List of Current Air Popcorn Poppers for Coffee Roasting

[jdk90026]

For what it's worth- I sought out the 'holy grail' on ebay- found a like-new west bend poppery II for 10 bucks. Roasted 4 good batches over a week, then it crapped out. No air movement, no chaff. I shook it to keep it circulating, but the beans burned black before 1st crack and still no chaff. Bleh. Off to walgreens.

[BenG]

Hello. I'm new to the forum, and relatively new to home coffee roasting.

I had looked over this web site prior to looking for a hot air roaster. About a month ago I found the Sunbeam at Target that others have mentioned. (for those who don't know how to disable the high temp cutoff: remove the top half of the popper by first removing 3 screws; two wires connect to a little "box" that's attached to the heat cup - cut those; solder the wires together or connect them in a wire nut. This closes the circuit for good, keeping the heating element on)

I'm still in the beginning, experimental stages. I just got a thermometer (originally made for the huge pots of hot oil used to deep fry turkeys) that works really well and is helping me understand what's going on.

It seems to me that this roaster heats up too quickly and then slows down too much. This may be symptomatic of all popcorn poppers? As an earlier post said, it's probably true that the outside may look dark, but the inside of the bean isn't roasted enough. I may do some more surgery to gain control over the thermal override switch and manually turn it off and on to control the temperature ramp.

As of yet I'm not satisfied with the coffee I get because I can't yet get what I want on purpose. I have by accident!

[thepeoplesroast.com]

It seems to me that this roaster heats up too quickly and then slows down too much. This may be symptomatic of all popcorn poppers? As an earlier post said, it's probably true that the outside may look dark, but the inside of the bean isn't roasted enough. I may do some more surgery to gain control over the thermal override switch and manually turn it off and on to control the temperature ramp.

As of yet I'm not satisfied with the coffee I get because I can't yet get what I want on purpose. I have by accident!

I have never used a thermometer, but I've been really happy with the results I get both from the Poppery and Poppery II and even from the Kitchen Gourmet (Walgreens). I feel like with these the heat is consistent and the coffee is roasting at a good steady pace- the proof of this for me is when I dump the roasting coffee as second crack is beginning and the cooling process takes several minute. Recently I've been buying up every popper I see at thrift stores etc. and am selling them to friends who are interested, so I've had the benefit of trying all kinds of different roasters Poppery [my favorite by far], Poppery II, Popcorn Pumper, Kitchen Gourmet) http://www.thepeoplesroast.com/resources <--- I haven't experienced the problem you mention with any of these.

One huge factor that I've noticed is the amount of coffee in the popper/roaster. I've had the experience of not putting enough coffee in so that it was spinning too fast (not at first but after a few seconds of drying out) so that the coffee was sort of cooling and roasting at the same time. A good steady movement of the coffee that is not too fast is a sort of happy medium (especially with the Poppery II) that I've found keeps the coffee roasting, even if at the very beginning it feels like the popper might be overloaded (I've had to help the coffee keep moving, but literally for only about 5-10 seconds).

My first roaster, the American Era from CVS, though I liked it at the time, did not roast a very high capacity at all. I wasted a lot of time roasting in that thing and I thought I liked my results until I got into some of these classic roasting poppers.

[jkundert]

OK, I removed the temperature sensor* on my Sunbeam popper (available at Target for $19.99--so easiest one to get these days) and now it works like a champ: hits second crack at 6:07 +/- a couple of seconds, every time. I just brought back a couple of pounds of Kona coffee from the big island, and it smells fantastic when it's done. Really nice roast!

The only downside at this point is that, without the thermostat, the plastic shell melts as I use it. I'm going to have to find a hurricane glass to use instead, but in the meantime, after 2 minutes (most chaff is gone) I remove the plastic lid and let it do the rest "al fresco". I plan to attach a dimmer to the heating unit eventually, so I can slow the roast down by a couple of minutes, but for now it works great. Oh, and a tip: I use my old popcorn bowl to catch the hot beans (very thin metal), then sit the bowl on a wet towel. Wait a few seconds, lift, turn the towel over, repeat for a while. That stops the roast almost immediately.

Anyway, as long as I don't burn out the unit or anything, this will work great. Can't wait to get better at the process now!

*For those who want to purchase one of these guys, the thermostat/heat sensor is located on a band that's attached to the heating barrel. Unscrew the outside plastic and look down into the unit; around the barrel, you'll see a band with a round object attached (with thermal glue) to one side. You need to unscrew the band, lift it off the barrel, and set it anywhere else inside the unit (not touching the barrel of course). I had to unscrew the base screws and tip the barrel sideways to get at the band screw, but it wasn't much trouble. And of course CAUTION: once you remove the thermostat, this guy will get really, really hot. Be forewarned, and don't leave it unattended or you'll come back to a fire!

[BenG]

I modified my Sunbeam popper today.

I'd cut the wires that lead to the thermal cutoff switch and soldered them together before I ever used it.

Today, I added a switch instead. I want to be able to control the temp ramp with a slower ramp up time to get the beans a more even temp.

I bought a 16A, 125V rocker switch from Radio Shack for $3.00.

With the heater off, the temp gets up to about 130F with nothing in the roasting chamber.

When the heater is switched on, there is an audible change in the motor sound because of the current draw.

I haven't roasted any coffee with it yet but I have high hopes!

[jkundert]

Ben, could I attach the dimmer to the thermostat wires instead of down under where the main electrical comes in? Or would it just be the rocker switch? Just trying to make my 'surgery' easier. Thanks!

[BenG]

Ben, could I attach the dimmer to the thermostat wires instead of down under where the main electrical comes in? Or would it just be the rocker switch? Just trying to make my 'surgery' easier. Thanks!

I'm guessing that the thermostat thing is simply on or off and that variable voltage won't work there. if you want to vary the heat instead of turn it off and on, you're going where I haven't dared to go.

[knicks791]

Please recommend a popper that does not need to be modified to roast coffee and does not roast too fast. The popper should be fairly easy to find.

[BenG]

Please recommend a popper that does not need to be modified to roast coffee and does not roast too fast. The popper should be fairly easy to find.

if there were one that meets all those criteria we'd be talking about it.

[martin]

Yes, popcorn poppers are, after all, designed to pop popcorn; that they are more or less suitable, with more or less adjustment, for roasting coffee is a happy coincidence. There are, however, some products that might reasonable be described as "poppers designed for coffee roasting". Here's one that's currently available, and another. :-)