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Date: 12 Jun 2006 21:35:51
From:
Subject: Gene Cafe Coffee Roaster
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De-lurking here to ask if anyone has been using the Gene Cafe roaster yet.
What do you think of it?
Re-lurking,
W. Beck
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Date: 12 Jun 2006 18:12:05
From: Jim_F
Subject: Re: Gene Cafe Coffee Roaster
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Jim_F wrote:
> It produces too much smoke to use under my range hood. I use it on my
> patio.
I need to expand just a little on this. The instructions warn not to
use the unit outdoors. I use it on a covered patio-technically I guess
I'm still going against the warning. If I succeed in switching to
cooling right at the very very beginning of 2nd crack, I *can* roast
under the range hood, but only next to an open window and my attic fan
running as well.
Under no circumstances should the unit be used while sitting in the
grass during a thunderstorm. Just wanted to clear that up.
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Date: 12 Jun 2006 17:30:40
From: Jim_F
Subject: Re: Gene Cafe Coffee Roaster
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I'm brand new to home roasting and I'm learning on a Gene Cafe as well
as a Zach & Dani's that I've had for a couple of weeks longer.
The GC is a nice looking unit and it feels solid. The clear outer cover
on mine doesn't want to open smoothly. It opens most of the way, hangs
up at the hinge, then pops open the rest of the way.
I'm just at the very beginning of learning temperature management on
this critter. I'm sure it will be a useful feature when I learn what
the heck I'm doing.
I like the speed and capacity of the GC. Chaff management has worked
great on the roasts I've tried. I still need to get the hang of
catching my roasts at just the right time, as the roast carries on for
a while after cooling is started. It also won't stop cooling and come
to a full stop (e.g. when I want to quickly stop the roast and dump the
beans in a sieve) until it reaches a "safe" temperature. I guess I
could unplug it, but I don't want to mess with it too much.
It produces too much smoke to use under my range hood. I use it on my
patio.
Overall, I like it better than the Z&D. However since I have to use it
in the open air and watch the roast like a hawk anyway, I might have
done well to get a Hottop.
As I better learn the machine and roasting in general, I may come to
love everything about it. It just might take a while.
authorised_user@earthlink.net wrote:
> De-lurking here to ask if anyone has been using the Gene Cafe roaster yet.
> What do you think of it?
> Re-lurking,
> W. Beck
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Date: 12 Jun 2006 15:01:47
From: Randy G.
Subject: Re: Gene Cafe Coffee Roaster
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<authorised_user@earthlink.net > wrote:
>De-lurking here to ask if anyone has been using the Gene Cafe roaster yet.
>What do you think of it?
I wish I could tell you. I saw it at the show and it looked cool. I
had tried to get a review copy, but they wanted more for shipping then
my no-profit (actually, no-income) website could handle/afford so I
had to pass. I had told them that if they bought one to Charlotte I
would take it or ship it from there, but they didn't seem interested
at all.
Randy "gave it a shot" G.
http://www.EspressoMyEspresso.com
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Date: 13 Jun 2006 04:58:30
From: Jim_F
Subject: Re: Gene Cafe Coffee Roaster
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Thanks George, that control should help a lot. I misunderstood the
instruction booklet when I came to the press-and-hold for that button.
The good news is that the 240 grams of green Malabar Gold in the
chamber wasn't ruined, it just came out a shade or two darker than
intended.
CoffeeGreek wrote:
> You can simply press the red button down for a couple of seconds, then
> the chamber will stop at the right place. Use an oven glove to remove
> the chamber, dump the beans, re-insert the chamber, start again and
> press the cool button so that the machine cools down properly.
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Date: 12 Jun 2006 22:07:47
From: CoffeeGreek
Subject: Re: Gene Cafe Coffee Roaster
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Jim_F wrote:
> I'm just at the very beginning of learning temperature management on
> this critter. I'm sure it will be a useful feature when I learn what
> the heck I'm doing.
The basic profile, i.e. max temperature till the end of roast works OK
for most purposes. For 220g of coffee you get to first crack in around
13 min and then it's just over 3 minutes to first pops of second
crack. If you want to extend the time between FC and SC to say 4
minutes, drop the temp from 250C (482F) to 245C (473F) just before FC.
If you go much below that, the roast will stall and you will get baking
(at least in my 220V model, I don't know how much variability there is
between different units). Some coffees may benefit from more
complicated profiles and the GC can definitely provide them, for
example you could dry the beans at low temp for a few minutes at the
start, etc.
> I like the speed and capacity of the GC. Chaff management has worked
> great on the roasts I've tried.
It's by far the easiest roaster to clean and generally to use.
> It also won't stop cooling and come
> to a full stop (e.g. when I want to quickly stop the roast and dump the
> beans in a sieve) until it reaches a "safe" temperature. I guess I
> could unplug it, but I don't want to mess with it too much.
You can simply press the red button down for a couple of seconds, then
the chamber will stop at the right place. Use an oven glove to remove
the chamber, dump the beans, re-insert the chamber, start again and
press the cool button so that the machine cools down properly.
> It produces too much smoke to use under my range hood.
I find it produces much less smoke than an Alp and I have no problem
using it in my kitchen, under a hood and with a window open.
Overall, I am quite happy with it, it is impossible to get a bad roast,
the taste is generally mellow, soft, less bright than the fast
popper-type roasters and there's plenty of body. There are a lot more
posts in Coffeegeek if you want to know more.
George
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