Coffee Roasting: the Behmor 1600 (and 1600 Plus) thread

just got it and, after cleaning and seasoning, have done two runs, each a quarter pound of Guatemala. Bought 5 lbs of this green bean to eliminate the variable of a different bean while getting a handle on roasting.

First run, I preheated, went about a minute post first crack (FC) and beans were too dark for me. Next run was without a preheat, stopped 15 sec into FC and there was a little unevenness, but they look good–like an Intelligentsia roast.

Would like a slower roast, so will play around with the machine. Looking for advice.

Very excited to be doing this. Easy machine to use–cost $300 with 9 lbs. of beans thrown in.

Do you get much smoke?

Alan,

I love mine and I’m still trying to figure out the best settings to use. Please post your thoughts as you use it.

P1 is the fastest roast. If you’re looking to go slower, try P2.

I’m pretty sure that Central American beans are recommended as P1 or P2 (I can check later).

no smoke at all.

Will try P2 and, yes, ok for the hard beans that are Central American (and my favorites).

It is a well-engineered device–very cool after the cooling cycle, to the point that I can use bare hands to extract the drumful of beans. No smoke, great chaff collector. It is just a little hard to load the drum into the machine and to remove it, but getting easier.

The light roast I did had little taste, mixed it w/the first “overroasted” batch and it was great. Wife approved! So I need to aim for something more into FC.

The journey continues.

P3 to P5 allow progressively longer times to reach first crack (1C). When I started using the Behmor, I found it easier to control the roast by doing 3/8 lb (170g) batches wtih the machine set for 1/2 lb. Increasing the mass of the beans by 50% (3/8 vs 2/8 lb) lengthens the time to 1C a bit, and using the larger batch setting simply allows more time to complete the roast (for the same reason, I roast 1/2 lb batches on the 1 lb setting).

If your Guatemalan beans came from Roastmasters, I see one source in stock there: Antigua Finca la Tacita. Roastmasters.com: Guatemala Antigua Santo Domingo SHB
FWIW, Roastmasers recommends City+ to Full City+ for these beans, and that does seem to jibe with your take that the City-roasted beans were not as good as the darker ones. When I started, I knew that I wanted everything with a lighter roast, and I aimed to stop right after 1C. I’m now paying more attention to what the bean purveyor recommends (Sweet Maria’s in my case). I still roast to the lighter end of the suggested range, but I’m getting better results. Also, some beans take a couple of days after roasting to taste best, and I’m also finding SM"s advice on that front to be worth heeding.

slower seems intuitively better to me so I have done a couple batches on P2. Will try P3 soon.

Bought beans and roaster at an awesome local place, Bodhi Leaf. Website is bodhileafcoffee.com.

Thanks for the advice.

In my experience the time to roast impacts final cup quality in a number of ways and I have found that too slow does leave me with some undesirable qualities especially in Sumatran beans were it leaves them too earthy and green. I don’t use a Behmor so not sure how long you are talking but when my roast times get out to close to 25 minutes is when I notice the above. As a trade off, it does seem to increase the body. My preference is full city in about 17 minutes.

well, this is quite fascinating. i love coffee but have never considered roasting since i think i have access to great coffee at decent prices. but maybe i need to go down another rabbit hole?

This board will be the death of me. I am consistently resisting this, and the darn thread keeps popping up and testing my will.

My whole foods carries 3 local roasters and since I only drink one cap a day, I have just now gotten through all the different beans they carry.

The seeming draw to me now is the ability to roast small batches since I usually buy 12-16 oz and it often takes me over a week to use that much. I have been freezing parts of the bag while I use it up but after 5 months I have gotten to where I can taste the difference from when I first open the bag, to the end of the following week. The coffee starts to bland out on my the later it goes.

On the coffee forums this machine does not get much love, and of course the one that does is 1K…I just am not spending that much on a roaster, but will be following this thread with interest to see if anyone can get consistent results over time.

I have no idea where I would even put this thing…heck I had to put my grinder and espresso machine in the laundry room lol.

A lot has to do with personal preferences but a drum roast should take between 14 and 20 minutes. One key with roasting is getting the beans to cool down immediately after roasting – that’s probably the biggest advantage of a roaster like the Hottop v. the Behmor – when you eject from the Hottop the roast is over. As an aside, an air roaster works much faster generally than a drum roaster and yields a brighter cup with less body. I’m not sure if that’s a function of a faster roast or some other aspect of the process though.

Bodhi Leaf is a great company… If they have any, you should try some of their Bob-O-Link Brazil beans – one of my favorites from them.

Alan, here’s a link to a great thread on the Behmor. You’d need to sign up to read it but the forum has lots of great info for home roasting: Behmor 1600 Profiles / Q&A / Tips & Tricks

Dan says registration is disabled.

Was not aware of Bodhi Leaf, but just ordered 5 lb to try them out. Got some Bob O Link Blue, Guatemala F. Candelaria (have some SM beans from same farm to compare), and a few Indonesians including Flores FTO, which I am eager to try.

Thanks for the mention, gents.

Behmor is a decent “starter” roaster and I was told at Bodhi that the next level, $500, wasn’t worth it. Maybe someday if it works out, I will go to a higher level.

The Hottop roaster mentioned above costs $1300. Behmor is $300.

Advantages of roasting, to me, are the ability to roast to personal taste, absolute freshness, increased variety of coffees, and cheaper coffee price (forgetting roaster cost and increased coffee consumption).

I can rationalize easily after all my wine buying rationalization!

roasting slower on P2 is working better, adding a minute or so to the roast time and getting well into FC. Playing now with a Nicaraguan coffee and the roast looks even and perfect to me. Will taste soon . . .

going further into first crack and a bit darker roast of course ensues, with more nuance, depth, and flavor. Now doing half lb quantities–Brazil Bobolink Brown, Nicaragua Santa Lucila 047-D, and Guatemala Los Santos so far. Next up is Panama Los Lajones.

Going to order a few other coffees soon. Bodhi Leaf has dozens–$3-6 per lb.

Getting dialed in on roasting. Doing the four first runs of just 1/4 lb. was a good idea. Results seem consistent w a very even roast. I am happy w the machine.

Ive had a Behmor for 5 or so years. I roast at least twice a week and 99% of the time it is P3d for my settings with a 1:59 preroast. They are coming out with a Behmor plus in a few weeks or for ~$75 an insert control panel that allows for a longer/manual roast.

I love my Behmor.

Was there a reason that the next level up is not worth the additional coin? I have been roasting with a Gene Cafe for close to 8 years and love it. However, the thermostat has finally gone from an intermittent problem to permanent. If I can get a replacement I will try to fix it but if not was looking for a replacement unit and was thinking a newer version of the same model. I like the control and the ease with which I can watch the roast and change roast profile while roasting.

Alan, what was the next one up? I am not aware of another residential roaster that will do a pound.