I was roasting samples this morning for other potential distributions.
Although I have an Artisan 6 which I absolutely love, and yes it can do 8 oz roasts (the size of a sample you get from Royal), it's just easier to do them on a smaller roaster, the controls are not so picky and don't need to be so fine tuned. Well it's not like you can do anything really to control an old style Behmor roaster. Not to mention it's very chilly this morning and I didn't want to go into the garage to roast when I can do the Behmor right in the bathroom like I always do with it and a window open.
It's about 65 degrees in the bathroom, no problem, I turn the Behmore on and let it run with an empty chamber a few minutes to heat it up then let it cycle out and then charge my beans and start the roast. Sure enough, the piece of sorry crap, right at first crack, kicks out on an error message. This happens ALL the time when it's cool in the room and I goto do a roast. Ive checked the control panel it's fine, wires are tight, nothing is binding, after burner, all is fine. I have owned 5 Behmor's now and all of the newer ones do this.
Some have said it's because the rest of the machine is cold and you need to do a warm up, true or not, it doesn't help.
So now I have a pile of beans that just started first crack, and I stop heating them. You can't just unplug / replug - reset the B and take right off again, oh no, you have to cool it down and let it reset, then you may be able to punch in another profile and begin roasting again. This is 5 to 10 minutes later. Yes you can put your beans in and 'continue' to roast from the start of a new cycle, but you pretty much pooched that roast. They are drinkable but not very well, drinkable. Once the machine threw this fit, it's will be fine, it will roast correctly after that.
I could see one machine doing this, but 3? These are not the new mod types where you can turn on and off the burner I think it is, but the newer of the old style. Either way I am just totally DONE with this sorry machine. I have no time or patience for a machine that may or may not trip out in cooler weather and I am tired of ruining coffee on them.
When they started out, these roasters were awesome, built like a tank, and customer service was pretty awesome too. Now.... forget it. I have over the years tried to contact their customer service many times on various topics, always polite and concise. Tried them in the forums, on their web page, e mail, etc. never get any reply back from them, not even a courtesy, we received your request.
Given how down hill their machines appear to have gone, and the total lack of ability to contact anyone there in the past, I'm done with them.
It's really a shame to see such a nice product turn into this.
At least I can get 8 cent a pound at the scrap yard for them.
Can anyone recommend a good 'starter' machine for those looking to get into coffee roasting that's not a 1000 dollar machine like a hot top? I used to always recommend the B but I can't do that in good faith anymore. Im looking for something that is pretty much plug and play, so heat guns, dog bowls etc are out of the question at this point
Thanks
Aaron