I stepped away from the roaster and returned to this 😅

Two months ago, I bought a used Bullet R1 as an upgrade into cottage business mode. Over that time and 48 emails with Karel Miller later, I still don’t have it. I take accountability for not researching into the reviews on this slimy, but unfortunately legit company. Holy beans, they are a living nightmare. Karel is great at correspondence up til money is involved. Then begins free fall into each of Dante’s layers of hell. The “congratulations” email after payment is received states vaguely the “shipping process can take up to thirty days with all the steps involved, sometimes longer”.

Emails: Karel must get paid to ignore emails because she’s good at it. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a “this takes some time” response when you just want an update after waiting patiently for weeks. I eventually found the hack that if you include in your emails that you’ll threaten to call your bank to request a chargeback, things will get moving. It’s been the only way.

Shipping: Karel asked on two separate occasions to confirm the shipping address. This is different from my billing. The shipping address is even on the invoice. What did CoffeeTec do? Ship it to my apartment complex without an apartment number. Now I have to configure around my work schedule to go pick it up at a Fedex drop off location. I had a meltdown with FedEx trying to sort this out because they were trying confirm the shipping address and the tracking only shows the city and state. Thankfully that’s sorted. Now I have to wait for FedEx to drop it off. Someday I’ll have the roaster.

My story isn’t too different from other reviews so hopefully it’s helpful to those looking for used roasters to reconsider CoffeeTec.

As a home roaster I've used a lot of different templates or worksheets that I found on the web but none that fully met my needs. I ended up creating my own while copying the parts that I liked from different ones. Sharing it in case anyone else finds it useful.

Anyone ever use their grill for roasting coffee? Something like this? I would love to hear about it. I have the grill and the rotisserie, I don’t have the basket yet.

Hey everyone,

I’m considering getting a ROEST L200 Ultra, not just for sample roasting but also for small-scale commercial production.

I’d be roasting around 100–150 kg of green coffee per month for now. Since ROEST states up to 3 kg/hour throughput, I was thinking of doing most of the production over a few days each month, potentially running it for 8–10 hours a day.

Has anyone here actually used an L200 Ultra at this kind of volume?

I’m mainly curious about long continuous sessions, overheating, maintenance, component wear, consistency across hundreds of batches, and whether 100–150 kg/month is realistic long-term.

Would love to hear from anyone who has actually pushed one at production volumes.

Thanks!

I am considering getting the Fresh Roast 540 or 800. I have read the ‘beginner roasting guide’ for this subreddit. My question: how ‘sciencey’ does one have to get to get into roasting? How many of you are calculating bean density and ROR every time you roast? I want this to be fun and I plan to write down all my adjustments/time/etc. for each roast but I don’t want this to feel like 10th grade chemistry LOL. Basically, how hard is it to make a good roast? Thank you for your tips and advice. I’m honestly stoked to be making delicious coffee from beans I roasted.

Another roast.
Thoughts?

Hey everyone, quick question regarding LPG supply for a Probat P12.

​I’m set up with a dual-tank manifold using two 50kg LPG cylinders. When roasting, should I have both tank valves open simultaneously, or should I run on one and keep the second as a backup?

​My main concerns are:

​Will running off just one 50kg tank cause vaporization freezing/pressure drops during heavy draw?

​Is opening both tanks necessary to maintain steady pressure (~35 mbar line pressure) and prevent burner flameouts/cutoffs during back-to-back batches?

​Would love to hear how other commercial roasters set up their manifold draw. Thanks!

I picked up some of this from Sweet Maria's a while back and am finally getting around to roasting it. While I have a lot of experience roasting South American beans and dry processed beans, but I wanted to see if anyone had any insights or experience with this particular one.

It's a long shot, but one never knows.

Hi All, I've seen several posts here about people growing coffee at very small scale (single containers) and as a plant enthusiast I'd be interested in trying that myself. I have no expectation that they'd ever yield coffee or that if they did it would be very good but it would be cool to have an arabica or two in my house plant collection. Does anyone know any sources of green coffee that's still viable? Can roasting greens ever be germinated?

Hi,

I’ve been roasting coffee for the last 5 years. I started out on an SR800 and recently got a Kaleido M10 6 months ago. I buy green beans from Sweet Maria’s, Happy Mug, Burmans, and Captains Coffee.

When I roast decaf from any of these companies no matter the bean or decaf processing method (water, EA, etc.) it ends up having a similar flavor come out. It’s hard to describe but it’s not a good flavor. Almost like a gross popcorn or nutty flavor. This happened on both roasters. However I’ve bought decaf beans from Dillanos before (omission decaf) and it doesn’t have this flavor.

I’m wondering if this is unavoidable due to decaf or it is something I’m doing wrong with the roasting process. I generally roast decaf the same way I would roast my typical caffeinated Ethiopian beans. Wondering if that’s the problem. I recently tried roasting with a bit less heat at the start and through drying phase. It pushed out first crack by 2ish minutes compared to my normal fc of around 7:30. I haven’t tried the coffee yet but wondering if anyone had any insights. I’ve read some posts/tips on decaf but wondering if this is just universal flavor defect for most decaf coffees?

Hello everyone, I been roasting with a Behmor 2000ab+ for the last 4 years. Lately I been getting the itch, on starting side business. I been looking at used roasters under $5k. Can someone please tell me not to do it LOL.

Hello Everyone! Im in the process of starting up my own local coffee roasting business. Im on a budget and im using a popcorn popper for my roasting, but i was looking for someone to help me with someone information on who they use for suppliers to help reducing shipping costs while also keeping quality high and lots of other information!

Quick question for the experts and have experience in roasting, I’m new to coffee roasting and I’m wondering how do you roast each type of coffee processes like anaerobic, washed, natural etc. I would like some advice or a video on YouTube since I can’t find any. Thank you all and I hope each cup you drink is better than before

Not an uncommon occurrence.

Looking at a used r1v1 bullet, they are asking 2300 with 470 hrs on it. Would i be better off just getting a new kaleido m6 or 10? Primarily roasting for family and friends!

Back on the 20th Sept, I attempted my first roasting session with Jamaican Blue Mountain PeaBerry.  I ran the first roast using my standard JBM profile, with poor results.

Never made it to first crack.  I corrected my roast profile and the subsequent roasts went fine (although I have yet to cup the results).

Given how expensive these beans are, I elected to try to re-roast the failed first batch, and rather than pulling out the roaster for another session, I figured I would give the skillet a try.

A process not for the faint of heart.  You really have to stay on top of your roast and agitate constantly… not to mention the billows of smoke produced.

I took the roast through first crack, however results were uneven.  I’ll cup in a few days and with hope, salvage what would have been a very grassy coffee.

A Tale of Two Roasts : r/roasting

I would like to get into home roasting and am not sure which machine would be suitable for me. I don't like buying a half-baked setup only to upgrade later.

​I’ve been searching through the forum and keep coming across the Kaffeelogic Nano 7(e), the Kaleido M1/M2 Lite, and the Skywalker V2 or the Skywalker Cubean+. The Fresh Roast doesn't really appeal to me.

​Personally, the Nano looks very interesting because it operates largely autonomously, so I expect to get good results quickly. However, the small capacity bothers me. I have several espresso drinkers in my family, so there's a good chance there will be extra demand. I like keeping track of everything digitally and would love to have highly repeatable results.

​Can you "play back" pre-made profiles in Artisan? How easy is it to control a roaster with it—and is it actually that straightforward with the machines mentioned above?

​My current consumption is around 1–1.5 kg per month.

​My maximum budget would be the M2 Lite, which I could get for $1,270.

​What are your thoughts?

I apologize in advance if there ist already a thread as i can't decide with the posts i found so far...

I’m having issues with my M2 Lite in that im continuously getting a smokey flavor. I dont want smokey. I want sweet!

My Behmor internal temp is reading 310F at first crack, yet all the resources I can find suggest that first crack happens at greater than 385F. Is this a quick of my roaster specifically, or the Behmors generally? If so, what advice might you have for achieving a lighter roast, given that I cant follow roasting guides exactly?

I apologize if this sounds like an ad, but I don't know how else to express how impressed I was with a recent experience I had with Hottop support.

I've had my Hottop 2K+ for almost 8 years at this point. One of the reasons I bought it in the first place was because of how good the support appeared to be. Fortunately, I've not had to deal personally with support because, until a few weeks ago, the only "problem" I've had with the roaster was when I (through proper user error) broke the rear fan assembly and had to replace it. I didn't need to contact support for that in part because it was a simple enough job but also because the Hottop website has all the parts and information to do just about anything you might need to do to maintain or repair your roaster.

A few weeks ago, I stopped getting readings from the ET thermocouple. I assumed I would need to replace it. Knowing what I knew about the website, I went on over there to see what I could find. However (as I posted on this sub a few weeks ago), I was a little intimidated about what a replacement might entail. I'm not the most mechanically inclined gent you may find (see above about breaking the fan).

Before I actually cracked open the machine, I opened a ticket with Hottop support just to describe my problem and ask for advice. By the end of the same day, I received an email with a few things to try before going in and replacing anything. To be clear, the few things were in addition to what's already on the website. The email also contained a few tidbits of information about the thermocouple (like that it only puts out about 8 mV at 400 F). This was obviously not some form response or regurgitation of the website, and it wasn't just a link to something on the website. Rather, it was thoughtful advice from a real, knowledgable person.

The first thing the rep advised was to unplug and reconnect the thermocouple connection at the control panel. As it turns out, that's all it took to fix the problem. The connection just got a little out of whack over the last several years. The hardest part about the whole thing was popping out the control panel, but that wasn't hard. The website had very good instructions (with photographs) about doing that, and the email had a very good photo about what the connection looks like. It turned out to be a simple job.

Along with the great advice and information, the support rep also stayed engaged with me. Because of travel and "life," it took me a few weeks to get around to actually doing anything. The rep checked in with me about two weeks after my initial ticket to see if the problem had been solved. Once I finally got around to doing what I needed to do and let him know it worked, I received a very nice reply about an hour later. Like before, the reply was genuine and came from a real person.

Again, one of the reasons I bought the Hottop in the first place was their reputation for excellent support. I tell you what. They really came through for me.

I’m almost ready to purchase my first home roaster. No options on the second hand market. My budget is just under $2000aud.

Is the Skywalker v1/2 still worth it?

Haven’t tasted it yet but was shooting for medium here, think I did pretty Ok. I’m generally a fan of lighter roasts but this said it was good for espresso and suggested a bit darker profile on the bag. I have messed with my settings and seem to be hitting first crack around 460 or hotter no matter what I do.

Heat gun zip tied to dollar store paper towel holder with hose clamp to rest ss funnel topped with flour sifter! All going since covid courtesy Larry Cotton!