I am new to home roasting, but I wanted to give it a shot, because I was fed up with stale beans.
So I bought a second hand Cafe Rosto from Marktplaats for €60. Before finalizing the buy, I did some research and it turned out that it should be a decent but not great roaster. That is okay, because it was cheap, and it is a try out. I am looking for advice from people who know this device.
These past few days I have been experimenting with it, and to me it looks like it can't get hot enough. I did some modding already by covering the exit vents with tinfoil a bit, I let it heat up for at least 5 minutes, but still it needs like 20 minutes roasting time before I get something like city+ roast with 115 garms of Brasil Santos. Also I don't know if I can hear the cracks at all, so mostly I do it on smell and by looking at the colour.
Results are only okay. The espresso lacks some sweetness, like chocolate, and I miss some "core", some roast and nuttiness.
Is it normal that one has to roast for 20+ minutes? Any advice?
Thanks in advance,
Matthijs