Author Topic: Behmor 1600 Profiles / Q&A / Tips & Tricks  (Read 93308 times)

Offline 187

  • Standard User
  • ***
  • Posts: 302
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #15 on: November 16, 2007, 04:47:21 AM »
My squeak is coming from the right side of the drum. I suspect it is a gear or motor squeak. Lubricating the left saddle won't help.
Eat more lamb, drink more coffee.

BoldJava

  • Guest
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #16 on: November 16, 2007, 04:57:08 AM »
My squeak is coming from the right side of the drum. I suspect it is a gear or motor squeak. Lubricating the left saddle won't help.

I would give Behmor support an immediate call or email.  That is what they are there for.
775.833.3363 email is sales at behmor.com

Hope it works out, B|Java

BoldJava

  • Guest
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #17 on: November 16, 2007, 05:37:32 AM »
Impressions (came late last evening and will get put thru its paces this weekend).

>  Packaging - superb.  Solidly double-boxed.
>  Customer service - As I mentioned before, this machine was comp'ed to me for previous services renderd to Coffeeproject.   However, I think it is fair to say on my part that James was very easy to work with from my end and I found him immediately responsive to all our members when a concern arose.
>  Labeling - There are enough warning stickers deftly placed over roast commands to win any attn'ys case.  No way anyone can say, "no one told me..."
>  Machining - When something is $300 and an intricate piece of electronic equipment, I squirm wondering what the workmanship is going to be like.  The tooling and finishing on the machine are very well done and precise.
>  Simple - Grandma could roast with this thing.
>  Complex as you want it to be - If you look at the variables that are under your control (roast weight, programs times, time increments up or down, profiles), this can be exponentially tweeked till the cows come home.  If you start going in this direction, better take copious notes between the variables become immense very quickly.
>  Basket is tighter than I anticipated.  Can't imagine how tight the soon to be released Yemeni basket will be.
>  Smaller than I remembered.  I had an early beta pre-production model.  This model seems smaller.  Maybe it is just foggy memory.  Size?  Grandma's breadbasket.
>  Pre-burn roast.  Behmor recommends doing an empty roast to get rid of residuals from the manufacturing process.  I cracked the window and 'roasted' under the range hood on low.  Czarina said it smells like a 'new appliance' overheating.  Some smoke for 6 minutes that vented and dissipated.
QUIET.  Maybe I am just used to hearing the IRoar and the Gene, but heavens, this is a quiet machine, even when the second motor kicks in to help the cooling.

Takeaways?  Always, it's in the cup but the preliminary 'hands on' on my part took care of any anxieties I was having about workmanship quality.

B|Java
« Last Edit: November 18, 2007, 02:59:29 PM by BoldJava »

Charly

  • Guest
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #18 on: November 16, 2007, 12:49:14 PM »
 After breaking mine in with two dry run empty basket roasts, (outdoors because the first try stunk up the house from machine grease burning off ) I brought it into a shed that I store my coffee in. It's cool in there but not outdoors cold, and there's a good vent fan in the ceiling. My first real roast was 1/2 lb of a nice Nicaraguan, and I pressed 1/2, start (P1).
 Before long I noticed that some beams were falling out of the basket.  Those beans started popping ahead of the rest, which might confuse a newby roaster. They also made a dark smoke which leaked, a bit, from the seal around the window. No biggy.  First crack started with 6 minutes left on the timer so I took off 60 seconds and watched carefully. I hit cool with a minute still showing on the timer, opened the door soon after that and after two minutes stopped the machine and finished cooling the beans in a colander. There was enough smoke to set off the smoke alarm in the shed so I disconnected that. Nice even roast, but Full City instead of the City roast I'd hoped for.  Tastes fine as I sip it right now.
 20 burnt beans were in the chaff collector, and most of them not tiny beans. I put another 1/2 lb. of the same greens in the basket, adding an extra handful to slow the roast better, and I rolled the basket around and shook it to see where the beans were falling out. Some fell out that I couldn't fit back in through the mesh. Not even close. Odd... It took a minute or two of looking very closely but I found a break in the fine mesh.   Any ideas on how to fix that, anyone? I'm afraid to try and solder it, the wire is so thin. I'll look around for some fine ss wire around the place. Should be some somewhere.
 I bent the broken wire back to temporarily close the gap and did the second roast, with the extra handful over 1/2 lb,  cooled the room to about 50 degrees F, and did P1 again. This time the roast went slower and I opened the door a little, every 10 seconds or so for a couple of secs,as first crack got rolling, and hit cool with only 30 seconds left on timer. Perfect looking city roast this time. Some beans did fall out of the basket but, strangely, this time most didn't burn, and in fact stayed green on the floor of the chaff collector.
 The Behmore does a nice roast. I'm glad to have it for roasting the 1/2 lb samples I get from importers.  The basket is quite delicate, be careful not to ever drop it.  The little squeak mine has isn't very loud, I'll be ok with that if it doesn't get louder.
 I'll be roasting some other greens and doing some 1 lb roasts later today.
  Saludos,

  Charly

Offline tahoejoe

  • Standard User
  • **
  • Posts: 136
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #19 on: November 16, 2007, 03:40:31 PM »
Charly..

Send me an address and I'll get you a new cylinder. Simple as that..

As to the smoke given beans are falling out of the cylinder it is extremely likely that is the root cause because they go to the oil level of smoke and the smoke suppression works best on the water based but limits the oil based..

Again if you get me an address you'll have a new cylinder in about 4 days..

sales@behmor.com

Thank you and best regards
Joe Behm

Marlyece

  • Guest
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #20 on: November 16, 2007, 04:48:09 PM »
I ran a dry roast and then followed up with my first batch of Poco Fundo after it cooled off. I roasted 12 oz on the 1 lb setting at p3 and stopped it with about 4 minutes left. Looks like a nice Full City +, and the beans roasted evenly. This roaster seems to be made very well, I'm also impressed with the craftsmanship that went into this. One minor annoyance was with the Warning sticker right on the LCD display, which left a gooey mess. Don't you just hate that tape resin that seems to be on 90% of products today? I was able to get it off easily with a paper towel and a tiny bit of alcohol, though so no biggie. I also noticed the roasting cylinder can be a little tricky to get out the first time, but it seems you don't have to shove the cylinder all the way in to the motor drive, so that makes it easier to remove when the roast is done. I can't wait to taste this tomorrow night...I have to give it some rest, though. Looks like I might be retiring my IROAST 2 soon, or maybe I'll keep it as a backup if I feel like smoking up the place.

Thanks again to Bold Java, James and Joe Behm!

Everyone, keep posting your results and we'll share our profiles.

Charly

  • Guest
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #21 on: November 16, 2007, 05:27:34 PM »
Charly..

Send me an address and I'll get you a new cylinder. Simple as that..

As to the smoke given beans are falling out of the cylinder it is extremely likely that is the root cause because they go to the oil level of smoke and the smoke suppression works best on the water based but limits the oil based..

Again if you get me an address you'll have a new cylinder in about 4 days..

sales@behmor.com

 I'll do that--thanks!!!  The squeak that was bugging me seems to have gotten  milder instead of worse, just to let folks know.

  Charly

Thank you and best regards
Joe Behm

Offline tahoejoe

  • Standard User
  • **
  • Posts: 136
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #22 on: November 16, 2007, 05:34:15 PM »
Charly..

Q tip... food grade oil (olive etc).. drop on the Q tip..

Swab the grooved portion of the round peg.. pressing into the groove... no need to go overboard on the oil..

As they use to say.. for us oldies.. "a little dab will do ya"

Should do the trick..

Joe


Offline 187

  • Standard User
  • ***
  • Posts: 302
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #23 on: November 17, 2007, 02:35:31 PM »
PM   

Why are you electing to use 12oz at the one lb setting instead pf either 8 or 16 oz at the proper setting? Especially for your lead off roasts?
Have I missed something in the instructions or in someones post?
Eat more lamb, drink more coffee.

dorset47

  • Guest
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #24 on: November 18, 2007, 04:48:04 AM »
Mine arrived Thursday.  Here are my initial impressions:
- Very solid unit.  The weight alone gives that impression.  Very good fit and finish.
- Very short learning curve.  The users manual is good and gives great detail, and the unit is very user-friendly.
- Had the squeak on the initial hot burn-in, but it has disappeared.
- Also had a break in the mesh that allowed some beans to drop through.  It is very difficult to see because of the bright finish on the wires.  Joe got me the replacement already.  Super responsive customer service!!!  Thanks!!  Threading a short length of stainless steel wire through the cell with the missing wire will probably work as a patch until Joe gets you the replacement.
- The square peg on the drum was a pretty tight fit into the motor.  It appeared to be a few burrs on the square corners.  A quick polishing with some emery cloth smoothed it out and it fits well now.
- First roast was 130g Bolivian.  Settings 1/4, B, P2.  First crack came with 2 minutes left on the timer.  Second about 1:30 later.  I let it go another 10 seconds or so.  Let it run on cool for three minutes and opened the door for the remaining cool time.
- This thing is QUIET.
- No visible smoke, but the smoke alarm went off anyway ( roasting indoors by a weak vent fan ).  I suspect that the "afterburner" does eliminate the smoke, but my smoke alarm actually responds to ions rather than visible smoke. 
- Some chaff does get out with the door open, but is easily handled.
- I'm not capable of cupping the result, but after resting it for 12 hours, I brewed it up and my wife and I agree that this is one of the best, smoothest cups of coffee that we have ever tasted.
- Thanks and kudos to Joe, Bold|Java and CoffeeProject.  This is definitely a winner..

Gatewood

  • Guest
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #25 on: November 18, 2007, 02:53:47 PM »
Finally got to do my first burn off today; couldn't do more, since I'm impatient, and wanted to try some beans. I used some of last year's Timor Maubesse Organic, put in 1/4 lb (all I had), hit P2 and B, since I read that in the manual and had no clue what else to put in. I've not done profiles, etc., before. I have FreshRoast+ roasters (4), a Zach and Dani's, and a Nesco (same as Z/D) which I am familiar with. I don't tweak. I just burn. It seemed as if it wasn't going to second crack, so I added 15 seconds. It looks kind of like a City+. Not really sure. Anyhow, it's a pretty roast, even, not a lot of chaff, a few unroasted beans in the chaff collector, and I'll taste it in the morning. Might taste like machine oil, since I only did one original burn off, but sho' smells good, anyhow.

Offline tahoejoe

  • Standard User
  • **
  • Posts: 136
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #26 on: November 18, 2007, 03:30:59 PM »
Merely a reminder...

I am perhaps the worst example of an individual and reading manuals.. be damned they are..

But.... I can tell you with 100% certainty by reading my newest revision of the manual especially Parts III, IV and V you will I guarantee find Behmor ease of use ..that much easier and understand better how get the most from it..


http://www.behmor.com/manual.html

Pay particular attention to the tips and maintenance section.. it will make using the roaster sooooooooooo much easier and is gleened from my years of testing it...

This revision is far easier to understand and much more concise in certain areas than what ships with the roaster...

BoldJava

  • Guest
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #27 on: November 18, 2007, 03:39:09 PM »



http://www.behmor.com/manual.html

Pay particular attention to the tips and maintenance section.. it will make using the roaster sooooooooooo much easier and is gleened from my years of testing it...

This revision is far easier to understand and much more concise in certain areas than what ships with the roaster...


Joe, I mentioned to James at http://coffeeproject.com and will share it here again. It would be very helpful if the manual had a footer on each page, that said, "Revision 4, Nov 18, 2007."  It is very confusing without a reference point to know what revision we have printed out.

Thanks for the consideration, B|Java

Offline pm

  • Standard User
  • ***
  • Posts: 286
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #28 on: November 18, 2007, 03:52:13 PM »
PM   

Why are you electing to use 12oz at the one lb setting instead pf either 8 or 16 oz at the proper setting? Especially for your lead off roasts?
Have I missed something in the instructions or in someones post?

Actually, I meant to roast 16 ounces, but the cup I was using turned out to be more accurately 12 oz. No other reason, but I'm pretty sure that this should not make much difference, as long as I use the 1# setting and am there at the ready to press the cool button, yes?

Paul

Offline tahoejoe

  • Standard User
  • **
  • Posts: 136
Re: Behmor 1600 - Q's and A's, Roasting Tips and Suggestions
« Reply #29 on: November 18, 2007, 03:54:01 PM »
BoldJava... you are right ...especially in the future

Right now however it is simple.. one version came with the roaster 1.0 and the newest is on my site and in some cases each distributor...master file V3.3..

But any changes in the future and I'll certainly reflect on every page a new revision code and date of the revision release...