Behmor or I-Coffee?

[Roz]

Re: Behmor or I-Coffee?

Save the extra money and build yourself a turbo cooler, the fan in the pan cooler is pretty small.

I would say the I-Coffee if you want to roast 250g of raw and under and you want something no fuss.

The Behmor would have a little more of learning curve but you can easily add a temp probe and muck with the profiles and it will do more than 250g

[Steffen]

Re: Behmor or I-Coffee?

Thanks everyone for your comments. It seems the scale is tipping in favour of the I-Coffee.

One follow-up question, if I may. So far (with the popper) Ive been cooling beans by tossing them back and forth between two colanders for about 2 minutes. How helpful is the I-Coffee cooler accessory in this regard? Is it worth getting?

Cheers
Steffen.

[trentski]

Re: Behmor or I-Coffee?

I roasted some Tanzania Uru last night and it is chaff monster The iCoffee contained all of the chaff no problems

[jaybee]

Re: Behmor or I-Coffee?

Perfect profiles out of the box - iCoffee

[oldbeamer2]

Re: Behmor or I-Coffee?

i-cofee recommendation form me too. I cool on a metal tray so I have it under the range hood and when I hear second crack, I turn on fan, pour the beans onto the tray, then turn off the fan after around 30 seconds.

You dont need the range hood on while roasting.

Chaff goes down the sink.

[MrDerrickC]

Re: Behmor or I-Coffee?

Another recommendation for the i-Coffee, I roast indoors all the time. Started off under the rangehood but no longer bother as there is no smoke at all.

[Woopee]

Re: Behmor or I-Coffee?

Same here. I do all my roasts indoors, about 2m from our smoke detector. Has not gone off yet and Ive done over 2 or 3 dozen roasts. I cool my roasts off with a home made cooler, i.e., a cheap vacuum and 20 litre bucket with a s/s bowl mounted on top. Cools the roast off in under a minute.
Cheers.

[Kafine]

Re: Behmor or I-Coffee?

I use my i-coffee indoors all the time. Chaff i wrap in newspaper after the Roast so no mess. I use the i coffee cooler fan for cooling of the roast. I then bag straight from the Roasting pan using the funnel that came with my Aeropress. Only get smoke if i roast well into second crack which i try to avoid now. If you want simple roasting i can only recommend it.

[dabbler]

Re: Behmor or I-Coffee?

Ive used my Behmor in the kitchen, in the garage (enclosed) and on the back deck.

I normally roast on my back deck. The main reason is that I can spread out a bit more easily. Things like pedestal fan, scales, sieve, colander and foil pans. I cool with door ajar and blow past the behmor with the fan. After a few mins I dump to colander then shuffle and split the cooling beans between  colander and pans in front of the fan. In the wind and rain today it was hard to initially hear 1st crack but once rolling all okay. I mention my technique because if you open the behmor during cooling cycle, chaff will blow everywhere. Ambient temp can be an issue outdoors.

Ive also done it under a range hood indoors. My rangehood is loud on high speed but could still hear more easily than todays effort outside. HOWEVER opening the door will result in smoke (and maybe) chaff. And it does set off my smoke alarm (one anyway). I disconnect it temporarily and reconnect when done. But this particlar detector is easily removed so I just place it near everything so its obvious when packing up.

Dont use the garage much cos I dont want beans to absorb the smells from wood oils and stains used in my restores and builds.

If you operate the Behmor without opening the door and hit cool at the right time, smoke is negible. If you stop cool before opening, chaff is no issue either. Just remember to hit cool button again to let the behmor do its thing.

Im very happy with my Behmor. I think the technique and habits you develop are part of the past time itself.
Im also sure youll be happy whatever you decide.

[Steffen]

Having used a popper for a year now Im ready to move on. I have narrowed my choices to either the Behmor or the I-Coffee. Ive read every thread about the two but am still undecided.

One of the main reasons I want to move away from the popper is that I can only use it outside. With the weather lately this has meant no coffee roasting for weeks on end. Therefore, apart from general comments about the relative merits of either roaster Im mostly interested in feedback as to their suitability for use in the kitchen.

From what Ive read both roasters will catch chaff, so they wont be making the same mess as a popper. What about the smoke, though? Will they set off smoke alarms? Do they need to be operated under the range hood? That would be a bit of a concern to me because my range hood is quite noisy and I guess it would interfere with my ability to hear 2nd crack.

Id be grateful for any insight as Im ready to buy either of them.

Cheers
Steffen.