Roasting coffee beans at home using a popcorn popper. DIY Instructions of the entire coffee roasting process, from roaster setup to bean storage. How to roast coffee beans on the cheap from start to finish. Basically, you dump the green coffee beans in until they aren’t bouncing around much and stir until they are. Wait until desired roast is reached (we like to roast into the second crack a minute or so, otherwise they don’t seem done), then cool as rapidly as possible and age in an airtight container for a few days before grinding and brewing. Props to ineedcoffee.com for inspiring me to take up the hobby. Awesome pics and instruction at: www.ineedcoffee.com
My Offers - Blackberry Torch - UK - (INCENT)
Learn to read the bible in its original language
Join the Badoo community and catch all opportunities!
Post Footer automatically generated by wp-posturl plugin for wordpress.
@rebbole
great tip. I guess lazy is my default mode. My popcorn popper only makes about 3 days worth of coffee per load so I guess 2 days per load seemed futile. Honestly after a few dozen roasts this is more tedious than fun. I just got an order of green beans from sweet marias so maybe the sampler pack will liven my attitude. thanks again.
the SOLE reason your roast is uneven is simply because you put in too many beans…you stir because you use too many beans…
@pabbananna I bought the Stir Crazy just for coffee roasting. Tried it with popcorn & it was fantastic. Quick too. The best pc popper I own. I also use a stainless steel pot. The Stir Crazy produces fluffy pops using very little oil. It pops with no oil but it takes longer. If you can find the right hot air popper then it’s also great for fluffy pc. But cheap ones spit out kernels with the pc. All methods work for coffee roasting with mixed results.
@futurevent The very first time I roasted coffee was in a cast iron skillet. I followed instructions that I found on Sweet Maria’s site. It took about 15 minutes to roast some Bali beans to near perfection IMO. After that I tried stainless steel sauce pots and a whirly popcorn popper. The castiron was best tasting when at proper temp & constant stirring.. But the Behmor I use now is tops.
@metaspherz You roast and pop in the same machine? Mine is so blackened I never even tried it, great idea! But honestly I am kind of a stockpot on the stove kinda guy and definitely would never eat microwave popcorn -YUCK! If you say it is better than that then maybe I’ll try…
@futurevent
Wow, that is a lot of work. I love coffee but you that kind of attention and patience can only be paid by someone in love with it.
they look so nice..
Good video! I’m more of a hands on guy…I use an iron skillet. I learned through trial and error that slow roasting for about 45 minutes then turning the flame on high to get first and second crack is the only way to properly roast coffee in a skillet. It comes out wonderful as I use a KONA blend @ city. I like to use the skillet as I love the challenge and every type bean is different. All my buddies beg me for coffee. They’re addicts now. The skillet is hard…but worth it!
BTW, the Stir Crazy (well, Kohl’s version…) makes some of the best, most tender popcorn I’ve ever tasted. I use Orville Redenbacher but I bet even the value popcorns would be just as great too. I also roasted some raw cashews with it in canola oil and sea salt to perfection. Took me back to when I was a kid and I bought hot fresh roasted cashews and peanuts at Sears. So the Stir Crazy popper is a good kitchen multi-tasker besides being great for roasting coffee beans. LOL!
In the past 3 weeks I’ve roasted about 4 lbs of beans using the Nu Wave oven & Stir Crazy popper. Roasting times have varied depending on the bean (soft/hard). It takes 3X longer than the air popper to reach 2nd crack about 12 minutes. The slower roasting seems to bring out the rich cocoa & nut flavors I like. I also use the air popper for darker/smokier espresso blends. I’ve NuWaved Bali, Peru, Nicaragua, Hawaiian Kuaui, Costa Rica, Columbia, so far. The organic Bali @ City+ is my favorite.
great idea using an extension cord to increase resistance and roasting times. I thought 3-4 minutes was a little fast too but in the back of my head I’m always thinking “fast roast and fast cool down”. Perhaps that is too fast, thanks for the advice I will look into it.
Yeah, the beans were brunt pretty bad…we didn’t even end up brewing with them. My cam ran out of batteries so I had to switch cameras mid-roast.
Have you considered using an extension cord to slow down your roast? 3-4 minutes seems a bit fast, usually more like 7-9 minutes would be a goal depending on your roast level. Also, you are well through 2nd crack in the example, note the level of oil on the exterior of the beans…
oh i would love to see that – a dustbuster coffee cooling machine lol. whatever works, I love multitaskers! I have never had a problem with chaff as the popper seems to blow it all away and make a mess (especially with agitation via wooden spoon)
yes, it looked odd and I wouldnt peoples grubby hands on my beans. The bins were shallow and lined with burlap so they looked fancy I think he just bags them after a while – 5lb roasts per time as I recall. It wasn’t a large scale roaster and was probably there for fancy grocery store prestige more than profit.
It’s just not practical for a roaster to put all his beans in a one way bag since he pretty much moves them out as soon as he roasts them and he’s dealing with lots of beans but for and individual who wants to keep his beans as fresh as possible for as long as possible I would think it’s worth it………….as long as one can taste the difference.
@pabbananna Here’s a way to roast great tasting coffee.
I bought a NuWave infrared oven that was on sale at Kohls last week for $109, plus I got $20′ Kohls cash’ which I used to buy a $39 Bella Kitchen popcorn popper (Kohls’ version of the Stir Crazy popper) for $20. Out of pocket cost was $139 plus tax. So far I’ve roasted two 8 oz batches. The coffee beans roasted evenly to City+ in about 8 mins. I noticed an improved, nuttier flavor in the cup. I’ll try a darker roast next for espresso.
@pabbananna Yes, the fan does rock. Right now I use a Shark hand held vacuum and a collander. It does the job quickly and it actually sucks up some of the chaff too.
@metaspherz I too have looked at the commercial entry-level coffe roasters but as far as I can tell they are a heat gun firing up into a glass chamber. A popcorn popper does about the same thing and has at least as much capacity – plus I like the $80 cheaper DIY approach. Im sure the $500 models work nicely though I don’t think I would enjoy the fun of roasting as much.
@metaspherz yes, I used to use a colander and a cookie sheet and it works but is about the most booring part of the roasting process. The fan rocks – cool beans in a very short time…which I understand is the goal to stop them from cooking via “carry over” internal heat.
Great idea with the mason jars – a homemade one-way valve!
@carlcat Yes, I talked with a roaster at a new season’s grocery store in LA and his beans for sale are actually sitting out in open bins for the customers to scoop up. Sounds like a good test though: a side-by-side blind cupping of the same roast sealed, open for 12-24hrs and in a one way bag. Thanks for the comment!
@PrimitiveArcher101 Excellent! I am so happy my little video inspired you – thanks for the comment!
And I am going to try with the cheap popper as well. maybe a side-by-side video comparison?
Hey Guys,
I bought a popper yesterday at WallGreens for $9.99 and went to my local coffee house (BeanWerks) here in Asheville, NC and bought some beans. Roasted them last night- Everything went just like you said. I’m waiting 3 days before I try it like you said but it smells wonderful. Thanks for all the great info and the video.
Milton
Great informative video. I was led to believe that the first 12 to 24 hours after roasting, the beans needed to be in a one way bag to let the co2 (to degas) out and not air in, any thoughts on this?
Have you tried using two colanders to pour beans from one into another? The air exposure helps cooling plus any left over chaff floats away. I also use two fine mesh strainers because more air gets to the beans helps them to cool faster. I store them in a mason jar with cheesecloth over the lid to aid de-gassing for the first 8 to 10 hours followed by a regular lid. I haven’t noticed a loss of flavor using cheesecloth as apposed to a lid with a hole in it or using an air tight container.
Thanks guys, it’s great to see & hear about other techniques to improve my roasting results. I wish I would have seen this video a year ago when I was a newbie. It would have saved me a few pounds of failures. I am refering this vid to others interested in home roasting. I have friends who’re not fans of popcorning but I think my results are as good as their iRoasts and Nesco roasters that cost considerably more. If my air popper stops working I might upgrade.