I love this roaster and thanks for the video. Question: I see you keep bumping down and up the temperature, but on mine the heating element knob is not continuous, it jumps up to 1150 W, and then if you back it off to 1 o'clock, it jumps down to about 960 W. So there's no in between. Is there a version of this maker that has a continuous variable knob? mine jumps about 150 W between 12 o'clock 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock. It's not smooth and continuous basically.
Yes this is a downside - the heat levels are stepped and not continuous. Tried to work on that but it’s baked into the circuit so next production has 7 steps and it doesn’t start at 0 watts. It starts at 450 so the range is the steps are all useful heat values. I know that doesn’t help, but the main thing I do with popper to tune it is use the green coffee, batch size, because while the heat is stepped in the fan speed has two levels the green coffee itself can be changed in small increments, which really sets the roast on a different trajectory. So 105 g and 112 g will roast really differently and maybe get you to that level in the timeframe you want.
i'm up to 66 roasts in my popper and most often roast to city plus. sometimes city, sometimes full city, as well. it helped me recently to use an external temperature probe to see how fast the temperatures were rising, and to make micro adjustments to the temp dial to achieve the profile i am after. it's a wonderful roaster, and i look forward to using it every time!
I've done the tin can thing too - people liked the tapered salmon tins for this. Later on I realised that most tins are lined with material you really don't want to heat up to coffee roasting temperatures. I suppose it burns off, but having that contact something I am going to drink ... not ideal.
I’m only up to batch #13 but I am loving my Sweet Maria’s Popper. So much better than the popcorn popper! Thank you for making home. roasting simple and affordable. ❤ I also plug it into the wattmeter and use a temperature probe dropped into one side (leaving the clip unclipped on that side) to give me additional information. I am loving it.
@@cjpriustt I played around with all of the dials to get a feel for the machine. I started the roast with the heat level set at the 2:00 position. Then I turned it down to 1:00 at roughly two and one-half minutes in, then back up to 2:00 near the end of first crack. I turned the fan speed to low the beginning of first crack and then increased the speed to high at the end of first crack. Lastly, I added about 45 seconds of roasting time--15 seconds at first and then another 30 seconds to get a deeper roast. The result was a very even roast. There was no visible smoke with the use of my stove's smoke ventilator and chaff clean up was minimal!
@@sheilaginger4242 Cool. That’s what I’ll try next. I did the first couple roasts just by leaving it fixed at 2 and hi fan. Roast still came out perfectly even and medium. No smoke I can see. I did it outside. Chaff collector did its job. The deeper chamber is effective too. Amazingly simple to use. Hope it’ll last at least couple years. Can’t wait till the next roast to experiment some more. Btw, I placed the K thermocouple probe into the chamber and line it in the groove of the catcher and popper. Works perfectly to monitor temp.
@@cjpriustt This roaster is a step up for me as I've been roasting in a 8-cup flour sifter for years. I started out using a heat gun then moved on to roasting indoors on top of my gas stove. My heat adjustment consisted of pulling the sifter off of the flame while continuing to agitate the beans with the crank as needed. I'm enjoying the fact that I no longer have to go outside to remove the chaff and cool the beans by pouring them between two colanders. This roaster is another low-tech solution because I still rely on sight a smell for the finished product. Oh, I forgot to mention that I placed the unit on my stove, stood on a stepstool, and used a flashlight to see the beans. I love it! The price was right, it does a good job, and if I get a couple of years of use out of it I'll be thrilled.
it is a small capacity machine for sure, roughly the same as other air roasters. The popper is 85-110 grams. air popcorn poppers can be 50-120 grams depending on model. Behmor by comparison is 225-450 grams (but 5 x price). a low cost way to roast 455 g, 1 pound, of coffee is a stove top popcorn popper. It takes some patience and skill to master it but definitely yields more coffee and they cost about $50.
Never tired a Popcorn machine for roasting .I started with a heat gun and flour sifter then a bread machine heat gun both worked well but my coffee is really amazing now that I have a Kaldi Fortis 600
Really cool roaster. This is in line with what I’m looking for. One question for you is if you’re planning on adding a temperature probe. Thanks for the great work!
It’ll be great if you can share the beans/chamber temp with your probe for those various roast times, like first crack, and at 7 min mark. I’ve seen mine go to ~445F when timer is 5:30. Is that too high?
I did send it to Sweet Maria's site and its posted - some surprises there, but those tests were done at 124 volts so I think results may vary. library.sweetmarias.com/popper-heat-settings-roast-temperatures-and-roast-profile-tips/
I have found that the time window between the first crack and the second crack to be very tight on my 1100w popper. I would stop immediately right after I hear the first crack if I need a light roast, or it will go pass the medium range very quickly.
Very cool design. Nice having the adjustability on-the-fly
I love this roaster and thanks for the video. Question: I see you keep bumping down and up the temperature, but on mine the heating element knob is not continuous, it jumps up to 1150 W, and then if you back it off to 1 o'clock, it jumps down to about 960 W. So there's no in between. Is there a version of this maker that has a continuous variable knob? mine jumps about 150 W between 12 o'clock 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock. It's not smooth and continuous basically.
Yes this is a downside - the heat levels are stepped and not continuous. Tried to work on that but it’s baked into the circuit so next production has 7 steps and it doesn’t start at 0 watts. It starts at 450 so the range is the steps are all useful heat values. I know that doesn’t help, but the main thing I do with popper to tune it is use the green coffee, batch size, because while the heat is stepped in the fan speed has two levels the green coffee itself can be changed in small increments, which really sets the roast on a different trajectory. So 105 g and 112 g will roast really differently and maybe get you to that level in the timeframe you want.
i'm up to 66 roasts in my popper and most often roast to city plus. sometimes city, sometimes full city, as well. it helped me recently to use an external temperature probe to see how fast the temperatures were rising, and to make micro adjustments to the temp dial to achieve the profile i am after. it's a wonderful roaster, and i look forward to using it every time!
really glad to hear this Paul - yes there are some very narrow ranges of adjustment that do a lot. having the temp probe is a world of difference
How do you use the temp probe and how do you install it?
Looks like a great, inexpensive coffee roaster. Wish it came in an assortment of colors. Green would be fabulous!
I wish it came in shit brown
A better (and safer) version of air poppers I modified many years ago with a tin can extender and dodgy fan control.
I've done the tin can thing too - people liked the tapered salmon tins for this. Later on I realised that most tins are lined with material you really don't want to heat up to coffee roasting temperatures. I suppose it burns off, but having that contact something I am going to drink ... not ideal.
I’m only up to batch #13 but I am loving my Sweet Maria’s Popper. So much better than the popcorn popper! Thank you for making home. roasting simple and affordable. ❤ I also plug it into the wattmeter and use a temperature probe dropped into one side (leaving the clip unclipped on that side) to give me additional information. I am loving it.
That’s great!
My roaster was delivered yesterday and I just finished roasting my first batch a few minutes ago. I am not disappointed! It did a great job.
Did you dial it up and down like he did in the vid? Or did you leave it at 2 o’clock and full fan for 10 min?
@@cjpriustt I played around with all of the dials to get a feel for the machine. I started the roast with the heat level set at the 2:00 position. Then I turned it down to 1:00 at roughly two and one-half minutes in, then back up to 2:00 near the end of first crack. I turned the fan speed to low the beginning of first crack and then increased the speed to high at the end of first crack. Lastly, I added about 45 seconds of roasting time--15 seconds at first and then another 30 seconds to get a deeper roast. The result was a very even roast. There was no visible smoke with the use of my stove's smoke ventilator and chaff clean up was minimal!
@@sheilaginger4242 Cool. That’s what I’ll try next. I did the first couple roasts just by leaving it fixed at 2 and hi fan. Roast still came out perfectly even and medium. No smoke I can see. I did it outside. Chaff collector did its job. The deeper chamber is effective too. Amazingly simple to use. Hope it’ll last at least couple years. Can’t wait till the next roast to experiment some more.
Btw, I placed the K thermocouple probe into the chamber and line it in the groove of the catcher and popper. Works perfectly to monitor temp.
@@cjpriustt This roaster is a step up for me as I've been roasting in a 8-cup flour sifter for years. I started out using a heat gun then moved on to roasting indoors on top of my gas stove. My heat adjustment consisted of pulling the sifter off of the flame while continuing to agitate the beans with the crank as needed. I'm enjoying the fact that I no longer have to go outside to remove the chaff and cool the beans by pouring them between two colanders. This roaster is another low-tech solution because I still rely on sight a smell for the finished product. Oh, I forgot to mention that I placed the unit on my stove, stood on a stepstool, and used a flashlight to see the beans. I love it! The price was right, it does a good job, and if I get a couple of years of use out of it I'll be thrilled.
@@sheilaginger4242 Haha. It’s truly a “step up” in every sense for you. The popper is a lot taller in person than in pictures.
Ordered!! in Kor. I’ll have fun with it! Thank you!
I have a hard time with this roaster only doing enough beans for one pot of coffee. Waste of time.
it is a small capacity machine for sure, roughly the same as other air roasters. The popper is 85-110 grams. air popcorn poppers can be 50-120 grams depending on model. Behmor by comparison is 225-450 grams (but 5 x price). a low
cost way to roast 455 g, 1 pound, of coffee is a stove top popcorn popper. It takes some patience and skill to master it but definitely yields more coffee and they cost about $50.
Never tired a Popcorn machine for roasting .I started with a heat gun and flour sifter then a bread machine heat gun both worked well but my coffee is really amazing now that I have a Kaldi Fortis 600
Really cool roaster. This is in line with what I’m looking for. One question for you is if you’re planning on adding a temperature probe. Thanks for the great work!
Just get a K type thermocouple and drop the probe inside. Easy.
It helps a lot indeed. I just posted a video which shows how I do it on my testing units.
It’ll be great if you can share the beans/chamber temp with your probe for those various roast times, like first crack, and at 7 min mark. I’ve seen mine go to ~445F when timer is 5:30. Is that too high?
I did send it to Sweet Maria's site and its posted - some surprises there, but those tests were done at 124 volts so I think results may vary. library.sweetmarias.com/popper-heat-settings-roast-temperatures-and-roast-profile-tips/
Can someone tell me how to roast a light roast on this popper?
I have found that the time window between the first crack and the second crack to be very tight on my 1100w popper. I would stop immediately right after I hear the first crack if I need a light roast, or it will go pass the medium range very quickly.