Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Popper?

[ahmadnz]

Well you Snobs have really dragged me along with you for a wild coffee ride.

Having just purchased my first grinder (Mazzer SJ) for my old Breville Cafe Roma, Im now contemplating the seemingly crazy idea of roasting my own beans at home :

So....

I have had a quick read of the Popper and Corretto home methods and have some questions:

Corretto seems to be a bit too involved and difficult for me.

1. Id need a heat gun and some way for it to remain pointed into the BM right?
2. Do I need to have that thermocouple thing and why would I want to connect that to my computer?
3. Wont the chaff go EVERYWHERE?

Sounds a bit troublesome and messy for me!!

Popper might be a better proposition.

1. Is it basically as easy as popping popcorn (we have a Breville Popper but I will not be allowed to "convert" this!)
2. I have read something about these Poppers dying prematurely because Snobs push them beyond what they were designed to do - are reports of having to replace the popper every few months accurate?
3. Which are the best Popper brands for this purpose? Is there an agreed list of good machines here on CS?

[cyrilgoldenrock]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

So many questions........
I dont have many answers but i will say this:

It was not at all along ago that i too was contemplating the seemingly huge step of roasting my own coffee, an idea that one short year ago would have seemed ludicrous. I decided to start with a popper for financial and simplicity reasons (the corretto seemed a bit daunting), to see if roasting was for me without a big cash outlay.
Well, it was, but i soon realised that i needed to be able to roast bigger batches, and that i needed more control of temperature and time, (the popper was too hot too fast).
So i began getting together my corretto, having spent many hours reading the forum and searching evilbay for a cheap bread maker.
So, long story short(ish), im now a very happy regular corretto roaster, learning all the time, still a LOOOONG way to go, but often very happy with my results.
So id say read up, start with the popper seeing as you have one handy, then consider getting a corretto together, its really not hard once you start, and damn is it satisfying when you roast a good batch and have friends enjoying your coffee. I love it.

[ahmadnz]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

Thanks Cyril. Very helpful.

Why did you need bigger batches? Time and convenience? Or heavy drinking?

Im the only drinker in the house and 100g might last a working week (or it has this week anyway). I suspect this will go up as I learn more of course.

The Corretto setup looks very daunting and Im in the South Island of New Zealand where winter temperatures are not conducive to outdoor activities (we dont have a garage either).

[cyrilgoldenrock]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

Bigger batches yes, to all of the above. I was only able to roast around 70g in my popper (a $20 cheapie from the warehouse) which came out to around 60g ish after roasting. This makes around 3 double shots with my machine. Also, i was frequently burning the beans due to the speed of the popper, and was unsuccessful at modding it to slow it down. Thats when i took the plunge.

A good point about the climate. Wear snow gear? I think coffees worth it, but as it says on my profile, im obsessed. And the corretto really isnt too hard. Like i said, once you start, youll just slip into it, and hopefully love it.

[cyrilgoldenrock]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

Whereabouts on the south island? I love NZ and have friends in Wanaka. Hopefully ill be there for a couple of weeks in august for some snowboarding at coronets peak.

[gregpullman]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

Corretto seems to be a bit too involved and difficult for me.

1. Id need a heat gun and some way for it to remain pointed into the BM right?
2. Do I need to have that thermocouple thing and why would I want to connect that to my computer?
3. Wont the chaff go EVERYWHERE?

1. Yep. Your hand works, so does a tripod stand. Latter makes temperature control easier (wind HG up and down as required).
2. No. Thermocouple helps you know whats going on but you can go by sight / sound and youll get better with time. However theyre very cheap and its a good bit of data to have. Connecting to the PC - simply so you can log the temperatures so you know what happened last time. Good supplement to a roasting log.
3. Yeah. Best to do it outside!

Have only tried one popper (Sunbeam Popasaurus) and it took 45 minutes to get to FC. So I wouldnt recommend that one.

[tominoz]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

gday Ahmadnz,

If you are looking for a cheap easy way to try roasting coffee then the cheapest way to go is a wok. This is where we started to get a feel for it. It is easy to try on the barbe especialy if youve already got one.
You can vary your batch size but it gets a bit hard on your arms after a while.

Good luck,

Thomas

[Groggles]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

I have just started down the roast my own path after also being encouraged by this site and others. I just bought 7kg beans from bean bay ...
Ive only roasted a 1 1/2 kilos so far in a popper, and its really easy. The only draw back is that he batches are small, and others have said it tends to roast pretty fast - a batch in 5 - 7 minutes. (I just roasted some Mexican beans that I got to extend to 10 minutes by jiggling the popper). Still tastes great, but probably not as complex as a slower more controlled roast.

So I would say a popper is an easy and satisfying way to start, but I am looking at setting up a corretto or some other roaster sooner or later ...

Cheers

Greg

[ahmadnz]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

What is the "shelf life" of green beans?

[ahmadnz]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

What are these? Table top roasters? $150 NZD

Table Top Coffee Roaster, roasts 50g of green beans in approximately 7 minutes - enough for 8 cups coffee.

NZ branded model, new in plain packaging, 220-240v.

[Randy_G.]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

it is the "Fresh Roast Plus."
Google it and you will find lots of info.

I like the way they advertise that it will roast in "7 minutes," like its a good thing.

[cyrilgoldenrock]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

What is the "shelf life" of green beans?

From what ive read on the forum, anywhere up to two or three years. Someone correct me if im wrong.

I think there is a rule of three:
3mins for ground,
3weeks for brown,
3years for green. (At the outside im guessing).

Again, someone correct me if im wrong, this is just what ive read on the forum.

[acoggins]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

Hi ahmadnz,

Ive read on other forums of people in Canada successfully roasting using a corretto in the winter, which can get down to minus 20 and more.

I would say the cold of NZ is not as harsh as that so you should be right. Obviously the weather will play a big part on the roast times however.

[22a]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

I think a popper is a good first step. It helps you learn about the roasting process without chewing through your bean supply (due to the batches being quite small). I still have my old popper lying around which youre welcome to if youre willing to pay postage.



It is a Breville Crazy Popper which has been given a sleek black colour scheme (which could use a touch up by the looks of it). That said, it is still an outdoor activity. Doing it indoors would be messy. All you need is a day thats not raining and you should be fine. As was said above, it probably wont get cold enough that you cant roast well.

[ahmadnz]

Re: Home Roasting modest startup- Corretto vs. Pop

22a - are you also in NZ? Which part? Im in Dunedin.