Home coffee roasters, a question...

I am trying to put together my Christmas list for my MIL and I need some relatively low cost items. I have been wanting to get into coffee roasting for a while and have seen a lot of people have success with the air popcorn poppers. I was hoping to get some advice from those in the know...

What specific brand/model numbers are known to work well? I have seen a lot of people have good luck with the West Bend Poppery and Poppery II. Seems that these are older, discontinued models. That leads to my next question....

Can poppers that were used for popcorn be used for coffee without noticeable flavors? MIL is big on e-bay, so getting one of these used Poppery poppers would work well.

Thanks.

I am very intrigued to do this as well, here is a link from a popular coffee forum since I can offer no personal experience:

http://coffeegeek.com/guides/popperroasting

Also, James did a BBR episode about a year ago on this very subject if you are interested in watching it (it was video IIRC)

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=september-12-2008-roasting-coffee

I buy my green coffee from Sweet Maria's...

http://www.sweetmarias.com/

They have a lot of information and tips for different methods.

The naysayer's tell you the Popcorn popper can't have the screen in the bottom...the chaff will drop down inside and catch fire.

Hum Bug.... I've been using one for almost a year now. If it's going to catch fire...it's going to happen because the chaff flew out...settled near the intake at the bottom of the air popper and was sucked in from that end. And that can happen to any of them. It's not going to magically by gravity fall down through a 25 mph breeze to get to the heating element.

Anyway. I use a Poplite...like:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5969519

Remove the yellow plastic top...but retain the measuring cup. Go to LOWE's or Home Depot...and pickup a 3" Glass Chimney and a peice of hardwood dowel. Go to the kitchen department store and get two mesh strainers with handles...and a hot glove.

You're in business.

GO OUTSIDE!!

Have an extension cord handy to plug the popper into. And all the other peices mentioned above.

Measure your coffee beans with the little yellow meaureing cup. It's about 1/4 of a lb I think. Pour them into the popper.

Place the glass chimney ontop of the popper. ( this keeps the beans from flying out while they're roasting...and if you keep the glass clean...it will allow you to watch the roasting.)

Stick the dowel down inside the chimney ( this is to stir the beans)

Plug your popper in...and quickly devote your time to stiring the beans with the dowel ( Make sure you're wearing a hot glove or the hot air will burn your hand)

As the beans begin to dry they get lighter...and really start dancing around in there. At that point you can remove the dowel...and then just hold the popper with two hands and gently gimbal it around to make sure all the beans get roasted evenly. Careful not to knock the glass chimney out while you do this.

The beans will start blowing off chaff (paper like outer covering) unless you've got decaf beans which have much less chaff. This stuff blows everywhere so you don't want to be inside.

Next the beans will start to darken and they'll reach "first crack" as the cellulose bonds break...it sounds like little snap noises. You'll hear it slow down for a little while or even stop for a while and then there will be a "Second" crack...which is a little shorter snapping sound at a noticibly different pitch. That's where I stop. It's in the range of Vienna roast. But you can go on to Italian roast or French Roast if you so please.

You'll get a hang for it after a while.

At the point you want to stop roasting...Quickly unplug the popper, remove the chimney with your hot glove hand, Pour the roasted beans into one of the strainers. Then transfer the beans back and forth between the two strainers.. This will allow them to cool rapidly and stop further roasting, it releases any smoke, and helps dislodge remaining chaff from the beans. WHen you're happy that they're not cooking anymore...put them on a paper plate to cool for a bit...and then into a valve bag to protect them from oxidation and to allow them to off gas a bit. Most coffee needs to off gas for 24 -48 hrs before you grind and brew with them.

Enjoy!

And always prepare for the unexpected...just in case the naysayers eventually prove to be right...roast in an area that IF the popper does catch fire...you can unplug and walk away..and it won't destroy property or allow the fire to spread.

If you do a few batches in quick sucession...the thermostat inside the popper may trip. Unplug it and let it sit for 10 -15 minutes to cool...and it will reset itself.

A used popper will be fine but it must be the recirculating kind. If you look in the bottom there will be vents arranged around the bottom of the roasting cylinder that blow the kernels/beans around in a circle.

The other sort of model has a mesh at the bottom and the air blows straight up, causing the kernels to jump around. This is OK for popcorn but for coffee it can cause it to scorch (if I remember correctly) due to not necessarily being in constant movement (this is also a fire hazard).

After my recirculating model burnt out I wasn't able to find another one out there at any local stores so I bought an iRoast 2 (which is great).

Edit: Ha I see chuggs beat me to it. Well, grain of salt and all that.

chuggs said:

The naysayer's tell you the Popcorn popper can't have the screen in the bottom...the chaff will drop down inside and catch fire.

Click to expand...

I always thought it was because green coffee has quite a bit of moisture content, and as such is rather heavy and doesn't start moving around until said moisture gets burned off. At least in recirculating models the beans that are receiving direct heat from the vents can spin a bit while the beans on the inside of the cylinder don't really move.

Whereas in the bottom-blower models the beans on the bottom getting the heat cannot move as much with all the other beans on top of them.

But this is all wild speculation and I know lots of people roast just fine with bottom blowers, so who knows.

Also, another vote for Sweet Marias. Tom is awesome.

I use a Fresh Roast Coffee Roaster, it sells for $89. You can get it from Sweet Marias and they have a deal where you can buy it with green beans and get a discount. It's a good entry level roaster. I roast in an apartment and have no problems with the coffee smell. I love the smell!

Thing is, there's a new Fresh Roast model coming out real soon. I have the FR 8+ and a Behmor 1600 (but the behmor is $300). Maybe ask for a gift cert for Sweet Maria's and hold off til the new model is out.

I use a thrift store used popper ($2.95) unmodified. It leaves some to be desired, but I only go a little past the first crack for a really fruity light roast, so it works for me. I do like the sound of Chuggs' method though for darker roasting. No reason a $3 used one won't work though, and then if you torch it you won't feel too guilty, and SWMBO won't be mad at a lost investment...

I have the Fresh Roast 8+

It is okay, I am on my second one since the first one burnt itself up after 6 mo.

Customer service at Fresh Beans Inc. is pretty deplorable, took 3 months to squeeze a replacement from them.

I get beans from Sweet Marias

There's kind of a balance to strike between cost and DIY. You can get a dog bowl and a hot air gun and do everything by hand. You can get a popcorn popper and still do most everything yourself. Or, you can get one of any number of increasingly complex and expensive roasters. Personally, I like this one so far:

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.hearthwareiRoast2.php

Doesn't give a huge amount of control, but you can set some temperature curves and watch the beans roast. Pretty good for starting out, IMO, since it's pretty hard to ruin batches of beans with the thing and the capacity is about right (for me) to roast two or three 10 cup drip pots of coffee.

I do mine almost exactly like Chuggs. I use a chopstick and stir until the first crack (when the beans begin popping, or making a cracking sound).

Then I stop stirring and place the chimney on top, holding it in place with a gloved hand. This "first crack" will cease and there'll be a period of no cracking or popping sounds for several seconds before the "second crack" begins. This second crack will be quieter but much more rapid than the first crack.

I usually let this second crack go for 5-10 seconds, resulting in dark brown beans. Any longer and the beans begin smoking and burning and will be a dark black and covered with an oily sheen. I suppose some people like this Starbucks-like roast but I don't know any serious roaster who do.

I then dump the beans into a colander and either stir with my chopstick or pour back and forth between two colanders to rapidly cool.

The photos below will show you how I use mine. Note the popcorn popper (I use a Toastmaster) has hot air vents coming out the sides of the bottom and not from below. Note also the buildup of 5 years worth of coffee on the once clear chimney.

Use this outdoors, or at least in the garage, because chaff from the coffee beans will go everywhere. I find that once the temps get below 45F or so it takes too long for the popper to heat the beans sufficiently and I then resort to my FreshRoast indoors under the range hood.

For what it is worth...

The NEW Fresh Roast 8+ is going to have USB capability. They will have roasting software so that you can create roasting curves and run it from your PC. The roasting chamber is also much larger, which will be nice.

NICE...

Been roasting on my replacement Fresh Roast 8+ today, bought EVERY bourbon cultivar that Sweet Marias sells, 2 pounds of each. MMMMM

The Pol said:

For what it is worth...

The NEW Fresh Roast 8+ is going to have USB capability. They will have roasting software so that you can create roasting curves and run it from your PC. The roasting chamber is also much larger, which will be nice.

NICE...

Been roasting on my replacement Fresh Roast 8+ today, bought EVERY bourbon cultivar that Sweet Marias sells, 2 pounds of each. MMMMM

Click to expand...

Sounds like a nice upgrade from my Fresh Roast 8. I used to order green beans exclusively from Sweet Maria's but my last two orders have been from burman.com. The prices are generally better though the selection isn't as great.

Well, I bought a coffee press today, after some reading and learning, I thought there is no point in buying the best beans, roasting them at home, and then tossing them in a drip coffee maker.

So, I get home and use the press for the first time... totally worth it.

The Pol said:

Well, I bought a coffee press today, after some reading and learning, I thought there is no point in buying the best beans, roasting them at home, and then tossing them in a drip coffee maker.

So, I get home and use the press for the first time... totally worth it.

Click to expand...

Are you using a burr grinder?

dataz722 said:

Are you using a burr grinder?

Click to expand...

Yes.

I have the Fresh Roast 8 Plus

Burr Grinder

French Press

Totally an awesome coffee experience

I will probably seriously look at the NEW Fresh Roast 8 Plus with USB and roasting software when it hits the market. That is almost too cool to pass up

I've been using daily the same Bodum grider I bought at Target for over five years and it's never failed me. I can make any grind with the exception of the extra fine espresso grind (for that I use my Turkish coffee grinder)which I rarely drink anyway. That and my French press, along with some Kenya, Ethiopian, or Sumatran coffee gets me on my way each morning.

This seems like a cool way to get into roasting my own coffee. Just a technical question though - will I still need to manually stir the beans if I'm using one of the hot air poppers with the side vents? Isn't that the purpose of the side vents, to help stir the kernels, or am I missing something?

Thanks!

RIBeer said:

will I still need to manually stir the beans if I'm using one of the hot air poppers with the side vents? Isn't that the purpose of the side vents, to help stir the kernels, or am I missing something?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

For the first minute or two the beans just sit there without moving and that's when I stir. If you don't stir at the beginning the beans exposed to the vents will be much darker than the rest, resulting in an uneven roast. I think that after the first couple of minutes the beans become drier and lighter and they do move around quite a bit - kind of like a rolling boil when brewing. That's when I place the glass chimney on top and discontinue stirring.

I started with a West Bend Poppery II and moved to a Stir Crazy/Convection Oven (known as SC/CO or SC/TO). I love it! It costs under $100 to put together and can roast a pound at a time. Here is a link to SC/CO roaster:

http://biobug.org/coffee/turbo-crazy/

I've been roasting for 3 years now and will never go back! I typically buy my beans from Green Coffee Buying Club and occasionally from Sweet Marias.

One thing is for sure, coffee is a great, person and inexpensive gift to give to friends and relatives! :rockin:

Big fan of the Iroast2, too bad about the small batch size. I bought a Behmor 1600 and it's been about a year and I would say I'm completely undewhelmed by the product, big batch size and not real smokey, but not good for dark roasts, not very programmable, and very sensitive to voltage irregularities. My Iroast2 lasted almost 2 years of constant use before burning out. Big props to the coffee, knowledge and merchandise from Sweet Marias.

Thanks for the clarification Summersolstice!

Well, just got two hot air poppers via ebay, but I'm having trouble with finding a thicker glass chimney. All the hardware stores around me have this glass ones, but they seem like they would be prone to breaking, especially if I'm poling around with a dowel. Where did you guys get the heavy glass chimneys from?

What is the benefit of the glass chimneys exactly? Does it help to hold in the heat? Is it less likely to melt? Both?

The glass chimney simply keeps the beans from flying out of the popper, and it also directs the chaff up and away. I think the thin chimney will work fine. As I said earlier, I only stir my beans before placing the chimney on top. Once they get hot they get lighter and start moving around very fast so I don't see any need to stir. My beans always come out evenly roasted with this method. The key is to not over fill. I use about 2/3 cup of beans at a time.

Cool. Can't wait to pick up some beans and give it a whirl. Thanks for the tips!

Same here, I am in the market for a hot air popper at the moment.

Revive dead thread!

thought i'd share my roasting contraption. The cans keep the beans in and direct the chaff out. a little less fragile than the glass chimney, but not as easy to see inside. I use the $15 poplite from walmart.

That looks a lot like my old popcorn roaster, I recently donated to Beerrific so he could get things going. I am currently using a breadmaker and heat gun so I can easily roast .5# - 1# without any problem. Works great for me.

Hmmmmm. I feel like I saw your heat gun/breadmaker on sweet marias website or somewhere. How'd to rig it all together? It would be nice to roast more than 3oz at a time on the cheap.

I've been using a Stir Crazy / Turbo Oven (SC/TO) style unit for several years now. I only do 1# batches in it and usually roast 2 batches every two weeks.

For those not familiar with this style - the popcorn popper bottom provides the stirring mechanism while the turbo oven top provides the heat. A springform pan ring provides the spacer between the two. I've built a few of these for others and I usually average about $75 total in cost for them.

This is not mine exactly... but, you get the general idea. The differences are that i cut a hole in the top of my breadmaker and simply stuff the heatgun in the opening. I also wired up an on/off switch for the "kneading" mode because it always went into bake mode: