Hey,

I have long been interested in home roasting. My question is going to make me sound dumb, but, is it 'easy.' My main use would be for espresso. I am not typically a coffee drinker, thought when I do, I enjoy black coffee. I would be more interested in the espresso use side of it. I don't think its easy, but not sure if its hard to get 'enjoyable' roasts When I was first interested a few years before, I read a quote that stuck from someone who was talking about home roasting specifically for espresso.

'If you live in a place where you have access to great espresso roasting, perhaps you wouldn't benefit as much from home roasting. Those of us who don't have access would get the most out of it.'

I am lucky to be in a city with many roasters who have amazing espressos to choose from (Intelligentsia, Metropolis and more). Just curious on the thoughts and experiences of other roasters for someone who is potentially thinking of jumping off and starting.

Devin if you want to try it out... just do it. You don't have to get all sorts of expensive gear to start. You can use a whirly-pop popcorn popper that you can pick up cheap and get your feet wet. That's what I did. You'll know soon enough if you caught the 'bug' to continue.

There are a lot of home roaster folks in Chicago. I would try hooking up with one of them (maybe at a local home-roasters' get together).

cygnusx1 wrote:Devin if you want to try it out... just do it. You don't have to get all sorts of expensive gear to start. You can use a whirly-pop popcorn popper that you can pick up cheap and get your feet wet. That's what I did. You'll know soon enough if you caught the 'bug' to continue.

So true - sometimes you just need someone to smack some sense into you. Perhaps I will give this a go

I would recommend you STOP NOW, while you still have a chance.

Maybe I can save you some time.

With any roasting method you can enjoy the benefits of a wide choice of beans (at greens' prices) and appropriate freshness. I'm not sure how much value that is in Chicago, considering what's easily available there.

More sophisticated roasting methods allow you to create your own "profiles," and roast in all sorts of ways and styles which aren't -- perhaps -- so easily available, especially with an unusual bean or blend.

I'm not sure where the cost of sophistication begins. I've heard you can do some pretty interesting things with very inexpensive, modded popcorn poppers and bread machines -- but you couldn't prove it by me either way.

In terms of 8oz capacity, electric, drum roasters... you can do an acceptable job with a Behmor ($300) and a better job with a Gene Cafe ($600). However, it's not until you put out some real bucks for a Hot Top ($1100) or a Quest M3 ($1300) -- plus another hundred or two for probes, a data logger, etc. (which may not be, strictly speaking, necessary but sure as hell make life a lot easier) -- that you get into equipment that allows the kind of control and consistency to produce quality at the professional, artisanal level.

But to take it full circle, you don't have to drop that kind of change to have a good time as well as some damn good coffee.

I suggest scanning any of the Roast and Learn threads in the Roasting section to get some idea of what different guys are doing with a wide variety of equipment.

It all depends on what you want to do,
Rich

boar_d_laze wrote:Maybe I can save you some time.

...
But to take it full circle, you don't have to drop that kind of change to have a good time as well as some damn good coffee.

I suggest scanning any of the Roast and Learn threads in the Roasting section to get some idea of what different guys are doing with a wide variety of equipment.

It all depends on what you want to do,
Rich

+1. Rich often comments relative to the enjoyment of an issue, be it pulling a dynamite shot or nailing a roast. This is a hobby, a fun exercise. For me, it moves well beyond "whether or not we have great roasters in the local area." We do, but I still love to roast, have a delight in sourcing great beans, and comparing my coffee to theirs, both espresso and brewed.

I learned a long time ago this hobby isn't about saving money. It is about my personal enjoyment of the roasting and drinking great home-crafted coffee.

Boldjava wrote: I learned a long time ago this hobby isn't about saving money. It is about my personal enjoyment of the roasting and drinking great home-crafted coffee.

And a +1 to that. I'm glad I don't flyfish to save money!! Cuz with all the $$$ I spent on fishing gear, I could buy trout in my local supermarket for the rest of my life.

I started out roasting a few months ago with a Westbend AirCrazy. I bought some beans, burnt some beans and finally burnt my AirCrazy, but in that 2 weeks I knew I would have lots of fun with this hobby.

My current rig is based on the Turbo oven, Stir Crazy "frankenroaster". It's not slick, but it roasts a dream. Here's a link to the set up and my learning thread. Thanks to everyone here, I'm hooked on roasting really great coffee.

New to coffee roasting and H-B

I just started home roasting, using a $18 West Bend Air Crazy popper and got to work. first couple of roasts were akin to sink shots, but now at-least I have some that I get (to my taste) good espresso and capps. Just ordered some more green beans from SM couple of days ago, so I'll continue using this method until current machine breaks, then buy a new one.

Currently I am treating it as a fun experiment, but after 3-6 months I'll decide if I want to continue this or not, at which time I'll think of investing in suitable gear.

Raj

I started about 14 years ago with a $4 Poppery II if got at a thrift store. I found a chimney off a kerosene lamp for a $1 at a yard sale, some just us a tin can that fits the hole. I ordered me a couple pounds of beans from Sweet Maria's and went for it. It only took a few pounds before I was able to get a respectable roast, but the first few were junk. Either little oily, carbon bits or too under cooked to drink. I'm a man that says if another man made it, I can make it better, so I started doing mod after mod. It looked like something from a mad scientist but the little thing did teach me one very valuable lesson, which is still on of my key indicators and that's how to roast by smell. Learn the smells and you can roast them with anything.

I actually still have the thing an came across the recently and was looking at it, trying to figure out what all those switches and controls I had mounted in a box did. It had been so long since I had used it, I was looking and wondering how it worked, but at the time, it worked very well.