Fresh From The Roaster….

Joe Behm sent me one of his Behmor 1600 Home Coffee Roasters to test out.

Let me start out by saying pay attention – Read the manual and read it agin!  Do not leave it unattended when roasting – EVER!

I unpacked the Behmor and visions of a Ronco Rotisserie that would roast small game hens came to mind.  It is nicely packed so there shouldn’t be any issues in shipping anywhere in the US.
The removable safety / notice stickers where a pain to remove. The adhesive sticks too well.  Joe says to use rubbing alcohol and it will clean up nicely-he says the next shipment of units have a few of these issues taken care of.

I ran the roaster twice empty to burn off any residue left on the roasters metal surfaces. It smelled like when you light off your furnace for the first time in the fall.  Remember to do this outside or in your garage for you wouldn’t want this smell in your house.  For that matter I recommend you roast outside or in the garage with any home roaster.  The roaster eliminates most smoke issues except when you go to a very dark roast.

My first roast I had 1/4 lb. green of some Fair Trade Organic Brazil I wanted try.  I selected the settings per the manuals recommendations: 1/4, P2, B and pushed Start. The roaster came to life – very nice and quite compared to other home roasters I’ve used. The red glow of the heating elements glowed a like a radiant ruby.  As I started to hear the first crack on the coffee I noticed that the unit was starting to emit plenty of smoke – the smoke suppression system didn’t seem to be working well.  Then all hell broke out. I noticed that the chaff that started to collect had ignited.  I was in shock at first. Out of all my years roasting I have been “mister fire prevention”, how could this be happening to me.  Luckily I had a pair of welding gloves next to the roaster.  Since I was in an area where I could pull the chaff tray out and not cause a surrounding fire – did what you shouldn’t normally do.  I opened the door and removed the tray. Please not that this is not the smartest thing to do in a fire situation.  Opening the door feeds more oxygen to the fire. Since the coffee in the roasting chamber had not caught fire the roaster was ok except for a burn spot where actually smaller bean that had fallen through the roast chamber screen.  I had heeded the fact that I knew to be careful not to roast very small screen coffees. I looked at the FTO Brazil and thought that there may be a few beans smaller than a screen #15. So I figured that these small beans had fell through the roast chamber screen and collected near the heating elements and glowed red and ignited the chaff.

Ok, so I figure that this time I would try another coffee.  I had a FTO Sumatra that had a lager screen size.  Before I started I placed the beans in the roast chamber and rotated it by hand to see if any beans would fall out. All seemed well.  I started the roaster using 1/4, P5, D+.  I was watching this batch ever so closely – I wasn’t about to let a fire happen again!  As we progressed towards first crack I noticed in the far back right corner of the roaster I thought I started to see a glowing spot.  I immediately stopped the roast.  Safety first!  I pulled out the chaff tray and noticed that some beans had collected and started to smolder.  I then proceeded to pull out the roasting chamber and examine it. I couldnt believe there was a issue since I rotated it before I started to see if ant would fall out.  At first I thought that maybe when the drum heated up something had expanded to let the beans through.  I decided to do a test.  I place another batch in the chamber and place it in the machine.  I pushed the COOL button and let the roast chamber rotate.  I watched it closely and with in a minute a few beans had fallen out. Ah ha!  I pulled out the roast chamber and scrutinized it closer.  There was one wire slightly bent out op place – really hard to notice.  Could this really be what has caused this issue?  I took a pair of needle nose pliers and pushed it into place.  I filled the chamber with beans again and did my Cool cycle test to see if any beans would fall out.  I let it run for about five minutes and no beans fell out.  Now it was time to roast again.

I did FTO Sumatra again with the same settings.  I had to push the + time button to add another 30 seconds to the roast.  I wanted to do a nice fullcity roast on it.  As I started to hear the sounds of second crack I hit the COOL button and let it run its course.  The beans looked great.  I cracked open a few to see how well it roasted the bean internally.  Again it looked impressive.  Now I would have to see how well it cupped.
My next roast I wanted to do a lighter roast and it was back to the FTO Brazilian.  I personally had a hard time seeing the beans and trying to judge where to stop past first crack even with the light on.  I ruined two batches because I could see clearly how the beans where roasting.  I talked with Joe and he says he has an area he recommends to cut out for better viewing.  He said that he approves this and it will not void the warranty.

Now the moment of the proof in the cup. Wow!  These coffees cupped great.  They had developed a nice body (ala drum roasting factor) compared to other Home Air-roasters I’ve tried.  I cupped those two days later and still it was impressive again.
So I have to say the Joe Behm and his Behmor 1600 roaster are a hit.  Congratulations Joe and the 9+ years of work have really showed in this wonderful little roaster.

Once again I cannot stress Safety first. Please, please, please never leave any coffee roaster unattended.  As you can see that even a guy with 20+ years of roasting experience had issues.  My past experience may have helped alleviate a few issues – but there will be a learning curve on the roaster.  This machine is not a “Set and Forget” model, attention is key to your roasting success.  This machine is one of the best home roasting models I’ve tested in the price range. MSRP$ 299 and well worth the great coffee it can produce for you.
Once again I salute Joe and sip on this great coffee I’m having from his machine.

Joe -This Cups For You!