Having read the recent roasting stories I’m quite tempted by this. The huge blocker with roasting for me is that I don’t have the space to do it outside and there’s no way I’d get away with piping exhausts out the window. The Ikawa can apparently be used indoors, and I believe is designed to do so. Knowing next to nothing about roasting, I wondered what the drawbacks to this machine are? Obviously it’s 100g which is small, but apparently you can feed the green beans in back to back as it roasts so 300g would take half an hour. A few people seem irked that you have to pay a subscription to use the full editing tools (you get presets to download if not subscribing I think) but I figure if you’re spending this much on a roaster a subscription fee isn’t huge and opens up a lot of functionality. Before I make a £1200 mistake, does it look like it’s a good roaster?

There's also the kefelogic roaster The ikawa looks ok tbf but I don't know enough about the subject

@"Cuprajake"#p41763 Ah nice! Yeah all indoor options considered. It’s a huge sum of money but I figured if the coffee is drinkable I’d eventually recoup the cost.

In about 15yrs 😁 Theres a guy on YouTube called simply espresso. Have a look

@"InfamousTuba"#p41785 15%?! So 100g of green coffee is roughly 15g of roasted or 85g?

Ikawa Home Roaster

Sham

The only real downside is the max capacity which some people tend to grow out of (100g of GREEN coffee). If you’re sure you wont need more, then its perfect.

Ernie1

Thanks yeah I figure if I really love it and the results I’m getting I’d go full huge upgrade and get a much larger capacity one in the garage or something.

What does 100g of green beans typically translate to in roasted coffee?

InfamousTuba

It depend on roast level that you are aiming for and beans you like, maybe about 15% as an average sometimes more sometimes less depending on the beans you prefer.

The ikawa home seems to be ok, although it doesn’t show you as much data like RoR and control as the pro but it still should provide good results especially for a beginner.

Ernie1

InfamousTuba

15%?!

So 100g of green coffee is roughly 15g of roasted or 85g?

InfamousTuba

Sorry didn’t make it clear, 15% loss so 100g green to 85g roasted beans

DenisS

if you are looking to save money you wont. If you are pasionate about roasting and want to learn then go for it.

to perfect roasts you will need a lot of tries (we are talking hundreds) and also a lot of sorting and searching for better green beans always. If you are okay with that then yes, if you just think you’re gonna order some beans online and throw them in press a button then no, dont.

Ernie1

DenisS

Yeah definitely not a money-saving endeavour.

I’ve been fascinated with the idea of roasting since I first knew Brad from Dark Arts when he just had a Diedrich in a railway arch and within months was supplying coffee shops all over East London.

The fact that was 8 years ago and I haven’t yet bought a roaster of any kind with my impulsiveness is a miracle.

It’s mainly down to the fact I can use one in the kitchen now and the idea of tweaking the roast via an app or digital interface of some kind appeals.

I’d love to get to a point I can roast something of a quality like I buy from roasters now but have no problem with a learning curve.

I do like the idea of getting it to a level I’m happy to share with others, not necessarily commercially, but if I can at least get the basics of roasting nice coffee down it might be a gateway to larger roast volumes in future.

InfamousTuba

Pretty much exactly the same as @DenisS roasting will take far too long to save any money and it is an extra hobby on top of coffee making. It can be fun to pick coffees and have them roasted yourself but it will cost a lot of money in total

Del_UK

If you source decently priced beans and don’t spend a fortune on a roaster, you definitely can save money roasting yourself.

dfk41

I have a friend who visited this morning, bringing his new Ikawa. Am I right in thinking there is a community out there for him to join, so as he can improve his knowledge?

HarveyMushman

dfk41

I’m not aware of one but that doesn’t mean there isn’t. There’s a big thread on HB where people upload their custom roast profiles for certain beans.

Ikawa support are really really good too, super quick to respond and very knowledgeable.

So when are you getting one? 😛

dfk41

HarveyMushman Ha! I used to roast back in the day using a modded Gene Cafe. I realised that my efforts were always substandard! That said they are probably as good as 90% of what I buy. My usage is about 600 to 700 gms a week……that is a lot of roasts on an Ikawa! He bought it round and it was very easy to use. He received a couple of bags with it allowing him to scan the bag making life easier for him. I think the bean was from El Salvador but at £16 for 500 gms a tad expensive.

https://ikawahome.com/collections/coffee/products/las-mercedes-pacamara-honey-el-salvador-500g

This is the result that took 7.15 plus cool down time. Looks ok so I will try it in a couple of days

MWJB

HarveyMushman Ikawa support are really really good too, super quick to respond and very knowledgeable.

This is not my experience, quick to respond, yes, but little knowledge to share.

@dfk41 Did you roast indoors, if so how was the smell?

HarveyMushman

MWJB This is not my experience, quick to respond, yes, but little knowledge to share.

Was this recent? Admittedly my questions haven’t been super technical, mainly around why certain beans appeared to be roasting darker than expected.

I also had an issue with the app not adding a recipe which was resolved.

dfk41

MWJB Yes, roasted indoors under the extraction hob. There was a definite smell but it did not hang aroung long. When I used to roast in my garage you could smell it half a mile away!

MWJB

HarveyMushman During the first month or two of ownership of my refurbed Pro 50, last summer. My concerns were similar to yours, difficulty in getting light roasts & looking for a light reference roast (several profiles describe themselves as such, but produce medium results, one “75 Agtron” profile produced charcoal even though I stopped it early due to fearing a fire).

The advice was to try all the profiles, then modify one I liked.

HarveyMushman

I find it’s incredibly sensitive to charge size and 10g too little or too much can have pretty huge implications on roast degree.

I’ve settled on 85g charges now which still produces around 220g roasted and seems to roast most evenly.

I still think the Home version it’s a brilliant little roaster if used at face value, which is those who want as close to a ‘push button experience’ as possible. I don’t think it’s ideal for tweaking profiles. I’ve played with the graph a bit but tend to stick to pre-made profiles.

HarveyMushman

I roast under the extractor now too, the smell definitely doesn’t stick around and assuming you can keep the door closed to the kitchen we’re able to keep it limited to one room.

I will say though that it means having to put the extractor filters in the dishwasher once a week or so as they tend to get a very very unpleasant burnt caramel smell.