I have to say that this time, it’s working perfectly. The previous one I had had a misaligned shaft, the control panel had spongey buttons, and who know whatever else as I didn’t even managed to roast 100g of coffee in it because I couldn’t deal with the screeching noise and the drum stuttering. It was painful to watch.

Thankfully Hasbean back then gave me a full refund (whilst Behmor CS just told me there was nothing wrong with my unit and were rather dismissive).

So here I am, 11 months later, with the Behmor. It’s so different from the Gene in terms of usability - In that regard I prefer the simplicity of the Gene Cafe, as well as the fact you can attach a vent hose and vent smoke out of the window. The Behmor has a smoke suppression system, which, in all honesty, seems to work well, as I just did a roast indoors, near a window and it’s not bad at all.

Comparing to the Gene, the Behmor requires more work to keep it clean, and it’s a little bit messier due to chaff flying around, specially if you want to cool the beans externally.

    Del_UK Also, the cooling function is a bit useless as it stays really hot for a fair few minutes so I always dump the beans into a separate cooler

    When you do that, do you literally open the roaster’s door, remove the chaff tray, the drum, dump the beans and re-activate the cooling cycle? Do you do so with with the chaff tray and drum back in the roaster (more swearing to attach it!!!!) or do you leave those outside?

        MediumRoastSteam

        I hit the stop button, remove the beans and cool them and then close up the roaster and hit cool. I usually leave the metal bits in the floor as I roast in a garage with nice heat proof concrete!

        I think as long as the roaster internals are cooling it’s good.

          MediumRoastSteam

          Yes, chaff collector and drum left outside, close door, press cool. Vacuum up the loose chaff inside the Behmor after stopping the cooling cycle. Main action is getting the hot beans with your heatproof gloves quickly out of the drum into your cooling strainers.

          One word of caution re bean drum insertion. The lids’ clasp is a bit flexible, and twice it opened whilst I inserted it in the holding fork. Rebending it that it clips a bit firmer seems to help. No fun scooping beans out from the preheated interior.

            MediumRoastSteam The control panel with the buttons has a protective plastic film over it. Took me a while to figure out it’s meant to be taken away, but it’s not a peel off one, so use a sharp scalpel blade to run gently along it’s edges to remove.

                SteveBRS - Thanks SteveBRS. I was aware of the plastic cover. Trust me, that one I had before was a real lemon! This one, even with the plastic cover on the buttons, is nothing like the one before. Getting stuck beans in the drum is a right PITA. In that sense, the Gene beats the Behmor hands down.

                Couple of more questions:

                • Any recommendations for good heat proof gloves?
                • Any recommendations to keeping it clean? (They recommend Simply Green, but I don’t think that’s an UK thing - I’m sure you can get it, but if there’s something else more conventional I’m all ears) :-)

                    https://www.simplegreen.co.uk/

                    I got some from here, it’s very effective at getting the insides clean, but I’m only “properly” cleaning it every 5-6 roasts, I usually just vacuum the dust out and give it a quick wipe.

                      MediumRoastSteam

                      I use builders leather gloves.

                      Re.Behmor cleaning, I found “VORTEX APC Citrus Concentrate All Purpose Cleaner Degreaser” on fleabay.

                      Light spray, leave 1 minute, wipe off with kitchen paper. Seems to do the trick, also great on bathroom tile grouting.

                      A short 100gr auto program to burn off after drying and a cooling with the door open

                        I wonder if someone could help me understand something with the Behmor. It’s not to do with roasting, but with regards to the design of the machine itself.

                        I was under the impression that the Power Settings (P1…P5) would mean that the heating elements would dim rather than cycle. Finds out I was wrong!

                        In P5 (full power) the element is always on;
                        In P4, it’s on for 75% of the time, P3 50%, P2 25% and P1… It’s off.

                        The duty cycle is 15 seconds, so, in P3 (50%), the element is on for 7.5 seconds and off for 7.5 seconds.

                        Why is that? Wouldn’t it be better to dim the elements instead? Do I need a dimmer mod for the Behmor too?

                        The Sandbox Smart dims the elements. It does not cycle.

                          Ok - thank you @DavecUK.

                          Does anyone know why the user manual says that, if you want to cool with the door open, you should wait 1m30s into the cool-down cycle and then you can open the door? I read somewhere that it’s to do with preserving the life of the heating elements, to allow them to cool down properly before lots of cold air gets in and “shocks” them. Is this plausible or it’s just someone talking nonsense, and Behmor is just making sure no one gets badly burnt by opening the door too soon?

                            MediumRoastSteam read somewhere that it’s to do with preserving the life of the heating elements

                            Also, after more reading, is to ensure there’s no risk of chaff touching the glowing hesting element, igniting and flying out of the roaster. A potential fire risk.

                              When cooling, I just wait until the elements aren’t glowing before opening the door if I’m in a rush to cool.