anyone still using poppers?

[askthecoffeeguy]

I picked up a sunbeam popcorn popper from the op shop for $6 the other day - took it home, gave it a quick pre-heat, then threw 60g of green beans into it!

7 mins later to first crack
10 mins total to second crack

cooled the beans down in a colander with a hairdryer set to cool cycle in les than two minutes

then drank it about an hour later as a filter coffee = bloody yum!

fast and good and remarkable even consistency to the roast!

[Spoony]

I am but not for long .... I'm going through way too much coffee and it's driving me nuts only being able to do such tiny batches at a time. I have modified my pop-corn maker to take about 100gms but still i need to do 5 batches at a time to make it feasible without having to roast ever few days. Now off to look for ways of roasting bigger batches ... a corretto seems like a good idea but I think it might just be too fiddly for me to want to do it that way regularly.

[Pete39]

I'm still using a modified popper. Same as Spoony - get a bit frustrated at the small batch size but usually have the time to enjoy the process. Have done about 170 roasts now.

Pete

[richard_m_h]

still do the occasional batch. better in winter than summer!

[neofelis]

I'm using a popper because it's cheap. I'm thinking about making a behmor roaster out of a convention oven. Im slowly doing research into it but I'm thinking someone on alibaba might actually sell the same ones.
Basically the person who owns behmor won't be making the ovens, they'll be imported from a chinese supplier.

[Andy]

I'm using a popper because it's cheap. I'm thinking about making a behmore roaster out of a convention oven. Im slowly doing research into it but I'm thinking someone on alibaba might actually sell the same ones.
Basically the person who owns behmore won't be making the ovens, they'll be imported from a chinese supplier.

I think the behmore is available from allbuba for US$189.99 and if you quote special code:YONNA you can get free freight till the end of August. Best to purchase 2 x 115 volt ones and wire them together to make a 240v one.
**sigh** Please don't try this at home.

...back on topic...

Popcorn Poppers are are great low cost, low risk "proof of concept" for entering home roasting. $5 seems to be the going rate at pawn shops, $12-$50 for new ones depending on brand and timing.

It's the low volume that most people typically grow out of... or they get sick of multiple roasts after they start roasting for friends, workmates and family as well as their own consumption. If you don't share your roasts with others then 2 or 3 popper roasts on a Saturday morning could roast enough coffee for a week.

[neofelis]

Thats what I do . 4 - 8 roasts in a row and im set! I can roast about 1kg.

I do find though that im hitting first crack in 4 minutes and second crack in about 6 minutes. I don't know if this is too early or not. The coffee looks great and tastes even better though and im happy.

The only problem I have with my Kambrook Popcorn Factory AKA Flutter Butter Popcorn machine is that something inside it ticks and I'm unable to use the popper for about 5 - 10 minutes. It must be some safety feature but it does this even when popping popcorn too.

If i knew how to turn this off I would as it's annoying. Any suggestions on this?

[Spoony]

The only problem I have with my Kambrook Popcorn Factory AKA Flutter Butter Popcorn machine is that something inside it ticks and I'm unable to use the popper for about 5 - 10 minutes. It must be some safety feature but it does this even when popping popcorn too.

If i knew how to turn this off I would as it's annoying. Any suggestions on this?

That would be a thermal cutout (usually a bi-metal strip), a safety feature so it doesn't over heat and melt into a puddle of plastic. My Cornelius would only cut out if I roasted 3 - 4 batches on a really hot day. Maybe your cutout is a bit sensitive (but you did say you can do 8 batches in a row which is pretty good going)? I guess you could bypass it but you then run the risk of it melting completely (as I said ... it's a SAFETY feature).

You would be mucking with mains voltage so only do it if you know what you are doing and you are an electrician with a 4 year apprenticeship under your belt and at least 3 years of real world experience working with your brand of popcorn maker.

[C-man]

where can I get a 900W popper?

no place around here, but somewhere online maybe?

[JamesM]

The only problem I have with my Kambrook Popcorn Factory AKA Flutter Butter Popcorn machine is

what is your process / directions for this popper? I picked one up last week to do the kids popcorn in. hahaha *evil*. Unlike you guys, I usually do 600gm in my coretto, but often wish I could do just 50-60gm for cupping or one-off filter coffee's. I can't do under 400gm in my coretto, fails.

[DesigningByCoffee]

I picked one up last week to do the kids popcorn in.

I just managed to stumble upon a Tiffany 1200w popper at the Blayney Tip shop for $2! Bargain! Worked a treat for popcorn (and might remain in use for this process TBH!)
But a real hot beast. Decided to try a batch of Peru. 100g, straight in. Starting to get scorched tips on some beans in about 30 secs - while most beans of the beans were still green!
Quickly dumped into the mesh seive I had on hand, and put the sieve straight on top of the popper (with plastic top removed). Stirred by hand. This actually worked quite well! Got a good rolling 1C at 10mins, then took to about CS8-9 at about 20mins. Had actually put a normal fan over the sieve to slow after 1c - but didn't really need it - it almost struggled to get there I think.

But nice even roast this way - the straight-in method would have been spontaneous combustion in 2mins i reckon!

Don't think I'll retire the corretto though - I'll see what the results taste like in week or so… :-)

Matt

[DesigningByCoffee]

Well, I'm a bit surprised to say the least!
Just finished the Poppered Peruvians after about 2 weeks rest - and actually very nice! I thought they were going to taste burnt after the initial tipping (followed by emergency changeover!) but no hint of this. Despite a very similar roast time to my current Corretto profile, I got a completely different flavour overall. Lovely and aromatic, it needed a much finer grind (in fact wasted the first basket - huge gusher!) but when I got it dialled in, very nice as a doppio, and OK through soy - a bit mild for my liking.
If I was to try and describe the main differences between the two roast 'styles' I'd say that the corretto gives much more thickness & body but a little less subtlety - while the popper is more subtle, with lighter body & fresher flavours? In a real world comparison, I'd describe the popper roast like caramel popcorn, while the corretto more like a block of dark chocolate - both lovely, but in different ways. Or maybe a glass of Rosé vs Port … :-)
But overall, very surprised at the results with this very simple mod. Glad to have the popper on hand if the corretto ever died all of a sudden. Really, the biggest dilemma would be trying to get the popper to last for an hour while I roasted my 350g for the week!

Here's a pic…
Happy roasting
Matt

[saoye]

Good way to get a 1200W popper to roast 100gms at a time. I'd suggest if you didn't want to stir by hand to put 60gms into the popper and let the popper do the aggitation.
I do 500 to 650gm in the corretto at a time. The popper is there just in case. I should really use it more for sampling new SOs and blending.

[DesigningByCoffee]

Yeah, certainly worth it for sampling. 60g in the corretto isn't too flash! I do 350g a hit in mine - the perfect amount for a full week :-)
Wouldn't decreasing the amount in the popper speed up the roast? I wasn't getting any self movement - just scorching!

[Pete39]

Decreasing the amount in a popper slows the roast because the resulting increased airflow causes the air temp to be lower. If you're not getting any movement you can try tilting the popper and/or reducing the amount.