Coffee roaster automation - to automate or not to automate...

[elguapo]

We are looking at purchasing a new roaster and the companies we have narrowed our list to all offer full roasting automation as an option. We have only roasted on machines manually, with no data logging, so it would be a big change for us.

The option to automate is intriguing to us. To be able to create a profile and match it and repeat it would be great. Also the increase in productivity to allow someone to concentrate on other work would be great.

But do you lose anything - in terms of flavor - by automating? Is the opposition to automate based on a romantic notion that manual roasting is best way? I would love to hear from anyone who has used an automated machine and a manual machine to hear their thoughts. Please share the roaster itself and if the automation came with the machine or if you went aftermarket automation.

Thanks!

 

[sae]

I have a 12kilo US Roaster with automation. The automation works OK for medium to dark roast coffees that aren't very picky about following the perfect profile. I used it the first few times and now I just do it all manually. Regardless of who makes the automation it won't be as accurate as you'd like.

 

[Coffeefix]

Take a look at the "Roastmaster" app for I-pad.
Pretty effective and amazing value.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

If you are roasting same coffee in large quantity, you just can't bean automation. You will get 3-4 batch every hour and your roaster only need to keep on eye on the roasting profile to make sure it is being done properly. Mean time he can work on getting coffee dispensed to be packaged, aged, or even flavored. I know many larger roasters in my area and they are all doing it on automation.

Good Luck

 

[slurp]

Depends on the size of roster your looking at and how much you plan to roast.

 

[JCF]

It's the difference between baking a Chicken at home with your touch and special seasonings and care and buying and picking a cooked baked Chicken at the Supermarket. Probably, both are good, it's just that yours has the special touch. Of course, there are practical reasons for and against automating the roasting process. In the end, gotta go with what work's for you. By the way I have a nice Jabez Burns 120 Kilo Roaster for Sale in which roast were always done manually and always very nice. Of course, experience, coffee grade, equipment, time, and lighting at the machine all effect the ultimate roast.

 

[Bradleysteenkamp]

Each brand of roaster has a totally different approach to automation. Some are far better than others! I visited Joper a couple of weeks ago in Portugal and was very impressed with their profile system.

 

[seeingcoffee]

Coffee roasting is both an art and a science. In my opinion, the artistic elements within come from the creation of the profile that best suites not only the green coffee but how the roaster envisions its notes coming forth in the brewed cup. The science part consists of the roaster having knowledge about the dynamics and eccentricites of the roasting process and bringing the desired outcome to fruition. With that said, a bonus is allowing the roaster to repeat the roasts. That's where a good profiling system is key. I can't place enough emphasis on the roaster's ability to replicate good roasts. The last thing you want to do is sell inconsistently roasted batches of the same coffee. Not that any experienced roaster should find themselves doing that, but a profiling system helps tremendously. It also allows you to open the roasting process up to apprentices and still maintain a relatively positive degree of confidence the roast will not be screwed up because something was overlooked or not paid close enough attention to. Just my two cents.

 

[mjs]

Is there a volume/time tipping point for anyone when it comes to automation? As in, "if you're running your machine for over x hours per day, or if you're roasting more than x pounds per day/week/month, you will benefit from automation." As someone who hasn't made it to the point of buying a commercial roaster yet, but has seen some of the automation equipped vs manual prices on the machines, it seems that at some point, it has to come down to a question of cost and time efficiency.

 

[Bradleysteenkamp]

We've been using Cropster with two probes we added to our roaster. This works really well to log the data and profiles and allows you to manually follow a curve. It's very useful but it's still very much down to the roaster to create that curve in the first place and to then be able to know how to replicate that curve buy correctly warming up the roaster, controlling airflow and gas etc.

 

[GreenCoffeeGeek]

Hey buddy. I'm Jake Conway and I"m a web nerd for AGK automation. The owner is an incredible person and him and his son work together. I can tell him to get in touch with you. They've done automation systems all over the country.