Roaster review: Behmor 1600

[germantown rob]

Well first I want to say Joe Behm and his customer service was great and was needed right up to the end of it's life.

It is a great machine for the average home roaster, not an over zealous one like me. If a pound a week is what you are after it will work great.

I had 3 fires in mine, 2 where big chaff fires, no big deal. 1 was bad, beans where burning and it was pretty scary. This bad fire happened with monsoon beans and never could find out why those water logged beans where trouble for the Behmor.

When my motor died after 5 months and the machine was sent out to get fixed under warranty it took 2 months to get it back I bought a Hottop. At some point many months after the Behmor returned and the warranty was up I tried it again and it wouldn't get a 1/4lb to second crack...it now takes up space in the graveyard of a basement. This completely justified the expense of the Hottop since I would have gone through 3 Behmors at this point.

In the end I give the machine a lot of credit since it effectively created a roaster out of me. However the Hottop fits me better and can handle the abuse I throw at it, also any repair or part can be replaced by me, You can't even change the behmor heating lights yourself.

[althekillr]

i second the customer service as great. mince came with a dented piece and he replace it right away.

mine has been working fine. but I'm a pound a week roaster. love mine, love the reduced smoke feature. to hear the cracks now is a big help. and my coffee does taste much better. i came from a i-roast.

[Cigargal]

It sounds like the roaster might just work for me. I roast no more than a lb per week. Have to wait until next month to fit it in the budget so we will have to drink store bought for a while(ack!!!) Thanks for the info fellas!

[Noodles]

There seems to be an influx of refurbished units, which worries me a bit. Are they returns or defective units sent back for repair/replacements.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by bonggoy

There seems to be an influx of refurbished units, which worries me a bit. Are they returns or defective units sent back for repair/replacements.

Originally the Behmor was to go into the main stream of infomercials and be sold by Ronco, that fell through when Ronco went out of business. I bought one when they first where available and there was some kinks still getting worked out, Joe Behm was working very hard to solve these issues. I would imagine a refurb would be terrific of the price is right. Even $300 new is a great price considering a Gene Cafe is $500 and a Hottop is $750 to $1000.

I think the Behmor is a great product just not for me.

I have been wanting to start roasting my own beans and was looking at getting one of these when they were first released. I decided to wait and check out the reviews after "John-Q" had a chance to play with it. I'm glad I waited!! With the issues I've read about, it really doesn't sound like a machine I want to have in my house.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by ashmaster

I have been wanting to start roasting my own beans and was looking at getting one of these when they were first released. I decided to wait and check out the reviews after "John-Q" had a chance to play with it. I'm glad I waited!! With the issues I've read about, it really doesn't sound like a machine I want to have in my house.

There is no roaster out there that won't have huge warnings about fires in their manuals. There is very high heat and paper thin chaff floating around, this is a fire waiting to happen in most roasting conditions.

The volume a Behmor roast compared to the air roasters means more chaff and more mass to retain heat but you do get more than 100g of roasted beans in the end. The manual has been revised for the Behmor many times since I bought it, I suspect because of people like me. I am sure I would have had problems with the air roasters as well trying to get 2-4lbs a week out of them in 2 roasting sessions.

The one thing I really miss on the Behmor is the smoke suppression. I would have 1/2 the smoke produced with 280g of beans compared to the hottop and that is a good thing if you have ever been sealed up in a room with roasted beans smoke, pretty toxic stuff.

This comes from a guy that wants to get this for my next roaster
http://www.diedrichroasters.com/ir12.html after I build the addition with a root cellar for bean storage.