Small Batch Coffee Roaster Machine

How To Operate A Coffee Roasting Machine

• How To Operate A Coffee Roasting Machine?

How To Operate A Coffee Roasting Machine?In addition to the quality of the coffee roaster, the method used by the direct roaster also greatly determines the quality of the coffee beans after roasting. How to use a roaster to roast coffee properly?

Not only is it simple to start the machine and add green coffee, but the roasting process requires meticulousness, experience, and sophistication of the roaster. The way to use the coffee roaster of each roaster will be different, which will undoubtedly produce batches of coffee of varying quality. If you do not know how to use a coffee roaster proficiently, refer to this article.

Main Contents

Quality Components And Ease Of Maintenance

At the San Franciscan Roaster Company, we strive to offer the highest quality products to roastmasters all around the world. In order to achieve this distinction, we make use of only the highest quality materials and specifically design every roaster to make cleaning and maintenance as simple as possible. The SF6, as well as all our other roasters, is made with the finest motors and bearings as well as gas and electrical components. The SF6 comes equipped with self-igniting burners and a pressure gage to monitor BTU output. Not only are all the component that makes up the SF6 of the highest quality, but they are also implemented with ease of maintenance in mind. The motors, pipes, and cooling tray are removable for easy cleaning. Our roasters are known around the world for their superb roasting characteristics, remarkable reliability, and simplicity of use. Check out our small batch coffee roasters blog for more information.

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Where Do I Get Green Coffee Beans

There are many places that you can purchase green coffee beans online. You can reach out to various green coffee importers if you are willing to buy a large amount.

If you are looking to purchase a small amount for your own use then Iron and Fire showcase small amounts of greens.

If you are well acquainted with your local coffee roaster then maybe have a chat to see if they will sell you some of their green beans – theyre usually a pretty friendly bunch.

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Kaldi Home Coffee Roaster

If you have decided that coffee roasting will be a full-on hobby and something you really enjoy, I cant recommend the Kaldi home coffee roaster enough its a great bit of kit!

The Kaldi is like a scaled-down version of a commercial roasting machine, and its obviously designed for the serious home coffee roaster.

Be warned, the Kaldi wont hold your hand and doesnt come with functions and features to control the roasting process its up to you and your skill to create an epic batch.

As long as you have a reasonable batch size, cracks will happen quickly so you will have a uniform roast. And thanks to the built-in thermometer, you can eyeball the temperature quickly.

Talking about batches, the Kaldi holds a decent amount, and you should have no problem filling it with 200 grams of beans without any spilling out.

One downside is that this machine doesnt have any smoke suppression technology. As you know, there is a lot of smoke when roasting coffee, so best to use this in a well-ventilated area. Also, be warned the outside of the drum gets very hot!

This is an excellent hands-on home coffee roaster that will enable you to learn the intricacies of the roasting process from start to finish.

What We Love

• The chaff collector is just a tray underneath and does not collect all the chaff.

Cooling Is Almost As Important As Heating

Once the coffee has reached the desired roast level, its very important for the beans to cool down quickly.If you dont cool the beans down, they will continue to roast due to the heat built up in the chamber. A cooling feature is thus important in any roaster. For most available roasters, cool air will simply blow through the roasting chamber once roasting is complete.

Stop the roast a little before your desired roast level. Cool the beans off as quickly as possible, so they stop roasting.

The most expensive roaster on our list, however, has an external tray that the beans are dumped onto, which cools the beans much faster. This is a major advantage if you dont want your coffee to over roast.

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The Best Home Coffee Roasters 2022

I’ve narrowed this down to the home coffee roasters I think are worth consideration, and given that most probably aren’t worth bothering with, there are only a handful of options below.

I’m starting off with just a couple of very inexpensive options, which are good for anyone who’s looking for a home roaster just for a bit of fun, or for a very low investment dipping toes in the water type foray into coffee roasting.

After these two low cost options, I’m getting into what I believe to be the best home coffee roasters overall, in price order. I’ll update this post as this changes, so as other home coffee roasters come along that I think belong here, I’ll include them so if you think I’m missing any home roasters, please .

Dimensions: 25cm wide by 9.5cm tallCapacity: 250gGood: Great cheap way to try roasting your own coffee beansBad: All manual, some effort involved, but to be expected for the cost

How Much Will A Roast Drum Cost

A roast drum will typically cost between $800 and $5000.

Keep in mind, the roast drum is one of the most expensive parts when it comes to roasting your own coffee beans.

This device needs to be heated up in order for you roast your green coffee beans, so make sure that you choose wisely and look at multiple options before deciding on a certain roast drum because this will determine how long you can roast each batch properly until they start turning brown. Since many people find themselves investing thousands into their air poppers or stovetop machines which are already quite pricey by itself – I would highly recommend that you purchase an amazing quality roast drum instead since it is more worth it than buying an entire second machine just for roasting purposes alone.

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Which Roaster Is The Next Step For You

Only you know where you are in your roasting journey, and thats an important piece of information to have before deciding on one of these roasters. Regardless of your experience level, were confident that weve identified the best home coffee roaster for you to take the next step. But use our recommendations as a starting point for your own research, and really get to know your next roaster before you make the investment. The more you read up ahead of time, the easier it is to hit the grounds running when your roaster finally arrives.

How Much Control Do You Want

Whats your roaster personality? Flip a switch and walk away, or tweak every variable for a completely unique roast? In general, more expensive roasters offer greater controllability. Yet, even at the lower end, you will have basic time and temperature controls that you can adjust.

As you move towards the higher end you will find roasters with programmability, which allow you to create and save roast profiles for increased consistency. Once profiles are set, you can simply turn the roaster on, select a profile, and it will automatically follow the settings and complete the roast without additional input.

PRO TIP: If you plan to immerse yourself into roasting, go for something with high controllability. It may be hard to learn the ropes, but youll be happier long term.

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But What Is The Difference Between Roasters That Use Gas And Those That Use Electricity

Coffee roasters that use electricity are mostly easier to use and, therefore, better suited for beginners, while gas offers you more control during the roasting process Luckily, there are also some machines available that can be powered both by gas and electricity, so you can always choose what a specific roast requires.

Since you want to provide the customers of your small business with high-quality roasts, it might also be worth it to consider investing the capital in upgrading your roaster with a roast profiling software. If this is what you want and need, you will need to look into machines that have a USB port or any other connectivity output, the same simple wooden design was fitting perfectly underneath the roaster that you can buy separately. If youre looking for more guides, we have best coffee scales guide, best single serve coffee maker guide and Best Colombian Coffee guide!

What Are Examples Of Different Coffee Roasts

Coffee roasts are usually divided into four main categories: light, medium, medium-dark, and dark. Within these larger categories are even more specific roast types, many of which will sound familiar. For light roasts, there are Half-City, Cinnamon, and New England Roasts. American Roast is the most popular medium-light roast. For true medium roasts, there are City and Full City Roasts. Dark roast is the largest category, with popular options like French, Vienna, and Italian roasts.

One way to tell the difference while roasting is by listening to the number of times a coffee bean cracks. “A light roast is anything thats still during first crack,” says Selina Ullrich, the Director of Coffee at East One Coffee Roasters. “If you hit the first crack and wait a minute, thats a light roast. Wait two minutes and you have a medium-level roast. If you wait for the second crack, youll have a dark roast. As you travel along the roasting levels , you diminish the inherent characteristics the coffee itself has on the cup and increase the impact the roasting process has on it.”

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Programmable Roasters Vs Manual Roasters

This is where you decide how involved you want to be.

Some people just want to roast their own beans and not have to think about it too much. Many roasters offer the automation to make that possible.

Other people want to dive deep into the art and science of roasting, with full control over every little variable that can affect the roast. These people need manual roasters.

So think about whether this is a serious hobby and learning endeavour for you, or just a way to cut your coffee costs and skip some trips to the store. Either is fine. We will go over roasters that do both. Just know that you should avoid any roaster that will demand more attention than youre prepared to give. And recognize how frustrating it would be to realize you want to learn all the nuances of roasting, just after youve spent good money on a machine that does everything for you.

Can Popcorn Makers Be Used For Home Coffee Roasting

Many people do or have used popcorn makers for roasting coffee, and they do work to a certain degree anyway.

They’re not perfect, you’ll only be able to roast very small batches, and they don’t provide much control or repeatability, but it’s a very cheap way to dip your toes in & get started roasting coffee at home.

If you’re looking for a bit of fun, something to churn through a few hours of downtime on a tight budget, but you don’t fancy the labour intensive hand roasting option, then popcorn popper coffee roasting may be for you.

People have been roasting with these things quite successfully for years, if you do a bit of research you’ll find forum threads from the early 00s and beyond from people who use these machines for hobby coffee roasting.

Don’t just buy any popcorn maker though, you need a specific one. You need one with vents on the side, and with a solid bottom.

You need one that doesn’t have a thermostat that turns the flipping thing off every 30 seconds while you’re trying to roast, and you need one which isn’t going to suck in the chaff and set on fire!

The only popcorn poppers I was aware of that meet these criteria was the Severin 117803 and the Nostalgia APH200 which is the same machine that Sweet Marias used to supply in the USA, but I can’t find anyone supplying them in the UK at the moment, unfortunately.

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Jiawanshun Electric Coffee Roaster Machine

If youre looking for a cheap home coffee roaster that is easy to use check out this electric model. If youve been using a popcorn popper for roasting, this is an excellent step up and will enable you to roast larger batches easily.

Its not complicated to use. Add your green coffee beans, turn it on and dial in your preferred temperature. The roasting arm inside the non-stick basin slowly turns to move and aerate your coffee as it roasts, resulting in an even uniform roast profile.

This machine holds a reasonable amount for home use, and you can roast about a pound of coffee in each batch. The glass cover gives you a clear view of the entire process and when you start to hear cracks you can quickly adjust the dial to set the temperature where needed.

You can expect to roast at a medium level within 12 minutes at a temperature of 240 degrees and darker roasts at around 13 to 14 minutes at the same temperature.

Due to the design, the machine does create a fair amount of smoke, especially when you lift the lid also, there is no chaff collector.

For these reasons, I strongly recommend using this coffee roaster outside or at the very least near an open window.

What We Love

• Produces a lot of smoke and chaff.

Our Lineup Of Commercial Coffee Roasting Machines

As commercial coffee roaster machine manufacturers, we offer various sizing options to suit your production needs. From the small, yet mighty SF-1 to the elegant behemoth, the SF-75, our meticulous attention to detail, power, and versatility is ever-present in each one of our roasters. Find the perfect small batch, single drum commercial coffee roasters for sale, today!

Although its our largest coffee roaster, the SF-75 is also one of the quietest in the world. It features independent, 3-phase motors with variable speed capability controls on drum drive and hot air for precise control over conductive/convective heat transfer. As a continuous batch roaster, the SF-75 can roast and cool at the same time. This allows for optimal roast production yield. In fact, the SF-75 can complete up to four roasts per hour, totaling 300 pounds or 136 kilograms!

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Different Types Of Coffee Roasting Machines

You can roast coffee at home with almost anything, even a heat gun, if you want to get really creative.

However, getting all MacGyver with their coffee roasting isnt very practical for most people.

So for commercial and home roasting the machines can be separated into two distinct types air roasters and drum roasters.

How To Choose A Roasting Machine

If youre in the market to purchase a coffee roaster, I wrote this book for you. Ive had the fortune to roast on hundreds of machines throughout my career, and Id like to help new roasters buy the right machine for their needs. My goal in writing this book isnt to tell the reader which brand to buy, but to help the reader to understand the important considerations in the decision and to make an educated choice that suits his or her needs.

Most machines from the major brands are capable of roasting a delicious batch of coffee, but some machines have features that make top-quality roasting and replication too difficult, even in skilled hands. Common examples of such features include thin, single-walled drums, slow gas valves, valves with poor resolution at low settings, excessive insulation around the drum, slow or poorly positioned probes, and limited control of roasts after first crack.

When seeking advice about what machine to buy, please ask those who have experience with all of the major brands. Roasters who have used only one or two machines tend to favor those machines and lack perspective about other machines. It should go without saying, but please do not rely on the advice of roasting-machine sales associates, as they are always biased, and often misinformed about the virtues of competing brands.

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Are Handmade Drum Roasters An Option

In theory, yes, as long as you don’t mind a bit of DIY. This is quite a simple idea at least in theory. You get a metal drum attach a motor to it or just use an electric drill, and put this over a heat source .

As with most of the low-cost methods, there’s not much in the way of sophistication here, there’s no temp control, no recording of the roast profile and so on, it’s a bit of a rough around the edges method.

For the heat source, you can use a gas burner, or a gas bbq for example, so this is something that you can do outside.

Check out this video on using a gas bbq and a rotisserie basket:

This video shows how to convert an old metal drum into a copper roasting drum:

Why invest in a more expensive roaster if you can roast in a pan or a popcorn maker?

Taste. While roasting coffee beans in a pan may be the traditional way to do it in countries of origin, including Ethiopia, if you taste coffee roasted this way, you may discover that it’s not quite what you’re used to if you usually drink speciality coffee.

It’s no accident that when coffee is roasted in this traditional way, it’s usually mixed with other things, like sugar.

The simple reason for this is that you don’t have control over the roast, and in particular, you don’t have control over the development stage after the first crack, and you need control over this stage in order to have any control over the flavour profile of the beans you’re roasting.

What is this First Crack you’ve mentioned?

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