So I came across a Salton (1200w) popcorn popper while at Goodwill and I couldn't resist trying it out. I have never roasted beans before but came across Sweet Maria's videos showing how. I don't even know that much about roast types, but figure this is the best way to learn.

• 1. Bought a pound bag of Sumatra green beans from Groundworks (going to order online next time, $$$$).
  2. Setup the popper over the utility sink with a good light source attached.
  3. Ran the popper for about 30 seconds to heat it up.
  4. Then (with it off) added just under 1/2 cup of the beans.
  5. Started timer and watched.
  6. 4 minutes in the first crack happened. It continued to crack for about a minute.
  7. Turned off 5:45mins as it was looking fairly dark, but I did not hear (or maybe I missed) the second crack.
  8. Poured into metal sive and took outside and tossed beween two sives to cool and get some of the chaff off.
  9. Then put into small glass jar and have lid lightly on (to allow CO2 leakage).
  10. Now waiting till (tomorrow??) to try and drink it.

Any thoughts feedback would be great. I am going to try and remove the plastic hood and attach a tin can as a chimney next to see if first crack happens sooner.

I have a lot to learn about roast quality and such

Fun, huh?:-) I think you may want first crack to happen later, not sooner.

Also, if you want to try it now just grind your beans and let them sit a few minutes to let co2 out. Should be good to go. With age they may get better but it'll give you a good idea how they taste if you can't wait.

I started with a regular popper and am currently here http://www.homeroasters.org/php/forum/v ... ad_id=4286 after being extremely disappointed with my initial results. Point being, you really have no idea what you have gotten yourself into, good luck on your journey!

Looks like a City+ roast to me.

HoldTheOnions wrote:I started with a regular popper and am currently here http://www.homeroasters.org/php/forum/v ... ad_id=4286 after being extremely disappointed with my initial results. Point being, you really have no idea what you have gotten yourself into, good luck on your journey!

Wow that is awesome! Franken-popper!

EvanOz85 wrote:Looks like a City+ roast to me.

Thanks, had to google what you were talking about and now I know about the different stages! I don't think I achieved second crack, but it's so hard to tell because it's loud. I'll have to roast a batch and not worry about it's quality to see if I can hear all the stages.

First crack seemed to last too long, a read it might mean the beans are unevenly heating, which will cause problems for second crack and overall quality of the roast. Thinking tin-can chimney will help, but then I'll have the chaff just shooting out all over the place... hmmm

Roast is coming out sweet. Probably because it's not getting hot enough in there.

I tried to remove the hood and placed a tin can on top with a little allumnium foil hood, but when I tried that, comes 7mins it never hit first crack. Dang it I'm going to have to upgrade my equiptment

I started with a popper about 12 years ago. The rabbit hole goes very deep.