinion of Jim. The drawback of a drum electric roaster is the lack of hot air (for faster safe roasts). From a controlling point of view, I think that a winner roaster would be an electrical roaster with separate dedicated heaters for both the air and the drum. So I would prefer a roaster with a drum heater element plus a controllable air heater element instead of two drum heaters. You actually need little power for the drum heater element with the idea of keeping it from not burning the beans. For example, on the initial picture of this thread, in my opinion the heater element is way too hot (bright orange color). Controlling the profile with a supplemental hot air heater is very responsive and more powerful.

Cheers