Author Topic: Behmor 1600 Profiles / Q&A / Tips & Tricks  (Read 93304 times)

BoldJava

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Behmor 1600 Profiles / Q&A / Tips & Tricks
« on: November 05, 2007, 04:30:49 AM »
This thread will be devoted to specific questions/answers, suggestions, experiences, tips on using the new Behmor 1600.  Please limit the Off Topic discussion ... we will use this as a reference thread and by keeping the discussion on topic, future posters can glean the best of your insights.  Thanks.

B|Java

« Last Edit: February 27, 2017, 03:42:58 PM by Joe »

Offline 187

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2007, 03:19:27 PM »
JonR10 Please post your set up as soon as you approve the poco fundo. I'll be starting with poco fundo also.
Eat more lamb, drink more coffee.

alleno

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #2 on: November 14, 2007, 03:37:22 PM »
No major tip nor trick here yet but I did roast up 8oz  of the Lekempti from HarryHo.   I used  1/2lb setting, time "C" and profile "P2".  I did have to add about a minute to the end of the roast to push it into the beginning of 2nd crack.  I think that might of been unnecessary because when I "stopped" the roast at about 5 sec into 2nd it kept snapping away till about 40 sec into 2nd!!   :o    So lesson learned - stop the roast several seconds before you want it to end.    Looks like this will take some practice and good note taking to dial each particular bean/roast level in.  I haven't brewed this up yet but it smelled awesome just hours after the roast.
  Also, a question.  What is the best way to cool the beans rapidly?  SM's tip sheet and Chris's article  recommend letting the roaster do it's cool down thing for 2 minutes before removing the drum.  Is there any way to cool things down faster I wonder?  I'm used to cooling beans down in less than a minute with my RK drum setup.

    Dave
« Last Edit: November 14, 2007, 03:40:51 PM by alleno »

BoldJava

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #3 on: November 14, 2007, 06:28:36 PM »
... What is the best way to cool the beans rapidly?  SM's tip sheet and Chris's article  recommend letting the roaster do it's cool down thing for 2 minutes before removing the drum.  Is there any way to cool things down faster I wonder?  I'm used to cooling beans down in less than a minute with my RK drum setup.
    Dave

I don't believe that is what is written.  From Behmor's Manual, part V, para. 7:

"Never stop the system immediately after completing a roast to remove the cylinder and cool the beans.  Doing a system stop before reasonable cooling could damage the system's internal electronic components."

You can crack the door after two minutes, but not stop the machine.  Or so I believe.

B|Java

Offline pm

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #4 on: November 14, 2007, 07:37:29 PM »
Why is it that you can't crack the door before two minutes?

Received the roaster this afternoon and was, like others, impressed by the heft of it: this is no toaster oven! The tape used to hold doors shut wasn't the easy release kind of tape we're so used to these days, and leaves a bit of the adhesive behind--not a big deal.

I've done my initial heat/clean of the roaster, with a little bit of foul smelling smoke, as was expected. I did this on the range top and simply turned on the fan above the range to clear it out, and now I'm about to roast up a pound. Will report back.

Paul

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #5 on: November 14, 2007, 09:23:26 PM »
Well, I just answered my previous question re opening the door early (read below).

Okay, I just finished my first roast, so here are a few observations. I used 12 oz Poco Fundo (seemed to be the one others were running with) which roasted out to about 9.2 oz finished. After loading the beans I found that several small beans or fragments fell through the drum screen, so I held the drum over the counter, rolling it in my hands to get out as many as would exit before roasting. Another half dozen got stuck in the screen during the roast and I simply broke them off after the roast, easy enough.

I entered the 1# option for weight, P3 for the profile, and D for timing (23 minutes). I began to worry about the length of time it was taking, and was relieved when the first crack finally hit at 15:45. Second crack began three minutes later, with about a minute between end of first and beginning of second. I hit the cool down button then at 18:45 (since the digital time is a countdown, it read 4:15 remaining minutes in the roast). I'm typically roasting around 12 minutes, give or take, so it will be interesting how this compares for me. I think for my next roast I'll go for P1, which is a bit steeper ascent to peak heat which remains at a plateau. I'd like to experiment with

My instinct was to open the door after two minutes (suggested) to help speed the cool down. I think it did help, with two side effects worth noting. Some of the chaff sneaked out of the corners, and there was some smoke. Now, as home roasters I suspect we're all used to some smoke and I really don't mind it so much since I've been roasting on a screen porch and/or patio.

My first roast looks very even, about FC+. One thing I did miss was the smell during the yellowing/drying phase of roasts; in fact, most all the various smells that correspond to the stages were absent. I suppose this is because of the smoke reduction element of the Behmor, which is impressive, indeed. In fact, I don't think I would have seen much of any smoke at all if I hadn't opened the door to speed cooling. Alas, I roast almost as much by smell as by sight and sound, so this convenience will also be a handicap for me, one that I'll have to get accustomed to for this roaster.

All for now, the coffee has to rest. Me too (midnight).




Offline pm

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #6 on: November 15, 2007, 11:15:54 AM »
Okay here goes my first attempt (other than a cupping class at the Atlanta SCAA a few years back) at a more formal cupping, in this case from the Behmor roaster:

Coffee Name/Farm/Estate/Coop: Brazil Poco Fundo ORG/FT
Date Cupped:  10/26/2007
Rest Period:  18 hours
Cupper: pm
How Many Thumbs Up?     one
Processed : WP
Roaster:  pm   
Method:  Behmor (12 oz; Setting: 1# / P1 / D)                     
Level: FC+
Any Roaster Observations/Comments: See post above

Comments:
1.  Dry fragrance/wet aroma ? Nice winey aroma, somewhat fleeting; dark chocolate; not overly complex
2.  Brightness/acidity ?  Medium acid, full body
3.  Flavor/depth ? Dark chocolates, black licorice, hint of tobacco.
4.  Body/mouthfeel ? Clean, straight forward.  Balanced mouhtfell
5.  Finish/aftertaste ?The finish is long very clean. The flavors I get in the initial taste are the same that stay on. Nice!

Forgive me my novice review here. I did both the sipping method followed by a pour over cup because I really needed both to get some more of the subtleties. I'm pretty undisciplined about resting coffees post roasting, unless it happens to be one that has some difficult points needing some relaxing. At any rate, I generally like to follow the shifts from next day through several days.

This Brazilian, which I got through a recent distro from Hariho, I believe, was super after just 18 hours rest. I know that I need more work on honing in on the subtleties of dry/wet aromas, acidity, body, finish, etc. This is a coffee I'd be hard pressed to place as a Brazilian, though it's clearly--to me--from the Americas. I recommend this as a SO, though it might benefit from some different angularity.

I'm pretty thrilled with the roaster, after all. I'd like to find the method(s) to shorten the roast by 25%, while still working with 12 to 16 ounces; nevertheless, I was not disappointed, and didn't get any bakedness from what was for me a longer time roasting than I'm used to with SC/GG.

BoldJava

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #7 on: November 15, 2007, 11:47:37 AM »
Okay here goes my first attempt (other than a cupping class at the Atlanta SCAA a few years back) at a more formal cupping, in this case from the Behmor roaster:

Coffee Name/Farm/Estate/Coop: Brazil Poco Fundo ORG/FT
Date Cupped:  10/26/2007


Unless I missed another cupping review, PM is the first Behmor buyer to roast, sip, tip, cup and post.  He wins a pound of Panamanian Geisha La Esmeralda (Monito's distro this Spring).

PM, send me a PM offline with you postal and it will be on its way.

B|Java

Offline pm

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2007, 12:11:06 PM »
Wow, what a nice perk, Dave. Thanks a bunch! I was pretty surprised to find it was arriving yesterday instead of today, as was initially expected. Looking forward to reading many more reports from all who've bought this great little roaster. If someone notices some substantive threads on other CG or HR or some other forum, please post a link here if you can.

Tonight I roast another 12 ounces, this time the SM IMV. I'm going to try the roast profile P1, and I plan to...well, I'll report afterwards.

Cheers, Paul

Offline pm

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions - kudos in order.
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2007, 12:39:14 PM »
I'd like to add a couple of notes: First, I cross posted my first-roast and cupping notes over at CG (sorry if this bugs anyone, and no, I'm not one who does this regularly). Also, I really want to thank the folks at Coffee Project for making this buy possible, along with Bold Java, and for sending out the units the moment they arrived from China, evidently. I feel like a kid having gotten his toy bike before anyone else. Lucky. Anyway, I appreciate the work that some in the industry (like Coffee Project) do on behalf of the coffee growers, environment, roasters, etc.

Kudos to Dave da BoldJava and to Coffee Project for their good work.

Paul

Offline PaulM

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2007, 05:28:26 PM »
Thanks for sharing your experience Paul. Mine came in today and I just roasted my first batch (after the recommended dry run). First impressions are that I am very impressed. I roasted some Sumatra I felt I could sacrifice (maybe not the best choice since that is just about the only bean I like roasted dark, but hey, I'm experimenting), and on the recommendation of a local professional roaster who has been playing with the thing for awhile I used P3, C for 1/2 lb.

Got first crack around 11-12 minutes and a nice pause between first and second. Very similar to how I have my PID'd poppery set up. I couldn't agree more on how much "coast" there is. I suppose this is typical of drum roasters, but I have never roasted in a drum so this was news to me.

Anyway, I hit cool at 5 seconds after hearing first pops of second and the roast finished very even with a faint sheen. Very nice looking (and smelling) roast! Joe is very careful (and prudent) to say that this roaster is not designed for dark roasts, but I think by that he must mean very dark roasts: by stopping within his recommended "no more than 10 seconds into second crack" I ended up with a roast that is as dark as I would usually ever go anyway.

My one complaint so far is that I am having a hard time removing the drum - that square peg seems a little tight - but I think I am getting the hang of it, and hopefully it will loosen up a bit after a few more roasts.

Now on to some Panama!

Catch and release - into the grease!

Charly

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #11 on: November 15, 2007, 06:40:14 PM »
 Mine arrived today (Canadians-the PST+GST are 37$). I did one "break in" roast, without coffee ,in the house, and it gave off too much greasy smoke. I took it outside to do another one and it still stunk, but less so. I'll do one more before I put any greens in it. I noticed a  nagging little squeek from the rotisserie style drum holder. I hope to god that that doesn't continue for long. There is no high temp grease that can handle roasting temps, as far as I know. I hope I don't have to make some custom graphite saddles for it, like I did with my RK...
  Does anyone know what kind of ambient temps the Behmor can handle? I wouldn't mind roasting outdoors with it as much as possible.
 Saludos,

 Charly

Offline pm

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #12 on: November 15, 2007, 06:52:00 PM »
I finished my second roast, another 12 ounces (also ending with a touch over 9 roasted). I chose P1 this time, 1# and, again D (though this did not change the time as it had for the P3 profile). Timer started at 18 minutes. First crack was 13 minutes in, at which point I cracked the door a bit for about 30 seconds--my attempt at a personal profile, since P1 is a beeline to top temp with no variation once there. Second crack at 16 minutes (again, three minutes later), and cooled it immediately after the first sound of that. Roast this time went to FC, not FC+. Bean was Ethiopian Likempti. Again, such a nice even roast.

Offline PaulM

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #13 on: November 15, 2007, 06:56:38 PM »
I believe you can use simple mineral oil, which I believe never goes rancid, is food safe, and has flash points and smoke points higher than the roast temps in the Behmor IIRC. You can also use some cooking oils, but watch out for those with low smoke points or flash points, like evoo. Even if they don't start a fire, oils with low smoke and/or flash points seem to me more likely to gum up the works over time. IMHO the best cooking oil would seem to be grapeseed, which is the only thing I use for high temp cooking.

But I would still go with mineral oil if you can find it. The bottle I have came with some wooden salad bowls, and instructions to oil the bowls after every cleaning, so I am not concerned about the food safety of mineral oil, or at least the stuff that came with my salad bowls...

Cheers,
Paul

Catch and release - into the grease!

Offline MGLloyd

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Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #14 on: November 15, 2007, 07:53:01 PM »
I was thrilled this evening to arrive home and find the Behmor and four pounds of coffee on my doorstep.  James from the Coffee Project sent mine right out and it arrived in two days in Seattle.

Let me also confirm the quality of construction.  I am really pleased.  I am quite the cook and have a large collection of various kitchen appliances.  This is built to the level of a Cuisinart, Krups or KitchenAid product: solid and well constructed.  It was impeccably packed.  The warning sticker over the digital readout left quite a lot of adhesive residue, but that cleaned off with some Goo Gone. 

I did the initial dry burn and saw no problems.  Given that I am a very experienced roaster, I decided to do a full pound under close observation.  I loaded up the drum with a pound of PNG Kimel peaberry from my sampler pack, and went for a P2 B roasting cycle. 

Like others, I was pleasantly surprised by the even nature of the roast and how quiet it was.  I could not hear the cracks with the door shut, but then again I have a profound bilateral hearing loss.  I think in the future, I will open the door on occasion to listen.  I did open the door once, and could hear that it was just starting second crack, so I hit the cool button.  As per the suggestions here, I let it cool for about three minutes and then opened the door to accelerate the cooling cycle.  It ended up with one of the most even City roasts I have seen.  The chaff tray did a good job of collecting the chaff.  Even though the coffee was a small peaberry, nothing fell through the drum mesh.

Smoke control was very good.  I am used to one pound batches with the HG/DB or stovetop, so I routinely produce copious amounts of smoke.  Suffice it to say that when I do a pound on the stovetop inside during the winter, the house smells of coffee for hours.  This was a very small amount of smoke.  I put the roaster on my stovetop (on a large cutting board) so I could run the hood fan.  I don't think that was necessary and may use it on the counter in the future.  The interior light is a nice feature and provides very good illumination.

So far, I think we have a winner here.  I will be interested to see the observations of others.
___________________

Regards,

Michael Lloyd
Arlington, Washington  USA