Huky 500 Roaster

[Kbeans]

Has anyone used a Huky 500 or know anything about them? I am looking for a small roaster to upgrade to from my Behmor. I want to have more control of my roast so I can continue to learn. I have been speaking to Mr. Li, the maker of these roasters and he has been super helpful. I just wanted some opinions from anybody who has any experience with these.

Thank you!

 

[Hankua]

I've got a used one with the latest upgrades; but have only used a few times. There are quite a few options as you are probably aware. My kit came with solid drum, 72 rpm motor, LPG stove, vent bowl attachment, extra fan/screen/funnel, and m.e.t. thermocouple. The roaster comes standard with a digital BT thermocouple and analogue ET thermometer and that's all I would need. Many US users are happily using Artisan logging software and with the Phidget 1048_0 3 thermocouples can be tracked. You can drive the roaster with ROR which is supposed to be really cool. So what do you order? Perforated or solid drum, 48 or 72rpm motor, etc, etc? I would at the minimum order: basic machine w/drum of choice, second motor with alternate speed 48 or 72 rpm, vent bowl attachment, stove, and extra funnel. On the flip side with the Artisan/Phidget in mind BT/ET/MET thermocouples would be ordered. The Huky can roast a full pound to first crack in 6 minutes with the standard stove so there's plenty of power. Venting on the Huky is a little tricky as the vent bowl pipe is 2 1/2" and pointed down at a 45* angle. A vacuum cleaner hose fits the opening, finding a flex aluminum hose would be a better solution.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

If i remember correctly, this roaster was around 1500 dollars. At the time, I was thinking to myself, why not buy a regular roaster for about 2500 dollar(1kg) or 1 pound sonofresco roaster. Huky 500 seems to be nice set up but for the price, i thought it would be wise to go into professional grade.

 

[Hankua]

The Huky is more of an advanced hobbyist machine than the plug and play variety currently available. Quest M3 would be another reasonable choice for sample roasting or apartments.

The Huky500 roasts 500g easily just like my 800n which is way more convenient to use. 800n's go for $3500, USRC 1 pounders-$5500, and SF1 $8000. If you've just spent $50,000-$100,000? on your roasting setup the matching 5-8k 1lb profiler is not that big a deal. But for everyone else, at what point does spending a fortune on a 1lb roaster make sense?

Mr Li has found a pretty nice niche with his Huky roasters, sold over 350 machines all over the world. You can get a complete machine delivered in a week from the time the order is placed. That's what most customers have reported, and my roaster went from Kaohsiung to St. Louis in that time frame.

There a number of little frustrating quibbles with the Huky, but it's been pretty solid according to its users. Not much to go wrong on it either, two ceramic bearings and an inexpensive motor.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

You can find sonofresco for around 2700 for 1 pound roaster. Also at the time, you could have purchased some chinese made roaster for around 2600. That was the reason at the time i was looking at this roaster, there were cheaper roasters were being offered.

 

[kboom1]

I'm in talks with USRC right now about ordering a sample roaster. Base price is $6,140 and after having different probes installed for realtime logging it's up to $6400.

 

[Kbeans]

Thank you evrryone, I have decided to give the Huky a shot. The one I want with a bunch of extra parts and digital probes is about 1600 after shipping. I just want something that I can continue my learning before investing in a professional roaater.

 

[Hankua]

Good choice!
I found some fittings at the auto parts store that fit the Huky vent bowl; a 90* exhaust elbow 2 1/2" and a 3"-2 1/2" reducer that fits my 3" flexible duct pipe.