Quote:
Originally Posted by Blak Smyth
What machine does everybody use to roast?
I am looking to upgrade to something bigger & better.
I really do not want to spend $700-$1000 for a good grill drum.
Is the Behmor 1600 any good? Are the Hottops worth the extra money?
Also do you roast indoors?
I have been reading reviews and they all seem nice but I can't find any comparisons.
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Shane, i have the Behmor. For me, it was a great investment. It can do up to 1lb batches, isn't that hard to clean, and has all the different roast temp curves and profiles that you can really custom roast anything you want.
I'd say I have 25-30 roasts on it now. The only complaint is the wire drum, if you want to call it a complaint. Even though the wire mesh has faily small squared holes, on small peaberry sized beans, you will have some fall through. Not really a big issue.
I do use mine in the basement. There is some smoke generated, but not too bad if you stay out of 2nd crack. Start going into that roast range and you'll get a lot of smoke production. Otherwise, the built in smoke suppression works fairly well. Your house will smell of roasted coffee though, which is to be expected.
One trick i read about on the Behmor forums is to do a quick 2 minute preroast of the beans. Just turn it on and after 2 minutes turn off, then setup your actual roast. This preheats teh unit and the beans a bit, but not enough to trip the built in thermocouple.