Hi,

I have seen a few postings about your Redneck Rotary Roaster, and wondered how you built yours. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

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Originally posted by Pogo

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Originally posted by fcbaldwin

Linda and I have been grinding already roasted whole bean coffee for some time but have never tried roasting our own. Where do you get your green coffee beans?

Frank

Frank, as Pogophiles states, Sweet Maria’s is a really good place to get beans, but more importantly…. Information. The prices are a little higher than I care to pay. I use http://www.coffeemaria.com and I am also a member of a green coffee co-op. People from all around the country pool their money to bid on entire bags of coffee direct from the importer. I never pay more than $3lb for even the most expensive varieties including shipping. The co-op also has members who cup each coffee before it is purchased to ensure we get only the best of the best.

Paul,
Green coffee, stored properly, has a useable life span of about 2 years.. It never lasts that long with me. My friends and family love gifts of fresh roasted coffee and the wife and I use about 2lbs a week ourselves.

I recently built my own "Redneck Rotary Roaster" so I can now roast a pound of greens at a time vs. 1/2cup at a time with the popcorn popper.
I will be happy to help any who wants to learn how to roast their own.

quote:

Originally posted by Pogo

I recently built my own "Redneck Rotary Roaster" so I can now roast a pound of greens at a time vs. 1/2cup at a time with the popcorn popper.
I will be happy to help any who wants to learn how to roast their own.

Is that one of the drum roaster types that you use on a gas grill?

Coffee only goes stale after it’s roasted, generally starting downhill after about three days. I generally only roast enough for 3 – 5 days at a time. The green beans will last a long time as long as they’re stored properly…

Pogo, I sounds like you got a pretty good stash of coffee. How do you keep it fresh. It seems to me that unless you use a huge amount, it would get stale.

I bought Mamaw Smith a dozen pounds of mellow Joy in Lafayette, LA and she froze it but i am not sure that even works.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Ironically, I roast my own as well. I use a Fresh Roast Plus and am currently working my way through several pounds of Brazil Organic, Colombia Bucaramanga, Sumatra Mandehling, Yemen Mocha, and Java as well as some remaining small amounts from Kenya, Ethiopia & Puerta Rico. I typically get my beans from Coffee Bean Corral and Sweet Maria’s.

Linda and I have been grinding already roasted whole bean coffee for some time but have never tried roasting our own. Where do you get your green coffee beans?

Frank

http://themeyers.org/HomeRoast/index.htm

http://www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com/

I’ve been roasting my own coffee now for about 3 years, and there is no comparison to freshly roasted coffee vs the stale offerings in grocery stores- Starbuck’s included! Once coffee has been roasted, it deteriorates in quality in about 2-3 weeks (No- the valved bag really does not make a difference!), and once ground, in just a few minutes! Here are a couple of my favorite blends.

3 oz Brazil (Cerrado) & 3 oz Sumatra Iskander w/ 4oz Costa Rican Tres Rios & 2 oz Kenya PB. Roast just to a few snaps of second crack- a little longer, if you prefer a slightly darker roast. This is one of the best blends I’ve ever stumbled upon! This is what I lovingly call "Little Buddy Blend", named after a term of affection I called my absolute best friend of 20 years who passed away on my birthday in 2006. I had made this blend , and he absolutely loved it. It was his favorite out of all the blends I had made to that point!

My other favorite is: 3 oz Ea: Sulawesi Toraja and Colombia Mesa de los Santos or Colombia Huila- Los Idolos de Bellavista roasted 10-15 seconds into active second, with 3 oz Costa Rica Tres Rios La Magnolia w/ 1&� oz Costa Rican Dota Tarrazu- El Conquistador or Coopedota, roasted just to the start of active second. This is a favorite of all of my 6 sisters-in-law!

The great thing about roasting coffee is the endless blends you can create, and the fact that there is no right or wrong. Whatever you come up with that you like is what is best. Don’t try and roast to someone else’s standards- instead, roast to your standards. After all, that really is all that matters!

I’ve been roasting for several years, starting with a Cach and Dani’s, then a FreshRoast, then an I-Roast 1, then a Gene Cafe and finally a Behmor, which I love. I also played around with a heat gun and aluminum bowl for a while, which is fun but tough on the arms.

None of these roasters is tough or time-consuming, and the Behmor can be used inside with only an open window for ventilation without setting off the smoke alarms. The coffee you get is better than nearly everything you can buy pre-roasted, and cheaper than you’d pay for good-quality roasted beans. I figure at a pound a week you’d make up the roaster’s cost in just over a year, even though saving money is really not what makes home roasting a big deal.

When I hit the roast right, which is just about every time now, my wife’s morning latte tastes as if I’d put chocolate in it. To me, that’s what makes it a big deal.

I use an Old Hobart to grind my coffee. I have roasted it in my giant wok from time to time. Has anyone ever tried the roaster that inserts in a BBQ Grill using the rotisserie attachment?…Russ