Hottop moans

[nickr]

I'm yet another Hottop newbie - actually I've had it about 8 weeks. I have to admit slight disappointment in that there is no obvious improvement in taste over beans roasted in the popper. What is hugely improved is the useable shelf life of the roasted beans. I used to find an easily discernable curve in the flavour of the beans, reaching a peak in flavour after about 3-4 days and then a rapid deteriation. With the Hottop even after 8 days I still get a good head of crema and there is no oil on the surface of the beans. The other massive improvement is convenience. Just bung in the garden switch on and leave it for 18 minutes, just coming back to eject the beans. Hopefully it should last longer than a popper too.

I was expecting to love this machine, there has barely been a bad word said against it. However, I think it has many design faults:-

1. Am I alone in finding the control panel unbelievably crude? I have to hold the machine still while pressing the buttons because they need so much pressure.
2. My machine has a broken spot weld on the drum supports
3. The fan that cools the beans seems very weak
4. The chaff tray is too shallow, meaning that the drum has to be removed after every two roasts
5. The filter life is inadequate and the filters too expensive
6. The front drum support has not been very well thought out, resulting in squeaks
7. I find it quite difficult to get the window re installed after cleaning out the drum
8. The machine needs a consistent ambient temperature to give consistent results, even small changes result in changes to the end product
9. The machine needs a more powerful element; it simply can’t cope with British weather. This can result in over long roast times.
10. Having finished a roast, you have to wait at least 15 minutes before you can do another. The machine insists on going through a complete cooling cycle.

I’m not a grumpy old man; I recently brought a digital camera and can’t think of a bad word to say about it. The Hottop on the other hand is simply not as good as I thought it would be.


Nick

[simonp]

As someone who has been roasting with a popcorn machine, and then an Imex, both with heat control for profiling for over a year, and just changed to a Hottop, I am surprised that you find no improvement. I would consider myself fairly adept at air roasting, but I found a definite improvement in the body of my espresso with the Hottop roasts. Yes it is subtle, but noticeable. Do you not find judging the roast point easier with the cracks much more audible aloowing more consistent results?

1. Am I alone in finding the control panel unbelievably crude? I have to hold the machine still while pressing the buttons because they need so much pressure.

Agreed, the buttons do require quite a hard press to operate. As someone who has designed equipment using button under a membrane, I think they need to have stiffer perhaps longer ravel buttond mounted with the top closer to the membrane, so requiring less travel.

2. My machine has a broken spot weld on the drum supports

Sounds like a warranty issue, I think this is unusual.

3. The fan that cools the beans seems very weak

It cools the beans quickly enough, if it was too strong the beans would probably lift off the cooling tray when the agitator lifts them.

4. The chaff tray is too shallow, meaning that the drum has to be removed after every two roasts

I think this is by design, you are supposed to dump the chaff after each roast to avoid a fire risk, so it is plenty deep enough for 1 roast.

5. The filter life is inadequate and the filters too expensive

I know what you mean, the filters are rather pricey for what they are. I think you would be surprised how much it does take out though.

6. The front drum support has not been very well thought out, resulting in squeaks

They could have put a bearing in but that would have meant a much more substantial front plate and quite a bit extra in cost. The squeak can be reduced by not tightening the front screw so hard, or putting a tiny bit of high temperature grease on the piece of the front plate where the drum spindle runs. I used some teflon lubricant.

7. I find it quite difficult to get the window re installed after cleaning out the drum

Can't say I have found this, but maybe.

8. The machine needs a consistent ambient temperature to give consistent results, even small changes result in changes to the end product

Rather unnavoidable this one, heating something up from a different ambient will always take a different time.

9. The machine needs a more powerful element; it simply can’t cope with British weather. This can result in over long roast times.

Technically you are supposed to use in inside (according to the manual) so this shouldn't be an issue. Again, put anything that is heating up in a cold ambient and it will take longer, a popper would be the same.

10. Having finished a roast, you have to wait at least 15 minutes before you can do another. The machine insists on going through a complete cooling cycle.

Yes, but then you would also wait for a popcorn machine to cool before doing another roast. For the machine to roast a proper profile it has to cool down to a point low enough to start from the desired pre-heat level. Having quite a large thermal mass it takes 15 minutes or so to do this, there is no way around this.

I agree that it is not a perfect design, but some of your complaints are simply down to the laws of physics, and cannot be designed out.

As a designer, I think it is a well thought out machine that is easy to use, and the components that need regular cleaning are easy to remove. My only real complaints are that yes the buttons are rather poor, and I think some sort of seal on the bean chute cover to reduce the ammount of smoke exiting there would be nice.

[nickr]

Oh don't get me wrong, there's no way that I would go back to a popper, and there is little doubt that it’s the best domestic coffee roaster on the market at present. Even knowing what I know now, I still would have brought one, probably.

With more power or perhaps insulation or better control I'm sure that its inconsistent performance could be improved. I hate roasting inside the house. I have a very powerful extractor fan, but the smell and smoke is still too much. It has to be able to work outside.

Why do I have to take the drum out so often? - Because the chaff tray is poorly designed allowing a build up of chaff at the back of the roast chamber, and yes I do empty it after every roast.

I can't see why I have to wait for it to cool down, only to have to wait for it to heat up again.

The cooling fan on my machine is so weak I'm not sure its even running, but yes the beans do cool down quickly, could easily be faster though.

I would like to see:-

1. A washable mesh filter and duct attachment at the rear of the machine
2. Improved controls.
3. A USB socket and software?
4. More power
5. Better front drum mounting
6. Soft touch buttons – am I repeating myself here?
7. Improved chaff tray
8. Improved internal software
9. More powerful cooling fan

[simonp]

I can't see why I have to wait for it to cool down, only to have to wait for it to heat up again.

This is beacuase it has to cool down below to a point where it can pre heat to the required temperature rise rate for the roast profile when you put the beans in.

A higher power element would just end up burning the beans, as the localised heat would be too much. I believe that to cope with low ambient air you would need to fit a higher powered element and mount it further away from the beans so as to avoid scorching, and hence require a bigger roasting chamber.

Many of the things you mention are possible, but would add cost, possibly beyond what would be acceptable. These machines are expensive anyway, but that is down to the relatively low market quantities which has a huge impact on the build cost.

It would be nice to have manual heat control, but I suspect the reluctance comes from a health and safety worry due to the fire risk.

[tisri]

If yuo empty the chaff tray after every roast it won't be a problem. A few beans are very chaffy and the excess chaff can easily be removed by sliding a chopstick or similar under the drum (obviously after the machine has cooled down!)

I'd like to see a slightly better design of chaff tray but it really isn't a big issue. If you aren't emptying the chaff after every roast you should be, as it's not the sort of thing you want getting hot enough to catch fire.

[Ian]

Hey Nick, sounds like a barbecue drum roaster (www.rkdrums.com style) with a separate cooling rig would be more appropriate for you?

Cheers

[nickr]

No I don't think so. The great thing about the Hottop is convenience. If you have other things to do, you can just bung in the garden, put it on "6" and leave it to it.

Oh yes, that reminds me of another moan - why have 7 pre set roast levels when anything under 5 is still green at the end of the roast cycle?

Nick
(The grumpy old man of TMC)

[simonp]

Oh yes, that reminds me of another moan - why have 7 pre set roast levels when anything under 5 is still green at the end of the roast cycle?

Really, why have anything but No7? All it really needs is an over temperature safety bean dump, and leave the user to eject when they are ready, I think it is what most people do.

Nick
(The grumpy old man of TMC)

I think you might find lots of competition there

[nickr]

You should hear me in the morning before my caffeine fix.

Nick