Home roasting, is it good value?

[daveyb]

Morning,
like many, i cut my teeth on an IRoast Mk 1. Yes, it blew up 4 times and each time under warranty it was replaced, however, I soon traded up to a Cafe gene and gave the other away. For arguments sake, lets say the Gene cost £250.
Like many home roasters, i tend to do one 250gm batch a week and the odd one fro friends. therefore, over a year, each roast is costing me £5 approximately. Over 2 years, thats £2.50, and over 3 years, £1.66 per batch.
Now, presuming nothing breaks etc, does that represent good value for money.
Lets leave aside arguments about the proccess being theraputic, and delivering freshness etc, as i wholeheartedly support that.
A 12 month gift set from hasbean is £34.95, whilst unroasted is £26.95, plus one p & p charge.
£8 differenvce divided by 12 is 66p per 250 gms.
Just a thought for those who justify buying a home roaster on grounds of value for money.
Next question is what do i replace my Gene with when it expires again.now that Hasbean are not selling them. Everyone rants about HTops.what about ther Alpenroast, or should i be going more back to my roots and trying overs and the French style pot roasters!

[dsc]

Hi Dave,

DIY a roaster:) Just google: Crazy Stir Roaster

Simple, cheap and effective. Really:)

Cheers,
dsc.

[espressomattic]

You could try the hairdryer method? Make take a couple of years though!

BTW, get a HT. Hands down OR wait for the Behmor which looks like it is shaping up well. CHeck it out at Sweetmarias.com.

Matt

[HughF]

Basic HotTop at £340 plus a thermocouple for temperature measurement? I found the digital panel a big help for consistent roasting but it is £70 extra and you can get a multimeter with a thermocouple for £15 + P&P from Maplin. Apparently you can snake a thermocouple wire into the HT with good results, might be more accurate than the the digital panel's readings if you place it well.

Cheers,

Hugh

[RobC]

Daveyb actually makes quite a good point, when you look at it carefully there is very little cost saving between buying roasted beans and buying green beans and roasting them yourselves. When you think about it most of the cost of green coffee is in getting it from the growing region into the uk - whether it is then roasted or sold green has very little cost difference for most sellers - the roasted price just then depends on the volume they roast and the roaster used.

I suspect for most members here roasting is not about saving money on roasted, but the ability to enjoy coffee at it's best freshly roasted rather then purchasing pre-roasted with no idea how long it has been roasted (and thus loosing flavour) and also having the opportunity to select the degree of roast and blend to their choice.

That said, if I was you I would stick with the Gene, it is a pretty simple beast inside so the only bits you will need to replace may be the element or drum drive motor - both of which you should be able to source for relatively little cost.

[espressomattic]

Not wanting to repeat myself, but here are my maths...but I really do it for the quality and fun.


1 KG of greens cost me $20

18 mins in the oven (Plus a pre heat) say $1.50

So that $6.50 roughly for 250g of Roasted. (About 25 Grams loss so that is 100g over 1Kg, so a $2 loss on each KG). Bought roasted will cost you about $10-$12.50 here for 200g. So instead of $50 I pay the above.

Thankfully I do not break as many roasts as I do cups and glasses, so the latter is a rareity. So for me, in my situation it is cheaper for sure.

[daveyb]

Ned,

you may well be right, but in truth, after how long did you feel confident enough to have the knowledge to attempt over roasting.
For most, they wil start off with a modest roasting machine and work their way up.
I might have a shot at oven roasting but I have already spent £400 or about $800 which I will never recover by the savings that home roasting give.
On the other hand, I will be drinking the end product of my own efforts and it will be 'fresh'!

[espressomattic]

Well I have been roasting for nearly two years, I started with a Whirley Pop and tred Oven Roasting at the same time.

To be honest I never felt confident, but you have to give it a go. You will never feel confident until you try it a few times. I am no expert, I have just learnt the craft through trial, error and the advice of this place and Steve at Hasbean.

As Steve once tols me "Don't emulate, Innovate!"

Give it a go, what have you really got to lose? I will say it again like a Mantra....Enjoy roasting and have fun enjoy the labour of your hands and share it....

Life is complicated enough. Does that help? PM me if you need anything else/help

[Paul L]

Davey, the honest answer to your original question is that savings in home roasting are substantial if you participate in a green coffee buying co-operative

[espressomattic]

Whilst I consider every answer given an honest one (Remember different opinions...), yours Paul is another honest answer and you do have a good point...

Here in the southern hemisphere Coffeesnobs have a similar scheme, there is a scheme in the UK which no doubt Paul can tell you about if you PM him...

[Bertie_Doe]

Another advantage of home roasting, mentioned earlier, is the ability to try a bit of blending. When I get my usual stash of MM, Ethiopians etc, I sometimes try a 250g bag of beans, that I hadn't tried before. Ok if the taste of the newbie dosen't quite 'hit the spot', you have the option of freezing and then blending it say, a month later, with another variety. Nothing's wasted.
QC

[Richard]

Hello everyone, this has been an interesting read, very interesting.

I'm at the stage where I'm considering migrating from heat-gun roasting for large batches of up to 300 grams and popcorn machines for smaller quantities.

The most balanced and efficient roasts I get are with a heat-gun into a large stainless-steel bowl, my heat-gun is a pro model with a fan-shaped extension fitted to the front similar to the one illustrated here>>> http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/scripts/det ... duct=36820 <<<<<<< which you can actually stuff right into the beans and stir with it if you need very high heat or back-off and use a wooden spoon.

I use a timer along with my senses though I really do think I can improve things because of how messy this procedure is.

My point.

Hot air gun from £25 to £70 is going to last a long time and if I'm doing nice roasts still in my novice stage you guys who haven't tried should try.

The fan shaped extension is very-very important.

[farmroast]

There are so many things to consider when homeroasting. First would be availability of roasted beans. I do have a couple very good roasters in my area. But for example sometimes I would go in to get a bag and it had been just roasted and sometimes it might be on it's last day's for freshness. At home I can plan ahead to keep a supply that is properly rested and not becoming stale. Next I consider choice, my local roasters may have from 6-10 varietals and 1or2 espresso my greens stash generally has 15-20 of my favorites including a few COE or other special occasion coffees. Roast level is another consideration, some roasters just tend to roast darker, lighter, brighter, flatter than I prefer.
It took me a couple years to build a roaster that I'm now pleased with and time to learn roasting but now I have the whole process pretty much figured out and am glad I put in the effort. A good homeroast makes for nice gifts, fundraising donations and a treat for those who visit.
And a big plus is, I really enjoy doing it.

[Richard]

Some photo's of your achievement would be fabulous, thanks for your contribution.

[farmroast]

Some photo's of your achievement would be fabulous, thanks for your contribution.

Hit the WWW to view my blog site with pictures of my roaster and more. Ed B.