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

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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.

@"DenisS"#p41789 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.

Ikawa Home Roaster

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!

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.

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