2 days ago I received my Behmor roaster as a long awaited replacement for my dead Hottop. Since I am blind there are some special challenges using a roaster with a display and the options the Behmor gives the user.
The basic operation is not a problem, even though the layout of the buttons is a bit strange, but the important groups, weight, time and programs can be distinguished without sight easily. I am sure that at Sometime in the future I will by mistake activate the button that stops the roaster maybe when I want to start the cooling. It could have been a nice design to have to press the button twice with a warning on the display the first time you press the button, this would make it harder to turn off the roaster by mistake.
The one thing that is really hard to operate on the Behmor without sight is the time ajustments, both the profile change and the possibility to add time at the end of a roast. It would have been nice if the Behmor like the Hottop had an audible warning when you have the last opportunity to add extra time at the end of a roast.
I have one really strange result of roasting. Yesterday I roasted a homemade espresso blend. 200 gram mixed beans, some Java and Sumatra from SM, and the Harara I think Steven still has on his coffee list.
I chose program 4 ½ pound, and c to be sure that there was enough time so I could stop the roast manually.
The problem was that this roast never did enter second crack wich I want my espresso blends to! Since p4 is recommended for espresso blends I find it strange. There was about 3 minutes after the beginning of first crack.
My first roast was a Monsooned coffee bought from the Danish Behmor distributor. I have always found Monsooned coffees very hard to roast because first and second crack often blends together. on p1 225 gram it happened again. 70 seconds from the beginning of first crack to a rolling second crack, so the next time I will try to use p3 or stop the rost during first crack.
Finally a question for other Behmor roasters. The manual is not very clear about the difference between p1 and p2, wich beans have you roasted on p2?