Hello! I'm new here. Does anybody have experience roasting with a new Toastmaster popper? I just bought one from Target, and it ruined the coffee I tried to roast--2nd crack started in about 2 minutes, and the roast rapidly progressed to "imminent fire". I think the fan wasn't strong enough. Has anybody had a better experience with a new Toastmaster? If so, I may return it and buy another, but the high heat may be by design. I have an older Toastmaster that worked just fine until it died, though it roasted slightly faster than I liked. I have a Poppery II that doesn't get hot enough to reliable reach 2nd crack. I don't seem to have much luck with popcorn poppers. Any feedback would be appreciated. I fear I'll end up going back to supermarket coffee until I find a roaster that works. -Dan Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
Is it moving the coffee? what is your batch size? On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 8:54 PM, Dan Zwell wrote: <Snip> Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
No, it's not moving the coffee (enough). The batch was obviously too big, but a minute into the roast, I removed a bunch of the beans, and it didn't help much. (The air still wasn't pushing the bottom beans to the top.) The amount of beans would have been fine in either of my other roasters. -Dan Jeff Wikstrom wrote: <Snip> Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
In general, you want Smaller batch size to make the roast last longer. Cut back to 1/4 or 1/3 cup of greens. See if that slows things down. If it does, then you can adjust batch size until you get the length of time you like for a roast. Brian On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 11:54 PM, Dan Zwell wrote: <Snip> Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
Dan, if you can get your $ back I would suggest using it to buy a small roaster from Tom our host. You won't find better product support. JoeR On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 8:54 PM, Dan Zwell wrote: <Snip> -- Ambassador for Specialty Coffee and palate reform. Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
Dan, maybe I can help. I think I have that same popper. My wife bought it for me 3 or 4 months ago. Cost about $12.00 at Target? Anyway, it replaced my $10 Walgreens air popper (500 roasts in it before it gave up the ghost). Mine does not move the air as much as the other one did (but is quieter) and it does get hotter quicker than the other one. It gets up to about 220* in the first minute. The Walgreens got up to about 180* in the first minute. It is also rounded on the base? Therefore it will roll if not careful when tilting it (which I do). My old one did have a straight edge on one side and did not roll. Anyway, some things I do to extend the roast. 1: I use a 100 foot extension cord (I have read where a person used 200 feet of cord). 2: I tilt the popper as much as possible (lean it on my metal colander) (this allows some of the hot air coming out of the vents to bypass the beans). I also use a temperature probe with the tip of the probe down in the area of the bean mass (it does give me a reference point on all of my roasts. I drilled a hole the diameter of the metal probe (probe is about 6 or 7 inches long) down through the plastic lip at the top so that the probe can be pushed down to the vent). With this probe I can (and have) turned the popper off and then back on during the roast. When I do this, I monitor the temperature of the bean mass and do not let it drop more than a couple of degrees before turning it back on (usually it is off for anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds). I randomly chose a couple of temperatures to do this (for me, I shut it down at 300* and again at 375*, again, these were just ramdom temperatures I chose). Doing this can extend the roast a minute or two. One last thing I did just this past Monday evening (forget where I read it) is, I opened up the air vents at the bottom of the popper. I used a screw driver to try and open the vents. Not real easy or neat, but I did get them opened somewhat (hard to get to). I only pried open one out of every three vents (skipped every two) because the person who suggested this said to go slowly as it can really affect the temperature (more air coming out of the vents, so less hot, I guess). Anyway, my roasts on Monday were over 8 minutes up to about 9 minutes. Using the temp probe, I shut it down when the temperature reached about 450* (should be in the neighborhood of a FC roast, I think). I did three batches (2/3 cup each). The first one, I did do the off/on on the popper (I think, going from memory here), the next two is when I did the prying open of the vents. So, I haven't used that method except for the two batches. I will evaluate it more in the coming weeks/roasts. Also, as a note, the ambient temperature does make quite a difference in the roast lengths. My ambient roasting temperature the past few weeks has been in the mid to higher 70's (Monday, it was probably close to 80*). When it is in the 30's or 40's, I can hit 10-12 minute roasts pretty easily. On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 8:54 PM, Dan Zwell wrote: <Snip> -- Frank "Still the one" Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
Frank Awbrey wrote: <Snip> Thanks for all the advice. Based on the fact that you can roast 2/3 cup, I'm sure my unit was defective. Mine did not have enough airflow to roast anywhere near that amount. In fact, I'm not sure it could evenly roast any amount of beans. I could have opened the vents like you suggested, but the fan was so weak that I don't think it would have helped. I returned it. For now, I'm going to try modding a WBP-II. Because it doesn't get hot enough to consistently reach 2nd crack, I will add a dimmer to the fan. I didn't want to have to do mods, but I realized that I can't be cheap with both my time and my money. Thanks! Dan Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |