Hottop, Digital

[Andy]

Re: Hottop, Digital

Im sure Wired will reply but in the past I have only had to pay GST on imports over AU$400.

That is 10% on top of the whole invoice total (delivery and item)... I would take a punt at about AU$120 on this one.

...more importantly when are we all coming over to see it in action

[stratford]

Re: Hottop, Digital

hehe,

Ill give you a full report when it arrives..: )

[Andy]

Re: Hottop, Digital

..nah... not a report... an invite ;D

We can bring our own beans :

I would expect only about 100 - 150 members would turn-up to see it in action.

[stratford]

Re: Hottop, Digital

All welcome...

Just bring a few kilos of Cuban...bit scarce at the moment...

[garglebutt]

Re: Hottop, Digital

You pay duty when the item is more than $1000 AUD when shipped by a countrys domestic mail service, otherwise it is only $250 AUD before duty kicks in.

In order to be below the duty requirement you need the invoiced cost including shipping to be less than $1000...

[stratford]

Re: Hottop, Digital

Yes,

Unfortunately, at US$900, it is over the limit for domestic shipping.
I got a letter from Customs today, and I will try and retrieve it tomorrow....

Cheers....

[garglebutt]

Re: Hottop, Digital

Oh and it will be quite a bit more than 10% once the sharks get their fees added in unfortunately.

Last time I paid duty the customs stuff was handled by a company called Pirahna Imports - I kid you not.

I avoided all that on my HOTTOP, but thats a story better told face to face. :

[stratford]

Re: Hottop, Digital

Oh Dear, the Hottop has become quite an expensive roaster!

I thought I would save the money on a Customs broker, and do the paperwork myself....bad decision....After downloading six forms and spending two hours writing them out, I fronted up to Customs...who helped me rewrite them! After about an hour and a half, I departed Customs $200 poorer (including $50 for `manual entry of forms as opposed to the online broker)....I guess it is a matter of luck as to whether the exchange rate puts the FOB value over the magic $1000 or not.

But the Hottop...what a beautiful machine! A chrome sculpture....it comes with a spare filter I will hopefully fire it up in the next day or so...working late at the moment.

For the money, I think you would have a decent deposit on a 2kg Garanti, but there you go.....

Nice to know the Customs people are efficient!

[Andy]

Re: Hottop, Digital

At least is arrived ok, customs and duty is just part of the game. Once you have spent the $ is doesnt matter.

What matters now is that it does a great job of your coffee...

Im sure we all look forward to your reviews and "new baby" photos!

[stratford]

Re: Hottop, Digital

I love this roaster....

I got home late last night, and had to try it, so set it up in the workshop for a midnight roast....fairly cool ambient temp.

The Hottop is larger than you think, and heavy; you are not likely to knock it over. It looks very retro...it resembles one of the engine pods from the original Starship Enterprise...

The build quality appears to be top notch...

The manual supplied is for the earlier model, with the seven roast settings...there is a photocopied addendum for the the new model with the `timer settings. I had a quick read, and opted for 19 minutes....

The roaster took about 5 minutes to warm up; the drum rotating quietly...it then beeps to indicate it is ready for the beans. I loaded it with the 250g of `Columbian which came with the roaster....First crack at about 17 minutes.....just about at second crack when the chute opened and dumped the beans into the cooling tray. If I had read the instructions more closely, I would have known how to extend the roast time....

The cooling cycle ran for 5 minutes...but the beans were definately under roasted : (

I then grabbed a load of Costa Rican, and hit the start button. The roaster then went into a 10 minute cooling cycle, before it began its initial start pre heat cycle again! This time, I opted for 21 minutes, which took the beans well into second crack. Superb! They arrived out of the dumper like coins from a pokie, except with a large cloud of smoke....

Some observations:

This is a seriously fantastic device...

You can clearly see the beans at all times...

Not as much smoke as I had expected...

The Hottop is called Hottop for a reason...

While you dont have programming control, you can hit the temp button, and see the drum temp...

I have a lot more experimentation to do....

Did I tell you I love this roaster? Even my wife loves it!

Ill take a few photos on the weekend...

Happy roasting....

[garglebutt]

Re: Hottop, Digital

Welcome to the rather small HOTTOP community (current members: Wired and stratford!).

Your roast times seem a bit long but I did put a few loads of rubbish beans through it first to get it seasoned and settled in to roasts between 16.5 and 19 minutes. It will vary depending on the voltage fluctuations in your home.

I use setting 6++ for most of my roasts which is at the start or just into 2nd crack for most beans. I never do back to back roasts as I find the behaviour of the machine is disappointing even with the cooling cycle.

The filters are a bit of a pain as they need to be replaced every 30-50 roasts. Im on my third now. You can extend their life a bit by removing the cover of the loading chute when it starts beeping before it dumps the beans. You need a good extractor though!

The only place Ive found to buy the filters other than from the manufacturer is Sweet Marias and they will only sell them two at a time. When my last filter expires I will be replacing it with a 120mm metal filter designed for a computer fan, which is exactly what the fan on the right in the photo is!

[Andy]

Re: Hottop, Digital

... only two local members in the Hottop users group and half of them are talking about "mods". Great to see.

This is a seriously fantastic device...

Its always great when a new toy works better than expected, congrats!

...and you have forgotten about the extra customs charges already

[stratford]

Re: Hottop, Digital

I might enquire about filters from my new friends at the Chang Yue Industrial Corp...Might be cheaper than SM...closer anyway...


I saw that computer style filter mod....I might have a play once I wear out the new filter.....

[Phantom]

Re: Hottop, Digital

good on you stratford, you made me feel a bit itchy ;D but its really a large sum of money :-/(especially with the tax)
Its disappointed to hear about the cooling cycle .
I think you should send a feed back to Change Yue so next time we can buy a IMPROVED model ;D
Enjoy your roasting!

[stratford]

Re: Hottop, Digital

Yes,

I will send some feedback to the company; they were certainly interested in some.

If you pick a week when the US rates are good, bringing the FOB value down to less than $1000, then you will miss the Customs slug...

I did enquire about a US model from SM, (would have been cheaper), but the warranty apparently would be voided after operation with a step down transformer....and they didnt seem to happy about shipping one to Australia for this reason.

Cheers.....