I am about to pick up a new hottop and am wondering what does the outdoor temperature need to be before it is a good idea to roast outside? I doubt it can be done in the dead of winter during a snowstorm and produce good results, but what about 40 degrees? 20? 30? 50? 60? How cold is it a good idea to do outdoor roasting with a hottop?

Thanks!

I roast when its about 40F out. No problem...

I've roasted when it was 20*F outside with my HT-B but I'm inside venting out a window. Seriously though I can see a difference in how the HT responds with only a 10*F drop (60*F vs 70*F) in the room I'm roasting in so I'd advise keeping the batch size small if you are roasting outside in cold temps.

Randy G. wrote:Just be sure to read and follow the excellent instructional manual that comes with it.*1

You need to have that on Kindle, its a looooooong read

It's not much of an issue here in the San Gabriel Valley, but my HT lives and works outdoors 24/7/365. The lowest environmental temp in my log for this roaster is 39F. If there were problems beyond sitting outside on a cool night with bare feet, I didn't write them down.

My previous roaster, a Behmor, was more sensitive to environmental temps.

BDL

I roast in the garage with a door open for ventilation. This is also where I store the HT so it is pretty cold to start. It takes longer to warm up, obviously, since it's cold. I put on a winter coat but the roasts have all turned out as expected.

Randy G. wrote:
I have roasted in my garage when the temperatures were at or even a bit below freezing and with snow on the ground. If the line voltage is at about 115 or above you should have no problem.

You can certainly roast with the HT under those conditions but your profiles will be limited. I get 117v at my outlets & in order to get the 9 minute 1C times I wanted with a 227g batch I needed to bump the voltage with a Variac & I'm roasting inside(large fan in window) near a woodstove all winter. I set the Variac to 123v before turning on the HT so I see 120v minimum throughout the roast.

boar_d_laze wrote:
My previous roaster, a Behmor, was more sensitive to environmental temps.

BDL

I've used the Behmor extensively outside, and in, but moved it eventually for exclusive inside use. I've also always preheated the Behmor. Stacking a large stainless bowl and chopping blocks to raise the roaster closer to a rangehood exhaust fan was the other issue, which almost fixed any inside smoke residual, lately, for a couple hand towels affixed with 3 clothespins around the fan's exhaust shrouding totally to encompass any and all smells. Hot or cold never was as much a difference, rather being the Behmor's value to me, inside for placement alongside shelves holding an all-metal slicer, crockpot, microwave, breadmachine, & etc. On top the washer or dryer, out in the garage, well, seem unjustifiably so cruel to a Behmor.