So I finally tried out my new iRoast2 that I won totally unexpectedly at Celebrate the Bean
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?nu...129065/143#143 ;D
1st -- some fessing up: up til Jan this year I was happily running supermarket beans through a little Russel Hobbs mill and then a drip filter. And all was well (mostly
) Then a friend of a friend brought a leaky little Krups machine to a holiday house we were all sharing, and the bug started to nibble...
But I was going to be good -- I was going to start with one of the cheaper sunbeams or similar and see how I went. But then a 2nd-hand Silvia popped up on that auction site, and I couldnt help myself :-[ ..
So now Ive got a Silvia I dont know how to use and a crappy grinder. Oh dear. Oh, and stale beans.
So along to CTB I go in the hope of enlightenment, info, and if possible a line on some fresh beans. And theres the CS stand with *piles* of fresh beans for sale -- Yay!!! And you can watch them being roasted -- double yay! And all you need is a heat gun and a steel bowl! Right. Grab some green beans to play with, some fresh roasted to tide me over, things are looking up.
And then I go and *win* a roaster as well -- definitely a good day
So -- coffee experience minimal (I dont even buy coffee when Im out cause it usually tastes horrible - even me & Silvia & Russel Hobbs can do better!), roasting experience nil.
So I thought Id write a little review about what happens when a complete amateur meets the iRoast2.
Some general comments -- the device goes together in a reasonably obvious fashion, the roasting pot locks onto the base, though its pretty stiff, maybe itll free up with use, then the chaff collector locks on top, and so long as all the arrows line up youre good to go (once youve put some beans in that is -- duh)
So I put my 150g of Kenya A into the pot, lock the chaff collector back on, put the whole ensemble on a breadboard on the stove so its under the rangehood., and plug it in. So far so easy!
But now I have to choose (or devise) a roasting profile. I prefer lighter roasts, so obviously Ill go for preset 1, cause thats how it describes itself. Right? But I also look on the web to see what other people have done, and thats where the trouble starts, because the excellent iRoast how-to on SweetMarias says that preset 1 is just 450F for 10 mins. Not the 3-stage light roast described in the instructions (385F for 3 mins, 425F for 4 mins, then 455F for 2 mins. Not sure why the instructions give all the temps in Farenheit :-/ btw)
So what is my machines preset 1? Is it a 3-stage light roast as desired, or a flat-out popper roast? How do I find out? I know, Ill just start the roast and see what it says :-/
Aarrggh -- all it says on the LCD display in the time! Wheres the temperature??? Beans are going round and round, getting browner and browner -- seems very fast. Cant hear a thing over the roaster and the range hood -- wheres 1st crack?? SO with multimeter and temparature probe reports 230C at 3 mins -- rush into study to look up temperatures --230C =~ 445F -- that cant be right can it??? Beans looking quite brown at 6 mins -- totally lose nerve, push "cool" button to stiop roast -- what have I done!??
Calm down, tip beans into mesh basket, hunt up the CS roasting info sheet with the picture of the 9 stages of the roast (this is a great pic btw -- is it online anywhere?)
Well, I probably have #7: nearly drinkable
, but hey -- be an optimist -- it could be nearly #8: spot-on :
Photos to follow...
Just for fun (and to see what happened) we put ~50g of these already (mostly?) roasted beans in the big steel mixing bowl, rustled up the heat gun, and toasted them some more. What I *think* was 2nd crack happened after about 2 mins (they were quite cool (ie, warm but not hot) when we started this), and they got darker (obviously) and a bit oily looking. They dont smell nearly so nice as the barely roasted ones
though
Back to the iRoast2: I still dont know what my roast temperature/program was, too bad I didnt find the bit in the back of the instructions that tells you how to check the roasting temperature while its roasting! The instruction booklet is the usual standard for these things -- ie, awful. What I really needed for my 1st attempt was something like:
1. put 150g (or less) beans into roasting pot and screw everything together til the arrows line up.
2. Push the desired preset button (well get into programming the thing later thanks)
3. Push the Roast/Temp button to start the roast. Push this button again at any time to check the temperature. The flashing dot above the I, II, or III tells you which stage youre at. Push the Cool/Time button to manually stop the roast (only if you want to stop it early).
Thats it! (until you want your own profile, that is
)
Dont get me wrong -- all this info is there, but theyve put seemingly every detail in, including the programming instructions in the middle. What I want is a dummies step 1,2,3 precis -- real short! But on the other hand, for all I know manufacturers dont dare put simplified instructions in for legal reasons -- I can already see someone saying "but I followed the 3 easy steps and they never said anything about <insert idiot action X here>"
<to be continued...>
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?nu...129065/143#143 ;D
1st -- some fessing up: up til Jan this year I was happily running supermarket beans through a little Russel Hobbs mill and then a drip filter. And all was well (mostly
) Then a friend of a friend brought a leaky little Krups machine to a holiday house we were all sharing, and the bug started to nibble...But I was going to be good -- I was going to start with one of the cheaper sunbeams or similar and see how I went. But then a 2nd-hand Silvia popped up on that auction site, and I couldnt help myself :-[ ..
So now Ive got a Silvia I dont know how to use and a crappy grinder. Oh dear. Oh, and stale beans.

So along to CTB I go in the hope of enlightenment, info, and if possible a line on some fresh beans. And theres the CS stand with *piles* of fresh beans for sale -- Yay!!! And you can watch them being roasted -- double yay! And all you need is a heat gun and a steel bowl! Right. Grab some green beans to play with, some fresh roasted to tide me over, things are looking up.
And then I go and *win* a roaster as well -- definitely a good day
So -- coffee experience minimal (I dont even buy coffee when Im out cause it usually tastes horrible - even me & Silvia & Russel Hobbs can do better!), roasting experience nil.
So I thought Id write a little review about what happens when a complete amateur meets the iRoast2.
Some general comments -- the device goes together in a reasonably obvious fashion, the roasting pot locks onto the base, though its pretty stiff, maybe itll free up with use, then the chaff collector locks on top, and so long as all the arrows line up youre good to go (once youve put some beans in that is -- duh)
So I put my 150g of Kenya A into the pot, lock the chaff collector back on, put the whole ensemble on a breadboard on the stove so its under the rangehood., and plug it in. So far so easy!
But now I have to choose (or devise) a roasting profile. I prefer lighter roasts, so obviously Ill go for preset 1, cause thats how it describes itself. Right? But I also look on the web to see what other people have done, and thats where the trouble starts, because the excellent iRoast how-to on SweetMarias says that preset 1 is just 450F for 10 mins. Not the 3-stage light roast described in the instructions (385F for 3 mins, 425F for 4 mins, then 455F for 2 mins. Not sure why the instructions give all the temps in Farenheit :-/ btw)
So what is my machines preset 1? Is it a 3-stage light roast as desired, or a flat-out popper roast? How do I find out? I know, Ill just start the roast and see what it says :-/
Aarrggh -- all it says on the LCD display in the time! Wheres the temperature??? Beans are going round and round, getting browner and browner -- seems very fast. Cant hear a thing over the roaster and the range hood -- wheres 1st crack?? SO with multimeter and temparature probe reports 230C at 3 mins -- rush into study to look up temperatures --230C =~ 445F -- that cant be right can it??? Beans looking quite brown at 6 mins -- totally lose nerve, push "cool" button to stiop roast -- what have I done!??
Calm down, tip beans into mesh basket, hunt up the CS roasting info sheet with the picture of the 9 stages of the roast (this is a great pic btw -- is it online anywhere?)
Well, I probably have #7: nearly drinkable
, but hey -- be an optimist -- it could be nearly #8: spot-on :
Photos to follow...Just for fun (and to see what happened) we put ~50g of these already (mostly?) roasted beans in the big steel mixing bowl, rustled up the heat gun, and toasted them some more. What I *think* was 2nd crack happened after about 2 mins (they were quite cool (ie, warm but not hot) when we started this), and they got darker (obviously) and a bit oily looking. They dont smell nearly so nice as the barely roasted ones
thoughBack to the iRoast2: I still dont know what my roast temperature/program was, too bad I didnt find the bit in the back of the instructions that tells you how to check the roasting temperature while its roasting! The instruction booklet is the usual standard for these things -- ie, awful. What I really needed for my 1st attempt was something like:
1. put 150g (or less) beans into roasting pot and screw everything together til the arrows line up.
2. Push the desired preset button (well get into programming the thing later thanks)
3. Push the Roast/Temp button to start the roast. Push this button again at any time to check the temperature. The flashing dot above the I, II, or III tells you which stage youre at. Push the Cool/Time button to manually stop the roast (only if you want to stop it early).
Thats it! (until you want your own profile, that is
)Dont get me wrong -- all this info is there, but theyve put seemingly every detail in, including the programming instructions in the middle. What I want is a dummies step 1,2,3 precis -- real short! But on the other hand, for all I know manufacturers dont dare put simplified instructions in for legal reasons -- I can already see someone saying "but I followed the 3 easy steps and they never said anything about <insert idiot action X here>"
<to be continued...>

-- and it cools the beans down for you.


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