Behmor 1600 Profiles / Q&A / Tips & Tricks

[Gatewood]

My problem is being dealt with in a most gratifying way by Joe. The tech support on this roaster is fantastic.
How do you run a cooling period, BoldJava? What do you punch in to start? I've been shaking the cylinder manually to get the small bits out.

[BoldJava]

My problem is being dealt with in a most gratifying way by Joe. The tech support on this roaster is fantastic.
How do you run a cooling period, BoldJava? What do you punch in to start? I've been shaking the cylinder manually to get the small bits out.

Simple, just toss the beans in, hit 1/2# and cool.  Voila, off she goes.

B|Java

[Gatewood]

Thanks! That's a good tip, and easier than shaking the thing a lot (which doesn't do a lot for the floor).

[BoldJava]

My problem is being dealt with in a most gratifying way by Joe. The tech support on this roaster is fantastic.
How do you run a cooling period, BoldJava? What do you punch in to start? I've been shaking the cylinder manually to get the small bits out.

I had occasion to talk with Joe this morning.  His energy and enthusiasm for his 'child' are contagious.  I would love to see the unit get some traction and find its way into more homes.  Three things immediately jump out at me and I shared with Joe:

1>  The roasts are the most even of any machine I have used:  FR8, Gene Cafe, Nesco, and IRoast2.
2>  The Behmor brings out more nuances from the bean than the above machines.
3>  There is no 'baked' element to the beans; just the opposite, as rich and full a roast as I have had.  Despite the longer times on the Behmor compared to the other machines above, I don't experience any inappropriate tastes whatsover in the bean.

B|Java

[Charly]

Your suggested tips and recommendations in using the Behmor?

I

B|Java

Here are 3 tips...
`#1  Like most, if not all coffee roasters I've used, less than maximum weight batches roast better for me in the Behmor.
 #2 I much prefer roasting without the chaff screen in place. In my shop where I roast some chaff getting on the floor  when removing the roasted beans is no big deal, and the view  (without chaff screen) of the beans tumbling and changing color is the best of any drum roaster that I know of.
#3 Every now and then you should remove the right hand side panel and clean chaff from around the motor. There are only a few small screws involved and it only takes a minute.
  The Behmor gives great value for a modest investment.
  Saludos,

  Charly

[comptrguru]

Simple, just toss the beans in, hit 1/2# and cool.  Voila, off she goes.

B|Java

You don't even have to hit the 1/2#....  Just hit the cool button.

Another tip I would offer is that when our line voltage is a bit low, I simply drop the bean load to 12 oz. and hit the 1# button.  As with any roast, the last 4 minutes (or so) are the ones that count anyway.  That's when you need to be vigilent.  The last note is that Joe's helpful times from he start of first crack to start of second are extended quite a bit when line voltages are low.

Phil

[Curtis]

Simple, just toss the beans in, hit 1/2# and cool.  Voila, off she goes.

B|Java

You don't even have to hit the 1/2#....  Just hit the cool button.

Another tip I would offer is that when our line voltage is a bit low, I simply drop the bean load to 12 oz. and hit the 1# button.  As with any roast, the last 4 minutes (or so) are the ones that count anyway.  That's when you need to be vigilent.  The last note is that Joe's helpful times from he start of first crack to start of second are extended quite a bit when line voltages are low.

Phil

Agree with the suggestion to reduce weight.  I roast 14oz on 1 pound setting.    With the lowered weight, roasting time is close to the machines presets.

The suggestion to remove small beans and chaff with a short cooling cycle before starting the roast is a whole lot easier than the way I was doing it-hand spinning the filled drum over a bowl before starting the roast!

Curtis

[Bud]

#2 I much prefer roasting without the chaff screen in place. In my shop where I roast some chaff getting on the floor  when removing the roasted beans is no big deal, and the view  (without chaff screen) of the beans tumbling and changing color is the best of any drum roaster that I know of.

Wondering, are there any unforeseen issues that can arise by continuously roasting without the chaff screen in place?  Other than just being a little more messy?

Bud

[scott]

First, I want to thank you for your suggestions a few days ago. I roasted four batches and by the 4th was doing pretty good--doing around 14 oz. at the 1# setting and P1.

BUT...as with another poster above, the machine has stopped functioning. It's the Err6 message. On my 5th roast, the machine stopped within a minute or so and gave me this message. I opened it up, made sure everything looked to be in proper order, and tried again. Same thing happened. So I have now reported the error to the Behmor tech support email address and will wait and see.

Sad, because it's such a beautiful machine and gave me such a good roast with a very small learning curve. I'm hoping it is something minor.

[thcoffee]

The manual and several posts by Joe Behm indicate that the roasters electronics could be damaged by cooling to quickly.  I would be concerned about thermal cracking the quartz heaters also.  It doesn't seem worth bypassing the extra couple of minutes of recommended cooling.

Phil

I thought Joe said it was Ok to open the door if you did not care about the chaff going all over the place. He told me this on the phone. Has something changed ?Have I miss something? ....When I hit 2nd crack  I hit the cool button and open the door. This is working great for me -(about 30 roasts now.) I feel like John F now...........I am confused     

[John F]

I feel like John F now...........I am confused     

Yeah, just having me in a thread ups the odds of somebody getting confused by 19%. 

John F 

[pm]

I second all the positives here. Not sure if I've read anything yet about a weak link: the drum latch. I lost a couple of pounds roast midway before figuring a way to better secure the latch so it wouldn't open up on its own accord. To the Behmor's credit, the machine stopped rather than continuing on some errant roast sans revolving drum. I have to assume that Joe's having this beefed up for the next version (along with the less than friendly stickers  that secure the doors and such for transport.

Everyone should be aware that the engineers built in a safety feature preventing the machine from roasting if it's below (I think) about mid 40s in temp. Joe wrote me that I only needed to bring it in from my freezing porch for a few minutes before roasting. Sure enough, no more Err message. Something to do with needing to avoid moisture build-up from too cold a temp straight into the roast.

Paul

[Plaidmoon]

I second all the positives here. Not sure if I've read anything yet about a weak link: the drum latch. I lost a couple of pounds roast midway before figuring a way to better secure the latch so it wouldn't open up on its own accord. To the Behmor's credit, the machine stopped rather than continuing on some errant roast sans revolving drum. I have to assume that Joe's having this beefed up for the next version (along with the less than friendly stickers  that secure the doors and such for transport.

Everyone should be aware that the engineers built in a safety feature preventing the machine from roasting if it's below (I think) about mid 40s in temp. Joe wrote me that I only needed to bring it in from my freezing porch for a few minutes before roasting. Sure enough, no more Err message. Something to do with needing to avoid moisture build-up from too cold a temp straight into the roast.

Paul

I got a Behmor 1600 for Christmas and so far I couldn't be much happier with it. It works extremely well (but I'm just resting my first roast right now, so take my opinion with a grain of salt). I have noticed that you need to be paying attention while fastening the drum latch as it's possible to have it not latch properly. It's not a big thing, but I've already made a mental note to pay attention to it.

As for the safety feature that prevents roasting at low temperatures, I did a dry burn in roast yesterday at around 40 degrees. Today I did another burn in roast and my first roast of 1/2 pound at around 38 degrees. The roaster didn't show any signs of shutting down due to the cold. I did hear a mild bang at one point which I'm guessing could have been due to metal expansion because of the heat. It didn't seen to affect the operation of the roaster. I was concerned about the cold affecting the roasting time. On another forum I was told that the roaster wouldn't be able to roast at temperatures like mine, but my roast seemed unaffected. It hit the first snaps of first crack at 8:40, first crack peaked at 9:30 and ended at about 10:10. 2nd crack seemed to suddenly erupt at full force at around 10:30 or so and I immediately hit cool at that point. For what it's worth, I roasted 1/2 pound of a roughly 2 year old Guatemalan Huehuetenango I wanted to use up. The settings were at 1lb. (thought I might need extra time), P2 and B. Because of the 1 lb setting, I don't think the roaster ever got to the point in the profile where it cut power to 60% or 70% (whatever it goes to), so the roast was essentially at P1.

If the concern of cold temperatures is for those that store the roaster at the cold temperatures and then turn it on, I keep mine in my bedroom closet and take it outdoors to use it. That short cold exposure may mitigate the condensation problem you mention. Unless it makes it worse. 

George

[pm]

George, I might not have been clear about the cold safety feature. If the machine has been resting out in the freezing temp it can display the Err message and prevent the roast. It's not that it won't roast in 20 degree temperature, just not if the machine has been sitting there in that temp for some time. Joe might want to edify us on this. Joe?

[Joe52]

PM,
I had the same problem with the error message.All I did was did was hit the off button and start over and it worked.
Joe E.