I realize the title of this thread might be odd. The Behmor has a reputation of being too slow, after all.

I had written up a fairly lengthy post with lots of words, but deleted all of that and would like to start with this question: what do you think of these numbers, which are more or less typical for my roasts?:

first crack at 11:00
first crack ends at 13:00 (I define this as a 10s gap between cracks)

2nd crack starts at 14:43

roast terminated at 15:00

I tend to roast with the power on high (manual mode) for almost the whole roasting cycle. I cut back in order to avoid err2 (overheating), and, more recently, to extend the time between 1st and 2nd crack.

I have been operating with the assumption that the Behmor needs to be pushed since it is slow and there is a limited ability to preheat. But I have started to wonder if the heating method tends to roast the outside before the inside, and perhaps I should back off on the power to avoid doing this.

Any thoughts on this?

What weight of beans are you using? Are you using a 1600 or a 1600+? I am a Behmor newbie with maybe 20 eight ounce roasts under my belt but those are the questions I would ask first.

Good questions.

I have the 1600+ and roast 8oz

I think your times are fairly normal. If you're going to second crack those times are probably OK but if you're looking for faster (~8:00 to FC) light roast coffees then the behmor will struggle.

The behmor also has next to no air flow which also affects the clarity in the coffee

Have you checked the voltage on the outlet you use? Are you using an extension cord? We are getting to second crack on hard beans inside of 13:30 using P1 auto. Just barely into second crack on very hard beans. Do you use the drum speed increase function when you want to extend crack times? About to make the leap to manual using 1 pound setting for eight ounces. As I said, I am a newbie but we are having fun roasting some great beans from Sweet Marias. The only trick now is not getting to far ahead of myself purchasing delectable sounding new release greens.

If I do 8 oz using the 8 oz setting on full power in manual mode, I get fc around 7:30. maybe 8 with a hard bean.

Brian, how do you manage that?

I will be taking my rebuilt 1600+ to my other house so that I can have fresh roasted beans while there.

I've been using it more and more just to get a handle on what I need to do to get a decent roast out of it.

I've not concerned myself with the time of the roast and just whack "C" at the start of first crack and hope for the best.

So far it has been better than pre-ground store mud but I do find the lack of control to keep it in the "it's OK" range of coffee roasting equipment.

I can say this about it though..... It takes far less time to roast coffee start to finish than it does just to pre-heat my SF-1 to a stable roasting temperature.

I've had my Behmor 1600 plus for a little over a month. Most of my roasts have been around the same size as you (8 oz) and I always use manual mode and keep it on max heat until I hear 1C. My average 1C time with 8 oz. is probs between 8:30 and 9:30 depending on the beans.

Still trying to get more flavor development...

The easiest way to slow a roast down is to increase the mass of beans.

I highly modified a Behmor with a dimmer controlling the heater - switches on the outside

I - run the heater full on until first crack - turn the heat down a bit. But control the rate by weighing the beans.

If you set up your heat as a constant - roast rate becomes mostly the weight of the beans (moisture content can matter a bit).