Behmor on the way

[floydpink]

First roast was a disaster. 14 oz, set at 1 lb, p3, on C and seemed like 1st and second crack almost ran together and had a ton of smoke, alarms off, and smoke detector going crazy.

I guess I need to figure out the weight thing better, but seem to recall being told to set to 1 pound and put less beans in.

14 oz of Brasil Beija Flor sacrificed and in its garbage can grave.

Chaff was black and I may have been close to a fire, maybe not....

[floydpink]

Much better on the 2nd roast. Adjusted to 12 ozs and p3 at B seemed to do the trick and it went into cool mode just after 1st crack ended, although I added 30 seconds to the roast time to get it to full city in my neophite judgement.

Definitely gonna need a little learning on this, but really like being able to fill the storage tin with one roast instead of the 4 that I was used to with the Freshroast, which often caused uneven roasts when doing a few in an afternoon.

The Behmor seems to do a really nice job from what I can tell as long as you really sit close and monitor it.

Very quiet and the lower profile chaff collector really lets you watch the roast coming along nicely, although I've needed to Shop Vac the thing out after roasting as the chaff collector seems less than good.

Roastmasters was nice enough to include 3/4 pound sampler of Greenwell Farms extra fancy Kona at no charge simply because I asked how it was, which means I will be a return customer.

Along with the free shipping and 5 pound sampler of Brasil Beija Flor, I feel it was a very fair deal.

When we roast with ours we use 1/2 lb of beans and set it to a 1 lb roast. works well for us. less smoke (and alarms) and get a nice dark roast that both my wife and I seem to favor on P2.

[raisin]

You can get lost in the Behmor profiles, especially if your voltage varies. I would recommend trying P1 to calibrate 1c, then attempting to translate that info to apply to P2. Unless your voltage is high and reliable i would avoid those other profiles, to much information for most.

You will learn more with smaller roasts, get quicker and tastier results, and sample more coffees, so i would also recommend smaller roasts. I roast 220 grams because of low voltage, but also because that finished amount totals to three full brews on my OCS-12 brewer.

[floydpink]

Again, great info.

The Kill A Watt turned out to be a great purchase. I found most outlets to be around 120v but better in the garage, up to 125.

What do you set your small batches on as far as weight?

[raisin]

Originally Posted by floydpink

What do you set your small batches on as far as weight?

good question?

After two years of timex testing on my original 1600 i was used to working with profiles encumbered by "last leg" heating lamps, tired fans, and several "official" and un-official mods.
Now i am working with a newer Behmor, one that seems to be roasting hotter right out of the box than my original, one than works 1500 watts hard at lower voltages than ever before.

What that all means is that i am having to (frustratingly) learn the whole profile thing all over again! This means you will be getting no exact roast formula's that you can plug into your roaster without thought.
That is for the better anyway, as the best roasts come from an involved roastmaster - one who watch's, listens, and smells the stages of the roast and makes an "artistic" contribution to the process. (don't you hate that king of advice?)

Really, the best thing you can do is start with a cheap bean and work with P1 as described to time 1c, and work that into the P2 profile. Good profile. good coffee. Once that works reliably for you, you can mess around with the other profiles for difficult beans.

[floydpink]

I guess P1 is fine for now. After all, the SCCO and drum on the grill roasters, as well as all the heat gun/dog bowl guys as well as the Poppery crowd all seem to do quite nicely without all these fancy profiles. P1 ramps right up and you can always hit the cool button once you are smelling and hearing what you like, right?

I had it described as like using a point and shoot camera over on CG as far as using a Behmor or Hottop but, unfortunately, don't have the time to dedicate to all the homemade roaster options. (work, kids, etc)

I need to remind myself that you don't need to get to second crack to have great coffee and sometimes it's best to shut down earlier.

I got 5 pounds of free beans to practice with and will probably use the good old Fresh Roast for the Kona, as I have gotten to know the roaster pretty well and am not convinced a drum roast is better than an air roaster; yet.

So far the best thing about the Behmor is all the house's roasting is done in short order for the week and I'm not worried as much about the fragile glass roasting chambers I kept breaking on the Freshroast.

[raisin]

The problem with P1 is that it is too fast, and too hot. That's fine to time first crack, but then it will rush right up and into second crack. Professional advice holds that you want to stretch out this inter-crack period to some degree to develop and polish the better origin flavors. (2c and beyond is the standard "supermarket" heavy roast flavors that are base and common)
In P1 this inter-crack might last less than a minute, whereas 3-4 minutes would be much better, that is where P2 comes in with a temp drop. (if you can figure out the timing sweet spot)
Some will attempt this pause manually with P1 by opening the door briefly around 1c, to save doing the math, but this is not the best solution....

[floydpink]

I tried openeing the door at cooldown and noticed it sure makes the chaff fly.

After my 3rd roast, it seems like P2 is working best for me.

[raisin]

Originally Posted by floydpink

I tried openeing the door at cooldown and noticed it sure makes the chaff fly.

My kitchen floor is never, ever truly chaff free...


but if you want to fight the tide, slide the chaff tray (old style is best) to the outer edge of the open door, it's a great backstop. I used to assist the cooling with a hair dryer on cool for the first few critical minutes. A dustbuster or a small shopvac makes clean-up easier, but refer back to my first sentence!

[germantown rob]

Pete, any further reports on your new toy?

Reading about your journey helps me forget the stress of house hunting, raising a 30 month old, and dealing with a 7 month pregnant wife .

[floydpink]

Yeah Rob,

I have been through 4 roasts and had a few challenges, but seem to be getting the hang of it.

The other night, I had an error come up and roaster stop. The cause was the drum not being squarely in the peg hole. The squeeking sound alerted me and it shut off. I tried to restart the machine and guess the temp requires it to cool down before restarting, so i lost a small batch.

I've been doing 10 oz batches with pretty good results and am documenting each roast with 1c times and other notes and rating the results in a log.

I have, so far, found that 10 oz batches on 1 pound, p2, c, settings are working best.

All in all, a longer learning curve than the freshroast, but having some experience helped a lot as the smells are more familiar to me and I know what is going on.

All the reviews I read about limited visiblity are not an issue with mine as it has the lower chaff collector and with the light on, it is a clear view of the process.

With the Freshroast, doing a few batches in a day to get my tin filled resulted in different roast results and with the Behmor, it is much more uniform and the longer roast profiles are a little better.

I'm glad my journey is relieving some stress for you and would like to invite you over for an espresso some time.

[tedrodgerscpa]

Great thread, all. I've been deliberating on buying a Behmor for quite some time, and I appreciate all of the advice in the thread.

[floydpink]

The Behmor is a great roaster but definitely has some little quirks to be aware of.

The ONE thing I would NEVER do with this guy is walk away from a roast.

Things start going quick once first crack starts and I like to push it to second crack which results in HEAVY smoke if you wait more than 10 seconds like they warn against. I could see a house burning down if you did this inside and forgot about the roaster.

Me; I sit on the patio, light a cigar and settle in for about 30 minutes of fun.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by floydpink

Yeah Rob,

I have been through 4 roasts and had a few challenges, but seem to be getting the hang of it.

It becomes second nature with a few more roasts under your belt. A timer that counts upward is a nice add on to keep track of time in your notes. For the Iphone and Touch there is a roasting app I have come to like a lot even if I just use it for the timer and marking first crack. It is called RoastTimer.

Originally Posted by floydpink

I'm glad my journey is relieving some stress for you and would like to invite you over for an espresso some time.

I have a feeling I will be in your neck of the woods in the not so distant future with my little Princess. She doesn't know about Disney World yet but I am sure by next winter she will be caught up on the Princess current events and she is very convincing for such a short person.

Then again maybe I will just go out one day for a pack of smokes and it will be at a store near you.

[raisin]

Originally Posted by floydpink

I could see a house burning down if you did this inside and forgot about the roaster.

As much as all that smoke makes you think that would happen, the metal construction and sealed door will not allow the house to burn down.


(as long as you leave that door shut! lol)

[floydpink]

Speaking of metal construction, me being me and all;

I took apart the back to have a look and noticed a good opportunity for chaff to get into areas like the fan impeller. I was bored and it was a chance to go out to the work bench and listen to some music and smoke a cigar.

I gave the fan area a good air blast with the compressor but after 4 roasts, obviously it wasn't too bad.

Do you guys open it up at all as part of a maintainance schedule?

I'm talking about the metal plate on the back.

I know they say to run a cleaning cycle every 5 roasts and clean with Simple Green, but it seems a little more might be better for the long haul.

I like tools and opening stuff up.

[raisin]

I believe if you go to the Behmor website they list cleaning that fan as a critical update to the paper manual, but bi-annualy would probably be overkill.

I also avoid the simple green because the scent lingers and taints the coffee, if you must use that stuff, time it before a cleaning cycle so as to burn off as much chemicals as possible!

Spend some time searching over at CG, or at Barista, there are some modding threads that have pics of the interior with explanations of what most of the stuff does, if that kinds stuff appeals to your tinkering affliction...

[floydpink]

Originally Posted by raisin

I believe if you go to the Behmor website they list cleaning that fan as a critical update to the paper manual, but bi-annualy would probably be overkill.

I also avoid the simple green because the scent lingers and taints the coffee, if you must use that stuff, time it before a cleaning cycle so as to burn off as much chemicals as possible!Spend some time searching over at CG, or at Barista, there are some modding threads that have pics of the interior with explanations of what most of the stuff does, if that kinds stuff appeals to your tinkering affliction...

Definitely. The timing before a cleaning cycle is a must. That stuff smells like the discs they put in urinals in public restrooms and would really screw up a roast.

Found the critical update #3 and it says to slide the whole side panel off after 40 roasts and I'll prbably follow the manual pretty closely as it seems Joe Behm has put some time in researching his roasters.

[floydpink]

Without having an old Behmor to compare with, the view of the roasting process is better than I had hoped. Earlier models were reported to be tough to view, but the new chaff collector seems to have addressed the issue.