Should I get a roaster?

Bagpu55

I keep going round in little circles in my mind that I need a coffee roaster. I like the idea of roasting small 250g batches to keep me going with fresh beans and not having to freeze my bulk orders. Is it more hassle than is worth (looks fairly straight forward from what I have watched), and is it worth the purchase from a financial long term saving sense. Are green beans readily available. Ideally I want to buy a second hand and see how I go. I was initially thinking a gene cafe so have been on the look out but nothing local to me yet (Manchester).

DavecUK

Bagpu55 Gene Cafe will give reasonable results if modified with the power control mod. Things have changed a bit though with many more online roasters now than 10 years ago, plus lots of cheap deals for beans. If it’s for a hobby though it can be interesting, you can roast beans to the level you want and sometimes you can get really good roasts.

Mainly treat it as an interesting hobby, rather than a source of quality greens so you don’t have to buy online and you won’t be disappointed.

Doram

Bagpu55 I keep going round in little circles in my mind that I need a coffee roaster. I like the idea of roasting small 250g batches to keep me going with fresh beans and not having to freeze my bulk orders. Is it more hassle than is worth (looks fairly straight forward from what I have watched), and is it worth the purchase from a financial long term saving sense. Are green beans readily available. Ideally I want to buy a second hand and see how I go. I was initially thinking a gene cafe so have been on the look out but nothing local to me yet (Manchester).

A resounding yes from me. Yes, I find it far more convenient to buy a large quantity of greens and roast when needed than to constantly juggle roasted beans purchases and use. Yes, for me it’s worth the hassle, which is minimal in my opinion. Yes, greens are readily available: I buy online and they arrive at my door. Yes, it saves me money over buying roasted (but that will depend of course on what you buy green and what roasted beans you compare to). I tend to pay around £10-15 for a kg of greens, for coffee that I reckon would be ~£20-30 per kg roasted (if not more).

I have had my Gene since around 2007 (if I remember correctly). I had to replace the heating element twice (the second time just recently, so hopefully it will last for a good few years. I roasted on lesser devices before that as well. A couple of years ago I took a break from roasting for a year to explore coffee from roasters, in order to learn and have a reference for my own roasts. This break only convinced my that roasting is the way for me (when I returned to roasting I also added the dimmer mod, which was a little fun project). I love that I can roast to the degree I like, and I enjoy the results I get. I prefer the coffee I roast to what I bought roasted.

I think that roasting might seem daunting before you try and see that there was nothing to be afraid of. However, some people tried and decided it’s not for them (e.g. @MediumRoastSteam), so I guess the only way for you to find out is to try for yourself. As you already have the itch, I say go for it.

Cuprajake

Depends what you want to spend

Unless you’re spending over a grand the. I personally wouldn’t bother.

I’ve wanted to roast for ages, but I know what I could afford wouldn’t give me the results I like.

Greens are not that cheap, and the added cost of electricity means for me, I just buy roasted beans now.

Bagpu55

Cuprajake Ah, yeh I certainly wont spend that much. As you say if the result is poor then just buy, hmm.

Del_UK

Cuprajake
I couldn’t disagree more…
I’ve a £250 Behmor with various greens that cost between £6-11/kg that can roast 400g for <20p in electricity from which I get some great results.

Norvin

I have been roasting for a few years now. I like it as once I have found a bean that I like and have dialled in the temp and time I can get repeatable results every time. I have three bags in rotation so once one is used up, the next has stood long enough to be ready to use. No need to continually experiment to find the right settings, just load the chamber, set the time and temp and away it goes. Not very adventurous but I get a ready supply of beans that I like, no problems with running out. It probably wouldn’t suit someone that is a super taster or who likes variety as it may take a few goes to get a new bean dialled in. I probably do save money but it is the convenience aspect that I like.

I have ended up with two Gene Cafe 101s, one modified. I also have a spare roasting chamber that I use for roasting peanuts, but that’s another story.

pipedreams86

I have also been thinking about trying out roasting…I like this approach of seeing it as a hobby and experimentation than a good alternative to all the amazing roasters online nowadays…

What would be a good starter machine? Is there much of a difference/importance in where you get green beans from?

Doram

pipedreams86 I have also been thinking about trying out roasting…I like this approach of seeing it as a hobby and experimentation than a good alternative to all the amazing roasters online nowadays…

I don’t think that roasting is limited to ‘just a hobby’ and can’t be a source for quality beans. Think of bread. You can do it just as an experiment, or - you can learn (quite easily) what you are doing and bake bread that will knock the socks off anything you can buy. The pros will have the advantage of equipment and scale, and you will have the advantage of control (get what you like), convenience, small size, and you can focus on what matters to you. It’s all up to a specific person, and in my opinion it’s not that hard to get quality roasts.

pipedreams86 Is there much of a difference/importance in where you get green beans from?

Of course it’s important. You can’t get good roasts from poor greens…

DavecUK

I started out with a Genecafe…modified it and did get some reasonable roasts from it.

Jony

I’ve always fancied doing my own small ones in a gene cafe , maybe will have a look soon

tompoland

I’m with @Doram …a heck yes from me.

I save $3,500 a year roasting my own beans plus I get to try beans from micro farms all over the world. My roaster is an excitement machine for me. Roasting is fun and very satisfying.

Cuprajake

Tom which roaster do you have I remember seeing a pic where you have a vent pipe, but can’t remember what the roaster is

I’d love to roast, but even starting it’s going to cost £300 minimum for a used roaster, plus beans and then I’d expect to bin the first kilo or two.

That’s what put me off

MediumRoastSteam

Cuprajake plus beans and then I’d expect to bin the first kilo or two.

This is not true. Unless you deliberately try to incinerate the beans, or under roast it, I’d argue the opposite. It won’t be perfect, but it’s certainly drinkable.

Cuprajake it’s going to cost £300 minimum for a used roaster,

I just sold my Behmor for £180. :-) You can get well priced Gene Cafes as well for a similar price.

Cuprajake Tom which roaster do you have

He has an Aillio Bullet I believe.

tompoland

Cuprajake hi Jake I’ve got the Aillio Bullet R2 which is a bit pricey these days but I can do 800g batches of green beans which shrinks to around 670g post roast. But I hear from a ton of people using Gene or Behmor who get great results.

You are right in that you’ll probably bin a few batches but you can buy a kilo of super cheap beans for that learning curve and it’s not steep once you have a recipe dialled in and lots of people can help with that.

If you do the maths on green beans v roasted you may find that it takes only a year or so before you are ahead. After that it’s like you are saving around 40 to 50% on each bag of beans.

Add to that the fun and satisfaction of roasting the beans that you like the best, in a way that gives you the flavor you prefer and being able to roast for selective friends and family and it may become quite a significantly enjoyable part of your life, like it has for me.

Bagpu55

Yeh, it certainly does look interesting. I will keep my eyes out for a used gene cafe. I cant really push the boat out anymore until I think its some thing Im really going to get in to. I dont consume loads of beans so little and regular sounds ideal.

Dave why do you need to modify the cafe?

If anyone knows of any second hand machines please point them in my direction if possible. Based around manchester.

Doram

Bagpu55 why do you need to modify the cafe?

The heating element on a stock Gene is either on (at full blast) or off. You can set your temp via the thermostat, but it will regulate the temp by turning the element off when you reach the target, and on again when you go below. This has some disadvantages, as you can more easily scorch the beans or stall the roast if you go too low.

Adding a simple dimmer let’s you reduce the intensity of the heat without turning the element completely off, so you have more control and can be more gentle.

You can use the Gene without the mod, but It’s not hard to do and I enjoy using it.

Credit to @DavecUK for coming up with this many years ago, and to @MediumRoastSteam for holding my hand when I did mine.

thewelshvet

I recently bought the roaster from mediumroaststeam. I have yet to try a roast as time is also a factor as well as weather as would prefer to roast outside. I took a punt for many of the reasons outlined above. It’s just an interesting extension of the hobby. I will hopefully be able to get into a routine of roasting every couple of weeks and so keeping a good rotation of fresh beans without the constant ordering and postage costs.

Cuprajake

Used roaster seem to be silly on eBay too

I’d go for a behmor as its cheap or a sandbox after than but there all small dose

MediumRoastSteam

Cuprajake - used them both. They are very different things with regards to their workflow, but also share a few similarities.

You can roast 450g on the behmor. Max of 150g on the little sandbox. So, whatever small capacity is, one has 3x the capacity of the other. I never roasted more than 250g on the Behmor, and, for me at least, that’s a good batch size. The Gene 101 can do a max of 250g.

With the sandbox, you can just keep roasting daily and keep things going that way, if you want. Or you can do multiple batches one after the other.