home roasting with a popcorn popper?!

[Bam Bam]

Hey guys,

I just heard about roasting at home using a popcorn popper. Has anyone done this? How does it turn out?

Thanks!
Bam Bam

[Mimosa Shin]

I have a friend who said that her mom had done it that way for years. She really liked it. I have been roasting in a wok. Its not bad but def would be better with more even heat distribution!

[miKe mcKoffee aka Mike McGinness]

Before turning professional as a roaster I home roasted for 'bout 7 years. Played with many methods including frying pan no stir chef toss only (just for fun, only "lost" 7 beans out of a half pound). My answer is depends on a zillion and seven factors:-) If you're serious about wanting to learn about home roasting spend some time on Sweet Maria's website. Also join their email based chat list and/or forum.

[Matt Swenson]

There is another discussion about this (http://www.baristaexchange.com/forum/topics/home-roasting)

I used to use my popcorn popper a lot. It is a good way to try roasting with a small investment. The results are pretty good (for what it is). You have to be sure to get the one that mimics a drum roaster by creating a swirling action with the beans though. The only one that i know of on the market now a days is one from Walgreens for $10. You can always find some on ebay, but they are a little bit more.

[Bam Bam]

Thanks guys! I'm stoked!

[Kevin]

Getting ready to start roasting with a whirly pop myself, I'll let you know how it goes! Going to practice a while before investing in any actual equipment.

[Kevin]

So far my experience with the whirly pop has been great! It gets really smokey, and can be tough to determine the color and temp of the beans near the end of roasting. An electric stove doesn't help, so I'm looking for a little propane camping stove. Because of this I keep ending the roast a little too early, leaving the beans a little grassy. It seems that with enough practice you can get quite good control of the roasts, but that's after practice, practice, practice.

I would recommend this type to an electric air-popper, with those the only control you have is roast duration, no temp.

Another hard part is finding the green beans. So far I'm ordering from Sweetmarias.com, but am trying to find somewhere local to avoid paying all the shipping costs.

[Jennifer Graham]

Hey Bam Bam, I haven't personally tried this, but I know a guy who's done it for awhile. One of these days, I'll try it. Anyway, coffeegeek has a pretty detailed guide you might want to check out:

http://coffeegeek.com/guides/popperroasting

Let us know how it goes!

[Bob Von Kaenel]

I've done it a few times but was never very happy with the result. A hot air popper lacks any way to control the heat. It gets too hot and the beans got really dark and smokey in only 6 or 7 minutes, MUCH too fast. The outsides of the beans were getting charred before the insides were cooked. Tasted kinda grassy in the cup, (is that a flavor profile?). I did get better results one day when I put the popper outside on the coldest day of the year and roasted on the back deck in zero degree weather.