Great review Andy...

Wanna buy a slightly used Hottop?

stratford wrote on Oct 10^th, 2005, 10:43am:




Thanks Stratford but I think I already own just the same item.

Seems tough to find faults in the design.  I'm also interested in what price they'll be offered here in Australia.  If the knobbed version is fine, and the digital one only different in that it has push buttons, it would seems knobs are far sturdier and a preferred option.  Push buttons like that always seem to have microswitch issues when pressed multitudes of times.  You always seem to press harder to get a result.  It's much like the bloke/tap syndrome, where we end up wrenching the tap down just to stop the drips, which ends up doing more harm than good.

Who will be fighting to be a local distributor when this roaster becomes fully available?

Forgot...Excellent review!  

nunu wrote on Oct 10^th, 2005, 1:07pm:



The design IMHO is great.  I'm sure someone will find something to whine about one day ('tis what we do in forums) but all in all its hard to fault.

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In the original thread I was after a "digital" one.  More buttons means it MUST be better but as you have observed the knobs work really well!  A quick spin of the knob gives quick and accurate settings and I can see no need for the "soft touch" up and down buttons on the "not-yet-existant digital version"

The other nice "feature" of the knob version is that the display is LED and not LCD which makes it easier to read outside and at night.

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Thanx  

Andy:

First of all it is an excellent review, at least as good as the Hottop review!



It looks like a well and thoughtfully designed machine.  I particularly like the chaff collection system.

The only point where the design falls down a little bit is in the cooling department.  Mind you all designs which is ALL of them except for the Hottop is that they retain the beans in the heating compartment rather than dumping them into a separate tray.

Subjectively I like the looks of the Hottop better but that is just an opinion.  



Now all they have to do is get it to market here at a competitive price.


Grant

Chris:

Yes, it is an unusual looking machine.  

It looks like a cross between a gem tumbler and an etch a sketch...

Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Grant

Gene Cafe CBR-101. Mmmm.

You immediately think of a small 125cc Honda (Gene) Cafe racer that redlines at 20,000rpm.

Other names come to mind that are much better:

Etcha Roaster

The Sketcha Bean

How about the FireBean CBR-101???



Grant

A second fan could be the trick.  One that only comes-on during the cooling cycle.

You could just about stick a blower into the current fan intake to cool the beans with a turbo blast!

hmmm... I might try that next roasting session.

Great review Andy ,

Wish I could scrape the necessary "readies" together to buy one.... ah well, maybe by that time they are available off the shelf in Oz and a CS discount is in force ,

Cheers,
Mal.

nunu wrote on Oct 10^th, 2005, 11:04pm:



Hmmm.... I'll have a fiddle on the weekend and let you know.

The build quality on this is great.  

I had the same thoughts as you but seeing it in the flesh is a whole different ball game.  No sharp edges or half finished mould marks and everything meets where it should.  The "gizzards" were spot-on too.  Well mounted, labeled and designed.

as per the review, the only real downside I could see was the speed of the cooling and as "tinkerers" I'm sure we can address that.  

I have done about 15 roasts in it so far and every one of those is a winner.  The other thing that stands-out is after those roasts is that the whole unit is still very clean.

Its an exciting time for home roasters and I'm sure this machine is a step towards the "toaster" appliance that you could give as a wedding present.

Great review Andy!
Now this is a unit I could get interested in  assuming that:
1. The price was not too high.
2. The issue of cooling can be sorted simply.

One thing I do like is that it doesnt seem to impose time contraints on your roasting cycle 'a la the HotTop (something which really annoyed me) and also doesnt seem to need to "rest" for 25 minutes between roast cycles.
As for robustness of construction:
The HotTop certainly looks classier in S/S but whether that actually translates to better longevity and performance; only time will tell.
I guess that's as much as I can say until I get to have a more hands-on play  

Viva l' choix !!!

Tim

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WARNING: "burnies owww owwww" ***


If needed (at some point in the future) I'll drag race the two machines together using factory settings for a similar roast depth and a second batch to follow.

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Hint noted  

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Hmmm... I didn't try a french roast like I did in the "incinerator" at the roast-a-rama  

Very nice review.

I note that the cooling cycle was fairly long in reasonably cool external conditions. Can you check it out again on a warmer day; say 20-25 degrees ambient? It looks like it may become a problem in summer.

How much smoke does it produce compared to the HOTTOP and does it emanate from specific locations?

Cheers

Andy Freeman wrote on Oct 12^th, 2005, 11:28am:


LOL We won't see 25 in this neck of the woods for another 6 months.

Java "Getting his winter woolies out" phile

If you've spent $800 on a grinder, $2000 on a HX machine, and now $800 on a roaster... could you then put four walls around the lot, stick in a couple of table and chairs, invite in punters and charge them $3--- to justify the outlay?

Maybe that's one way Endisnigh can sell his upgrade proposal to his wife.

Now with a new improved english language web site!

http://www.genecafe.co.kr/

Quite keen to pick one of these up, happy tp pay deposit.  What would be the timing if enough keeness is obtained?

JM wrote on Nov 8^th, 2005, 1:19pm:


A huge thanks to JM for this...
He has been on this case like a dog with a bone!!  
I borrowed Andy's Gene for a while when my Stir-Crazy went on the fritz and it is BY FAR the best home roaster that I have used.
Where do I startt....
More tweakable, easier to use, you can see the beans in the glass drum, it's quiet, good chaff management and it's the most even roast I've seen come from a home roaster.
The only "downer" I could see is the time it takes to cool the beans but I'm gonna rig up something to work around that.
Mine is currently in transit  from JM so I'm chomping at the bit!

Tim

Glad it working well JM.

I'll have the "on-tour" today.  Not too sure where we will plug it in for a demo but I have a long lead and might be able to find a powerpoint at St Ali in the arvo for a couple of batches.

Hi Luca,
it was a typical live demo... and EVERYONE knows that a live demo of anything is doomed  

It went ok, it was the first time I had roasted the Indo Tiger in it so I had no "initial settings" to follow.  Just winged it and adjusted the time at the end of the roast.  It was a little uneven but the CS'rs got to see the beast in action and we made some smoke for added atmosphere in St.Ali (although the place already oozes atmosphere and didnt need the CS smoke).

We will get it out for another spin at our next CS get-together if needed  

I just ordered a Gene Cafe from Has Bean.  I have not received it yet, but Has Bean has shown top-notch customer service.

Rich

I went through the trouble of getting a transformer to step down the voltage for a 120V machine (a bowling ball spinner).  Very costly, but still useful as it is rated for 1.6kW.

It's here, and it's a great little roaster!

[b]The purchase:[/b]  As mentioned previously, I ordered my Gene Cafe (GC) from Steve at Has Bean.  The order was placed last Friday and I received the notice on Monday that it had been shipped.  Because it was being shipped from across the world, and thinking I would have to pay an import tax, I expected the shipment to take several weeks for it to arrive.  On Wednesday I returned home to find a FedEx door tag saying they attempted the delivery.  I made certain I was there to receive it on Thursday.  I would never hesitate ordering any product from Has Bean.  

[b]The Machine:[/b]  As with the GC Andy tested and reveiwed, I needed to make a trip to the hardware store for a different plug.  Ten minutes of work, and I was up and running.  Now I am not yet a veteran at operating th GC, becasue I only had a hour or so before work, but I did manage to roast one batch.

[b]The Roast:[/b]  The most difficult thing about my first roast was making a celsius to Fahrenheit conversion chart.  For the initial run I simply wanted to see how the machine works and get a feel for how it roasts.  After feeding it three scoops of beans, I set it for 16 minutes, the temp to 235, and then started it. I have been roasting with an air popcorm popper for the last three years, so at first the GC seems a little slow.  You have a great view of the beans so you can easily see the roast progress.  The first crack came at about 16 minutes.  I had to increase my time twice by two minutes to make it to the second crack.  I have to admitt I had some anxiety as I activated the cooling cycle.  I am used to dumping my beans from the popper to my cooler which stops the roast almost immediately.  The second cracking continued for about 15 or 20 seconds before it calmed down.  The colling cycle ran for about nine minutes.

One thing that caught my eye was about ten minutes into the roast I realized I was not seeing chaff flying around the roasting chamber.  When I looked at the left side of the chamber (the exit end) I could see a wad of chaff slightly smaller than a golf ball getting batted back and forth across the exit grille.  The chaff extractor works by a weighted metal "flapper" door that works back and forth as the drum turns.  This essentially forces the chaff through the grille.  At first it didn't look like it was working very well, but before I knew it, the wad of chaff was gone.  I noted that when I emtied the chaff collector that the chaff appeared more burnt than what I see from the popper.

I was surprised by how little smoke the GC makes with that size of a roast.  I have read several places (and on this site) that the more beans roasted, the more smoke is produced.  That just doesn't seem to be the case here. The popper I have used would fill my shop with a sizable haze of smoke.  If I did two batches back to back, it would almost appear as though the shop was on fire.  The single roast of the GC with three times as much coffee roasted, produced maybe half as much smoke as the popper.

The roast profile was just about identical to that reported by Andy.  First crack at about 16 minutes, second around 19, and a 9 minute cool-down.  I feel I might of reached first crack sooner had I taken the time to warm my shop prior to roasting, as it was only about 10 degrees (celsius) inside and since we have had several severe rain storms lately, it was also damp.

The coffee came out perfect.  Often my popper would heat up so fast that there were often divots in the beans from heating too fast.  The GC roasts very evenly and the beans looked beautiful.  

My weekend starts tomorrow, and I plan on roasting a batch or two more for me to play with the new addition to the family.  I also have two of my coffee roasting buddies coming over to do some roasting.  If I discover any other revalation about the GC, I will make another post.

Happy roasting!

Rich

Good info on the effects of overloading the roaster.

What I have learned about short-cutting the cooling cycle is that if you push and hold the left nob for 3 to 5 seconds, it aborts the cooling mode and comes to a stop.  From there I can load the coffee into my bean cooler which stops the roast pronto and brings them to about room temperature in 20 seconds or so.  I am a little hesitant about doing this because the temp display shows an "E", and I can only assume it is telling me she is too hot.  The two times I have done this I have turned the roaster back on and forced it back to cooling itself while empty.

I have about 6 roasted batches under my belt now.  Each batch is very consistant.  I am still going a bit long on time, around 20 minutes, but I believe this is due to humidity (around 93%) lower temperatures.  I will bet good money the roasting time will be lower as the weather improves.

I have to say I realy am liking this roaster.  I have two roasting buddies that had to come run some beans through for themselves, and they were quite impressed with her.

As for the Fahrenheit factoid, I would welcome the metric system more as mainstream, unfortunately America is too used to this system.  About 20 years ago there was a big push to convert, but it didn't get too far.  Something about teaching old dogs new tircks comes to mind!  Heck, I can bearly spell Fahrenheit!

Rich