Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

[nunu]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

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.

[Hill-o-Beans]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

The 240 volt appealed to me as my shop is wired for 240. The only concern I had was the cycle rating. The Gene Cafe site listed 60Hz, and Has Beans information on the unit listed 50. Steve advised his information was updated from Gene Cafe. Uppon checking with Frank Ahn of Gene Cafe, he stated the cycle rating was not as important as the votage. Together with this information, what I learned from a few friends here, plus that learned from my new friends on this site, I determined the unit wuld work just fine.

I will keep you posted on how the machine runs.

Rich

[Hill-o-Beans]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Its here, and its 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 didnt 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 doesnt 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

[JM]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Good stuff Rich, you must be one of the first Gene owners in the US? Swapping notes with others here the other trick we noted is not to overload it as that can result in some uneven roasts - prob true on any roaster actually!

Im typically 17.5 minutes, sometimes a little more (235 degrees), that slightly shorter time being our hotter ambient temp here I guess? Also, during cooling, push the left knob down and it will stop early (at 100) if you then want to transfer to a manual method.

Good on you, and I look forward to more of your thoughts on this purchase as you get to know it more.

As for your Fahrenheit temps, did you know that besides the US, the only other superpowers that are non-metric are Myanmar (Burma) and Liberia

[Hill-o-Beans]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

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 didnt get too far. Something about teaching old dogs new tircks comes to mind! Heck, I can bearly spell Fahrenheit!

Rich

[nunu]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

They have been teaching the metric system in the US for at least the last 40-50 years (so my folks tell me) so there shouldnt be too many old dogs left.

They should have brought it in at the turn of the millenium.

[Javaphile]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Glad to hear things are going well for you with your new toy Rich! Congrats!

Nunu, while it is a broadly true statement to say that the metric system has been taught in US schools for the last 40-50 years it is only taught sparingly and usually only in science classes. Where it is quickly forgotten as soon as the kids walk out the door at the end of class.

Such has been the case for a long, long time. Most people dont realize it but the US actually officially adopted the metric system back in 1866. Yup, 1866. Thats when Congress passed an act making the metric system legal for all dealings in the US.

Since 1893 the US has officially defined the traditional US units of measure (foot, pound, gallon etc) by what they are equal too in the metric system! This law did not require metric usage, but it did officially define the customary units in terms of the metric standards.

Unfortunately only in the mid too late 1970s was the metric system really given any emphasis when the Carter Administration (Did you know he was a Nuclear Engineer?) was pushing for the metric system to replace the customary one at the consumer/day-to-day level. Sadly the American public once again showed its unwillingness to fully convert to metric and so to this day it is a rare person in the US who can tell you what the metric equivilent is to any of the traditional units.

This will undoubtably remain the case until Congress passes a law removing the traditional units as legal measurements. Such was already done in 1988 for the government itself.

In 1988 Congress passed the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act which, among many other things of course, required all Federal offices to use the metric system in virtually all of their operations, with an exception being given for any documents meant for the public.

So while technically the metric system is the official measurement system of the US you virtually never see it used and very few people understand it. With very few exceptions all the road signs are in miles, liquids are still sold by the quart and gallon, and we still buy coffee by the pound (had to get a coffee reference in there somewhere! ).

There are of course a few of us who like to throw monkey wrenches into moving machinery around who will ask the butcher for a half kilo of hamburger, or the apiarist for a liter of honey just to make them take pause but were few and far between Im afraid. :-[

Java "Vastly preferes the SI system" phile

[nunu]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Actually, honey is sold by weight, not volume.

I have to say, I was an unknowing participant in Carters push for the metric system. Its sad just how unwilling the American public is to changing to the metric system. In California, you will see signs with both mileage, and distance in kilometres to the next towns. All I know is there were none in Oregon when I left for the land down under.

The only way is to force it, but it seems a large proportion of America dont trust the government. I dont blame them when the president authorizes spying on its own citizens without special court approval.

I hope to visit Stumptown if I ever get to return home. Havent had coffee from the Pacific Northwest for yonks now. <---(mandatory coffee mention)

[Javaphile]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Yeah Nunu, youre right in that honey is usually sold by weight. The beekeeper at the local farmers market sells his by volume though as that way he doesnt have to bring a scale with.

Ive not been to California in decades but it wouldnt surprise me if they were one of the few places that actually post milage in kms as well as miles. Occassionally youll see one of the old highway signs put up in the 70s that shows kms but theyre few and far between. During my two cross-country road trips this summer (almost 10,000km total milage) I can only recall seeing one such sign and it was obviously an old one.

I took a trip out to the Pacific NW here 3 years ago and while the number of coffee shops in the area was truely impressive, they all virtually with-out exception roasted their coffees until the oils were running off of them and they were just lumps of carbon. Ugh!

Java "Would you like some coffee with that carbon?" phile

[Hill-o-Beans]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Concerning the Metric system and Americas seeming unwillingness to switch over to it, there just has never been any incentive to switch. (We all know change is bad!) I find the Metric system easy to follow, but if I use it here, most people look at you like you are speaking another language.

A certain amount of Americans dont trust their government, probably much like folks from other countries have a certain amount of disctrust of theirs. Spying on selected citizens is a drastic measure to take. But when the public expects its government to prevent bad guys from driving jet airplanes into the side of buildings, such measures may be necessary.

Enough off topic, I come here to talk coffee!!!!! Yes, the Pacific Northwest is thick with coffee stands. Just about every corner in town has a coffee stand on it. They all sell coffee that has been burnt beyond recognition. The beans I see for sale in grocery, Starbucks, and other bean merchants, look like they are coated with 30wt motor oil! My theory is that over-roasting allows the charcoal taste to mask staleness as the beans sit on a shelf waiting to be bought.

I never had much of a taste for coffee until a friend of mine gave me some of his home roast. Within a week I was hooked and roasting my own. Last month when I ran across this forum I felt like I found my home. My friends give me grief as I will never buy coffee from the local vendors (I call it drinking brand X!) and that I am a coffee-snob. ;D

Rich

[JM]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

As for changing from F to C, dont you think citizens of Australia, NZ, Canada, UK etc had reservations too - but somehow they managed to adapt - especially when they realized it was a better way. Its not amusing that the US hasnt changed, its revealing (not that any of you guys are defending F, I suspect you tend to agree)

[speleomike]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Hi all

> but somehow they managed to adapt - especially when they realized it was a better way.

AFAIK In Aust it was mandated by law - we didnt have a choice. Manufactuers after a certain date were not allowed to manufacture equipment in imperial only e.g. rulers had to have SI units on them and eventually they were not allowed to make imperial rulers at all. Same went for lathes, drilling machines etc. There was also a lot of govt produced publicity to educate people. Otherwise the public do not change.

In the US it was their democratic right to be able to continue using the imperial system - blissfuly ignorant of the remainder of the world :-)

Mike

[Badgrinder]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

And Rich, do you remember the Mars Probe that was lost due to one set of engineers using metric and another using "standard"?  Hundreds of millions of USD right down the drain!

[Hill-o-Beans]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

You are preaching to the choir Bandgrinder. I am not advocating for or lobbying against either system. Your point about the botched Mars landing is right on point, which is why I tend to stick with the old american standard. Fortunately for me, my country, and the world, Im not responsible for sending rockets to other planets! Im convinced that meteric is the way to go, but like i mentioned before, since half a billion of our fellow countrymen prefer what they are using now, Im sort of stuck speaking this language of measurement.

[Javaphile]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Be a rebel Rich! Any time you have to give a measurement of some kind give it in metric. You get some woderful reactions from people and make them think, all while raising the awareness of the system the rest of the world besides us uses. ;D

Java "Loves being a rebel" phile