Affordable Coffee Roaster You Can Learn Roasting On
]Learning the craft of roasting requires many hours of practice.
Without access to a production roaster, it can be hard to come by the opportunity to roast regularly, something we have been thinking about at CoffeeCourses.com since we launched our online courses.
Most home roasters do not give a very good simulation of the production roast process, and investing in a professional sample roaster is not a realistic option for most enthusiasts.
The Huky 500 is an excellent solution for those looking to get a real feel for the art of roasting.
Our online program for coffee professionals Coffee PRO emphasizes the importance of precision in controlling the roasting process: you need to be able to measure certain elements and adjust the roast accordingly. Huky allows you to measure gas pressure (heat level), bean temperature and air temperature, the three fundamental measuring points that help you fully control your roast. You can connect your roaster to a USB temperature logger and use software like Artisan (free) to log and save your roast profiles.
The best feature of the Huky is its extreme affordability.
If you add up the cost of our Coffee PRO and price of the Huky 500 (with shipping), you will end up spending less then $2000 (€1570), the cost of a live roasting course.
Huky 500 on Home-Barista
Artisan Free Coffee Roasting Logging Software
Kuanho Li – producer’s email
Starting the Roast
Tryer is very nice on this roaster. I could pull beans in and out thought the whole roasts. It is not advisable (you lose heat), but fun to do. This is a Hay stage.
Going too fast!
It is little over 5 minutes and I see that my roast is progressing a bit fast. Look at that rate of rise (Delta BT)! Time to…
..lower the heat.
I lower the heat in order to slow down the roast. You can see that when I adjust the knob, the pressure gauge does not move very smoothly. Not 100% precise but still gives you a very good idea about the amount of applied heat.
Using the Data to Decide About the Fate of This Coffee
Tryer is very nice on this roaster. I could pull beans in and out thought the whole roasts. It is not advisable (you lose heat), but fun to do. This is a Hay stage.
First Crack
First crack is happening. Just turn on the sound on the video player and you will hear it.
Removing the Chaff
The chaff is collected in the cooling tray and you have to get rid of it just before you dump the coffee from the roaster. Timing is essential in this step. I got the hang of it, and look at my funky moves using only one hand.
Cooling Coffee
Thanks to a very powerful fan cooling happens very fast and as you might know this is crucial when roasting coffee.
NOTE: We do not sell Huky 500 and we are not affiliated with the producer beyond the fact that the author of this article owns two and likes them. If you decide to purchase Huky 500, do your homework and research it further to determine if the product is suitable for you.
For small batch roasters the coffee business has become complicated and full of the acrobatics of art, science, technology and human touch. The end goal for a roaster is to make each cup of coffee a delicious, distinct, perfectly balanced, delightfully aromatized and consistently captured brew.
Read more at: ambachtelijke gebrand koffie
hi valerian, interesting video! i use the huky for about 3 years already (as a home roaster). i found that when using less than full air flow i seem to be quickly scalding the beans, resulting in increased ashyness/bitterness. so the dimmer i have installed on my exhaust fan is not in use any longer. also, to avoid the hectic towards the end of the roast, i got a 2nd set of cooling tray/funnel from mr. li.
Thanks for the comment. To be honest I never used it at full blast during roasting. that is too much air I think. I go maybe 30-60% depending on the load. Also full blast on mine would suck beans out,. Still! This is the awesome thing on this roaster, so you can experiment what happens if you apply airflow size of a tornado. 🙂 Coffee gets bitter and ashy. BTW What kind of exhaust pipe do you use? I got one used for dryers in USA but is slightly big.
i seemed to pull too much heat into the drum when using less than full power on the air. when applying full power i think i get enough cold air pulled in so that things don’t get to hot… i have a solid drum though as i felt that the perforated drum would burn the beans even faster.
i don’t have an exhaust pipe and as a result we just had to wash the walls in the kitchen… i roast right under a normal kitchen extractor which takes care of most of the particles but not all. do you keep a constant airflow at all times? i’ll be roasting in a she outside from now on and i will get a pipe for the fan now 🙂
Actually what we teach at Boot Camp is that airflow can be used 2 ways. To speed up the roast- it is when you have enough heat and the convection heat penetrates the bean efficiently and to slow down the roast – it is when you apply so much airflow that you suck out the heat.
Yes to keep the roast consistent I keep the airflow constant. I change it only when I roast a new batch and I want to see what happens if I apply different amount of airflow. Very rarely I might apply full airflow when the roast gets out of hand and i need to slow it down. This does not happen anymore, but did in the beginning when I was getting familiar with the roaster.
Your kitchen walls must be awesome 🙂
hmmm, i should perhaps experiment with lower heat input settings when using less than full fan power.
well, the kitchen walls are nice and clean now and they hopefully stay that way 🙂