Behmor 1600 Plus - Coffee Roaster

[Dimal]

Yes indeed Simplyhuman! Once you start roasting your own coffee you will never go back to buying retail roasted coffee again. Enjoy! ...

Well, unless you want to occasionally lash out and grab a bag or three of any of Andy's excellent roasted coffee...

Mal.

[bgd57]

I was lucky enough to get it as a birthday present... It hadn't been used... the individual that they bought it from 'didn't have the time' to fuss with roasting. I say find the time - its been an amazing experience, and I've barley popped my 'Cherry'.

Yes indeed Simplyhuman! Once you start roasting your own coffee you will never go back to buying retail roasted coffee again. Enjoy! ...

[Simplyhuman]

I was lucky enough to get it as a birthday present... It hadn't been used... the individual that they bought it from 'didn't have the time' to fuss with roasting. I say find the time - its been an amazing experience, and I've barley popped my 'Cherry'.

[gerbi]

Loving My Behmor 1600 Plus - I've had it for about 5 weeks now...

Where did you get it?
It looks like it is sold out everywhere...

[Simplyhuman]

Loving My Behmor 1600 Plus - I've had it for about 5 weeks now and done maybe 10 roasts in it. Thank you all for sharing your challenges and your knowledge, it is all very helpful to a "Green" roaster

[Dimal]

Just grab some "Simple Green" from Bunnings mate, spray liberally over the drum (once removed) and then hose off. Works a treat...

Mal.

[skeevs]

Hey guys - my drum basket is turning a little brown/bronze(?) looking after quite a number of roasts lately. Anyone's got tips for cleaning back to original state? For eg. soaking in Cafiza cleaner ?

[Gretsch]

There is a story behind that too...
Those little (near invisible) rings are all we could get away with on the Plus model without having to submit the whole roaster for recertification (read: US$50,000+ bill).

Initially we had the percentages under the buttons and it was really clear but C-Tick had a hissy at that so we went down the subtle coloured rings instead.

Ahhh certification bodies can and will send you insane.

Unbelievable — NOT!

[Gretsch]

An easy way to recall manual power modes is the portion of red (hot) to blue (cool) on the ring surrounding the P buttons. P5 is all red (100% Power), with more blue is introduced towards P1. It gives a visual reference, I found it handy when getting the hang of the roaster.

Cheers

yeah right! I didn’t notice that small detail

[Andy]

There is a story behind that too...
Those little (near invisible) rings are all we could get away with on the Plus model without having to submit the whole roaster for recertification (read: US$50,000+ bill).

Initially we had the percentages under the buttons and it was really clear but C-Tick had a hissy at that so we went down the subtle coloured rings instead.

Ahhh certification bodies can and will send you insane.

[artman]

An easy way to recall manual power modes is the portion of red (hot) to blue (cool) on the ring surrounding the P buttons. P5 is all red (100% Power), with more blue is introduced towards P1. It gives a visual reference, I found it handy when getting the hang of the roaster.

Cheers

[LeroyC]

I got my behmor delivery on Wednesday, unfortunately the top cover was dented but only cosmetic. Spoke to Andy and said he’ll send a replacement panel so all good.

I did a thorough read through of the manual (as I usually do for new toys) then proceeded with system prep, burn in and first roasts. I got a bag of vintage coffee (I’m talking 2008) from the coffee farm across the road and some low quality beans from last year’s crop. All for free!.

i loaded up 100g of the vintage stuff, hit 100 and start. Everything seemed to be working well, watched through the window as it came to roast, heard the first crack but seemed to keep on cracking so I didn’t recognise the second crack. Beans got darker, thought to myself yes. This beauty will roast nice and dark for my Italian brew.

Then there was smoke. I guessed that was normal, but more and more smoke. Lots of smoke. I was expecting a fire. Then it went into cooling.

Second batch I used the newer beans, same settings and it finished up as you’d expect. No smoke, not too dark, I’m guessing the old beans were way too dry.

All in all, I’m quite happy with this beast, and even happier it’s been around a few years and spares and support is available.

So. Now a bit of feedback. Yes the manual is confusing, takes quite a few reads and some google searches to work it out. I think I understand it, but I need some clarification on the P buttons. Correct me if I’m wrong.

In auto mode, P1 gives the hottest and shortest roast as per the profile graphs in the manual, but in manual mode, P5 is the hottest roast with no profile cures. Yes ?

Shame about the hard to read display in bright situations, an LCD would have been a better option, maybe there’s a good reason it wasn’t chosen?

I know the reasons why an alarm isn’t going to be available but that doesn’t mean we can’t modify it and add one, the only show stopper is I’m assuming it is using a custom cpu which would mean replacing the program with another one. And I guess that won’t be happening any time soon.

Yes, you’re spot on with how the P buttons work. Don’t worry it took me about 4 or 5 times through the manual to finally understand it all. And you really need to have used the machine a few times before it all sinks in. I agree that the manual could be better written or even just laid out better. I put this to both Andy and Joe a while ago. They are more than happy for anyone to have a go at re-writing the manual, but they believe it does the job for now at least and they’ve got enough to do without adding that to the list. That’s fair enough I guess. I’d love to have a crack at it, but am similarly time poor. Maybe one day. Thankfully we have Coffee Snobs to come to for advice and tips and there’s a wealth of knowledge and experience here amongst members to draw on. Also you’re right about the 10yr old coffee - unless it’s been frozen it would be very very dry and I highly recommend you don’t roast any more. Happy roasting!!

[Gretsch]

I got my behmor delivery on Wednesday, unfortunately the top cover was dented but only cosmetic. Spoke to Andy and said he’ll send a replacement panel so all good.

I did a thorough read through of the manual (as I usually do for new toys) then proceeded with system prep, burn in and first roasts. I got a bag of vintage coffee (I’m talking 2008) from the coffee farm across the road and some low quality beans from last year’s crop. All for free!.

i loaded up 100g of the vintage stuff, hit 100 and start. Everything seemed to be working well, watched through the window as it came to roast, heard the first crack but seemed to keep on cracking so I didn’t recognise the second crack. Beans got darker, thought to myself yes. This beauty will roast nice and dark for my Italian brew.

Then there was smoke. I guessed that was normal, but more and more smoke. Lots of smoke. I was expecting a fire. Then it went into cooling.

Second batch I used the newer beans, same settings and it finished up as you’d expect. No smoke, not too dark, I’m guessing the old beans were way too dry.

All in all, I’m quite happy with this beast, and even happier it’s been around a few years and spares and support is available.

So. Now a bit of feedback. Yes the manual is confusing, takes quite a few reads and some google searches to work it out. I think I understand it, but I need some clarification on the P buttons. Correct me if I’m wrong.

In auto mode, P1 gives the hottest and shortest roast as per the profile graphs in the manual, but in manual mode, P5 is the hottest roast with no profile cures. Yes ?

Shame about the hard to read display in bright situations, an LCD would have been a better option, maybe there’s a good reason it wasn’t chosen?

I know the reasons why an alarm isn’t going to be available but that doesn’t mean we can’t modify it and add one, the only show stopper is I’m assuming it is using a custom cpu which would mean replacing the program with another one. And I guess that won’t be happening any time soon.

[Andy]

I thought I'd see something on the temp graph to reflect the lower power?

You are (but don't realise it).

The drop in input temperature at that point isn't to make the graph lower, it's to maintain a slight positive ramp.

If you continue to apply the same heat the graph will show a very sharp rise after first crack (up to 45 degree angle) and the roast will finish way earlier. It's also very hard to control a run-away roast which is the reason that lowering the power at 1st crack slows everything down (don't stop it or go negative) to a manageable pace and gives you a chance of repeating the roast next time.

[simonsk8r]

Ah right, but it reaches about 126.5°, then it sort of goes a little up then down, then FC and all other things are happening around this temperature. Yeah it may catch on the drum if you put it further in, but am curious how other people's graphs look like with that probe position. Sorry I can't help more! Just trying to understand what the probe is reading.