First Behmor 1600 Plus roast/flambe

[leoniedukes]

I just received my brand new Behmor roaster today, and after carefully reading the instruction manual cover to cover and following the instructions to the letter... Caught the beans on fire.

Now I am off to buy some cleaner, and will spend my afternoon cleaning the now blackened roaster.

I think for the next batch I will ignore their instructions on using the hottest setting etc and follow my own instincts a bit more.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

I just received my brand new Behmor roaster today, and after carefully reading the instruction manual cover to cover and following the instructions to the letter... Caught the beans on fire.

Now I am off to buy some cleaner, and will spend my afternoon cleaning the now blackened roaster.

I think for the next batch I will ignore their instructions on using the hottest setting etc and follow my own instincts a bit more.

If you want useful feedback (rather than to just let off steam), it would be helpful if you tell us exactly what you did. i.e. What type of beans, what mass of beans, which buttons on the Behmor you hit at what times etc?

I burnt my first batch too.....but not to the point of setting the beans on fire. All happens pretty quickly on a 200g batch.

Make sure you get an appropriate cleaning product (Simple Green).

[sprezzatura]

Welcome to the First Flambé Behmor Club (it gets better).

[sprezzatura]

I turn on the interior light after "C" and wait for the first whisp of smoke then Cool quick and even crack the door open if it's looking hot if I'm roasting to second crack.

[MrFreddofrog]

Can you explain the events before it caught on fire so we all (meaning me) can learn?

My first batch which I did all of 2 days ago almost caught on fire too. I normally get a decent gap between 1C and 2C when using a popper but I didn't get any on the Behmor. By the time I realised what was happening (about 30sec later) the beans were smoking, just as my wife walked by no less. Btw the manual recommends no more than 10sec into 2C.

Luckily I remembered reading in the manual to immediately cool when smoke appears so I hit the Cool button and opened the door to bring down the bean temp quickly. Luckily it worked. Opening the door could also have caused the fire to start by introducing fresh air/oxygen. But luckily for me it didn't and my Full City + beans are happily waiting consumption

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

As long as your roaster is working properly (i.e the draw fan and the afterburner are working), it simply comes down to hitting the 'cool' button too late. You need to be working about 20 seconds ahead of what is presently happening to the beans. There is considerably more margin for error when roasting 400g batches (there's usually a more distinct gap between first and second crack). P2 is more forgiving as well, as the roaster is not operating at max heat during first crack.

[vjrossi]

I'm a recent owner as well, probably have done a dozen roasts now. IMO the manual isn't great but it's not bad either. If you followed it to the letter, I'm not sure how the beans could catch on fire unless perhaps the sensor/s are not doing their job (unlikely). Did you follow the 'rosetta' guide? For a while I reckon err on the side of caution. Better to get some underdone, unusable practice roasts and work your way up. I did a number of 100g/P1 roasts at first as per the manual and while some have smoked and been undrinkable, I've not had a fire. Take *any* sign of smoke as a warning to get ready with the Cool button. Also I recommend writing down everything, such as when first crack starts, if you did a warm-up first, the ambient temperature, when/if you reduced the timer after first crack and to what time, if you got to second crack, etc. etc. and fine tune after each roast. Not only that, but you can use it to tell us exactly what you did when a roast fails (or not). Hope the machine is ok!

[MrFreddofrog]

...IMO the manual isn't great but it's not bad either....

agreed! 10 char

[leoniedukes]

I think my problem was I was roasting a small batch of old (presumably extra dry) beans on the hottest setting, and everything moved too quickly. I thought they looked a bit too dark, but wasn't sure if it was just the light. There was continuous cracking for about a minute and a half, and about 2 seconds before it was set to start cooldown it shut off from overheating instead and smoke started billowing everywhere.

After a good clean the machine is fine and I have managed a few roasts that look successful, so I think I have a handle on how the machine is working now. It's a big change from the stovetop popcorn popper I was using before!

[Dimal]

It's all good leoniedukes...

Most of us have experienced this sort of mishap when moving from one type of roaster to another, at least, I know I have. Main thing is, you've got a handle on it now so it's onward and upward from here...

Mal.

[Andy]

Definitely worth giving the Indian Elephant Hills a try, we include those with the roaster as they are an excellent starting bean that works well through a range of roast depths... and won't be as "sneaky" as your old beans.

It's really easy to get great results with them.

As always, take lots of notes and keep an eye on the progress, sometimes things happen in turbo-time after first crack.

It's often better to start with 200g of beans... it's a much "calmer" roast curve than the 100g roasts.


Enjoy!

[GreenBeanGenii]

Welcome to the First Flambé Behmor Club (it gets better).

This must be a close relative of Portafilter Sneeze?

Must make a note for the future.

[sprezzatura]

I like the portafiltre sneeze: it just sounds funny. This is a cousin of the E-61 solenoid group technical technique The Way of the Hammer (dead-blow hammer recommended!)