I think I've narrowed it down to the Hoky or the Quest. I own a propane company so the fact that the Hoky uses propane is not a negative for me. I also have a commercial range hood in my home so smoke won't be an issue if I use it on the stove top. I've just got to decide which will work best for my actual use. I like to mod things and I think I'd started to get ahead of myself on the electronics. I think with either machine I need to start out with the analog setup and once I truly understand it and am satisfied with the coffee I make I can look into "computerizing" my roasting. I appreciate all of the input and look forward to more suggestions.
Herman On Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 4:57 PM, Benjamin McCafferty <[email protected]> wrote: > Hey Herman! > You’re getting some great opinions and I think you’re on the right track. > I don’t have a lot to add on the current techie side, but I will say that > one thing keeps occurring to me about your comments. You talk a lot about > automation and repeatability, and that is indeed a good goal when you find > what you like for bread-and-butter. But, one thing I note about my own > experience is that there are variables that are out of your control to some > extent at the home level—fluctuations in room (green bean) temperature, > line voltage, etc. and these will impact your roast to some extent. I had a > favorite profile I used, but I almost always ended up manually ejecting the > beans to account for these things. > > My point is—when you visit most roasting studios, they still have little > trays of their “ideal” roast color for each blend, etc. and eject the beans > when a bit short of that target. There is still an element of “eye” or > “art” to this, in spite of how much science you bring to it. Much like > adjusting your grinder to improve a shot as you have changes in relative > humidity from day to day, you know? > > So to the previous post from Ira or one of the others, having a very > visible and manual machine is a great first step. You will learn a lot > about what you want, what do the stages look and sound like (first crack, > second crack, etc.), how is decaf different than regular, etc. and you will > need this to be able to find what you like and be able to program that in > to a machine later. > > Bottom line, I think you will find that roasting is a finicky thing, very > fun, and manual involvement is almost inevitable in my opinion. If you > don’t like that aspect, you may want to spend the time and money sampling > lots of blends from other roasters instead and going that route? > > I like Jonathan’s suggestion below a lot—and if you borrow my hottop you > can experiment with some programmed profiles and see how they vary from day > to day, even with identical times and temps! > > Anyway, just another angle on things. > best, > bmc > > > On Sep 27, 2016, at 11:56, herman dickens <[email protected]> wrote: > > Thanks, the more info and opinions I get the better! > > On Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 2:52 PM, Jonathan Stroum <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Quest M3 seems like a lot of $ for a 120 gram per roast output. Do I have >> that right? >> >> >> >> I buy from Sweet Maria’s (Vivace is less than a mile from me but $14 for >> 12 oz of beans is $$$). I use a Nesco roaster for ¼ lb batches. $150 from >> Sweet Marias. Very good introduction to the simple art of roasting and >> sampling beans from different areas of the world. I roast 3 or 4 batches >> in a row. Important to let roasted beans rest for 48 to 72 hours. Lots of >> info on Sweet Marias on every variety. >> >> >> >> $150 and beans to experiment with would let you get your feet wet and >> better prepare you for choosing a machine that’ll best support your >> ambitions. Fully manual wouldn’t be my first choice. Hottop looks great >> but, again, I’d get my feet wet first. >> >> >> >> Have fun! >> >> >> >> JPaul >> >> >> >> *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] *On >> Behalf Of *herman dickens >> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 27, 2016 10:01 AM >> *To:* [email protected] >> *Subject:* Re: Home Roasting >> >> >> >> Thanks for the reply. I'll be spending a lot of time researching before I >> buy. I've been reading almost constantly since I posted and am still trying >> to decide the best route. It looks like the Quest m3 is a great machine and >> since it's manual and quiet and has a trier should be a great machine. I >> will not need to do large batches so that's a plus as well. I am finding >> that it's more involved to get a good roast than I initially thought but >> that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think I will enjoy the >> experimentation. I'd rather buy a machine that I will be satisfied than end >> up upgrading every year or two. Still a lot of information to sort >> though.... >> >> >> >> On Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 11:49 AM, 'Mike Walsh' via Brewtus < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> I started with a modified popcorn popper where I could switch in and out >> both the high temp and the low temp heating coils and could control the >> fan. It took me maybe two hours and $25 in parts from Radio Shack. I wish >> I could point you to the info, but that was years ago. If you have a >> variac around you can get even more heat control, but just being able to >> switch the high and low coils in and out was enough for me to stretch >> roasts between 1st and 2nd crack, etc. >> >> >> >> I got VERY good coffee, including espresso, out of that setup, but >> ultimately the capacity wasn't high enough for my needs. >> >> >> >> I would not use an unmodified popper, but I'm sure you can probably find >> some decent info out there still on mods (I just did a Google and there are >> tons of pages still). >> >> The big benefit of using a popper for some time is that you can very >> easily probe the bean mass, smell it, see it, hear it. You really learn, >> understand, and recognize all the roasting stages. >> >> >> >> Once you move to a more closed roaster, you are going to need all that >> experience because your sensory information is going to be reduced. >> >> >> >> If for no other reason than that, I'd do 10-20 popper roasts. >> >> >> >> I've been on a Behmor 1600 since virtually the day they came out, and I >> get very good roasts, including pushing into light Vienna for espresso. >> Recently I upgraded to the new control panel and the side panel with the >> fan. In my experience, the Behmor is a bargain of a roaster and you get >> good results, but do make sure that you regularly clean the inside as well >> as doing minor disassembly and really clean the fans well. For whatever >> reason, if I get more than minimal buildup on my fans the roaster doesn't >> work nearly as well. >> >> >> On Monday, September 26, 2016 at 11:06:19 AM UTC-4, bmacpiper wrote: >> >> Hey Herman, >> >> I used to roast a lot, and really enjoyed it. I’ve gone through a few >> roasters and my last was/is a hottop. It was really good, and I hear great >> things about the behmor also. >> >> In my opinion, using a popcorn popper to decide if you like roasting >> would be like using Folger’s to decide if you like espresso. You need to >> have a decent tool to get the good result, and if you use a crappy tool you >> can’t really conclude you don’t like the result. >> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Brewtus" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Brewtus" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Brewtus" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
