Commercial sample roasters...

[shapeshifter]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

oooo mal now they look cool

Have the prices gone up that much since 2009, Coffee Roasters said that the manual version is US$5k direct to door.

[Dimal]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

About the only real alternative re: factory made heavy-duty options, would be the Torrefattore 1Kg that a few CSers have bought, mostly in 2Kg guise though. The manual version of these little beauties are the envy of all aspiring home-roasters, including me but you wont get any change from a $10K bank cheque...

Would last you a lifetime though and should you ever have need to sell it off, I think one of these would be a much quicker seller than a genuine Sample Roaster....

Mal.

[A_M]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

Thanks AM, the Hottop was the only one that came close to me even thinking about moving away from the popper.

As I said before though Im very happy with the popper, hopefully the new mods will make it do everything I want it to do without issue.

I guess this was just a thought in the direction of whether a made for roasting beans commercial machine was going to produce anything better than what I already get.

I was talking to a roaster up here the other day who said to me something along the lines of - to not be ashamed of using the popper and there is a lot of value to be put on using one.

The HotTop is sold by a couple of respected Sponsors JetBlack, Di Bartoli and Pullman come to mind.  Drop them a PM / E-mail and they may be able to keep their eyes open for any trade-ins or second hand units.  They do keep their resale value, but if you get lucky a great unit that does tend to give results not unlike many of the Larger Commercial units.

http://hottop.com.au/testimonials.php

[shapeshifter]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

Thanks AM, the Hottop was the only one that came close to me even thinking about moving away from the popper.

As I said before though Im very happy with the popper, hopefully the new mods will make it do everything I want it to do without issue.

I guess this was just a thought in the direction of whether a made for roasting beans commercial machine was going to produce anything better than what I already get.

I was talking to a roaster up here the other day who said to me something along the lines of - to not be ashamed of using the popper and there is a lot of value to be put on using one.

[A_M]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

When I said very small roasts I meant very small, as in I only roast for myself so approximately 120g per roast.

Ive looked at all the roasters (I think) and majority of them work best at 300g plus.

If you looking small, then the HotTop does a great job at values of 120g to 225g  Many a Large roaster has one of these as their sample / test roaster for good reasons.

Di Bella in Brisbane use one all the time....

[shapeshifter]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

LOL Andy well I was looking at the Probat, I came across a few that were around the $7k mark and if I found a second hand one $3k

When I said very small roasts I meant very small, as in I only roast for myself so approximately 120g per roast.

Ive looked at all the roasters (I think) and majority of them work best at 300g plus.

This is the reason why I still think the popper is the way to go for me and why my OH is modding the hell out of it 

I actually roast lighter than most people so for it to match a large commercial roaster is not necessary as I find that majority of commercial roasters roast far to dark for my liking.

Sorry that was all a bit disjointed.

Anyway it was just a thought that I would ask, thank you for the replies

[CoffeeRoasters]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

Yep agree with Attilio and Andy.

The barrel lab roasters are more designed for cupping origins...ie small batch, short roasts, light in colour as it is easier to detect defects. They are not really designed to mimmick a commercial roasters performance as that is not what you are trying to achieve with them. You want to use it to evaluate the green coffee in a lab style environment along with other procedures ie grading/defect count, moisture, appearance, cupping notes.

Cheers

[Fresh_Coffee]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

My view:

A sample roaster from a respected manufacturer would I think be overkill, simply  from the point of view of size of batch VS price. It really is a laboratory instrument (of course you could be a "CoffeeRoaster-O-Phile" or "Roaster-O-Snob" needing to feed a roasting equipment fetish in which case go for it and remember when down the track you decide to sell, there will only be a very, very limited market to sell to )

Also there are many that will tell you in terms of professional roasting, there is no point dabbling in lower priced "sample roasters" because they dont / cant duplicate the type of roast obtained with a "real size" industrial roasting plant (so the sample is not representative). Therefore if you are going to buy a "sample roaster" it needs to be a good one which = expensive for size of batch for a hobbyist.

You can on the other hand buy small "industrial design / build" drum batch roasters in the 1kg batch size for ***around*** the same price or less and they will be far better "value for money" for someone who is simply into coffee as a garage "hobby"....rather than into having the professional quality equipment itself.

Regardz,
Attilio
very first CS site sponsor

[jkarlis]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

If your most important factor is ability to roast small batches then there are a number of far cheaper alternatives.

Having said that, one thing that coffee snobs has taught me is that there really is no such thing as overkill!

[Andy]

Re: Commercial sample roasters...

circa $10k+ for a Probat twin barrel...

Yep, that could be called over kill!

[shapeshifter]

Do you think its overkill for a home roaster to want a commercial sample roaster?

Im thinking that for down the track when I have loads of money to play with LMAO it might be a nice investment and since I only do very small roasts it would definitely fit the bill (so to speak).