WANTED! ROASTER!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on March 31, 2012 at 12:10pm

Brent - there's been some discussions on TheChocolateLife about roasters from a company called Coffee-Tech. I've been doing more than a little research on roasters over the past half-decade and if you're looking for a "real" roaster, then these appear to be not only high quality but also comparatively inexpensive. Their Ghibli R15 is a 15kg gas roaster - about 33lbs - and costs less than $20k, including shipping. I am working on negotiating a rebate for ChocolateLife members - but you'd have to order through me to get that rebate.

Lots of people here on TheChocolateLife are advocates of convection ovens as roasters because they are a comparatively low-cost solution. I am not a fan of most of the models that have been shown, for a wide variety of reasons. I have located, and have a relationship with a company that makes an extremely good full-size sheet pan 5-rack convection oven that includes the option to plumb it for steam, which means you could inject humidity into the cavity early on in the roast to get a more effective microbial kill step. Those are closer to $3500 and I think they ship from Iowa. There is a small discount on these for ChocolateLife members. A ChocolateLife member purchased one of these ovens through me (not for roasting cocoa beans, for general baking) and they are VERY happy with it. I recently specified this oven for a client I am helping develop a bean-to-bar chocolate factory for as it's appropriate for their requirements.

Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on April 4, 2012 at 9:51am

Lim:

I think this is something some members of the community might like to know more about. Would you please post photos of your roasters along with more information (than just their capacity) about their features and capabilities?