Behmor 1600 - 1st Impressions
January 2008
Bottomline? In a quick hour, you can begin to roast some of the finest coffee in the world in your own kitchen. Read on but I warn you: You are about to step onto the slippery slope of a hobby that will ?hook and hold? you. You have been warned.
Positives:
1)Quiet
2)Able to roast 13-14 ounces at a crack
3)Smoke suppression system vastly reduces smoke (less smoke, not smokeless)
4)Handles back-to-back roasts
5)Does a great job of bringing out the nuances of the bean
6)Very even roasts
7)Best price:value of any "off the shelf" roaster out there for the homeroaster
8)Easy to learn how to use it
Drawbacks:
1)Limited visibility of roast
2)Limited ?on the fly? adjustments for the ultra-geek or perennial tweaker
3)Minimal aroma for those who roast by aromatics
Machine is Best for:
1)Beginners
2)Those desiring larger roasts
3)Connosieurs
4)Advanced roasters without a need to tweet a roast to death
Machine is Not Recommended for:
1)Those advanced roasters with an insatiable need to tweek and modify
Product: Behmor 1600
Model: December 2007 release
Manufacturer: Behmor Inc. (
http://www.behmor.com)
Average Price: $300
Where Obtained: CoffeeProject.com
Owned for: 2 months
Tips:
First, never, ever leave the roaster unattended. The heat retained by the beans is more intense than most homeroasters realize.
Second, buy a fire extinguisher and have it within arm's length while you roast. This is just common, household sense. OK, with that out of the way, here are some suggestions to speed you along:
1)Prior to anything, read the manual. You may download it at
www.behmor.com. Read it again.
2)Before roasting any beans, take the Behmor outside. Do a 'burn-off' roast, outside or in the garage, which takes off residual manufacturing oils. Put the bean cylinder and chaff tray in before doing this 1st step.
3)When you finish a roast, clean the chaff tray. Place it on top of the unit so that you will remember to put it back in for the next roast. It is very easy to forget.
4)Start learning the machine by using ? pound amounts until you are comfortable with the machine, its processes, and its capabilities. Then step up to ? pound roasts until you are comfortable. Then move up to a full pound.
5)If using the larger mesh bean cylinder, prior to roasting, run the beans through a 3 minute cool cycle to 'shake out' the smaller beans that might fall through the mesh and burn on the floor of the chaff collector.
6)Keep a log of bean roasted, weight of roast, settings. My log is very simple.
Country of origin
Process type
Finca/Estate/Bean Name
Amount roasted
Settings
Time of 1st crack
Time of 2nd crack, if any
Time when cool initiated
Roast Level
End Weight
Comments
7)Buy a $10 stopwatch and toss it in your roasting box. Behmor uses a descending clock. It is so much easier to write down in your log ascending actual times (your stopwatch) elapsed rather than doing the mental math.
8)Keep a log. Getting the drift?
9)Make sure that you do a ?maintenance/cleaning? run every 6th roast. Just place an empty cylinder in, hit ?1/2? and ?Start.? It will add to the life of the machine in the long run.
10)Wipe off the inside of the glass window with a barely moist paper towel after every roast. It adds to the limited visibility.
11)For the most even roasts, and to reach 2nd crack consistently, consider roasting 13.3 ounces (378 grams), using 1 pound settings. You will get six roasts out of a 5-pound bag of greens. One-pound amounts don't seem to get close enough to second crack on setting P2 for my tastes.
12)When you dump the beans after the roast, thoroughly examine the bean cylinder to ensure that no beans are stuck in the vanes or screening. Don't worry about a bit of chaff getting recycled, but a roasted bean joining the greens in the next roast will ruin your day.
13)Think about purchasing the spare bean tumbler with the finer mesh. I use it for all Yemens, some Ethiopians, and all peaberries. It does a fine job of bean retention.
14)Play with all the profiles. For me, extended P2 (a profile) is great for all the high grown beans. But, I have to be on my toes to catch the first crack as it is abbreviated. Merely add 3:00 minutes to the first crack time and you will be right on the edge of second crack (with a 13.3 ounce roast), bumping up against a full city roast.
Use Behmor's guide for time between 1st and 2nd crack. It is right on the money for me when I am using P2:
a) ? lb - 1:40 minutes
b) ? lb - 2:20 minutes
c) 1 lb? 3:20 minutes
15)Don't go past 10 seconds into the 2nd crack. Too much smoke and aroma with which to contend.
16)P3 works very nicely for the Brazils and Puerto Rican beans I have roasted, as well as any pre-blended espresso blends I have bought (rarely do I preblend prior to roasting). P5 does a bang up job on the Konas I have roasted.
17)Find an inexpensive shopvac and keep it in the closet. It speeds up chaff cleanup from the chaff tray and the insides of the roaster. I picked a mini for $25, which is a great size, from the place with helpful hardware man. He was an Ace.
Roast on!
B|Java
