Too Much Coffee

Hey guys…

Hey guys, I know this guy, let’s call him ‘Tristram’.

He wants to roast coffee for brewing (not espresso) in his restaurant. He reckons he will be using about 2kg of roasted coffee a day and he reckons he can allocate enough time in the mornings to do the roasts. He preferably wants something that will do set profile roasts and can therefore be left to do its thing. He would also like something that would sit on the side of his bar and can therefore be monitored. He is worried about batch sizes, most ‘home roasters’ seemingly only roast 250g at a time which would require that I, I mean he, does quite a few roasts a day…

What about the Behmor? Is a hottop up to it?! Or two hottops?

Is a roaster ok doing a few roasts a day, every day?

Please help my friend.

Has he ever roasted coffee before? It is a bit of an art in my opinion, and take some time to learn.

For 2 kg a day he really needs a larger capacity roaster, I think at least 750gr batches. And three roasts a day would probably be too much hassle for a restaurant.

Perhaps something like the 800N that zapty has would work?

disclaimer: I am not in any way or shape an expert on roasting, this advice wordth every penny you paid for it, if it breaks you own both parts.

He has roasted a little before, but plans on learning more (with the help of some friends) before actually selling the coffee. As with anything, you have to start somewhere.

I was afraid a larger capacity might be required...

If he ought to do it at the bar, he also ought to think about venting. 2Kg of coffee produce a hell of a lot smoke and I bet guests and staff really wouldn't like that, let alone public authorities.

I'm sure he'll be taking that into consideration...

I watched a couple of roasts on a Probatino (a 1 kilo capacity Probat) and I feel like I should reiterate the smoke point. I know there are people who roast "in shop", but I think they must do it with ventilation, a chaff cyclone and a certain amount of leeway considering the smell the roaster produces. The Probatino I saw work had a chaff cyclone (though whether it was needed or not) and had an aluminum smoke vent propped up out the window, which it most definitely needed, as the smoke it started to produce around the first crack was similar to that of a old car burning oil, and much worse as it cooked. Although the smell was more pleasant, it was still a lot of smoke with a load of 800 grams of coffee.

I reckon shop roasting is the way to go, I think you should give it a crack, or your friend should, even if you've only seen a couple of roasts before. Once you have it in, you can log roast profiles and taste taste and taste more.

But. I don't think you should try it out unless you can vent the smoke out somewhere. Perhaps there's a way of using the kitchen's range hood as an exhaust? Or a window somewhere the owners won't miss?

Also there's a huge fire risk. Like HUGE. If you're gonna do it you need to pay attention to it, there a lot that can go wrong with roaster and fire is the most common one and the most dangerous. I don't think "setting it and walking away" is viable, it's not like steaming milk!

Good luck mate, overall, I think you should give it a bash.

***Sorry, I keep saying "you", I mean your mate. Your mate should definitely give it a crack.

I've yet to encounter a coffee roaster who hasn't had a fire. Whilst I hope (naively) we'll be the first we will be very, very overprepared should it happen.

Some say you aren't a "real" roaster until you've had a fire. But I'd rather just be lucky, wouldn't you? CO2, H2O, fire blankets and burn cream... lots of burn cream.

Ventilation is not out of the question, though it would be sitting right next to the door (and a fire extinguisher) anyway. Yeh ok, the 'let it do its thing' comment was a bit throw away!

Fire... cool.

Steve, if you are reading this thread - Any news on the Behmor? It apparently lets off very little smoke?

I'm thinking i'll just supplement a bought in coffee with my roasted stuff to begin with and see how much of an undertaking it's going to be. Then, if all is going well, look at a more serious setup.

(I've given up saying its a friend..!)

Think about a Cafemino - 1 kg per cycle, electrical, so just plug in and start (much cheaper than a Probat).
For just 2 kg per day you might consider also 300 gram machines, (or 2 machines if you want to finish quicker).
If you use more than 1 type of coffee, smaller machines are more practical than larger machines.
If you don't want to roast every day, you'll need a larger machine.

I was pointed in the direction of the Cafemino. Looks like a great bit of kit, perhaps something to look at if roasting on a smaller one is going well.

I would potentially be looking at 2 blends so maybe 2 small roasters is the way to go...

Shop roasting looks far more attractive than it really is. Mpst punters will go "ohhh nice" and the ones who appreachaite it will pick holes in the project and ask "wouldn't that be better gas roasted?" (dont get me started on this one again)

I honestly think (and I know others in this thread will disagree strongly with me as they have) that roasting is for a roastery and the craft of barista is for the coffee shop. Coffee shops are all about covers and a roaster with green coffee takes up space that could be covers and rns the risk of clearing the shop if something goes wrong in turn losing you customers.

And I don't think in store roasting brings any more customers.

If someone offered to buy me a roaster to play with, sorry, work with, even if it was utterly impractical, might burn their restaurant down (it was free anyway), epitomised gimmickry and cleared the customers out on a daily basis while I got the hang of not walking away I'd say yes.
Then when it proved an inconvenient, expensive failure I'd sell it really cheap to a mate who owns a proper coffee shop just around the corner from my house...

I don't think the 'whether to buy' is up for discussion. It's the what to buy....

For smoke you can add an afterburner, which basically burns the smoke...

For 2 kg a day I would *definitely* look at a larger capacity roaster. If you are in a 230/240V country, the Behmor is out so far since it's 110V (unless you want to use some sort of step-down thing)...

I'd look at a Cafemino too, or one of the several other sample roasters out there, like Pinhalense T1-BL , Roure E1-A, or Discaf TN-1 - There are a few more which I forget. They're priced from around 1100 EUR (Pinhalense gas powered roaster) to around 4000 EUR...

The Pinhalense is really good but the smoke might cause issues in a shop without active ventilation.