FZ-RR 700 Baby Roaster

[BLrdFX]

Thanks Jimmy!

[jcof3474]

I am in the U.S. and am very interested in this roaster, I love the simplicity of it, and from reviewing many forums it looks like people here have a lot of experience with this roaster. I see several people have put in a temperature probe in the roaster, but I am mainly seeing this done on the manual version of the roaster, does anyone know if you can get the temp probe in on the motorized version? Do you have to clamp the side of the handle with the temp probe in it to keep it from spinning?
Also from emailing with Coffee-tech it looks like they are stopping production on this model of the fz-rr 700 and are coming out with a new model sometime this year; I'll be curious to see what upgrades are in the new model. Anyone have any inside info on it?

Thanks,
J.

[Bill]

I've put a temp probe in my motorised one - I just taped the probe to the handle, with the probe stuck through one of the ventilation holes of the handle. As the solid shaft of the temp probe hits the base of the unit as the drum rotates, that stops the handle rotating any further. I'm not sure if the having the temp probe really helps much though, as it's not in the bean mass. The temp reads much higher than you'd expect at first crack, for example.

I installed 2 small stirrers in my roaster, so that I don't need to keep taking it off the flame to shake the beans all the time. I get a really even roast result with these stirrers (was very uneven without them), and have even been able to increase my batch sizes to 300g with the same very even roast results.

[jcof3474]

Thanks Bill for the information! I have some plans for bean agitation when I get there, seems like that is a very important upgrade needed with this roaster.

Thanks again,
J.

[Aaron4820]

Am new to this site. So, hello all...

I bought the FZ-RR 700 (motorised) from Mr Beatie on a whim some two years ago. At the time I was still roasting on my Behmor which I like but admit to being a dabbler. Initially, I found the FZ-RR 700 (wierd name me thinks) hard to use and considered getting rid of it (it's not straight forward like the Behmor). I basically boxed it and forget about it for a good year.

Some time later out of curiousity and having also begun reading some of the posts earlier in this thread, I got it out and started roasting with it. Moreover, I started fiddling - altering the temperature on my stove top, being more careful when to hit the beans up with heat, controlling the temperature better (I use one of those cheap gas canister thingie's from Bunnings I know not what they're called) to try to replicate some of the profiling I've read about. And things have started to happen. I've been achieving some excellent results from this little baby. Essentially I'm going by sound when I roast with this thing although quantity of smoke is also a late stage indicator too. It's not as easy as the Behmor but when you get things right, the results can be staggeringly good - that is no exageration. It can be tricky sometimes and more than once I've taken the beans out only to put them back in cos they're too early. That's not the end of the world although you must work quickly to get them back in otherwise the roast can stall. I've yet to sort out how to speed up the cooling process immediately after removing the beans.

I agree that it's hard for beginners, but people need to be prepared to work with this machine. With experimentation, good record keeping (noting what works) and listening carefully, roasting with this machine can become a revelatory experience.

Aaron

[Banjo.au]

Hey Aaron, welcome to the forum.

I agree completely, the FZ-RR 700 is a great little roaster and experimentation is the key to learning how master it - that and picking it up and giving it a shake every 60-90 secs to keep the roast even.

For your cooling issue, try this thread: http://coffeesnobs.com.au/home-roast...step-step.html (one of several).

Cheers, Andrew

[sidewayss]

I found this roaster to be very therapeutic when it comes to roasting "feel". Love it's simplicity.

Senses used for the Baby involves the smell, sight and hearing, apart from a bit of effort to pick the drum and shaking it every minute.

I also found this roaster to be excellent for light roasts for manual brewing. It seems to retain bean character very well.

Great roaster for cupping too. 30 seconds after first crack then dump and cool.

Aaron, what times are you achieving at first crack and end of roast?

Because of the small batch size compared to the KKTO or the coretto, I tend to roast single origins for espresso.

[BLrdFX]

Am new to this site. So, hello all...

I bought the FZ-RR 700 (motorised) from Mr Beatie on a whim some two years ago. At the time I was still roasting on my Behmor which I like but admit to being a dabbler. Initially, I found the FZ-RR 700 (wierd name me thinks) hard to use and considered getting rid of it (it's not straight forward like the Behmor). I basically boxed it and forget about it for a good year.

Aaron

Do you have to keep lifting it out of its cradle and shaking it periodically?

Stephen

[Banjo.au]

Stephen, there is nothing inside the drum to cause the beans to tumble, so unless you have managed to install something (see http://coffeesnobs.com.au/roasters/2...irrer-arm.html) you should lift it out of its cradle and shake it every minute to avoid uneven roasts.

You need to keep a firm grip on the handles and lift it up straight in case it catches on the cradle and slips out of your hands. You can also reduce the risk of it catching by leaving a generous gap for the cradle when you tighten the grub screw to fix the handle to the shaft.

Unless you're accustomed to working with thin sheet metal, pulling the drum apart as shown in the stirrer arm thread isn't recommended as you risk deforming the seal and making it a loose fit, but you might get away with it.

[BLrdFX]

Stephen, there is nothing inside the drum to cause the beans to tumble, so unless you have managed to install something (see http://coffeesnobs.com.au/roasters/2...irrer-arm.html) you should lift it out of its cradle and shake it every minute to avoid uneven roasts.

You need to keep a firm grip on the handles and lift it up straight in case it catches on the cradle and slips out of your hands. You can also reduce the risk of it catching by leaving a generous gap for the cradle when you tighten the grub screw to fix the handle to the shaft.

Unless you're accustomed to working with thin sheet metal, pulling the drum apart as shown in the stirrer arm thread isn't recommended as you risk deforming the seal and making it a loose fit, but you might get away with it.

Thank you for the input! I would hate to mess it up by bending something that should not be bent! I will just pick it up and shake

Stephen

[Aaron4820]

Do you have to keep lifting it out of its cradle and shaking it periodically?

Stephen

Hi BLrdFX – with regard to regularly pulling the cradle out the slots and shaking it for dispersion purposes, yes I do. The need to do this became apparent to me early after finding significant roast variations across the spectrum of beans, based on the bean colour. i.e. you can see all sorts of shades of roasted bean at the end of the roast. It’s not however the end of the world if that does happen – I’ve had big variations in the colour yet certain coffees have cupped beautifully - it’s just that it seemed logical to try for a more uniform finished product to gain another measure of control. And when you do shake it every little while you may notice the improvement – I did.

Having said that I tend not to be pin point accurate with the timing of this – I probably take it out shake it and return it to the heat once every two or three minutes. Perhaps I should do that more often or perhaps be more consistent with the timing of this.

If Coffee Tech was to consider any additions or changes to this little roaster, they might consider attaching (welding?) angled stirring paddles to the central axle inside the drum to agitate or disperse the beans (obviously before closing the two pieces together). Perhaps that might feature in a future model. Then again, one might not want to remove the need to handle this thing during the roast?

Aaron

[Aaron4820]

I found this roaster to be very therapeutic when it comes to roasting "feel". Love it's simplicity.

Senses used for the Baby involves the smell, sight and hearing, apart from a bit of effort to pick the drum and shaking it every minute.

I also found this roaster to be excellent for light roasts for manual brewing. It seems to retain bean character very well.

Great roaster for cupping too. 30 seconds after first crack then dump and cool.

Aaron, what times are you achieving at first crack and end of roast?

Because of the small batch size compared to the KKTO or the coretto, I tend to roast single origins for espresso.

Hi sidewayss – the overall roast times have varied depending on bean, weather (wind too - I set up wind barriers around the roaster whilst roasting), heat levels and other factors. Two examples (sorry if it’s long winded reply).

Bolivian (San Juan Estrallas)
I have successfully roasted a Bolivian coffee with first crack arriving between 10 minutes and ten minutes 50 seconds. I admit that’s a bit of a spread but have roasted at several different times in different places in different weathers. I should make an effort to tighten things up a bit to ensure tighter figures but that’s what I’m getting to first crack with a Bolivian. I’ve been stretching out to second crack by lowering the heat (after second I deliberately hold the dial on the gas stove so the flame is barely visible – if you just put it on “low” and take your hand off but it can still be too much. And since stretching first from second can be advantageous flavourwise, I hold it so the flame is very low. Mind you, you don’t want to stall things either – I’ve done that before and it’s difficult to retrieve the roast from there. Second tends to come between 15 and 16 minutes. The flavour has been balanced with enough citrus (not too much though) to make this perfect for milk based coffee’s (I tend to drink strong FW’s and Piccolos – I do like my milk!). I've roasted this bean four times now hence those figures. However...

Brazilian (Cerrado)
The story is quite different with the Brazil. I don’t know whether it is a higher moisture content or something else but the roast is exceedingly long with this bean. First can come anywhere between 18 and 19 minutes and second crack, between about 21 to 22 minutes. The end result though has been a subtly sweet chocolate nuttiness without any citrus – some might say this is boring, but on occasions it’s nice to have something different like this. It’d be a good base for an espresso probably but I like it straight. I've roasted this bean three times (obviously much more roasting to be done to build a better picture of how this bean roasts but so far so good).

Aaron

[Banjo.au]

If you want to be more consistent with the time between shakes and you have a smart phone or iPad, try using an 'interval timer' app, such as used for circuit training. There are plenty of free ones. Set the length of the exercises to the interval you want and the number of exercises to add up to the roast time you want to cover, say 20 or 25 x 1 minute.

The one I use on an iPad is pretty neat; a big countdown timer to the next shake, time elapsed from start, time remaining, warning beeps approaching the end of each interval and a long beep when it's time to shake.

[Aaron4820]

Thanks for the welcome all. And thanks Andrew for the excellent bean cooler thread link - I will be investigating this matter with a view to building something. Bunnings here I come.

I like the ipad timer suggestion too although I'm persisting with my dumb phone which has no apps - yes I'm old school :-) But it's on the radar and won't be too far away since phone batteries do bomb out sooner or later.

Not sure what you folks have used to brew coffee roasted with this baby roaster but I've been putting the coffee through my little Presso and sometimes into my plunger. Both can be really good depending on coffee beans.

[BLrdFX]

Thanks for answering all the questions guys! That link to the Modded roaster, where he fellow cut it in half and put a wiper on the axle really had me scratching my head.

If he had the skill to open the roaster drum and put it back together then why didn't he bolt/braze in some small angled vanes on the inside of the drum itself?

The Link to the cooling buckets was brilliant with 2 fans working together. Is there a reason that air is pushed down on the beans rather than up from the bottom? It could have them sort of dancing around and stirring themselves, and perhaps shedding some chaff being blown from the bottom.