Had it again this morning. Taste as expected. I assume that this was just a fluke, likely due to whatever point the initial roast stopped. In the past I have had a roast stop early (like very early) and just thrown it out. Will be back at it again this weekend and will pay more attention this time.
Great thread. Have been considering moving beyond the popcorn roaster mostly to increase precision/save time (it really only does 40g batches effectively). Any other comps to the Behmor to look into?
check out the options at Bodhileafcoffee.com. No affiliation, just a happy customer. I am seriously considering a Aillio Bullet.
I continue to be very happy with my decision to start roasting again. I roast 14 oz. green on the weekend and then let it rest until the last batch runs out around mid-week. This cycle is working well so far. Cost is low and quality, if not equal to the best of what I was getting elsewhere, is close, and sometimes very, very close.
Question re. cleaning, what all do you clean? Just wipe down all interior surfaces or what?
I use diluted Simple Green every 5 roasts, spraying it on all surfaces except near the temp probes on the right side of the Behmor. Then I rub it off, paying a lot of attention to keep the glass cleanāincluding over the light bulb. Then I do a 10 minute or so dry roast to burn it all off before the next coffee roast. You will get a lot of coffee oils and dirt off the machine. Every 50 roasts or so, I take off the right and back panels and vacuum it out, cleaning and washing whatever needs it. I also use a small hand vacuum at the end of each roast instead of the little brush provided.
Just bought 25 lbs of green Angel Mountain El Salvador at Bodhi Leafābest coffee I have had since Las Rosas Guatemala, second year in a row for this single source bean.
Am debating buying an Aillio Bullet nowāhave gone back and forth w/the company, reading reviews, debating between gas and electric, vacillating. Will do up to one kilo at a time and gives control over the roast like a professional roaster, half the price to boot!
Where is the best place to buy kraft paper or foil bags? Iād like to have my beans in something that looks nice for gift giving, but donāt want to pay 35Ā¢/bag if possible.
Iāve been using theseā¦ 1 lb bag 13.99 per 100 (1/2 lb 11.99/100). I am OCD enough to print large Avery 6874 labels with color graphics to complete the packageā¦
Thanks David. This is exactly what I was looking for. Much appreciated.
Thanks for reviving this. Have had some kickass roasts with sweet mariaās guatemala Acatenango geisha beans even with the popcorn roaster.
Curious what people do to reduce chaff that donāt completely dislodge from your beans? Especially with the geisha beans, I tend to have more chaff buildup than say a kenyan AA. I dump my fresh roast onto a mesh strainer, and tend to blow and remove chaff through friction, but thatās clearly a novice technique. Any tips?
Faryan, I have a Behmor and I simply agitate the beans in the container/cage. Iāve also seen mesh colanders used. Some beans seem to have more chaff left on than others.
Speaking of Guatemala, the new crop should be arriving on US shores soon. Iām going to try to do some roasting this weekend and want to use up what I already have before buying more beans, but an assortment of Guatemalan is definitely my next order ā definitely my favorite country for beans.
Just to revive this thread, curious for how long you guys let your beans sit after roasting. Iāve read overnight, but I tend to get best results diving in day 2-3. Also do you hermetically seal a fresh roast in a jar or leave the jar a little loose to let gases escape?
I usually find most beans taste better after sitting for a week. I usually donāt keep my beans in a jar; most often, I just put them in a ziploc.
Funny, I use the same novice techniqueā¦I have this large, plastic āstrainerā (for lack of a better word), it has fairly large openings. I swirl the cooled beans in this for a bit and it gets most, of not all of the remaining chaff out.
I seem to roast when I run out so most of the times the beans only sit overnight. Iāve tried to plan further ahead because I do think they are better after 2-3 days.
I use a metal canister with a gasket for a tighter seal but really for the look and convenience. I do let the freshly roasted beans sit out in the colander for a few hours before putting them in the canister but I doubt it really makes a difference.
for me, 2-7 days post roast is best. Find no difference leaving beans out after roastāthey get enough oxygen. Store them in one lb plastic bags with a one way valve (from Sweet Maria). Reusable and itās amazing how the bag plumps repeatedly as beans blow off CO2. Usually do two weeks of roast every other weekend. Last weekend because kids were home and wanted beans, I roasted 10 lbs one at a time. Wore me out.
99% of what I roast is Guat. Once had over 2 dozen different ones. Love Huehuetenango Guat beans. Buy usually at Bodhi Leaf, lots cheaper than SM.
We have similar tastes in beans (and shoes). I love the milk chocolate notes I get from Guatemalan beans.
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Iāve had some minor issues with the Behmor latelyā¦looks like I will be making a call to customer service.
Hopefully youāre using a zero water filter. My first behmor clogged up but it was replaced at no charge. I also discovered just how many disolved solids were in our water, about 200 ppm. brita filters are no god at filtering out dissolved solids.
A few weeks ago my wife was roasting in our eight year old Hottop and the darn thing caught on fire. There were actual flames in the roasting chamber. I tried to put it out quickly but couldnāt. So I brought the unit outside. Tried covering it with a towel ā didnāt work. Tried covering it with my grill cover and eventually it went out. This went on for several minutes. There was so much smoke in our house that it stunk like, well, like we had a fire for several days.
I put the unit in the basement to look at it later figuring a new model would be in our future. After a couple of weeks of living on store bought beans (blech) I took a look at the burn victim on Sunday. I carefully took the unit apart, vacuumed it, cleaned it thoroughly, and changed the filters. I plugged it in and it started right up. It roasted just like the day I bought it.
A few lessons learned:
- Store bought coffee beans are the devil.
- Probably a good idea to do a thorough cleaning every six months or so.
- The Hottop was worth every penny I paid for it.
Great story-we have a HotTop also. Luckily it hasnāt caught on fire!
We bought this one probably 9-10 years ago. About 2 years ago the heating element failed. I decided we had gotten plenty of use out of it, I would just buy a new one. After looking at prices for a new one (+/- $1,300?) I started looking to see if I could repair what we had. Iām no expert on electronics, or repairs, but I thought I would give it a shot. HotTop has all the parts for the machine online. I emailed them, and they were incredibly helpful with tips and videos for repairs. They told me these were built to be able to repair and last a long time.
It was quite the project and took me a week or so to pull it all apart, clean as many parts as I could (6 years of bean oil buildup is hard to get rid of). I replaced the heating element, upgraded the control pad, and replaced a few other worn parts. Probably cost me $250 and it has worked great ever since. The guys at HotTop were amazingly helpful as well.
Our HotTop has been a workhorse, and itās great that even I can fix whatever goes wrongā¦I told myself I would give it a thorough cleaning every 6 months tooā¦but I think I am behind schedule 
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