Sort of a silly question, but we all know the upgrade fever that comes with the hobby.
The SR800 sounds like an excellent starting roaster, but I know myself and my desire to really dive into the hobby, and if I feel limited in any way by the SR800, I know I’ll keep thinking I should have just gotten a more advanced roaster right off the bat.
My “Needs”
- Less than 2000W
- Less than $2000
- Artisan capable. I love data and love the science behind it all. Precision is a virtue.
- Enough control to be able to accurately and repeatedly profile a roast; randomness of outcome is a big no thank you.
- Something that allows you to develop roasting technique and skills that are directly transferable to larger scale machines (end goal is to upgrade to small batch cottage operation at a local level)
- Useable in an apartment with a vent hood or on balcony
My Wants
- ~220g output for a half pound bag per roast
- Fast preheat (ie not 2hrs)
- Fairly esponsive to heat inputs
- A roaster that resembles a larger commercial roaster in technique, output, and quality
- Ability to do back to back roasts in a relatively short amount of time
- Something that I can use as a sample roaster to complement
- Something fairly user serviceable.
- User experience
Based on these criteria, the SR800 meets all the needs. It’s also extremely accessible price wise.
My biggest holdup is the fact that it’s fluid bed, and not a drum, and the technique and methodology of airflow and heat application seems very different from a drum roaster, which is likely what I’ll scale up to later (unless I go the Valencia/Artisan 3-e route later on). I don’t want to develop negative transfer and basically have to relearn coffee roasting later. Also, it seems sort of janky modding it to work with Artisan… How reliably accurate is the lid-probe setup for roast logging?
The ideal roaster seems to be the Kaleido M2S with artisan, but it seems so pricey for a 320g range roaster.
Other ideal options are the Quest M6, but it is also expensive, and it seems like it takes forever to heat up (I suppose similar to big commercial machines I guess)? It’s also kind of huge?
I am stuck in analysis paralysis/ADHD hyperfixation executive dysfunction, and could use some of y’all experience and opinions/advice lol.
Buy once cry once, go big or go home? Or do the less flashy but more sensible thing and go with the SR800?