Excelente video! Soy productor de café en México, acabo de comprar un SR540 para evaluar pequeños lotes de café y haces un muy buena explicación y recomendación para el uso correcto del tostador, gracias!
Excellent video and demonstration. It’s interesting when measuring weight loss (presumably trying to get at moisture loss) that you don’t include the weight of the chaff as well.
Actually that makes sense to include chaff but in many situations it's not practical and overall doesn't weigh much. Ideally though, yes you'd include the chaff when you weigh ending weight.
I made the modification of using a Dremel tool to take the lip off the lower lid. It made a huge difference with airflow and the temperatures no longer start spiraling out of control. Be warned, when using a Dremel to take off that lip, it smells really, really bad. Like toxic. But, this modification is great, thank you (now I need to relearn how to roast without temperatures spiraling out of control towards the end)!
Keith - many thanks! I have an SR800, but this was interesting and informative. One thing: unless I am missing something, are you SEALING the ziplock bag, and THEN inserting in the one way valve Kraft bag? If yes, it would seem you are inhibiting the degassing process the beans need. The sealed plastic bag defeats what you want. If, you keep the plastic bags open for reuse of the Kraft bags, then that makes more sense. Keep on roastin!
This is probably the best FreshRoast tutorial. I've been using an SR800 for a few weeks now and loving it. However, I had no idea I could turn the glass tube for more stability and that I could sand off the lip for better chaff management. Also, do you have a suggested setup for getting into Artisan? I'd like to try that but I'm not sure exactly what equipment I would need.
Glad you found it helpful. Regarding Artisan setup, look on TH-cam on the channel Coffee Insanity. He's modifying a Behmor but the thermometer (Mastech) and Artisan setup are the same. Good luck
great tutorial! very thorough. thank you. question: Have you tried doing a slower roast, say 8 or 9 minutes? I wonder whether the flavor of a slower roast would be better than the fast roast, or whether there would be any perceptible difference. Edit: I see you have a vid on fast versus slow, so I'll take a look at that. If I have questions, I'll leave them in the comments on that video
If you really need to use extension cord, try the thicker one so that the voltage drop is lower. Thinner cable tends to increase resistance which causing higher voltage drop.
This is great, thanks for sharing. Out of curiosity, what are some of your favorite roasters to purchase from? I'm looking into getting into home roasting and wondering how others that do home roasting compare their roasts to the places that they like to order coffee from.
Thank you. Both Onyx and 49th Parallel are doing holiday samplers (12 days of Christmas type thing), I like them both. Merge Coffee Co in Virginia does a good job with fluid bed roasts. Also good experiences with Heart and Brandywine. Local to me, I like Press Coffee.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 Nice. I've had Onyx but not the others, I will have to try out some of the others. I'd recommend Metric Coffee if you haven't tried that, one of my favorite roasters. Would you say you've gotten similar tastes (in a quality sense) to these roasters that you like with your home roasts? I just ordered an SR800, very excited about it.
Thanks! Excellent tutorial. Probably the best on SR540. I cannot decide whether to purchase 540 or 800 model. I don't drink coffee everyday. But I want to experience roasting at home. From your experiment, it appears that having higher airflow isn't always a good thing as it reduces temp inside chamber. So I wonder how 800 model is an upgrade. Capacity is probably the only upside of 800.
Thank you! The higher airflow shouldn't be a problem with the 800, you'll need it at the start with the larger batches and you can always reduce as you go.
Thank you for your great tutorial video. How much beans can you roast with this extension tube? According to Sweet Maria, it says you can’t increase the batch size when using the extension tube. Is it true? Thanks.
I think you can safely go up to 8 oz but you'll need the chaff lid expander. It will require a lot of attention to keep fan speed in check so that the beans don't hit the lid. The roasts can run kind of fast unless you reduce power in connection with fan decreases (fan decreases add a lot of heat on these machines).
If hitting first crack about 450, then for medium I'd go about 2 minutes ending around 460 , and for dark just keep going until maybe 30 seconds into 2nd crack
Newbie question here. I watched a couple of your videos, but I’m not seeing how you make light and medium roast differently. Basically you roasted 30 more seconds to make beans turn medium, is that correct? And the dark roast needs to pass the second crack and wait for a bit of more time?
The biggest difference between my light and medium in my other video was the ending temperature, the inlet air temperature coming from the base unit was probably 15 to 18 degrees F hotter for the medium roast. I accomplished the temp increase using the extra fan reduction on the medium roast. Each fan reduction on my setup translates to 15 to 18 ish degrees hotter temp. On the dark roast, I did a total of three fan decreases (vs two total on medium and only one on light) and I went a couple minutes longer than my medium.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 Thanks. Just got my SR540, and I find that as a newbie, it's really hard to find a clear gap between the light and medium roast. Probably just need to "waste" some beans to be more experienced LOL
Hi, I have a question. I have seen many videos, everyone does it differently. Some are using short roasting time (3-5 mins), some are using 8-10 minutes. Logically speaking, if the beans roasted too fast, the surface seems roasted well but inside the beans may not fully roasted correctly. I am just trying to find an optimum roasting time to achieve the best roasting condition. What is your recommendation on this?
These small air roasters are ideal tools to experiment with different recipes and profiles. Try a few on the same bean and taste side by side cupping style. Only your palate really can say for sure which is best. Having said all that, after at least a couple hundred roasts on my 540, I rarely get baked notes with roasts with total roast time of. 6 or 7 minutes or less. These baked notes start creeping in more commonly around 8 minutes plus. That's just specific to this roaster though. (I also have A Quest drum roaster and that does 8 to 10 minutes no problem). In terms of underdevelopment, even with some of my shorter roasts, like 4:30 to 5:00 total roast time, under or green flavors seem to be more of an issue if your end temp is too low, vs total time. Just try lots of different coffee from other roasters, commercial ones too. Cup those along side yours. Over time you will be able to tell what gets you the results you like.
Love your videos. I have had a problem that I wondered if you had any thoughts on. I recently starting using a SR540 to roast beans and have noticed my max temp is muuuuch lower than yours. For example, my max temp at fan 9 power 9 is around 360 F. Do you have any idea why there’s such a massive difference in our temps even though we use the same machine?
Thank you! These machines are sensitive to line voltage. At my house, at my kitchen GFI outlet I can get 121 volts (drops to 116-117 under full load), but the outlet outside my front door is more like 117 dropping to 111. That may not sound that bad but it makes a huge difference in performance, easily 30 to 40 degrees different. You can try a different outlet or just use more fan reductions. If roasting outside when it's cold, try roasting inside a partially closed cardboard box, sitting on one end so its taller.
That was definitely my guess at what was going on. I’ve been preheating the chamber and progressively dropping the fan down to 5 (pushing max temp to around 430 F). That’s allowed me to hit first crack much sooner around 4:30 (compared to 6:30 initially), so I’ll probably just have to keep doing that. Thanks for the response!
The ambient temperature you are roasting in will also drastically change the maximum heat the roaster can produce. Along with voltage, ambient air temperature will greatly change the temperatures the roaster can put out.
Awesome video! Here’s my setup. I’ve been using a split wired Poppery1 for about 15 yrs. Temperature controlled using a variac and fan controlled with a dimmer switch. I monitor the temp using a thermometer clipped to a soup can stuck in the bean mass. I haven’t really been paying attention to what’s new in the roasting world till recently. Just a few questions. I usually ramp the temp so that it takes me about 12min to get to 1st crack (that’s after letting the beans warm up a bit). That seems to be about twice as long as you. Can you really get an even roast using dry processed beans in 6min? My setup is a pain in the ass to to get going and makes a mess in my garage. How much more convenient is the Fresh Roast compared to what I have? I’ve been looking at the Fresh Roast 800 and just curious about that model. I only roast 115g/week.
Thank you. I've tried longer roasts with the 540, like 9 to 12 minutes total for a light to medium roast. They seem at high risk of getting baked notes, the crashed rate-of-rise type baked (not sweet, flat, dull, hollow, often papery or ashy tasting). I think the longest roast I've done that I thought tasted good was 8 1/2 minutes, and it was hard to replicate with other beans (most came out baked). I think either the 540 or 800 would work for you at that rate of consumption.
@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 would you say these "baked" flavors taste roasty/toasty or almost burnt? I just got the 540 and 1 roast came out good but a few of them all have the same strange taste. Almost like burnt peanuts. They even smell roasty and not like coffee.
I’m seriously contemplating on getting the sr800, after I ship my new (faulty) Behmor 2000ab plus back to the online shop. Everybody raves about the FR roasters and I’m relieved not to be roasting in a ticking time bomb fire hazard. That being said, with the ease of roasting the FR roasters have, for the life of me I don’t understand the vertical design not having “lock in place” components as well as at least some sort of metal protection bands around the outside of the borosilicate glass chambers. Like that you find on a French Press. That’s why that metal banding is there. Is it something to do with heat conducting maybe extra heat from the metal? Because the Razza tubes do have metal bands on the outside of that glass holding on the wooden handle.
I believe it was this one but measure your height, the 10 inch might be better. It's pricey, there might be cheaper probes out there. Digi-Sense Type-K, Small-Diameter Standard Probe, Mini-Connector, 8" L, .063 Dia, Grounded www.coleparmer.com/i/digi-sense-type-k-small-diameter-standard-probe-mini-connector-8-l-063-dia-grounded/0850562
Many thanks for the video, Keith. I'm interested in buying an SR540. Is it reliable enough to use it twice a week for 1.5-2 years? Have you experienced any issues with the motor fan, heater, etc? Many thanks
No issues so far, I'm probably up to 200-300 roasts. As I mentioned in the video, I did notice this summer that I needed to use a lower fan setting to get the same roast level, probably a combination of line voltage and age of the roaster, but it's not dramatic. I roasted yesterday and noticed my power (wattage) was in much better shape, a couple of the roasts I was back to my pre summer settings.
The Fresh Roast manufacturer, Home Roasting Supplies, stands behind their products. On their website, you can order parts to repair your roaster yourself, or you can send them your broken roaster and they will fix it for a flat $50 fee. That's assuming that you even *need* to get your roaster repaired, as there are reports of people using these roasters multiple times per week for ten years with zero issues.
If you put the freshly roasted coffee in sealed plastic bags and then put it in a coffee bag with a one way check valve, how is the coffee going to vent the CO 2 gases ?
I reuse mine for maybe 6 months or so, probably longer in some cases. I've heard that the valve eventually 'dries out' so there is a limit but I've not tried testing.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489You can get wide mouth mason jar lids with one-way valves in them, so you can keep reusing jars for storage indefinitely.
Im having issues w/smaller beans (Maui Mokka). They get away from me before 1C. Sometimes, I cant even hear it. Do you have any recommendations? Any advice is greatly appreciated. (Also wondering if you'd be interested on critiquing my roast samples).
With small beans, like peaberries, sound of crack can be soft or almost non-existent. You can over roast them if waiting for the sound. In these situations, I'll start off the roast day with a regular bean that is predictable, easy to hear crack, easy to hit a good end of roast, etc. Then I use the same timing and settings for the peaberries, and kind of ignore sounds. Try instead to focus on color. And yeah sure I can give feedback, email me at kpoole25@hotmail.com
In this video I was using the built in temp sensor, which is in the base unit (inlet air temp). It's not bean temp. The sensor is just below the roast chamber. It reads approximately 50 to 75 degrees F higher than bean temp once the roast gets going.
I haven't tried the Nesco. I did watch a video that Sweet Maria's put out recently on the Nesco. They said they had a difficult time getting a true light roast, which is my favorite roast level for most beans. Also the batch size is much smaller and roast times are quite long, I think they said 12 to 15 minutes? I'd be concerned with baked roasts. Having said all that, I would like to taste some roasts from it, just out of curiosity.
I had the Nesco. it was easier but the 540 has more control. if you get the Nesco buy the extended warranty as mine died @@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489
Second crack was about 7 minutes, temperature 420 Just tested it again today, topped out @378 after five minutes, F6P9. My breakers say amps are either 15 or 20. Did you think 540 will work even if it doesn't get up to 450? The instructions say a maximum of 113 g, but everybody else is using 130 g...the Brazilian decaf I roasted on the fifth tasted great this evening...found a cheap voltometer in Amazon. Will try the roaster at a friends to see how well it works there. Thanks for all your help!
If you have any kind of oven thermometer, try this. Leave off the roasting chamber and run just the base unit. Just pick any combo of fan and power. Put the tip of your thermometer as close to the screen as you can (the machine sensor is just below the screen in base unit). See if the machine temp is close to your thermometer. If everything is working ok with the machine, the machine should read a little bit higher than your thermometer, maybe 5 to 10 degrees hotter. If your thermometer is higher by a good amount, then I think the factory is either calibrating the sensor lower than they used to, or the sensor is a dud. I have a suspicion that the manufacturer is calibrating lower so it's closer to 'bean temperature.' I say this only because I see a lot of new buyers with temps much lower than folks with older machines.
I know he shuts down for certain holidays and vacations. Maybe try again in a week or so. Otherwise I don't know of any ready made options. Fwiw the dimensions of the longer piece is 34.5 cm long, 5 cm wide, with little angles on one side. The smaller section is 9 cm long by 5 cm wide.
Hi, do you have any recommendations if we want to roast 2 batches of beans, what is the time interval between the 2 batches? If we roast 2nd batch without cooling down the machine, will it cause the power drop?
The manual recommends 30 minutes but many people roast back to back (after the standard 3 minute cooling cycle). I'm closer to 10 to 15 minutes between but after the cooling cycle I take apart the lid and chamber and place everything on a box fan pointed up, to cool off further, maybe 10 minutes.
Thermometer (the green thing) is a Mastech MS6514. From what I hear there is a similar one from PefectPrime that is cheaper, works the same way. The temp probe is a DigiSense 10" k-type probe from Cole Parmer, but I've gone back to look for it and don't think they stock it anymore.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 Thanks! Yeah looks like this (perfectprime.com/products/tc2100) is literally the same unit. Is your thermocouple just taped to the lid? I can’t quite make it out. Any trouble getting the probe end to stay at the right height?
I have a couple probes that just sit all the way in, the tip rests above the bottom of the chamber. Another one is very long and I've used alligator clips. Ideally get the length you need.
Thank you for your video demonstration and it was nice. I am using this Fresh Roaster SR540 for the first time. I used 4 scoops of coffee beans. Fan 9 Power 9 time 20. Only mild changes happened after 5 mts. So, I reduce the fan to 8..7..6..5 (to increase the temperature) and the temperature is raised from 350 to 309 F. Totally took 60 mts to get into the medium roast. Never feel any crack. Beans: Martini Guatemala. Totally confused. Temperature showed at least 350 to 390: but really I did not feel like it. What went wrong? Machine or beans? Your valuable answer is highly appreciable.
Excelente video! Soy productor de café en México, acabo de comprar un SR540 para evaluar pequeños lotes de café y haces un muy buena explicación y recomendación para el uso correcto del tostador, gracias!
Thank you this is the video for showing us beginner's how to roast coffe
Excellent video and demonstration. It’s interesting when measuring weight loss (presumably trying to get at moisture loss) that you don’t include the weight of the chaff as well.
Actually that makes sense to include chaff but in many situations it's not practical and overall doesn't weigh much. Ideally though, yes you'd include the chaff when you weigh ending weight.
I made the modification of using a Dremel tool to take the lip off the lower lid. It made a huge difference with airflow and the temperatures no longer start spiraling out of control. Be warned, when using a Dremel to take off that lip, it smells really, really bad. Like toxic. But, this modification is great, thank you (now I need to relearn how to roast without temperatures spiraling out of control towards the end)!
Keith - many thanks! I have an SR800, but this was interesting and informative. One thing: unless I am missing something, are you SEALING the ziplock bag, and THEN inserting in the one way valve Kraft bag? If yes, it would seem you are inhibiting the degassing process the beans need. The sealed plastic bag defeats what you want. If, you keep the plastic bags open for reuse of the Kraft bags, then that makes more sense. Keep on roastin!
This is probably the best FreshRoast tutorial. I've been using an SR800 for a few weeks now and loving it. However, I had no idea I could turn the glass tube for more stability and that I could sand off the lip for better chaff management. Also, do you have a suggested setup for getting into Artisan? I'd like to try that but I'm not sure exactly what equipment I would need.
Glad you found it helpful. Regarding Artisan setup, look on TH-cam on the channel Coffee Insanity. He's modifying a Behmor but the thermometer (Mastech) and Artisan setup are the same. Good luck
great tutorial! very thorough. thank you. question: Have you tried doing a slower roast, say 8 or 9 minutes? I wonder whether the flavor of a slower roast would be better than the fast roast, or whether there would be any perceptible difference.
Edit: I see you have a vid on fast versus slow, so I'll take a look at that. If I have questions, I'll leave them in the comments on that video
As always, great job Keith!
Thanks Larry!
Toss the beans into the Keurig next to the stove and achieve coffee perfection!
Unless it's chocolate and peanut butter flavored my wife has no interest lol
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 that rule applies to me, with coffee as the exception. Shes a keeper!
The hero we need!
If you really need to use extension cord, try the thicker one so that the voltage drop is lower. Thinner cable tends to increase resistance which causing higher voltage drop.
This is great, thanks for sharing. Out of curiosity, what are some of your favorite roasters to purchase from? I'm looking into getting into home roasting and wondering how others that do home roasting compare their roasts to the places that they like to order coffee from.
Thank you. Both Onyx and 49th Parallel are doing holiday samplers (12 days of Christmas type thing), I like them both. Merge Coffee Co in Virginia does a good job with fluid bed roasts. Also good experiences with Heart and Brandywine. Local to me, I like Press Coffee.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 Nice. I've had Onyx but not the others, I will have to try out some of the others. I'd recommend Metric Coffee if you haven't tried that, one of my favorite roasters. Would you say you've gotten similar tastes (in a quality sense) to these roasters that you like with your home roasts? I just ordered an SR800, very excited about it.
Nice tutorial video, thank you! Make more videos!
Thanks! Excellent tutorial. Probably the best on SR540. I cannot decide whether to purchase 540 or 800 model. I don't drink coffee everyday. But I want to experience roasting at home. From your experiment, it appears that having higher airflow isn't always a good thing as it reduces temp inside chamber. So I wonder how 800 model is an upgrade. Capacity is probably the only upside of 800.
Thank you! The higher airflow shouldn't be a problem with the 800, you'll need it at the start with the larger batches and you can always reduce as you go.
Great tutorial thank you
My experience using only 110 grams of green coffee fixes the chaff build-up problem.
Good point, but with naturals it's maybe only 80 to 90g
Thank you for your great tutorial video. How much beans can you roast with this extension tube? According to Sweet Maria, it says you can’t increase the batch size when using the extension tube. Is it true? Thanks.
I think you can safely go up to 8 oz but you'll need the chaff lid expander. It will require a lot of attention to keep fan speed in check so that the beans don't hit the lid. The roasts can run kind of fast unless you reduce power in connection with fan decreases (fan decreases add a lot of heat on these machines).
Are you going by temp far as the type of roast goes off the machine? What temp do you pull for a medium to dark usually?
If hitting first crack about 450, then for medium I'd go about 2 minutes ending around 460 , and for dark just keep going until maybe 30 seconds into 2nd crack
Great
Newbie question here. I watched a couple of your videos, but I’m not seeing how you make light and medium roast differently. Basically you roasted 30 more seconds to make beans turn medium, is that correct? And the dark roast needs to pass the second crack and wait for a bit of more time?
The biggest difference between my light and medium in my other video was the ending temperature, the inlet air temperature coming from the base unit was probably 15 to 18 degrees F hotter for the medium roast. I accomplished the temp increase using the extra fan reduction on the medium roast. Each fan reduction on my setup translates to 15 to 18 ish degrees hotter temp. On the dark roast, I did a total of three fan decreases (vs two total on medium and only one on light) and I went a couple minutes longer than my medium.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 Thanks. Just got my SR540, and I find that as a newbie, it's really hard to find a clear gap between the light and medium roast. Probably just need to "waste" some beans to be more experienced LOL
Hi, I have a question. I have seen many videos, everyone does it differently. Some are using short roasting time (3-5 mins), some are using 8-10 minutes. Logically speaking, if the beans roasted too fast, the surface seems roasted well but inside the beans may not fully roasted correctly. I am just trying to find an optimum roasting time to achieve the best roasting condition. What is your recommendation on this?
These small air roasters are ideal tools to experiment with different recipes and profiles. Try a few on the same bean and taste side by side cupping style. Only your palate really can say for sure which is best. Having said all that, after at least a couple hundred roasts on my 540, I rarely get baked notes with roasts with total roast time of. 6 or 7 minutes or less. These baked notes start creeping in more commonly around 8 minutes plus. That's just specific to this roaster though. (I also have A Quest drum roaster and that does 8 to 10 minutes no problem). In terms of underdevelopment,
even with some of my shorter roasts, like 4:30 to 5:00 total roast time, under or green flavors seem to be more of an issue if your end temp is too low, vs total time. Just try lots of different coffee from other roasters, commercial ones too. Cup those along side yours. Over time you will be able to tell what gets you the results you like.
Love your videos. I have had a problem that I wondered if you had any thoughts on. I recently starting using a SR540 to roast beans and have noticed my max temp is muuuuch lower than yours. For example, my max temp at fan 9 power 9 is around 360 F. Do you have any idea why there’s such a massive difference in our temps even though we use the same machine?
Thank you! These machines are sensitive to line voltage. At my house, at my kitchen GFI outlet I can get 121 volts (drops to 116-117 under full load), but the outlet outside my front door is more like 117 dropping to 111. That may not sound that bad but it makes a huge difference in performance, easily 30 to 40 degrees different. You can try a different outlet or just use more fan reductions. If roasting outside when it's cold, try roasting inside a partially closed cardboard box, sitting on one end so its taller.
That was definitely my guess at what was going on. I’ve been preheating the chamber and progressively dropping the fan down to 5 (pushing max temp to around 430 F). That’s allowed me to hit first crack much sooner around 4:30 (compared to 6:30 initially), so I’ll probably just have to keep doing that. Thanks for the response!
The ambient temperature you are roasting in will also drastically change the maximum heat the roaster can produce. Along with voltage, ambient air temperature will greatly change the temperatures the roaster can put out.
Awesome video! Here’s my setup. I’ve been using a split wired Poppery1 for about 15 yrs. Temperature controlled using a variac and fan controlled with a dimmer switch. I monitor the temp using a thermometer clipped to a soup can stuck in the bean mass. I haven’t really been paying attention to what’s new in the roasting world till recently. Just a few questions. I usually ramp the temp so that it takes me about 12min to get to 1st crack (that’s after letting the beans warm up a bit). That seems to be about twice as long as you. Can you really get an even roast using dry processed beans in 6min? My setup is a pain in the ass to to get going and makes a mess in my garage. How much more convenient is the Fresh Roast compared to what I have? I’ve been looking at the Fresh Roast 800 and just curious about that model. I only roast 115g/week.
Thank you. I've tried longer roasts with the 540, like 9 to 12 minutes total for a light to medium roast. They seem at high risk of getting baked notes, the crashed rate-of-rise type baked (not sweet, flat, dull, hollow, often papery or ashy tasting). I think the longest roast I've done that I thought tasted good was 8 1/2 minutes, and it was hard to replicate with other beans (most came out baked). I think either the 540 or 800 would work for you at that rate of consumption.
@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 would you say these "baked" flavors taste roasty/toasty or almost burnt? I just got the 540 and 1 roast came out good but a few of them all have the same strange taste. Almost like burnt peanuts. They even smell roasty and not like coffee.
I’m seriously contemplating on getting the sr800, after I ship my new (faulty) Behmor 2000ab plus back to the online shop. Everybody raves about the FR roasters and I’m relieved not to be roasting in a ticking time bomb fire hazard. That being said, with the ease of roasting the FR roasters have, for the life of me I don’t understand the vertical design not having “lock in place” components as well as at least some sort of metal protection bands around the outside of the borosilicate glass chambers. Like that you find on a French Press. That’s why that metal banding is there. Is it something to do with heat conducting maybe extra heat from the metal? Because the Razza tubes do have metal bands on the outside of that glass holding on the wooden handle.
I haven't had problems with the handle on the roast chamber but I definitely use gloves on the chaff lid.
Hi Keith, thanks for a great vid. Regarding Temp sensors, what probe are you using for the ext tube? Thanks again.
I believe it was this one but measure your height, the 10 inch might be better. It's pricey, there might be cheaper probes out there.
Digi-Sense Type-K, Small-Diameter Standard Probe, Mini-Connector, 8" L, .063 Dia, Grounded
www.coleparmer.com/i/digi-sense-type-k-small-diameter-standard-probe-mini-connector-8-l-063-dia-grounded/0850562
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 Thank you ☕.
Hi. Can you read Celcius instead of Fahrenheit? Thanks.
I'm not aware of a way to change the temp readout to Celsius unfortunately
Many thanks for the video, Keith. I'm interested in buying an SR540. Is it reliable enough to use it twice a week for 1.5-2 years? Have you experienced any issues with the motor fan, heater, etc?
Many thanks
No issues so far, I'm probably up to 200-300 roasts. As I mentioned in the video, I did notice this summer that I needed to use a lower fan setting to get the same roast level, probably a combination of line voltage and age of the roaster, but it's not dramatic. I roasted yesterday and noticed my power (wattage) was in much better shape, a couple of the roasts I was back to my pre summer settings.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 thank you, Keith 🙂
The Fresh Roast manufacturer, Home Roasting Supplies, stands behind their products. On their website, you can order parts to repair your roaster yourself, or you can send them your broken roaster and they will fix it for a flat $50 fee. That's assuming that you even *need* to get your roaster repaired, as there are reports of people using these roasters multiple times per week for ten years with zero issues.
If you put the freshly roasted coffee in sealed plastic bags and then put it in a coffee bag with a one way check valve, how is the coffee going to vent the CO 2 gases ?
@joedipangrazio3218 baggies aren't very air tight, even if zipped closed.
Quick question : How many times that can we recycle the one-way valve bag?
I reuse mine for maybe 6 months or so, probably longer in some cases. I've heard that the valve eventually 'dries out' so there is a limit but I've not tried testing.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489You can get wide mouth mason jar lids with one-way valves in them, so you can keep reusing jars for storage indefinitely.
Im having issues w/smaller beans (Maui Mokka). They get away from me before 1C. Sometimes, I cant even hear it. Do you have any recommendations? Any advice is greatly appreciated. (Also wondering if you'd be interested on critiquing my roast samples).
With small beans, like peaberries, sound of crack can be soft or almost non-existent. You can over roast them if waiting for the sound. In these situations, I'll start off the roast day with a regular bean that is predictable, easy to hear crack, easy to hit a good end of roast, etc. Then I use the same timing and settings for the peaberries, and kind of ignore sounds. Try instead to focus on color. And yeah sure I can give feedback, email me at kpoole25@hotmail.com
Where is the temperature sensor location? I believe you are not reading the bean’s temperature.
In this video I was using the built in temp sensor, which is in the base unit (inlet air temp). It's not bean temp. The sensor is just below the roast chamber. It reads approximately 50 to 75 degrees F higher than bean temp once the roast gets going.
This was literally covered in the video. He shows *video* of the sensor's location and explains how to see the information it provides on the display.
Do you prefer this SR 540 over something like the Nesco with the three presets? Seems like you like it better
I haven't tried the Nesco. I did watch a video that Sweet Maria's put out recently on the Nesco. They said they had a difficult time getting a true light roast, which is my favorite roast level for most beans. Also the batch size is much smaller and roast times are quite long, I think they said 12 to 15 minutes? I'd be concerned with baked roasts. Having said all that, I would like to taste some roasts from it, just out of curiosity.
I had the Nesco. it was easier but the 540 has more control. if you get the Nesco buy the extended warranty as mine died @@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489
Second crack was about 7 minutes, temperature 420
Just tested it again today, topped out @378 after five minutes, F6P9. My breakers say amps are either 15 or 20. Did you think 540 will work even if it doesn't get up to 450? The instructions say a maximum of 113 g, but everybody else is using 130 g...the Brazilian decaf I roasted on the fifth tasted great this evening...found a cheap voltometer in Amazon. Will try the roaster at a friends to see how well it works there. Thanks for all your help!
If you have any kind of oven thermometer, try this. Leave off the roasting chamber and run just the base unit. Just pick any combo of fan and power. Put the tip of your thermometer as close to the screen as you can (the machine sensor is just below the screen in base unit). See if the machine temp is close to your thermometer. If everything is working ok with the machine, the machine should read a little bit higher than your thermometer, maybe 5 to 10 degrees hotter. If your thermometer is higher by a good amount, then I think the factory is either calibrating the sensor lower than they used to, or the sensor is a dud. I have a suspicion that the manufacturer is calibrating lower so it's closer to 'bean temperature.' I say this only because I see a lot of new buyers with temps much lower than folks with older machines.
Keith, the thermometer is higher by around twenty degrees
What about the limitation of 114 g - is that new?
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 it also says use the roaster only indoors. Is there any reason I.can't use it outside?
Also want to express my gratitude for your prompt, well considered responses, Keith.
Hi Keith, the chaff lid expander / Chaff collector upgrade kit for FreshRoast is no longer on Etsy. Any suggestions on where else I can get one?
I know he shuts down for certain holidays and vacations. Maybe try again in a week or so. Otherwise I don't know of any ready made options. Fwiw the dimensions of the longer piece is 34.5 cm long, 5 cm wide, with little angles on one side. The smaller section is 9 cm long by 5 cm wide.
I just bought a chaff collector from Razzo on Etsy yesterday.
Hi, do you have any recommendations if we want to roast 2 batches of beans, what is the time interval between the 2 batches? If we roast 2nd batch without cooling down the machine, will it cause the power drop?
The manual recommends 30 minutes but many people roast back to back (after the standard 3 minute cooling cycle). I'm closer to 10 to 15 minutes between but after the cooling cycle I take apart the lid and chamber and place everything on a box fan pointed up, to cool off further, maybe 10 minutes.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 Thanks!
,👍☕
What thermometer and temperature probe are you using here?
Thermometer (the green thing) is a Mastech MS6514. From what I hear there is a similar one from PefectPrime that is cheaper, works the same way. The temp probe is a DigiSense 10" k-type probe from Cole Parmer, but I've gone back to look for it and don't think they stock it anymore.
@@keithpoolehomecoffeeroasti489 Thanks! Yeah looks like this (perfectprime.com/products/tc2100) is literally the same unit. Is your thermocouple just taped to the lid? I can’t quite make it out. Any trouble getting the probe end to stay at the right height?
I have a couple probes that just sit all the way in, the tip rests above the bottom of the chamber. Another one is very long and I've used alligator clips. Ideally get the length you need.
Smells like burnt grass
Thank you for your video demonstration and it was nice. I am using this Fresh Roaster SR540 for the first time. I used 4 scoops of coffee beans. Fan 9 Power 9 time 20. Only mild changes happened after 5 mts. So, I reduce the fan to 8..7..6..5 (to increase the temperature) and the temperature is raised from 350 to 309 F. Totally took 60 mts to get into the medium roast. Never feel any crack. Beans: Martini Guatemala.
Totally confused. Temperature showed at least 350 to 390: but really I did not feel like it. What went wrong? Machine or beans?
Your valuable answer is highly appreciable.
Your outlet might be running very low on voltage. These roasters are sensitive to power differences unfortunately.