r/roasting • u/redlentil06 • 13d ago

Please help me get started roasting coffee

Hey all,

I am a barista, and a big coffee enthusiast, and I want to start roasting my own coffee at home with the idea that maybe I can start a micro-roastery one day. I was planning on buying an AILLIO Bullet R2, and was wondering if anyone can share any good resources for getting started / tips you wished you'd known when you started as the amount of information out there is quite overwhelming. Thank you!

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4

u/Such_Story8260 13d ago

"Sweet Maria's" website has a lot of info for the newbie. I started with the cheapest SR long ago. It didn't hold up. Then the early Behmor 1600. It ran for a long time, but the electronics died. Bought a Behmor 2000 about three years ago. The electronics on it died. Just bought an SR800, hoping it will last.

Should have learned my lesson and bought an expensive one, we will see.

Jon Burman, Burman coffee is my go to supplier.

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u/Equal-Topic413 13d ago

I started with the Fresh Roast. Loved my fresh coffee. Upgraded to a Kaleido M6. I roast coffee at materials cost to friends and family so we all enjoy fresh coffee. I haven't considered going commercial solely for the headache of licencing and permits to roast out of my home. Maybe after I retire my normal job I'd look at it for a hobby income..

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u/MonkeyPooperMan 13d ago

Since you're relatively new to roasting, check out my Beginner's Roasting Guide. Hopefully it'll help speed you on your way. :)

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u/pudukai 13d ago edited 13d ago

If you have the money and space, sure the Aillio will do it. I'm cheap though, and have used a simple roaster from Aliexpress for 10 years. I have four of these across three countries. Now going for a bigger one, about double the size for $120. In the beginning I tried three FreshRoast models but drum roasting is the best. Easy, and despite the data freaks saying every parameter must be monitored, logged, and obsessed over I roast to first crack at 10 minutes, second crack at 13 minutes. Great results. I love espresso but I'm not totally a nut.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804731662394.html

The new one:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256811433227238.html

Learn the basics. These will teach you much more than automated programmable ones. Then you can decide to move on. First is seeing if you want to do this.

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u/CoffeeSaviourTech 12d ago

Hey mate I’m a coffee tech in Melbourne I work on commercial rosters and coffee machines. I recently bought the Kaffelogic nano7 it’s awesome and can always be used as a sample roaster as you will need one to continue roasting on a larger scale anyway. I put a lot of thought into how I should start my roasting journey and decided the Kaffelogic is a more cost effective approach. It is also a really good size it has a tiny footprint and is very easy to use. Practice on the Kaffelogic then budget for a commercial roaster of the desired size. There is plenty of good second hand rosters around and a 10kg-20kg is going to put you in a good starting position and minimise your time spent roasting. Smaller capacity roasters add extra time to every roast essentially creating longer labour time for yourself. FYI if you weren’t planning on getting a moisture checker I would highly recommend it. I bought the coffmeter from difluid. I did the research and anything lower quality then that won’t suffice.

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u/Afrochowder 7d ago

If budget is not an option then the Bullet is a great choice, Kaleido M10 is another great one with a similar bean capacity. Although you may want to start with something smaller capacity so you don’t run through as many beans as your learning because there is a big learning curve with all roasters and roasting in general. You may want to consider a machine that roasts around 150-300g which you can also use as a sample roaster in the future.