Home roasting, need to replace a popcorn popper any ideas?

[srussell705]

I had one from the 2009-2010 and it just died. 1500 or 1600 watts of power and it was perfect. Since that failure, I have tried to purchase replacement(s) and cannot find one I like.

Any recommendations or should I pass on the popper and go with a "real roaster" that isn't really expensive. I desire to just hit second crack in my roasts. I am an espresso fan as coffee method.

 

[TallDan]

Sweet Maria's sells the "Nostalgia Electric" popper as a suggested popper/roaster.

...and of course has the freshroast, behmor and others if you decide to go that route instead.

 

[Minky]

I also use a popcorn popper to roast coffee and have been contemplating moving on to a real roaster. I use a Wearever Popcorn Pumper which has been extremely reliable. Their Achilles heel is that the fan blade is pressed onto the motor shaft and can come loose. I simply press it back on and hit it with a little super glue. They can be found on eBay.

I've been using the 1400 watt model which will hit second crack in approximately 6 and a half minutes with most beans. I consider that faster than ideal and have been considering the 1250 watt model or possibly moving up to a roaster like Gene Cafe or Behmor.

 

[4of7]

I like do drum on grill

 

[SoulToast]

I've got the original FreshRoast, nothing but a mechanical timer, and it's still going strong after...15 years, I guess. Sweet Maria's was still in Ohio at the time, so it's been a bit.

I keep wanting to replace it, but can't really find a good reason to.

It's really easy to see what's going on, and I compensate for it having no temp control by roasting in little bursts to slow things down a bit. Well, when I'm not being lazy. Usually I give it 2 minutes, then 5 while keeping an eye and nose on it. The smaller batch size makes it easy to roast to different levels and blend, so you can get the whole gamut of the bean.

 

[shelly_belly]

My popper is 1100 watts and will get me to second crack easily.

 

[NeilMac]

It would be nice to have a larger roaster but my 1250w popper works great, been working good for over three years.

 

[pshankstar]

@srussell705 I just upgraded to a Behmor this weekend and will be looking to sell my Fresh Roast SR500 soon. It's a year old, I bought it last December and have been very happy with it, but I wanted to upgrade to a roaster that could do larger batches since my wife and I drink a lot of coffee. I still have the original box and paperwork for it. I haven't done anything with it to get it ready to sell since I am still trying to get use to the Behmor. If you're interested, please feel free to PM me but no pressure either. I figured I would toss out the idea since you are looking to replace your old roaster. Good luck with your search!

 

[Atalanta]

I had a fresh roast that when it died, I got another one! Then when that one died (I did a LOT of coffee, bought in 70lb bags), I bought a hottop I found on craigslist (of all places). Love it! I had a brief (too brief) stint roasting on a Phoenix oro professional unit for a small shop (until the owner stole my profiles and gave me the boot).

Depends on what you are looking to accomplish. I'm on a coffee forum where some of the roasters people have built are pretty impressive. If we had natural gas, I'd consider that route (or getting a Phoenix).

 

[srussell705]

I received the Behmor for Christmas and has been a struggle learning how to control it over the very manual popcorn popper.

Why the inventor couldn't ass an auditory warning, as well as the flashing screen, makes no sense. I guess he just sits there and watches his little beauty. I also wonder how he ever came up with times that he programmed for his unit. Does he live in the Caribbean where it is HOT all the time?