Behmor 1600 Plus Profiles and Roasts

[edgarallanpoe]

Another thing to note about the Royal site and their Behmor profiles.  His times are waaaaaayyyy off and I couldn't figure out why until I looked at the pic of his set-up.  He is roasting outdoors and using an extension cord without using a variac.  He's losing a ton of juice using that extension which makes his profile times way longer than they should be.  I am hitting first crack with that Yemen I just bought almost a full 2 minutes earlier than he is.  I do use a variac but do not overpower at all.  I try to get as close to 120v on the meter before I start roasting, thats all.  It helps keep my times more consistent.  If his juice at the box is already low, and then he uses that extension cord, then that explains why his times are so much longer.

[vnahmias]

It also seems to me that he only roasts about 1:20 or 1:40 into first crack.  Seems like too short a roast to me.

[Ascholten]

I have said this many times before and I'll say it again.  it does not matter what my machine does or how it behaves, you need to learn what YOUR machine does and how it behaves.  As many are quick to point out, there are so many variables, what iffs, and he done what!! 's that you can not really standardize and say ok, if you use this machine, 'this' is the magic profile to get perfection every time.  If he's outside, wind is a huge factor as well.  Even on a hot day, a little breeze can cause a venturi on that top vent and suck a lot of heat right out, tinfoil window cover or not.  There are so many little things that can make a big difference.  To say his times are way off, umm yes, and I bet the variables affecting his machine are way different than yours too.  This is why you need to learn the process, and how it applies to YOUR machine.  Not to mention once you have learned how the whole process works, if something does throw you off, ie a bit lower voltage, a bit of a breeze, you know how to easily counter it's adverse affects.

Royal I would say tries to cater to pretty much everyone.  They sell low grade 'institutional' coffee, and of course as we know high end coffee.  The home roasting crowd is growing as well.  Just look at us,  you get Peter who buys a pallet of coffee from them at a time, a big mix up of many different origins.  You get me who buys a pallet at a time of the same coffee because it's selling so fast I can't keep it in stock.  We are just home roasters and we buy pallets?  Yep, it might be a good idea to try to cater to our crowd as well.   I also know of a few business owner, brick and mortar roasters down state who have more than once, seen a big seller I was doing, and on occasion bought a 5 lb bag from me, only a week later to turn around and get 30 sacks or so for themselves of the same coffee from Royal.  We may be just home roasters but we genuinely have a fairly large influence.  When we talk about this or that, or brag on what we accomplished with our 5 lb stashes, the big guys are listening as well.  If selling Peter 1 sack of Rwanda, for him to send out to 20 other people, ends up with someone buying a few pallets of that same coffee, by feedback they heard from Peters one sack wonder   Then it's in Royal's best interest to keep Peter, and the rest of us happy.

Speaking of wierd roasts, I think tomorrow just for the hell of it, Im gonna dig out one of my old I roasts and have at it, for old times sake.

Aaron

[edgarallanpoe]

That's an excellent point Aaron.  When I said that he was way off with his times, it was in comparison to the times I was getting.  That doesn't make me right and him wrong...or vice versa.  It was simply an extreme diversion from my experience and being the obsessive knucklehead that I am, I needed to find out why.

I also agree with you about home roasting growing exponentially.  When I first went down this rabbit hole, I had *no* idea how many people shared my mindset.  It's great to know I'm not the only idiot in town.  rofl

[Ascholten]

When I first started out, I was moving a bag or a two at a time, maybe once a month or so.  Recent years up until my little medically induced sabbatical, im getting 1099's from pay pal because of all the money going throu there.  Now i have to kep track of all the stuff very closely to show to the irs to prove that 94 thousand dollars was NOT all profit,  that 88 of that went right back into the beans bags postage and scotch tape.  Now if I sell roasted, it falls under the cottage rules but still a different type of numbers to show.  You went from selling 1lb of this for 5 dollars to selling for 11 dollars, why?  It's roasted, and usesmore beans per lB of final product...yep it can get real fun.   I still enjoy it though and honestly can't wait until i can retire from main painful job to just puttering around and doing coffee / fishijng / jiggin / assaying / chem analysis . stuffs
I want a job whee I can wake up, fart, and blame the bird for it, and he says bullshit,  YOU farted and laughs.
ahh the days

Aaron

[Girardian]

I'm surprised that some here are getting 10-12 oz on the 1lb setting -- I normally roast between 5.5 and 6.5 oz if using the presets (for some profiles I'll drop the suggested time by 90 seconds). I've never gotten anywhere close to a decent roast for larger batches of coffee.  I've opened up my machine and cleaned out the fans. etc.  I am wondering if there are other troubleshooting tips (I keep the temp gauge clean). 

[Ascholten]

The newer Behmors are garbage in my opinion.  I have heard nothing but problems from them.   I have had several of them over my years, probably ran through about 4 or 5 of them.  The first few were built like tanks and ran well.  The newer ones, seemed less power and didn't get the job done like the old ones did.

One trick you can try is to put a 2 x 4 under the front legs, that pushes the bean mass backwards a bit and closer to the heater elements, some say they get a bit more heat out of it.  I did that for a bit on one that was dying and it seemed to help a little bit but nothing profound, the thing still kicks on and off by it's thermostat, not what the beans are feeling.

Aaron

[rcmitchell]

I've tried the 2x4 and it does help slightly, but not enough to make me want to keep the Behmor.  It shortened the time to first crack by about 1:30 to 2 minutes.  I'm saving my pennies for either a HotTop or a Huky.  Having 35 days to try out retirement not too long ago I agree with Aaron, can't wait for the days that I can do what I want to do instead of what I have to do.

[brianmch]

I learned a lot during my 2 years using a Behmor but am happier now and making better roasts with my Huky.  Lots to learn if so desired, but can also be used more simply.

I would consider a Quest, Coromat, Artisan fluid bed, or Bullet to be competitive roasters to the Huky in addition to the Hot top.  All have pro's and cons, but I think all provide adequate control over heat and airflow to yield good to very good roasts. 

[rcmitchell]

Thanks for the suggestion, I've looked at all except the Coromat and will certainly do some homework on that as well.

[Ascholten]

Oh and let me throw this little tidbit out there for a Behmor.  and in full disclosure this was NOT their fault.
Putting the roaster with the chimney part of it outside the window,  the door part of it inside the window, so you can roast inside but the smoke goes outside is a B A D.... idea.

The wind sucking across it will create a suction through the thing and you WILL catch it on fire.  cough cough... at least.... that's what someone once told me.   No seriously though, have to be careful when we do stuff that was not intended.  The 2 x 4 is a good idea, so if I use a 2 x 6 it'll be even better because it's pushing the beans closer to the heating elements right.... ummmm WRONG....  because now that it's on a large slant, all the chaff is fluffing out of the chaff holder and into the heating elements now.    Ok, that one I honestly did NOT do, I could see that mess coming a mile off if I did it,  I ain't dat stoopid, but this is a prime example of on how when we fiddle with stuff, we really need to think things through, and never EVER leave the roast unattended.  I don't care if it's for 30 seconds.  That 30 seconds can turn into 5 minutes before you know it when your CRS kicks in and now you have a problem.

CO2 fire extinguishers will put the mess out, and NOT ruin your coffee, (well hello captain obvious, at that point your coffee is already pretty F'd), but you are not spraying chemical powders all over the room or into your roaster, THAT is critical because Purple K eats electronics.  Make sure you have a good PAIR of oven mitts,  (No just one will not do) in case you have to do the walk / run of embarrassment to the door with a hot smoking mess.  If that don't work, a METAL 30 gallon trash can with a METAL lid works wonders too.  Heft the mess into that, close the cover and walk outside with it or let it cool or whatever.  best part, the fire is contained so no worries about embers etc setting the carpet or mother in laws dairy queen hair doo on fire.

anyways, a bit of hijacking happened here, but the behmor is good to learn on, but folks tend to grow out of them eventually, and if you do catch the thing on fire, it IS designed to take that fairly well.  A cleaning cycle and it's good to go again.

Aaron

[Ali]

How much is effective for espresso roaste

[ptrmorton]

Welcome Ali.  I have limited experience with the Behmor, but using my daughters last fall, I was able to do a decent FC+ roast by keeping the batch size down (8 OZ) while the ambient air temps were in the 60s.  Not sure if you want something darker, but others with more experience will chime in soon, I'm sure.

[rcmitchell]

I generally load 10 oz with the 1 pound button and can get to a decent espresso roast.  I don't use the presets instead I go full on manual.  Ambient temps are 66-70 and I preheat to 295-300 degrees before I drop the beans, that is unless the beans are low altitude or soft bean, I drop the beans earlier around 250 degrees.  And here is the disclaimer, my Behmor is 4 years old and has about 130 roasts on it so it doesn't react like a newer roaster. Good luck, experimenting is half the fun I think.