Tips from my experience with a similar popper. Ditch the clear plastic top piece. Do it outside. Cut the top and bottom off a standard size tin can (or whatever fits your popper) and shove it into the roast chamber to increase the size if it, sort of like a chimney. Use a small mesh strainer with a handle on it to cover the top of the chimney. While roasting, use one hand to hold and shake the popper while using the other hand to hold the strainer on top of the chimney and shake and swirl the whole assembly. Occasionally, stop and lift the strainer to let the chaff fly out and look at the color of the beans. Your arms will get a work out but this provides excellent agitation which yields a very even roast. I roast 90-100 grams at a time. I use a large mesh colander which rests on a box with a hole cut for the colander and a smaller hole hook a vacuum hose up to for rapid cooling.
If you put a large bowl, with a few cups of water, under the exhaust it will catch and trap the chaff to make on-stove roaster less messy. Pour the chaff and water onto your garden later.
I found the air poppers with the air vents on the side at the bottom help keep the beans inside so I can roast 1/2C at a time. I've also taken a light dimmer switch from Home Depot and rewired the fan through the dimmer switch for more control of the roasting process. ie fan on high for moisture removal and then lower to help increase temps and keep beans in the chamber.
Great video! I had the same problem. The coffee was roasting too fast and what really bugged me is I didn't get that "sweetness" I would get from already roasted beans from my favorite coffee shops that roast their own on premise. My solution was to heat one minute with the machine on, then rest one minute with the machine off. Do this back and forth, and remember to shake up the beans once in a while even during the rest periods. Doing it this way my first crack would begin at about 7 to 9 minutes and the second somewhere between 12 and 15 minutes. I also chose a lower wattage machine (1040) here again to keep the heating longer, slower and more even.
Fantastic video! I used a PRESTO popcorn popper I picked up at the local thrift store. I also started with a smaller batch and got the same results on the roast time. I started with an Ethiopian bean and will be experimenting with the roast times. Thanks for the great tips!
Thank you! What a great, clear-cut, beautifully made educational video. I look forward to watching more. I have recently started to roast at home and am learning how to go about it from many reputabl sources, however, your video was so concise, yet containing important details. Thank you again!
Thanks for providing this video. I used the Sunbeam air popper. It did roast very quickly, so you need to keep an eye on your beans. First roast = dark roast ( First time I ever roasted my own beans). The second try = medium roast. It is a new air popper so I am guessing it heats up very quickly and may be more efficient.
Though it seems an air popper should be great for roasting coffee beans, we have burned up two of them. They conveniently blow the chaff out as it separates. The first popper destroyed itself about the second time we used it. The second one self destructed the first use. Both u mes the electrics just quit. Also, on both, the clear plastic upper housing to show deforming from the heat.
Just do it on the patio or deck. The smoke sticks on your walls, furniture, etc. and the smell lasts for days; let alone the chaff that flies everywhere. Also use a infrared thermometer to measure the temperature for consistency. you may need to turn on and off the popper to keep the temperature in range. So the air popper would be better have a on-off switch.
The Presto Poplte has a mesh screen at the bottom which does not rotate the beans and require stick stirring. I found a chamber with side hot air vents works better. The presto is very hot runing...it's advertised as being a fast popcorn popper, I'd want slower
I have this popcorn popper. I thought I couldn't use it because it wouldn't get hot enough and people talk about modifying it by removing the thermometer, but I don't want to do that. However, with examples they said to use older high wattage poppers around 1250 watts I think, but I checked this model underneath and it said around 1400 I think, so maybe it is fine. I think I want to try a light roast, but I bought Ethiopian beans which they normally prepare extremely well done.
This worked but quantity was insufficient for our needs.....so moved to a modified bread machine for agitation, and use a heat gun to produce the required heat,.Temperature is checked using an IR thermometer. Cooling is done with a colander and fan. App 15 minutes to roast 1 lb.....but I highly recommend the process be done outside as significant heat and chaff are produced. So far I've done app 250lbs....works like a charm. Bread machine must be wired to constant agitation only.
I roast on my stove top in a large heavy bottom stainless steel pan with 3 inch sides. I cool it by stirring the coffee in a stainless steel bowl in the bathroom sink that is filled with cold water. As soon as the coffee is barely warm I grind the beans and make a pot. That first pot is the best one. The "de-gassing" thing is a complete myth. I've been roasting this way for years.
Thank You for a very good video and fantastic information. I shall use the air popcorn machine. Do you have any information on coffee harvesters? Like how many acres of coffee plants to make it worth buying? Again Thank You.
Thanks for this video. How does one clean the inside chamber of the popper? I saw somewhere that one should not do this but really? I want to shift between coffee and popcorn perhaps, and it seems that cleaning is required. I bought a used one, so I have no instructions.
Hello, enjoyed the vid. See that no one has spoken for two years, oddly enough. Well, I used the Westbend Poppery II for my trial. It failed miserably and I have a few questions to see if I can improve. I used 3/4 cup of green beans and stirred regularly. I pre-heated the popper. At 8 minutes in I began to hear first crack, and this is my first question. It was late in the first place, but OK. Obviously not all beans crack, certainly not at same time, so how does one tell the first crack from second crack, as I did not hear much cracking in the first place, and I did not hear a distinct stopping and then a second beginning. I do not understand how one knows the first crack has ended, since not that many cracked. Wouldn't it be a gradual transition, since some beans will crack early, some late. How does one know the second has been achieved, not just late first beans??? I do not think I even got to second crack, and after 20 minutes I ditched it, and tried those beans on a pan using my outdoor grill, trying to get to second crack. I did hear some cracking but was it first or second, I don't know. The beans were getting too dark, although many were too light. I was not happy with this. I tried a second trial, this time using grill only. Not much better. I stirred regularly but ended up with wide difference in colors, and never did I get a nice smell at all, which I had hoped for. I kept a pretty low fire, as I feared burning beans most of all; better slower than faster. It took a long time for 1st crack, about 10 minutes! Again, most beans did NOT crack; are they all supposed to? I only heard some cracking, which was loud, definitely 1st crack. I kept stirring and waited, too long, for second crack, but again, could not differentiate between first and second crack, since for me at least, there is no definite break in between, and again, only so much cracking, definitely not representative of the majority of beans. The color was my key, as sound and smell definitely were not working for me. I got black and brown beans, and I feel that the black were over-done and the brown, not enough. I did not want to see oil, which is burning, and I did not, but I do not think I got a good second crack, and not even a definite 1st crack from the majority of beans; there just was not enough cracking to convince me of an overall 1st crack, let alone the second crack. This was the case in both the air popper trial and the complete grill trial, using a very shallow cast iron pan. I may try a thinner device to move the beans, because I fear that I did not actually turn them over, just transferred them, leading to unevenness. It is too thick a wooden spoon. I cannot explain the slowness in either case, not even achieving second crack after twenty minutes with airpopper. Am I doomed to lousy coffee, of my own making? Used Balinese beans, btw.
1:50 First crack after only two and a half minutes ? That is very soon. I think it is normally around 11 minutes for pan roasting and 14 minutes for air roasting.
I have searched dozens of videos for all forms of roasting and none of them suggest the degassing and waiting 24 hours before roasting. Why do you suggest this? Is there something wrong with grinding it immediately and making a cup? Don't know if I can wait that long!
Francis Agosh you could get them from the link in the video description but I would suggest googling "green coffee beans" and pick a company with good reviews. It's bad customer service on this companies part if they can't be bothered to answer a question from potential customers.
Just a heads up, the airpopper you used doesn't promote airflow as good as some other designs. This is the main reason why the second batch wasn't uniform.
Coffee you buy in store is stale and essentially dead. Roasting fresh beans is like night and day. Your hand will do but nothing like the real thing...
I used a simple cheap pop corn popper almost exactly like the one you show and after 2 roasts the upper part of the machine began to melt. Should I try to return it I am wondering, especially since you don't mention this problem and the one I used is exactly like the one you show. Any ideas anyone?
Using a popcorn popper as a coffee roaster voids the warranty in every case Ive seen. It's not uncommon for it to soften and disfigure the plastic upper components since the machine was never meant to run as long as needed to roast coffee. If its just a matter of looking ugly it's no big deal. I roast mine with the top off. A little messy but it solves the issue of melted plastic.
You do not have to wait 24 hours after fresh roasting home use or single cup brew coffees. CO2 has zero flavor and its presence in the coffee beans only serves to make the bloom stage "fizzier." This is only a problem if you intend to brew coffee quantities really close to the volume capacity of your brewing method.
Tips from my experience with a similar popper. Ditch the clear plastic top piece. Do it outside. Cut the top and bottom off a standard size tin can (or whatever fits your popper) and shove it into the roast chamber to increase the size if it, sort of like a chimney. Use a small mesh strainer with a handle on it to cover the top of the chimney. While roasting, use one hand to hold and shake the popper while using the other hand to hold the strainer on top of the chimney and shake and swirl the whole assembly. Occasionally, stop and lift the strainer to let the chaff fly out and look at the color of the beans. Your arms will get a work out but this provides excellent agitation which yields a very even roast. I roast 90-100 grams at a time. I use a large mesh colander which rests on a box with a hole cut for the colander and a smaller hole hook a vacuum hose up to for rapid cooling.
If you put a large bowl, with a few cups of water, under the exhaust it will catch and trap the chaff to make on-stove roaster less messy. Pour the chaff and water onto your garden later.
I found the air poppers with the air vents on the side at the bottom help keep the beans inside so I can roast 1/2C at a time. I've also taken a light dimmer switch from Home Depot and rewired the fan through the dimmer switch for more control of the roasting process. ie fan on high for moisture removal and then lower to help increase temps and keep beans in the chamber.
Great video! I had the same problem. The coffee was roasting too fast and what really bugged me is I didn't get that "sweetness" I would get from already roasted beans from my favorite coffee shops that roast their own on premise. My solution was to heat one minute with the machine on, then rest one minute with the machine off. Do this back and forth, and remember to shake up the beans once in a while even during the rest periods. Doing it this way my first crack would begin at about 7 to 9 minutes and the second somewhere between 12 and 15 minutes. I also chose a lower wattage machine (1040) here again to keep the heating longer, slower and more even.
great tip thanks. did your method matched the roast from your coffee shop? i am considering doing this and now looking for a machine....
Fantastic video! I used a PRESTO popcorn popper I picked up at the local thrift store. I also started with a smaller batch and got the same results on the roast time. I started with an Ethiopian bean and will be experimenting with the roast times. Thanks for the great tips!
Thank you! What a great, clear-cut, beautifully made educational video. I look forward to watching more. I have recently started to roast at home and am learning how to go about it from many reputabl sources, however, your video was so concise, yet containing important details. Thank you again!
Thanks for the video! Gives me the courage to try it myself.
I used your recommended setup to reduce the amount of smoke and it worked perfectly. Good idea.
Thanks for providing this video. I used the Sunbeam air popper. It did roast very quickly, so you need to keep an eye on your beans. First roast = dark roast ( First time I ever roasted my own beans). The second try = medium roast. It is a new air popper so I am guessing it heats up very quickly and may be more efficient.
Though it seems an air popper should be great for roasting coffee beans, we have burned up two of them. They conveniently blow the chaff out as it separates. The first popper destroyed itself about the second time we used it. The second one self destructed the first use. Both u mes the electrics just quit. Also, on both, the clear plastic upper housing to show deforming from the heat.
Just do it on the patio or deck. The smoke sticks on your walls, furniture, etc. and the smell lasts for days; let alone the chaff that flies everywhere. Also use a infrared thermometer to measure the temperature for consistency. you may need to turn on and off the popper to keep the temperature in range. So the air popper would be better have a on-off switch.
Excellent video! Thanks for the tips!
I rarely like videos, but this was helpful and very well presented. You got my like!
Such an awesome video, it is SO helpful and informative! Thank you!
The Presto Poplte has a mesh screen at the bottom which does not rotate the beans and require stick stirring. I found a chamber with side hot air vents works better. The presto is very hot runing...it's advertised as being a fast popcorn popper, I'd want slower
I have this popcorn popper. I thought I couldn't use it because it wouldn't get hot enough and people talk about modifying it by removing the thermometer, but I don't want to do that. However, with examples they said to use older high wattage poppers around 1250 watts I think, but I checked this model underneath and it said around 1400 I think, so maybe it is fine. I think I want to try a light roast, but I bought Ethiopian beans which they normally prepare extremely well done.
Interesting try. worth try for fun, not for drinking.
Quite informative video ,as i do not have any other options ,i will have to buy a popcorn popper to roast my coffee beans.Thanks a lot
This worked but quantity was insufficient for our needs.....so moved to a modified bread machine for agitation, and use a heat gun to produce the required heat,.Temperature is checked using an IR thermometer. Cooling is done with a colander and fan. App 15 minutes to roast 1 lb.....but I highly recommend the process be done outside as significant heat and chaff are produced. So far I've done app 250lbs....works like a charm. Bread machine must be wired to constant agitation only.
Thank you very much for this video. I'm wondering: how many watts was your presto popcorn popper? Was it from amazon? Cheers
I roast on my stove top in a large heavy bottom stainless steel pan with 3 inch sides. I cool it by stirring the coffee in a stainless steel bowl in the bathroom sink that is filled with cold water. As soon as the coffee is barely warm I grind the beans and make a pot. That first pot is the best one. The "de-gassing" thing is a complete myth. I've been roasting this way for years.
Thank You for a very good video and fantastic information. I shall use the air popcorn machine. Do you have any information on coffee harvesters? Like how many acres of coffee plants to make it worth buying? Again Thank You.
Thanks for this video. How does one clean the inside chamber of the popper? I saw somewhere that one should not do this but really? I want to shift between coffee and popcorn perhaps, and it seems that cleaning is required. I bought a used one, so I have no instructions.
Hello, enjoyed the vid. See that no one has spoken for two years, oddly enough. Well, I used the Westbend Poppery II for my trial. It failed miserably and I have a few questions to see if I can improve. I used 3/4 cup of green beans and stirred regularly. I pre-heated the popper. At 8 minutes in I began to hear first crack, and this is my first question. It was late in the first place, but OK. Obviously not all beans crack, certainly not at same time, so how does one tell the first crack from second crack, as I did not hear much cracking in the first place, and I did not hear a distinct stopping and then a second beginning. I do not understand how one knows the first crack has ended, since not that many cracked. Wouldn't it be a gradual transition, since some beans will crack early, some late. How does one know the second has been achieved, not just late first beans??? I do not think I even got to second crack, and after 20 minutes I ditched it, and tried those beans on a pan using my outdoor grill, trying to get to second crack. I did hear some cracking but was it first or second, I don't know. The beans were getting too dark, although many were too light. I was not happy with this. I tried a second trial, this time using grill only. Not much better. I stirred regularly but ended up with wide difference in colors, and never did I get a nice smell at all, which I had hoped for. I kept a pretty low fire, as I feared burning beans most of all; better slower than faster. It took a long time for 1st crack, about 10 minutes! Again, most beans did NOT crack; are they all supposed to? I only heard some cracking, which was loud, definitely 1st crack. I kept stirring and waited, too long, for second crack, but again, could not differentiate between first and second crack, since for me at least, there is no definite break in between, and again, only so much cracking, definitely not representative of the majority of beans. The color was my key, as sound and smell definitely were not working for me. I got black and brown beans, and I feel that the black were over-done and the brown, not enough. I did not want to see oil, which is burning, and I did not, but I do not think I got a good second crack, and not even a definite 1st crack from the majority of beans; there just was not enough cracking to convince me of an overall 1st crack, let alone the second crack. This was the case in both the air popper trial and the complete grill trial, using a very shallow cast iron pan. I may try a thinner device to move the beans, because I fear that I did not actually turn them over, just transferred them, leading to unevenness. It is too thick a wooden spoon. I cannot explain the slowness in either case, not even achieving second crack after twenty minutes with airpopper. Am I doomed to lousy coffee, of my own making? Used Balinese beans, btw.
Nice video
1:50 First crack after only two and a half minutes ? That is very soon. I think it is normally around 11 minutes for pan roasting and 14 minutes for air roasting.
Use a flour sifter on top snd you can roast more at a time
Well produced video!!!!
I have searched dozens of videos for all forms of roasting and none of them suggest the degassing and waiting 24 hours before roasting. Why do you suggest this? Is there something wrong with grinding it immediately and making a cup? Don't know if I can wait that long!
it does work nice.. however, my machine died 3 days later. I didn't over fill it.
What about disabling heat sensor on popper???
Where can I get the coffee beans at?
Francis Agosh you could get them from the link in the video description but I would suggest googling "green coffee beans" and pick a company with good reviews. It's bad customer service on this companies part if they can't be bothered to answer a question from potential customers.
Just a heads up, the airpopper you used doesn't promote airflow as good as some other designs. This is the main reason why the second batch wasn't uniform.
so what's the main benefits of roasting yourself ?
brian howell cheaper
Coffee you buy in store is stale and essentially dead. Roasting fresh beans is like night and day. Your hand will do but nothing like the real thing...
fresh roast coffee beans arenmuch better smell.
I used a simple cheap pop corn popper almost exactly like the one you show and after 2 roasts the upper part of the machine began to melt. Should I try to return it I am wondering, especially since you don't mention this problem and the one I used is exactly like the one you show. Any ideas anyone?
Using a popcorn popper as a coffee roaster voids the warranty in every case Ive seen. It's not uncommon for it to soften and disfigure the plastic upper components since the machine was never meant to run as long as needed to roast coffee. If its just a matter of looking ugly it's no big deal. I roast mine with the top off. A little messy but it solves the issue of melted plastic.
What type of coffee are you using?
You do not have to wait 24 hours after fresh roasting home use or single cup brew coffees. CO2 has zero flavor and its presence in the coffee beans only serves to make the bloom stage "fizzier." This is only a problem if you intend to brew coffee quantities really close to the volume capacity of your brewing method.
Roast outdoors to reduce smoke