New Poplite popper isn’t as hot as old one?

[newroaster]

I’ve been using Poplites for 12 years for my small batches. Eventually they crap out and I get another one exactly like the old one. But the new Poplite I just got doesn’t get as hot as the old one. It’s a bit smaller, fan seems a bit stronger and roast times are much longer.  I have always used a 50’ extension cord to increase roast times to 4 or 5 minutes. But the new popper roast times are 7+ minutes with extension cord. And if I don’t use the extension cord, which shortens the roast time, the new popper overheats and stops. The problem isn’t the longer roast time per se, it’s that long roasts cause coffee to bake instead of roast. Bake is bad.

I don’t want to take this apart and fiddle with it. But has anyone had similar problems?? Any better poppers out there?

[Ascholten]

The more correct fix would be to use a variac instead of an extension cord,but with that said, instead of a 50 foot try a 25 foot extension cord.  What's the wire gauge on the cord?  maybe go up a gauge, (well actually down, the numbers go down as the wire diameter gets bigger), so if you are on a 16 Ga cord, try one half the length or one that is 14 Ga. instead.

Aaron

[newroaster]

Hi Aaron,
Yes, I suppose that would split the difference a bit. With popper roast times, how long do you think is too long?

[Ascholten]

My experiences with a popper have always been they roast it too quickly and the coffee did not have time to develop properly.  Ive had some roast in 2 to 3 minutes which is way too fast.

Even back in the days when I first started roasting with my I-Roast it'd run about 7 to 8 minutes.

The issue with a popper is, if you use too little coffee, it can fly out of the stack, if you use too much, it does not have the fluid bed mobility and can scorch because it's not moving around.  Or since its putting so much heat so fast, its scorching.  As for other more normal roasting methods,  Id say probably 20 minutes to roast is starting to get a bit long and into the toasting / cooking instead of roasting range.

Each setup is a bit different and your voltage, as you have seen yourself with the cord, can make a HUGE difference with just a few volts.  If you can get it around say 5 minutes I think you are doing good.  You are going to have to decide yourself by looking at your beans, are they scorching, tipping, or getting too dark?

Not entirely sure your setup but I also used to use a soup can, cut both ends out and use it as like a chimney to extend the area the beans can bounce around in, this can help control temperatures sometimes too as you can put more beans in as necessary to control loft w/o them flying all over the place since the longer chimney keeps them in.

Aaron

[peter]

We've all heard the 20min is too long and more than that you're baking it theorem.  And I abide by it.  But... I suspect it's one of those things that sounds like it makes sense and so it was passed along and accepted as truth.  It may or may not be truth and the only way to know is if you happen to roast longer, then find out how it tastes.  It might not matter.

[newroaster]

So, similar to the soup can thing I have a dryer vent about 8” long which fits perfectly into the hole. No escaping beans. Lately I use a wire mesh about 8” inches rolled up to fit perfectly into the hole. Lots of ventilation, no escapees. Old popper is about 5-6 minutes. New one is 7 or 8. Perhaps that’s fine?

[Ascholten]

7 or 8 to be honest, as long as you are not burning the beans or tipping them, should actually be better IMO.  This actually gives the beans more time to develop their flavor profiles.  If you can get 7 minutes on a bean w/o going deep into second crack, or even hitting second at all I think you would get VERY good results on the beans.

The old I roast roasters, generally would do a batch of beans in about 7 to 8 minutes, so this would be very comparable to that.

Also remember that sometimes letting them rest a week before drinking can do wonders too to help flavors.

Aaron

[newroaster]

Damn, at about 6 minutes, now the new Poplite is crashing even with a 50ft extension cord. Actually I’m stringing together 3 of those cheap orange cords from Home Depot. I’d get a different brand of air popper but I think they’re all from the exact same mold & manufacturer in China with different names slapped on them. 😬😬
Good to know Peter’s thoughts on the baking myth though.

[Ascholten]

It's crashing because IT is getting too hot.  Id be pretty confident to say it has a thermister or thermostat on it that cuts out at a certain temperature, it's hitting that temp and shutting down.  This tells me that maybe the main thermostat is not working properly on the thing and not shutting off when it should, so if that is true, no matter how many cords you string along (and risk starting a fire) it's overtemp going to cut out anyways, maybe just 20 seconds longer.  Take the thing back to the store, tell them it's a POS and you want a new one if you can, try a different one.  Ive gotten plenty of cheap chineese shit bad out of the box myself, and turned right around for a different one same item to find it works fine.  The latest being a wood chipper from Harbor Freight. (yah classy Aaron huh?    )

Id make a comment about the safety of using strings of extension cords for voltage control but when I look at the Frankenstein I have in my garage for my solar, I remind myself to STFU on that

Good Luck and please be careful on the cords so not to start a fire.
Aaron

[newroaster]

Thanks Aaron. I’ll try one more new Poplite and see what happens. Is there any way the orange cords could be causing the crash?
If I have to finally say goodbye to air poppers, what low end roaster would you get for 2 cups of coffee a day?

[Ascholten]

The roaster is basically just a heater and a fan.  The voltage is critical for getting up to temp and putting out the capacity it needs to do it's job.  If it's turning off, that tells me it's getting too hot so it's getting enough power.

How if your loft? if the beans are really hindering the airflow that might be part of the problem too, the back pressure of the bean bed is keeping the heat in more than it was designed for and that is shutting it down.  Try roasting with a slightly lighter charge of beans see if that might prevent the shutdown,  the beans will loft a bit more,but that also lets the hot air out quicker so it may be just enough to not trip the overheat.

As for a different roaster, umm heat gun dog bowl is on the cheap as well, or keep your eyes peeled at the salvation army / good will stores for the old poppery's and stuff people donate and try to get one of the old school types on the cheap there.

Aaron

[newroaster]

Will try fewer beans next but I’ve been using the same 1/2 cup for 10 years. Maybe the new Poplite just can’t handle 1/2 cup although the beans float higher in the new Poplite than the old one. The mystery continues.

Thanks

[newroaster]

Well...the new Poplite works fine as long as you don’t put 1/2 cup of beans in it. As you can see, it’s a bit smaller, (the one on the left with mesh stove pipe).  Even with fewer beans it takes much longer than the old one. Perhaps Poplite heard Aaron’s complaint that poppers roast too fast. Problem solved now! Thanks guys.

[Ascholten]

Glad to hear that you got things sorted out there.   One quick note, a mesh tunnel, won't give you as much loft as a solid wall one, in fact is not much more than what you already have.  The moment the beans clear the top of the roaster, the air is escaping out the sides, and is not continuing to propel or pass thru the beans.  The only real function IMO is to keep the beans from flying out, but you are losing heat and control that way.  You already got the tunnel, wrap the thing in tin foil to make it a 'solid wall' tunnel just for experimentation and see if that changes things around for you.  If you feel curious that is....

Just a suggestion.
Aaron

[newroaster]

Hi Aaron,

I do still have an old solid wall dryer vent which fits perfectly. I switched because I thought the mesh would slow  down the roast which was really fast.

Also, do you think I should clean the drum of the old Poplite? It’s pretty dirty.

Thanks,
B.