Behmor 1600 Plus Profiles and Roasts

[jo]

Agreed. I wish it was a variable load to the elements vs on/off.. I know the mass builds and retains the heat- but I can't help imagine a smoother stable heating system would work better. Makes me really curious (not going to attempt it, unless I get a used seriously cheap-o Behmor) what effect using a variac on it would have- using full power and having outside control via the transformer to dial up/down the power to the elements. Hmmm.. Not sure if the solid-state smart circuits would even allow that type of tinkering. Eh, back to roasting today as the snow melts.

[Ascholten]

I'd not go over voltage, even a few volts, at the critical point on an element can cause damage.  With that though it will still cycle unless you totally bypassed everything and just turned the elements on.   There is also a high temp cutout on it, if you go too high it will trip off there too... but again, if you hack it and bypass that part of the circuit you can do it manual, but, as said before, the Beh is really good at starting fires if you go much into second.  So manually pouring the heat to it might be a problem if you are not very careful.

Aaron

[edgarallanpoe]

I'll have a more detailed response later but one of the tips I have read that really works is to put tin foil on the inside of the unit that covers the window.  The Behmor loses a ton of heat through the window.  I know that eliminates the ability to view the roast but in all honesty that wasn't much use to me.  It really did have an impact on the ability of the unit to get hot and maintain that heat.  I roast in my garage and live in Pittsburgh so it did have a major impact on my roasts during the winter.  I attached the foil with Kapton tape so it would stay in place.

[brianmch]

I never heard the trick about covering the window with foil. Wish I would have known.

I was able to force the Behmor element to remain on and only cycle it back when I started nearing the hi-temp cutout by running manually.  Took a lot of babysitting and logging to learn its rise characteristics by bean type and charge size.

The only fire I've ever had was my Huky when I hadn't cleaned the chaff out of the element.  Awkward minutes those were.

[rcmitchell]

Out of curiosity,  what internal temp triggers the high temp cutout?  I have only played around with manual roasts a tiny bit but I'm getting dissatisfied with the quality of the auto roasts now that the machine is several years old and not as efficent as it was out of the box.

[brianmch]

I don't recall exactly what it was as I've chucked my roasting log. I think that I triggered it about 4-5 minutes in without a charge to see what the number was. That's what I would do if I were you to see what the number for your machine is given its age. Kinda like calibrating it.

When roasting manual I was told to record my time and A & B temps every minute until the exhaust fan kicked on, then go to 30 sec intervals.  It made a difference in my roasts.  It also helped me cut my batch size down because roasts over 330 g were taking way too long. Coffee really doesn't do its chemical reaction thing as well when the times/temps are out of spec. 

[vnahmias]

I have triggered the high temperature cut-off a couple of times. I think it kicks in somewhere between 320 and 330 degrees.

[rcmitchell]

Thanks for the suggestion and info.  I've burned out 2 afterburners and decided to do without the feature.  So my exhaust fan is MIA but I'm okay with a bit of experimentation to calibrate my roasts.   

[vnahmias]

I had to replace an after-burner and I'm not looking forward to having to do it again. It was more time consuming than I imagined, and the connectors frayed.

I'll be interested to hear how your Behmor performs without one.

[rcmitchell]

Yep it was a pain the first go around which is why I just sent it off to Behmor to do the second one.  They are really quick and polished it up a bit as well.    But alias that one only lasted about 15 roasts.

[vnahmias]

Was there any charge for the repair? How did you manage the shipping?

[rcmitchell]

UPS round trip was about $65. At the time (Christmas) they asked for a donation to my favorite charity in their name.   It was a win win.  An email to their support email was answered promptly.

[Benjamin]

I have triggered the high temperature cut-off a couple of times. I think it kicks in somewhere between 320 and 330 degrees.

Hm, and here I was thinking that my B readings were way off since everybody here talks about proper roasts needing to get up to around 400. If what you say is true about this cutoff, though, then my B readings might be accurate after all...

I triggered my first cutoff today, though had I read this thread and known where the cutoff was, I might have been able to avoid it.

I had probably just a little over a pound of Colombian (included with roaster purchase) in there and the cutoff came RIGHT as first crack was starting to take off. Darn. I would say the roast was pooched, but I like lighter roasts anyways, so I'm keeping this "spotted" roast around for cupping experience. With the drum stopping, some of the beans got way burnt (french territory) but others maintained a semblance of city-city+.

Yes, I know that a pound is pushing it with the Behmor, but I did it once before with a Brazilian without any issues. I guess the Colombian was a harder nut---er, bean--- to crack and so pushed me to the cutoff 

[vnahmias]

I'm interested in why you reached that cut-off temperature. How hot was the preheat?

[Benjamin]

I'm interested in why you reached that cut-off temperature. How hot was the preheat?

I used to preheat only to 200 on B, but then I found that I could go a good bit higher, so anticipating the Colombian being more difficult, I got it up to around 230, and by the time I got the chaff collector and drum in, it had dropped to about 220 or so, if i recall.

As I said, I got a good ways into the roast (13-14 mins), but at 1C, just as I go to cut the heat, the dreaded 'Err2'.