New Roaster

Discussion:

New Roaster

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Rick & Cyndi

2004-08-24 17:42:47 UTC

I am in the market for a new roaster, and was hoping to get some sage advice
from all of you veterans. I have been roasting with an old air popper, and
have had good results. I have roasted 30-35lbs of coffee with it, but it is
getting sadly worn. I am going to miss that old popper. I have been looking
at the Caffe' Rosto CR120 Home Roaster as a replacement. Does anyone own
one of these, and if so, how does it perform. I would like to find something
that I could use in the house. The popper has been banished to the garage
due to the smoke level.
Thanks,
Rick

Brent

2004-08-25 00:45:59 UTC

Permalink

We had a rosto (still have) and it was pretty good.

I found the only thing I needed to compensate for was ambient temperature.

We now have a drum roaster, but the Rosto is still there, just not used much
anymore.

When we used it (we were doing upward of 15 roast a week) it was pretty
dependable, and while not smokless, it was very much not much smoke,
certainly we didn't need to open doors and windows, although we did roast
under a kitchen extractor fan.

Do I prefer drum or air. At this stage, I think the blend we mainly roast is
better suited to drum, but couldn't get specific.

If we didn't have the drum roaster (its a 1 Kg one) would I get another
rosto - yes.

my 2 cents...

regards

Brent

Post by Rick & Cyndi
I am in the market for a new roaster, and was hoping to get some sage advice
from all of you veterans. I have been roasting with an old air popper, and
have had good results. I have roasted 30-35lbs of coffee with it, but it is
getting sadly worn. I am going to miss that old popper. I have been looking
at the Caffe' Rosto CR120 Home Roaster as a replacement. Does anyone own
one of these, and if so, how does it perform. I would like to find something
that I could use in the house. The popper has been banished to the garage
due to the smoke level.
Thanks,
Rick

Kruger Kid

2004-08-25 04:43:00 UTC

Permalink

You will most likely end up Roasting in the garage with the Cafe Rosto
too. I can can get by using it under the range hood if I just do a
light city roast. If I go any darker it smokes up the house too much.
I use mine in the Garage so I do not have to worry about it.

KK

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 17:42:47 GMT, "Rick & Cyndi"

Anon

2004-08-25 06:35:05 UTC

Permalink

I have one, it works fine for me. I roast about 4 batches a week, it has
worked flawlessly for almost a year now.

I use it mostly to roast Yemen for my vacuum pot. It works very well for
that. Roast are very consistent once you get the time down, like someone
else said you need to make small adjustments for ambient temperature.

The fan noise is rather loud, making it hard to hear cracks, but the glass
top makes it easy to observe the roast color.

Anon

Ivo van der Putten

2004-08-25 07:31:39 UTC

Permalink

If you had good results with a popper, buy a new one, it is the cheapest
solution.

If you want a dedicated coffee roaster, consider a Hearthware I-Roast or
Swissmar Alpenrost.
Your choice could be capacity or way of roasting: air flow or drum.If you
want to spend a lot more money you can look at the Hottop.

--
Ivo van der Putten

www.ivanderputten.nl
www.ongebrand.nl

Mike Hartigan

2004-08-28 13:47:40 UTC

Permalink

I've had a Rosto for a bit over a year and, after a few startup
problems, it's served me reasonably well. It worked fine straight
out of the box, but after about a week, deteriorated until a 30-
minute roast would not reach 2nd crack. The chaff collector housing
was cracked, allowing a good deal of hot air (and most of the chaff)
to escape into the garage rather than be circulated through the chaff
collector and back through the roaster (an interesting design). I'm
speculating that this is why it didn't get hot enough. I sent it to
Brightway, they fixed something - I don't know what - and it worked
fine. The housing was still cracked, however and I had to sweep up
the chaff after every roast. I sealed the 'leak' with some hi-temp
automotive silicone sealer and all has been well for the past year.
My only ongoing complaint is that I have to babysit each and every
roast, since the roast time is different each time I use it.
Apparently, it is VERY sensitive to variations in line voltage. So,
a few months ago, I bought a variac. That made a world of
difference! Roasts are now far more consistent, and I can now take
my eyes off of it from time to time, although I still watch it.
Recently, the thermal fuse failed. I bypassed it and it works fine
again. Motor bearings appear to be drying out (it squeals
occasionally at start/stop), so I suspect that I'll be replacing it
in the not too distant future. A year and a half seems like a short
life (I had my Precision for 3 years), but I don't rue my choice of
the Rosto. I roast about 7 batches a week, each just under a full
measuring cup of beans (nice capacity!).

-Mike

In article <r6LWc.2419$***@trnddc03>, ***@verizon.net
says...

Brent

2004-08-29 23:37:34 UTC

Permalink

Post by Mike Hartigan
I've had a Rosto for a bit over a year and, after a few startup
problems, it's served me reasonably well. It worked fine straight
out of the box, but after about a week, deteriorated until a 30-
minute roast would not reach 2nd crack. The chaff collector housing
was cracked, allowing a good deal of hot air (and most of the chaff)
to escape into the garage rather than be circulated through the chaff
collector and back through the roaster (an interesting design). I'm
speculating that this is why it didn't get hot enough. I sent it to
Brightway, they fixed something - I don't know what - and it worked
fine. The housing was still cracked, however and I had to sweep up
the chaff after every roast. I sealed the 'leak' with some hi-temp
automotive silicone sealer and all has been well for the past year.
My only ongoing complaint is that I have to babysit each and every
roast, since the roast time is different each time I use it.
Apparently, it is VERY sensitive to variations in line voltage. So,
a few months ago, I bought a variac. That made a world of
difference! Roasts are now far more consistent, and I can now take
my eyes off of it from time to time, although I still watch it.

We didn't have voltage problems, so found it to be only subject to ambient
temperatures.

Post by Mike Hartigan
Recently, the thermal fuse failed. I bypassed it and it works fine
again. Motor bearings appear to be drying out (it squeals
occasionally at start/stop), so I suspect that I'll be replacing it
in the not too distant future.

We got that also, from over roasting (about 20 roasts in an evening) I think
it was a combination of not enough cool down time between roasts (from
memory the last batch was about 2 minutes shorter than the first). I
contacted Imex, and while trying to resolve the squeal, it went away. Hasn't
made a noise since, although we haven't used it for about 9 months since we
got the drum roaster.

A year and a half seems like a short

Post by Mike Hartigan
life (I had my Precision for 3 years), but I don't rue my choice of
the Rosto. I roast about 7 batches a week, each just under a full
measuring cup of beans (nice capacity!).

I think we were up to around 10 - 15 roasts a week before we upgraded to the
drum roaster (1kg Has Garanti). The disadvantages were that it was becoming
a bit of a chore - so we only ever roasted just enough. That reduced the
tendency to walk past the coffee machine and pull a shot. With a 1 Kg roast,
we almost always have enough. Of course our problem now is that the roaster
hasn't got a permanent home yet, and being way bigger, isn't quite so easy
to whip it out and do a quick roast.

Never mind!

Brent