What roaster would you buy today?

[anastasio]

Ok, my 2nd SC/TO died and I'm ready to leap up. Way up.
I expect to roast 1-2 lbs per week. Looking for something that can handle at least a 1lb batch. Electric, indoor/vented, 110 or 220v. Want to be able to use roasting profiles to control the batches.

If you had saved up about $3,000 from the years of roasting your own beans with a home made SC/TO  , what would you buy today?
 - Aillio Bullet R1 looks very promising but hard to find. I really like ability to swap roasting profiles.
 - Behmor Jake is very interesting, but new and I can't find any current info or suppliers (I just sent them an inquiry)
 - Huky 500T - propane only?
 - Others?

Thank you for your feedback.
Back to cleaning spider webs out of my Poppery II...

AA

[Ascholten]

I can only really authoritatively speak on the Artisan roaster because that's what I use.
They have an A3 which I think you can get for that price range, which will handle up to 3 lbs they claim, meaning it can do more than 3 lbs actually.  My A6 can do 5 lbs but I have ran over 8 in it already , and I believe the A3 will go down to half a pound.

It's electric so you don't have to fiddle with gas.  Very versatile and very responsive.
I just checked, the price is a little higher than I remember it but I would vouch for the roaster.   If you have any questions / problems or anything, their customer service is TOP NOTCH!!  I have called them on the phone on numerous occasions, and every time (when I actually remembered and called during their working hours that is   ) they have been more than willing to answer every and any question I may have ever had.  One of the ones you mentioned has pretty crappy customer service from my past experiences.  Customer service AFTER the sale is worth it's weight in gold, especially if stuff breaks or wears out over time.

Otherwise, I have heard a lot of positive reviews on the Huky, but yes it is propane, I think there is a thread here for just that roaster, we have a few fanboys here who I am sure could answer any questions you may have on it.

If you have any questions about the Artisan Id be happy to answer them for you.

Aaron

[peter]

I know a couple of people who I trust that use the Bullet and are very happy with it.

Over the years I've heard the '1-lb' thing as a requirement but never understood why that is.

Before my Ambex 2K (propane) I used two SC/TO's, and still use them for samples; having two of them doubles your capacity and easy to manage.  Netting 12oz per batch it can hit 4#/hour.  But it sounds like you're done with that idea.

[anastasio]

Thank you guys for the response so far. The Artisan looks really nice but I don't think I can justify the price. Heck, I'm already looking to spend more on this roster than I did on my car  (gotta love a good used Honda!)

I agree, support can be crucial. So is reliability. I like that the Bullet is now V2 and already improved upon. That would be a hesitation with the Jake.

As for the batch size, 2 reasons for the 1lb capacity: it seems to be the tipping point from consumer to prosumer. Better built, more features. It is also about what we consume in a week.

To be honest, I'm getting lazier and more willing to spend the money for things that work well and produce great results. I've also learned that if you take care of these things you can get a lot of your money back if you decide to sell them later. Ultimately it's cheap rent with a large deposit :-)

Thank you for taking the time to respond as I continue the search.
AA

[Ascholten]

You might be able to talk them down a little on the Artisan, you never know.  I know when I got my A6 I did not need the entire setup with the vents and all that stuff because I was roasting outside so didn't care where they chaff went, so just needed the hot part and it was significantly less than what was listed.   You are correct though in that you get what you pay for, but this will last years and years and is very trouble free.  If something does go out on it, the repair parts are few and simple, it's not like well, I have this Italian Left wound Knibbly Pin that sheared that I have to try to find.  Nope,easy peazy, I got an entire repair kit to essentially totally rebuild the guts of mine for like 200 dollars I think it was.

Good luck with your search.  One other thing to consider, the 'free stuff' they are giving you, the coffee is probably worth 200 dollars so that's a bit off really.

Aaron

[brianmch]

Huky fanboy here (were you waiting for me Aaron?!)

Seriously though, the Huky is a great little roaster.  Love mine and would buy again. Got it heavily used bit its still chugging away.  IDK what the cost new is but they're durable and the maker is responsive. 

I do back to back already so throughput is realistically 3 lb/hour. My 20lb tank has been running for 3 years this coming June. 

Quest is making a larger version of their M3, called the M6 which I would consider if wanting to stick with electricity and move to a drum with convection and conduction.  I don't hear about breakdown issues.

There is also a Hottop electric drum. 

I would buy a Bullet too because of the inductive heat and the ability for it to automatically use memorized profiles. 

Finally, there is an Ikawa pro: dump beans in, hit start, dump roasted beans out, repeat.  More cycles for the same end amount but that lil bugger is boss.

[Ascholten]

Brian, Ikawa is that sample roaster I believe,  it does 2 oz at a time.  It also cost about 4500 dollars, at least when I checked a few years ago it did.  Way too much for me especially for 2 oz of coffee!! 

Aaron

[brianmch]

Brian, Ikawa is that sample roaster I believe,  it does 2 oz at a time.  It also cost about 4500 dollars, at least when I checked a few years ago it did.  Way too much for me especially for 2 oz of coffee!! 

Aaron

I almost put something at the end of my Ikawa post about hold the chirps cuz I know about both the cost and batch size features. 

Some folk (not me) have the dough for it and it's a viable tool.  As of now I know of two of them near me. I'm sure there are others given the first buyer is a small shop I never would have guessed would by one.   

The primary thing overlooked by most is that it will produce indistinguishable results for the same coffee and charge each time.  Plus, its load, press start, walk away, unload, rinse, repeat. I could theoretically roast all day long while working without having to split my concentration using something a bit larger than a blender.  No mess, no probes, no software, no worrying about hitting temp/time marks to make gas and fan changes.  AND get as much or more than I get with an hour long roasting session. 

Value is an individual proposition everyone has to make for themselves in light of their situation. Obviously there are two sides to the coin regarding the Ikawa.

[anastasio]

Brian, thanks for chiming in! There are a lot of good reviews for the Huky. But, it seems like it is made by 1 person in Taiwan, isn't electric (I wan't to roast in my basement now) and for about $400 more I can get double the capacity with the Bullet and the profiling. I do like that that the Huky can roast back to back to make up for the lower capacity. My younger, more adventurous self (with more time) would probably buy it and then pimp it to basically do what the Bullet can (add sensors, PC, etc.)

Found some good 2020 roaster reviews for each category (consumer to semi-pro):
https://www.beanpoet.com/best-home-coffee-roaster/

Since the Bullet is out of stock, I seem to have plenty of time for more research!

AA

[Ascholten]

Interesting write up they did on the roasters anastasio, pretty indepth, however besides the "Mee Too" off shoots of some of the other roasters, there are a few others they could have mentioned in there as well.

brian, on your Ikawa,  yes if you want to do two ounces at a time, you can come back every 18.7 minutes and have a pound of coffee after 4 hours.  Many people don't have that kind of time to literally have to babysit a coffee machine all day to get a few pounds of coffee.  Ok, yes you can just stick it in and walk away and do whatever, but all of us who roast coffee, I would hope know better than to walk away from a roast in progress, (although im sure we all have done it once or twice )  Looking at the bullet, which falls about the same price range if I read the article correctly, it looks like you can do pretty much the same with it on a larger scale.  The Ikawa does have software, it's just built into it, and well ok an App too, since it's for your phone, and unless you want to use one of their generic profiles like the Behmor has, yes you will have to fiddle a bit to get your profile what you want, and only then after you found your perfect profile, store it and re run it.  However to be fair, that's for any machine really, they aren't born knowing what you need for X or Y coffee at any given year or origin.  They do have a library though they claim where others have uploaded their profiles to share.    On an interesting point, lets say you an I both had one of these, our rich uncle died and left us the money, and we both ran the same profile, only mine was at 124 volts because my solar was burning hard, and yours was at 114 volts because all your neighbors love their AC's set at 70 degrees and have the pad transformer loaded to darn near ringing.  Given we have the identical programs or profiles in them, will our results be the same.  I think not.  So while I will get consistency, in my roasts, WE will not get consistency.  Besides, you get that cheap industrial electric, mine is home made, therefore is better 

Aaron

[brianmch]

Aaron,

I think you're just playing devil's advocate.  I've been around them several times and know a pretty fair amount about their operation.  They're more advanced than you think.  A ton has been spent on development of the app and machine. 

They are truly plug and play. The app controls the roast. Everything is preset before it starts. Preheat, charge, go, dump finished beans. They don't need anyone standing over them to babysit.  They just chug along till finished.  The machine manages the heat and air inputs using a feedback/PID system.  If your power is higher than mine it'll account for that. 

If you want to shorten the yellowing-brown time by X seconds, make a profile to shorten the distance between the points, save it, run it.  It'll adjust the heat/fan to make it happen without any interference.  In fact, no changes are possible during the roast except for shutting it off. 

It's not _at all_ in the same league as a Behmor's preset programs.  The Bullet is more like it in that regard due to its internal feedback loop.  IDK if a non-used profile can be loaded into the Bullet then run.  I personally prefer the ability to adjust on the fly like a Bullet, but if I get a profile I like it is repeatable.  IDK how many it stores or how to pull them up. 

The Bullet is my next step if I need more volume because of its capacity, repeatability, and footprint.  Then a 6K gas drum of some sort. 

The Huky is my baby for now and it meets all of my needs except for elimination of user error!  IDK if Mr Li makes it solo or has helpers.  He's been in business for many years and I don't hear about any reliability issues from shoddy or inconsistent workmanship.  Maybe they're out there but I don't see them.  The Bullet is Asian made too but Euro designed.  They seem to be solid but there is a volume disclaimer somewhere on them.  My buddy has one but the board is down somehow and he can't get it back running. Probably broke it and won't fess up! 

A nearby roastery uses a 5K electric drum operate and was impressed.  IDR the name but it worked just like a tabletop gas drum except for power source.  Ran on 220.  If the Jake is released without all the nanny features the Behmor has it could be a contender. 

 

[Ascholten]

brian,  Huky has been around for a while.  A fair amount of people have them, a lot of good is being said about them.  I have a hard time seeing that he'd be able to keep up with the demand just by himself anymore to be honest!  Maybe at first but now with so many people wanting them, hmm hard to say.  I really hope he has someone else under his wing, because eventually well..... Id hate to see that roaster go away like some of the others we have seen in the past.

Aaron

[brianmch]

brian,  Huky has been around for a while.  A fair amount of people have them, a lot of good is being said about them.  I have a hard time seeing that he'd be able to keep up with the demand just by himself anymore to be honest!  Maybe at first but now with so many people wanting them, hmm hard to say.  I really hope he has someone else under his wing, because eventually well..... Id hate to see that roaster go away like some of the others we have seen in the past.

Aaron

Growth and succession are two of the main challenges of being a small business for sure.  I also hope Mr. Li can keep it going.  I think there remains a market for a small gas fired shop roasters. To be honest increasing competition from electric roasters coming to market in the last what, 5 years or so (Jake, larger Quest M6, Bullet, Ikawa) is an influence too.  More folks want to roast now than ever before. 

[Ascholten]

so the demand is there and increasing but some people like a gas roaster over electric, it's easier for them in their eyes.  Yes id say the electric roasters are taking a chunk of that market as more and more are showing up but I don't really see gas going away anytime soon, or the demand really decreasing on them, since the demand for home roast is really going up.

Aaron

[scubadoo2]

Sorry to ask a dumb question, but what is an SC/TO?