I thought some of you may be interested in this page...

https://www.coffeeshrub.com/quest-m6-co ... aster.html

Ok, this is interesting. $1900 is a little higher than I was hoping, however, still not bad when considering the other options, particularly since it comes with the tray and fan for cooling.

The specs on the web page say 1100W, the tag on the roaster in one of the images says 1500W. I'm guessing 1500 is correct and 1100 was a carryover typo from the M3. Either way, that means it will work on a standard 15A outlet, no 20A required. Is 1500W really going to be enough to roast a full pound?

The specs on the web page say 1100W, the tag on the roaster in one of the images says 1500W. I'm guessing 1500 is correct and 1100 was a carryover typo from the M3. Either way, that means it will work on a standard 15A outlet, no 20A required. Is 1500W really going to be enough to roast a full pound?

You beat me to it ; that's the first thing I wanted to see, as the Behmor Jake reportedly will need a 20-Amp circuit. With many of us roasting in the back yard, usually, we have only standard 15-Amp circuits available.

As for whether this is enough power, I think so. In my M3-MK-II, I regularly roast half-pound batches with its 1100-Watt elements. I've measured with a Kill-A-Watt and it generally runs ~1200 flat out at the end of a 10-foot heavy-duty extension cord. If I'm not careful, my roasts are actually a bit too fast for my liking, at about 9-minutes. I start at wide-open until 150 C, then cut back through to the end, to about 800-900 Watts, depending on the bean. I could probably go up a bit, but, realistically, I'm probably near the max. So, with a third more power on the M6 and, apparently, an insulated drum, I'm guessing that a pound would max this thing out.

I'm interested in knowing a few other things about it. I've never liked the chaff collector on the M3 for back-to-back batches (I usually do 4 to 6 batches at a time), as it needs to be vacuumed out about every other batch or the airflow suffers. So, I'm curious how the new chaff collector works. I wonder how they do the insulation. I also wonder if they've changed the airflow, from suction to pressure. The M3 has the fan on the dirty side and it picks up a lot of crap. It is a bit of a PITA to get it out and soak off the crud. With the cooler being outboard, that fan no longer needs to do double-duty; so moving it to the clean side of the flow would be a huge improvement.

Food for thought for those considering this all electric model without probes etc. I was also amused that you have to sign a waiver at Coffee Shrub to buy it, or so I read.

I considered all these machines when I bought my MCR 500gram. Current price on that is $4400 (figure $500 for delivery and propane connections). However, over two holidays, I have sold enough coffee (roughly 300 pounds) to cover that. Now before you say too much work, let me share this. Most of these sales were 10-20 bags per person for holiday gifts. The trick was let them make their own labels. If anyone wants more info on what you need to do, PM me. For example, my dentist has done this two years in a row. Also, real estate agents or just friends looking for an interesting holiday gift.

The MCR is a workhorse, without a huge footprint. I have mine on a 30x48 table on wheels. Plenty of room for a computer and other workspace to spare. Venting is super easy with this machine and doesn't have to be permanent. I have mine on propane.

So if you are going to go in on this to upgrade consider how it easy it would be to go for full control - air speed, drum speed, gas with a PID and two thermocouples.

There's also the Cormorant CR600 which costs about $2000 delivered in the U.S. With the larger burner Johan has been installing since last Fall it can now roast 700 gram batches easily.

And the Aillio Bullet at 2700 if you want to stay electric, but with much more in the way of roasting software. Also claims a larger batch size of 2.2 pounds.

The thing that appeals to me about the Quest is the simplicity, price, and small footprint/weight. I could likely set it up on top of my gas stove inside, have any smoke pulled down my pretty powerful downdraft vent, and never have to deal with the elements outside or in my garage (both in terms of personal comfort and as a roasting variable). It could then go away in a cabinet. More power to those of you who can set up a large roaster semi-permanently indoors, but my wife wouldn't go for it.

I'd be interested in the cormorant if the lead time wasn't so long. What can I say? I'm impatient. As mentioned previously, some of the technical issues I continue to see cropping up on the Bullet forum continue to dissuade me from that purchase. If I'm going to spend nearly $3K on a Bullet that'll have to go in my garage, then I start thinking about just going for a small commercial-style roaster.

Right now I'm torn between just pulling the trigger on the M6 or buying one of the 500g-or-so commercial-style roasters. The Arc roaster seems like a good compromise in terms of price and features, with owners here generally seeming happy with the purchase based on my searches. Decisions, decisions.

Imo they should think about some kind of upgrade to venting of the quest. Would be nice to connect venting pipe directly to the back of the roaster. With possibility to upgrade older versions aswell.

MattS wrote:I could likely set it up on top of my gas stove inside, have any smoke pulled down my pretty powerful downdraft vent, and never have to deal with the elements outside or in my garage (both in terms of personal comfort and as a roasting variable).

You mean like this?

MattS wrote:It could then go away in a cabinet. More power to those of you who can set up a large roaster semi-permanently indoors, but my wife wouldn't go for it.

I highly recommend the cart (an inexpensive AV cart from Amazon), especially if you add instrumentation. Before I had the cart, it took at least an extra half an hour to setup and tear down the roaster, computer connections, bean cooler, etc.

MattS wrote:I'd be interested in the cormorant if the lead time wasn't so long.

Great things have been said about this roaster. It hadn't been launched when I bought my Quest. But the Huky was in the running. What ultimately kept me from going with a small gas roaster was the prospect of using bottled propane indoors. That's a code violation. I concluded that if I ever go with gas I'll clear out a space in the basement and have the gas company extend our propane line to the roaster with a code-compliant hookup. That would also require extensive modification to a basement window for proper ventilation. I want to make sure I'm into roasting for the long run before going that route.

Makatitu wrote:Imo they should think about some kind of upgrade to venting of the quest. Would be nice to connect venting pipe directly to the back of the roaster. With possibility to upgrade older versions aswell.

Agreed, but see photos above. I was able to rig up an exhaust connection to my Quest using a metal dryer hose adapter and some lightweight woodstove exhaust parts. I drilled a hole in the dryer hose adapter and attached it over the Quest vent slots using one of the existing screws that secure the back panel. I sealed it against the panel with aluminum tape. When cleaning the roaster I usually replace the dryer exhaust hose and soak the adapters in Jo-Glo. It's a bit of a pain to re-tape, though.