Roasting lighter in the Behmor 1600+

[gonzo89]

I also used that method for a while freddo but the way my braised thermocouple wire goes into the drilled axis of the drum no longer allows me to do that while it's on or else it jams. I did prefer that method.

[MrFreddofrog]

.... can the behmor then be turned back on and put in cooling cycle to give the electronics a chance to cool down as well?

Yes it can, or just use some gloves and remove the drum while it's still rotating. It's not difficult.

[sprezzatura]

I've seen glowing chaff several times. It's no big deal. Just shut the door for a few seconds..I shove a vaccum straight in there after hitting cool for a few seconds nowadays. Then I pull the drum out and cool externally while the behmor runs its cooling cycle.

I've done this too; it works fine.

[gonzo89]

I've seen glowing chaff several times. It's no big deal. Just shut the door for a few seconds..I shove a vaccum straight in there after hitting cool for a few seconds nowadays. Then I pull the drum out and cool externally while the behmor runs its cooling cycle.

[brettreaby]

you can restart behmor after a roast and stopping the roast: just press the cooling button and she goes straight into cooling mode

[sprezzatura]

I open the door and use an electric blower to cool my beans and since I'm in the shed I'm not worried about chaff; like Barry I've yet to see glowing chaff exiting the roaster. I'm right by the roaster at all times working on machines anyway or reading my phone.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

I've recently moved to a Behmor after 5 years with a Crazy Popper, after ~10 roasts I am just figuring out how to get reasonable results but I found I had much more control with the Crazy Popper and for me doing 100g of beans at a time the capacity is not an issue. The big difference for me is that with a popper you can run into rolling 2nd crack and then dump the beans to cool, whereas the Behmor says explicitly not to stop the machine as it needs the cooling cycle as much as the beans do.

The best way I have found to cool beans really quickly is just to put them on a piece of granite. In my case it's the kitchen bench, and they are cool within a minute any time of year.

So my question, if I do turn the Behmor off at 2nd crack and pull out the basket with gloves on to dump the beans, can the behmor then be turned back on and put in cooling cycle to give the electronics a chance to cool down as well?

You need to work approximately 20 seconds or so ahead of what is going on in the bean mass. You'll get use to how long the delay b/w the end of first crack and second crack is. I operate my Behmor in an area completely devoid of flammable materials. If I go a bit far....when I hit 'cool', I open the roaster door and blast the beans for about 20 seconds with a large pedestal fan. Then I leave the door slightly ajar as it cools. Note, the roaster is within my vision and hearing range the whole time. I've never seen a glowing piece of chaff exit the machine during this process....but it could happen.

[Alexpid]

You can turn it off and pull the drum out. The electronics in the behmor will not like it though, even if you run the cooling cycle afterwards. But that siad I know many who do it that way to cool quicker.

[kevviek]

I've recently moved to a Behmor after 5 years with a Crazy Popper, after ~10 roasts I am just figuring out how to get reasonable results but I found I had much more control with the Crazy Popper and for me doing 100g of beans at a time the capacity is not an issue. The big difference for me is that with a popper you can run into rolling 2nd crack and then dump the beans to cool, whereas the Behmor says explicitly not to stop the machine as it needs the cooling cycle as much as the beans do.

The best way I have found to cool beans really quickly is just to put them on a piece of granite. In my case it's the kitchen bench, and they are cool within a minute any time of year.

So my question, if I do turn the Behmor off at 2nd crack and pull out the basket with gloves on to dump the beans, can the behmor then be turned back on and put in cooling cycle to give the electronics a chance to cool down as well?

[Nickgb]

Thanks for your input. The reason I'm buying expensive greens is for better coffee so it's a double-edged sword.

Upon review of my roasting notes and just plain ol' remembering, the larger charges roast the slowest so today I tried two charges of 250g on the P1-200 setting. I ended up having to "+" to max time and getting both charges to FC at 12 and 12:30 respectively, both roasts ending at 14:04 and a final weight loss within .8g of eachother.

I am thinking a regular 400g roast with perhaps a 'P2 @ FC' and a lazy door opening for a minute or two might help for making a good city roast for manually brewing, however that is quite an amount of coffee for me (My wife only drinks the odd latte) which is mainly the reason why I haven't done a batch as big as this. I think the next step for me would be to roast perhaps even more at a 200g profile, maybe 300g.

The end-point I'd like to get to is where I can use a 400g profile (to buy the most roast time) and manually control the roast temps to get a nice stepped profile going, this way I can give the beans more time pre-FC and also stretch out FC like I could with the popper. I was aiming for this before, however I think a larger charge will give me more time as the power curve wont affect a larger charge as quickly as it would with a 100g/200g charge.

[JojoS]

The different weight settings will trigger the afterburner at different times but I believe the temp set points based on the profile will be the same. How the charge mass will react to the applied heat will vary based on green coffee type. Easiest way to get to know the roaster is to stick to 1 type of greens and 1 weight charge. Buying expensive or exotic greens will not shorten the learning curve, it will just make it more expensive.

[Nickgb]

I do a bit of a cheat and pull the beans from the machine when the desired roast depth which to my likeing is achieved...I use a pair of muti finger heat gloves and disengage the drum...I would be happy if I had a manual switch over ride on the drum motor which i may yet install...This is the only way i have found to hit the right spot..I have yet to devise a really quick cool system for the beens once out of drum but no doubt the will will find a system

I use some riggers gloves, which are thick leather and do the trick really well! I've also made an external cooling bin made of a computer server fan underneath a colander which puts a fair amount of wind out! Enough to rotate and cool a 200g roast without any intervention. 400g needs a bit of a stir though.

I'd still like to control my roasts manually, but I think Jojo has something with using a larger charge. I wonder if anyone knows if changing the weight changes how the heat is applied even in manual mode? I guess it just takes a k-type and an hour or so to run a few faux-roasts and see if there's a difference.

[Nickgb]

I did not upgrade my panel so I am using Auto 1lb. P2 for hard beans with 323 grams of greens. P3 or P4 for South American greens. I door dance when I get to rolling 1st crack to slow things down. External cooling 1 minute after hitting Cool. 1st crack to hitting Cool is anywhere between 2 minutes to 2:40 depending on my preferred roast level. You can get more control on the Plus model if you switched to Manual from Auto during 1st crack to extend development time and a lighter roast level. My low charge roasting tend to runaway and move from a short first crack duration and seamlessly go into 2nd crack.

Thanks for the info! I've got the plus and naturally used smaller charges to try and sample roast rather than doing a third of a kilo at a time! I will give a larger charge with a 200g setting a go and see how that plays out. I'd really hate to kill more of this Yirg Dumerso which smells SO good!

[druemac]

I do a bit of a cheat and pull the beans from the machine when the desired roast depth which to my likeing is achieved...I use a pair of muti finger heat gloves and disengage the drum...I would be happy if I had a manual switch over ride on the drum motor which i may yet install...This is the only way i have found to hit the right spot..I have yet to devise a really quick cool system for the beens once out of drum but no doubt the will will find a system

[JojoS]

I did not upgrade my panel so I am using Auto 1lb. P2 for hard beans with 323 grams of greens. P3 or P4 for South American greens. I door dance when I get to rolling 1st crack to slow things down. External cooling 1 minute after hitting Cool. 1st crack to hitting Cool is anywhere between 2 minutes to 2:40 depending on my preferred roast level. You can get more control on the Plus model if you switched to Manual from Auto during 1st crack to extend development time and a lighter roast level. My low charge roasting tend to runaway and move from a short first crack duration and seamlessly go into 2nd crack.