FreshRoast Plus 8 & Sweet Maria's Beans - Home Roasted Coffee

[HansMolemanTheFirst]

I just ordered one of these guys. Really excited to have true fresh coffee for a change!

[JamesBerkey]

where does the chaff go

[altzmail]

@JamesBerkey

The chaff goes into the chaff collector, the round, black thing that sits atop the glass roasting chamber.

It (the chaff collector) is a two-piece unit, so when the roast is done, you separate the pieces and dump the chaff.

[rockyford58]

I use an old air popper which works very well. In order to have the popcorn popper work, it has to have the air vents that flow from the sides of the cylinder, not from the bottom of the chamber.

[dcoppel1]

Just wondering how long you wait in between serial batches? I've always just waited until the unit is completely cool to the touch, but I'm afraid I might fry it one of these days.

[altzmail]

I only wait about five minutes. I've heard that pushing these things too hard will fry `em, but mine's going on 2.5 years old and it's doing fine.

Sometimes, what I do is this... AFTER the beans have roasted, I empty the chamber, put it back on, and run the fan w/o heat. This circulates air and should cool things off a bit.

I've done back-to-back batches, but no more than three in a row. I don't want to push it, and three batches is usually plenty of coffee for me.

[markpianoman]

a popcorn popper works better than this machine....

[altzmail]

That's amazing!

[goddamgeorgeliquor]

And the poppers cost like 2 bux at flea markets.

[altzmail]

@goddamgeorgeliquor

Man... you must have MUCH better luck with the poppers than I do, or know what to look for. I tried about five times, burned the crap out of my beans waiting for first crack (which never happened) and gave up.

[altzmail]

@goddamgeorgeliquor

Well, I tried the air popper again. Whoa. I must have been impatient with earlier attempts. It took a little longer to reach first crack with the air popper, and I think that's what bit me on earlier tries, but after that, a nice even roast. Turned out great.

[bdog111]

Two things:

1. Don't store green beans in an air tight container, they can get moldy.

2. Don't store roasted beans in an air tight container until they have been allowed to degas (breath) for 24 hours.

[altzmail]

Ah..Good advice. I'll edit the captioning. Thanks!

[LaikaRollingStone]

Excellent video. Subtle, quirky humor and brilliant cooling method.

I am going to be buying the SR500 from Sweet Maria's as soon as they come out and would be interested to see anything else you have to offer from your home roasting experience so far.

[altzmail]

Thanks for the heads-up. I had never heard of the SR500 (or SR300) until you mentioned it and I checked them out at Sweet Maria's.

My wallet says "thank you" for helping it to lose weight.

[lndh777]

I have owned FR+8 for 5 years --love it.

I like your vid -- no excess babbling, informative, brief and to the point. Good job.

[altzmail]

All I wanted to do was show people who'd never used or perhaps, never heard of a home coffee roaster to see how easy it is to do.

Thanks for the comment!

[markpianoman]

Hey that cooling mechanism is totally ingenious.  I live in Hawaii, so can roast outside all the time. i just use a naked popcorn popper (Chefmate) bought at Target for $16 and roast without a lid letting the chaff blow in the breeze. I stir the beans vigorously with the handle of a wooden spoon every couple minutes -- the friction helps release the chaff. Works great, and I make cappuccino using my Rancillio espresso machine and grinder.....love it!

[binkleybloom]

Dude, love the cooling rig. I was always doing the '"toss the beans in a metal pan" when I was roasting with a popper. Graduated to a Behmor this winter and am loving it.

[altzmail]

Thanks! Yah... I went with the fan & colander combo because it seems that the beans stay very hot for quite a while, and I don't want to roast to progress any further than it needs to. I'll probably put a couple mounts on the fan so I don't have to worry about the colander vibrating and falling off.

Glad the Behmor is working out. My roasts have been inconsistent lately, so I may go for something more advanced.