Advise Please: I'm Thinking about upgrading to an Ambex YM15 roaster

[cafdud]

Thinking about upgrading from a Ozturk 2 Kilo roaster to a Ambex YM15 roaster, what is the minimum charge weight of this roaster. Sometimes I only need to roast 5 or 6 pounds, is it feasible to roast this small amount. Thanks in advance

 

[topher]

I had an Ambex 15 kilo..it was 20 years ago though...so I might be off a bit...I think the smallest batch I did on it was 9 ? if not it was no more than 11. I have an Ambex 60 kilo and I can do 25 lbs batches easily.

 

[JoeConiglioArmenia]

Why not keep the Ozturk for the small roasts and get the YM15 for the larger ones, or find a 10 kilo maybe that allows your desired small roasts as well as higher capacity larger roasts.

 

[almico]

I just picked up a 5kg drum roaster and from what I gather, about 20% of capacity is the minimum for drum machines. So 3kg for a Ambex 15 would be a place to start.

But I hear roasting partial batches is not linear on drum machines.

 

[cafdud]

I just picked up a 5kg drum roaster and from what I gather, about 20% of capacity is the minimum for drum machines. So 3kg for a Ambex 15 would be a place to start.

But I hear roasting partial batches is not linear on drum machines.

Contacted Ambex about this, they told me 3K is easily done. as soon as I get it in I will be selling my 2 Kilo roaster. Thank folks for chiming in on this.

Cheers
Rich

 

[NorthSouth]

If you keep a log of every roast (you definitely should), then every roast is an experiment that uses previous knowledge and adds to it.
My next roast log always references a previous roast that I attempt to emulate.
Most of the time, I keep to a fixed charge weight - these are easy except for new beans.
For those times when I must roast a small batches, the logs from previous small batches are especially useful.
I keep all roast logs in an SQL database so I can easily find previous roast logs that match my current criteria.
Did I mention that recording each and every roast in a log is very important?
Sorry if I'm preaching to the choir.

 

[NguyenThao]

I had an Ambex 15 kilo..it was 20 years ago though...so I might be off a bit...I think the smallest batch I did on it was 9 ? if not it was no more than 11. I have an Ambex 60 kilo and I can do 25 lbs batches easily.