New Behmor 1600 plus roaster (with upgrade available for the 1600)

Brett_H

Funny, my preferred method is the KKTO and the Behmor sits on the bottom of my roast trolley and rarely gets used!

Rider

Watch out if crap falls in it Brett H...... Fire on the way......

Brett_H

Rider wrote:

Watch out if crap falls in it Brett H...... Fire on the way......

Thanks mate. Will do! I have noticed how dirty it can get and reckon there's a spider or two in residence so will give it all a good clean before the next use. Turbo ovens tend to last me 12.000001 months before they loose their mojo and it's when this happens I'm grateful for the extra roaster.

RichardM

In general, fires in the Behmor are harmless as long as you close the door. Attached to the right hand side, in line with the power is a thermal fuse, which blows at 192 degrees C (it is wrapped in fibreglass insulation to slow the blow). This seems low considering the roast chamber often gets to 240 in my roaster. I've found that if the temp hits about 255 in the roast chamber, that fuse blows (I have been through three of them). Each time it has blown, the roast has been on the brink of fire, but not quite there (I was experimenting with high drop temps after a minor modification to allow that). As long as you cut the power, the airflow will die off, and the fire will burn out. For reference, this is the exact fuse http://australia.rs-online.com/web/p/non-resettable-thermal-fuses/1769328/ - I have a stockpile now. If you do need to replace it, you can't solder it, for obvious reasons. You need to use a crimp connector (sold as "Butt connectors", but plastic coated. You can just burn the plastic off first and they work well).

Brett_H

RichardM wrote:

In general, fires in the Behmor are harmless as long as you close the door. Attached to the right hand side, in line with the power is a thermal fuse, which blows at 192 degrees C (it is wrapped in fibreglass insulation to slow the blow). This seems low considering the roast chamber often gets to 240 in my roaster. I've found that if the temp hits about 255 in the roast chamber, that fuse blows (I have been through three of them). Each time it has blown, the roast has been on the brink of fire, but not quite there (I was experimenting with high drop temps after a minor modification to allow that). As long as you cut the power, the airflow will die off, and the fire will burn out. For reference, this is the exact fuse http://australia.rs-online.com/web/p/non-resettable-thermal-fuses/1769328/ - I have a stockpile now. If you do need to replace it, you can't solder it, for obvious reasons. You need to use a crimp connector (sold as "Butt connectors", but plastic coated. You can just burn the plastic off first and they work well).

Brilliant!! Thanks mate. I've had a fire but it didn't blow the fuse. It wasn't much of a fire... Chaff from memory.

Rider

Brett H wrote:

Brilliant!! Thanks mate. I've had a fire but it didn't blow the fuse. It wasn't much of a fire... Chaff from memory.

Just chaff??? C'mon, you're not trying hard enough.... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Rider

BUMP TIME!!!!!! The new Behmor 1600 Plus is available and I ordered one from Brendan about 5 minutes ago. As a Behmor veteran (I owned 2 of them, number 1 in the country and set fire to one of them :rofl🙂 I'm pretty keen to try the semi manual variable option for small batch roasting. I also think it will be a 'reasonable' profiling tool. Anyhoos, should be here in a few days/weeks (we live in the boonies as far as some courier companies believe...... we are in the middle of wine country ffs.....) and after a little play I hope to post something up here for everyone about how it performs. An excited Rider......

eggbert

Has it arrived yet Rider, and what do you think? Is it worth upgrading the panel (if anywhere in Aus offers just that) ?

lukemc

I've got a plus and previously had a normal one, I find the plus a lot better, you can drag out the time between first and second crack in a more repeatable manner than before (when you had to open the door a crack to reduce heat). Plus you can theoretically roast as long as you want by extending the time with the c button indefinitely.

Rider

Hi guys, Sorry been a bit slack about reporting back. Done 4 roasts in the new one and the machine is a terrific improvement on the original. Having said that there is a variable that I have to also consider.... We have moved house since I was using the old Behmor and I think we have a better electricity supply where we are now and we all know that the Behmor is susceptible to electricity drops.... First roast was a blend of some Central and South American stuff that I had small quantities of lying around, basically a test roast. 330gm total and set the machine on 400g (1 lb), P2, B to get 20 minutes on the clock. Hit start and immediately went P5 to get into manual mode on full power. Got to first crack at 11.46 and switched to P3 50% power. A good 5 minutes between 1st and second then hit cool after 25 seconds of second crack. Slightly darker than I had hoped for but was really impressed with the numbers. Next roast threw 360g at it and did the same. Longer to first crack, about 13:15. Left it on full power a little longer into first crack and then went 50% again. Shortened time between 1st and second, around 3:45 and hit cool right on second crack. Next two roasts have been trying to fine tune the advent of both first and second, playing around with bean weight, timing of power down and timing of cool hit, just getting a feel for what's going on but also getting some great numbers and results. So, like lukemc I reckon the Plus is a brilliant step up from the original. Basically I am always in manual mode and as said you can get repeatability of results as well as being able to control the time to 1st and gap to 2nd quite easily. Factoring in that it is winter, living in the Hunter Valley vineyards (gets bloody cold here), roasting late afternoon/early evening and still able to push 350 grams quite successfully with good numbers. Come summer I reckon I may be able to stretch this thing over 400 grams but need the days to warm up to find out. Loving the machine for the amount needed for home use, still using the Corretto for larger amounts like bags for sale in the winery etc. If you want a no fuss, simple and now manually controllable device for small amounts (i.e. home use) then this is the machine. And eggbert yes the upgrade is the way to go if you have a Behmor. A vibrant chat among people on the other site about the upgrade and apparently a pretty straight forward task. Rider

Brett_H

Brilliant write-up mate. My old Behmor still works but I don't reckon its worth the upgrade (to many miles on the clock). When it dies one of these as a second toaster is tempting!!

Rider

Thanks Brett. Like your comment of this as a second toaster. Notice you have the KKTO for bigger amounts. Me, the Corretto. We think along similar paths, my friend. Understand that you may not bother with the upgrade due to the age of machine. Know someone who has done it and is still getting long roast times but I must stress, the whole idea of the upgrade is to get you a manual mode. I'm getting times outta this one that I couldn't out of the auto version on P2... So let's look at this on an analytic level... 1 lb P2 B puts 20 minutes on the clock. P2 says full power for 60% of time then a reduction to 65% of power for 30% of time and then back to full power for the last 10%. Based on that, we have 100% power for 12 minutes. My old Behmor with 320 gm I was barely getting first crack at 14 minutes.... As above, new 1600 plus and with 330-350 gm manual mode I see first crack at 11.45 to 13 in really cold weather. As also mentioned, change of house could interfere with the cleanliness of the data. Having said that, I stressed to my mate that the only benefit of the upgrade is to go full manual. Forget Joe's preset profiles (which I am starting to wonder if they have some modulation built in based on above numbers), stick the time you want on the clock, which is more than what you need, and then immediately switch to manual. You do this, and the roaster is a winner. Rider

Brett_H

Yep... Couldn't agree more. I love that the roast time comes down too... That's a big selling point! I'll be interested to read your "what am I roasting" posts mate! :thumb: thanks for keeping us up to date.

Rider

No pressure.... Good on ya :laugh: Hint - Mexican

RichardM

Rider wrote:

Know someone who has done it and is still getting long roast times but I must stress, the whole idea of the upgrade is to get you a manual mode.

My original 1600 has never been better since I just removed the temp probe and threw it into the chassis. Now it just drives 100% all the time, and I open the door a crack for my "manual" mode. Does the trick for me, and allows me to preheat to 150 degrees before loading my beans.

Brett_H

Pictures please mate... Also, what's ya roast size?

Jonty

I've got one, still in the box.. Has been for 3 plus weeks..... Do I sell my old one & play with the new 1600 plus... Tough issue hey 🙂

Brett_H

Nah... Keep the old one as a backup and get into the new one.

Rider

I'm with Brett...... Give it a go.....

DrD

Hey guys, been reading the forum posts with interest and thought I better get my act together and finally contribute! I installed the plus upgrade panel about 3 weeks ago and have been enjoying the manual control, it sure does add some extra excitement to it all. I'm not hugely experienced in the roasting department, however I got the impression the idea was to back off the power at or just after the first snaps of first crack. With the 1600, I hadn't been too adventurous and had stuck with using 300 g on the 1 lb-P2-B profile. Sometimes I would get first crack near the drop in power that Rider referred to. Other times it would be much later, and on cold days I was getting close to running out of roast time before onset of second crack. Since running the plus panel, my approach has been to roast 300 g using the 1 lb-P1 (100% power) profile, which initially gives you 18 minutes roast time. At the 1st snaps of first crack (or shortly after), I drop the power to 75% (P4 button) and then hit the C button (Rosetta Stone feature). This resets the clock to 3:10, and as lukemc indicated, if you need further roast time, you just press the C button again to give you an additional 3:10 minutes roasting time. That is some peace of mind when you are roasting and shivering out on the verandah in the cold! Anyways, with my 300 g batches I haven't had to stretch things much beyond an 18 minute roast time to get to second crack. The recent batches I've done of a KJM-style blend have been around 15 minutes to first crack, and a further 3:20 to start of second crack. I've done a couple of batches of Zambia Terranova (I really like this bean), and it got to first crack at 13:30, and a further 4 mins to second crack. Dan

« Previous Page Next Page »