[Dunerunner]

I'm seriously looking at one of these as a home roasting or batch sampling machine.

Anyone roasting on one of these??

[ericmc]

Never used one, but I think i saw one on battlestar... good lord that thing looks crazy. Can you modify it to shoot coffee beans out the front?

[bigmike787]

A friend of mine has one. It offers a lot more fine tunning than something like a Behmor. His biggest compaint is batch size. If that's not an issue for you, then the Hot Top is definitely a great roaster. Check out the Genecafe too. I think that's what it's full name is. Mostly referred to as the Gene.

[Dunerunner]

Originally Posted by bigmike787

A friend of mine has one. It offers a lot more fine tunning than something like a Behmor. His biggest compaint is batch size. If that's not an issue for you, then the Hot Top is definitely a great roaster. Check out the Genecafe too. I think that's what it's full name is. Mostly referred to as the Gene.

Thanks, Ill look into that one as well. I played the "Get the roast you want" game with my Alpenroast. That is what toasted that roaster...well, that and trying to produce 4# of roast coffee per day!

[Red River Roaster]

Sorry, the Hot Top has not been something I can plunk down that much moolah for. I've been using the Alpenroast and the upgraded version (Bravi) since they came out in 2000 (was always able to get them at a steal of a deal). Just spoke with Swissmar, parent company for these roasters, last week and they have quit making them. Going to keep mine in mint condition now. Sorry to blather on about something entirely unrelated to your question! If you have the cash, get one. I heard they are great (for personal use).

[bigmike787]

My next roaster will be a BBQ drum. It's a good chunk of change up front though. The drum itself runs about $350, then you have to buy a dedicated gas grill. There is also the motor, which will turn the drum. In all, I figure it will be about $700. That puppy will do 6lbs. in one shot though.

[Red River Roaster]

Hey bigMike, I've thought about the BBQ drum as I know there would be the added control with the burners, but what do you need the 6 pounds for? Friends and family or you just drink that much coffee in 3 days? One thing I've also wondered about is where does the chaff go when roasting? I've owned a now defunct brand that roasted coffee in a drum inside of a modified rotisserie machine (it was sold as a coffee roaster, but knew better), but the chaff was cooking with the coffee and was a mess when I dumped out the roasted beans (holes were not big enough). Do you have a link to this? I've seen the bbq drums for sale on ebay in times past (some grills have the rotisserie motor built in). People have been roasting coffee many different ways for many years, but this one just didn't sit well with me. Can you make me a believer?

[RichHelms]

Your posts were a few months ago but I have a Hot Top. Love it. The picture you included is of an older model. There are two current models basically referred to as B and P. B is the basic, P the programmable. I have the B. It is programmable but not to the extent of the P. Basically with the B you do a roast controlling the heat and fan. Then you can save the steps you made in the roast as program 1,2, or 3

The only real weakness of the Hot Top is the probe. The temperature displayed is not really the bean or drum. Due to the location of the probe it is sort of a hybrid of both.

I added an Omega datalogger to the roaster with two probes. One for drum and one for bean temp. This gives very accurate readings. The neat thing about the approach is I did not modify the roaster. I just bought another vent cover for $6 and modified that.



Coffee Troupe » Blog Archive » Omega Datalogger and the HotTop
This is my blog writeup on the installation.

[snwcmpr]

I've had one for about 6 months.
I upgraded from a corn popper.

I love the machine.
I have the B model.

I made a bean chute cover, added the plastic handle that came with the machine.
This chute cover I drilled for my temp probe. 6" long with wire wrapping to keep from dropping in too far.

Ken

[Jim]

In my dreams