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

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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.

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