Roaster Sizing

[Musicphan]

Hey all...

I have the age old question - what size roaster should I buy? But really I'm trying to understand... If I buy small now, when I outgrow the roaster is there much use for a 2nd smaller roaster in a shop?

Mike

 

[Kilowatt]

Hey all...

I have the age old question - what size roaster should I buy? But really I'm trying to understand... If I buy small now, when I outgrow the roaster is there much use for a 2nd smaller roaster in a shop?

Mike

Mike,

The age old answer is... depends. Are you going for retail, wholesale, or both? Will you have employees helping you roast? Do you have the equipment to load a full bag into a monster machine? What is your budget?

For a startup, a 10 or 15 kilo machine is usually more than sufficient, and the cost delta is not that much over a smaller machine. A 5 kilo would be great for a shop / retail / small wholesale operation. A 2 kilo is probably on the small side for anything but a shop roasting for themselves. Anything bigger than 15 is a serious commitment, and makes small batch roasting (for profiling and sampling) more difficult.

Is there a use for a small roaster later? Absolutely. You will develop clients who depend on your coffee, who are rabidly in love with your coffee, that can't draw another breath without your coffee. If something breaks and you are out of commission for any length of time, guess what happens to your formerly devoted customers? Backup is always a good thing. If nothing else, it can be retired to a sample roaster, a decent 2 barrel Probat sampler will set you back 13 grand or more, more than the cost of a small roaster.

Hope this helps. Just about everyone has an opinion on this, just my 2¢

 

[Musicphan]

Thanks for the feedback... starting off I will be focused on wholesale (and what I can sell at the farmers market) but both is the goal. My thought is to start with a 5K... as I grow purchase a larger 12K+ roaster. Long term I would utilize the 5K for profiling (I will use my Quest in the beginning as my sample roaster) and the larger roaster as primary roaster.

For those of you running two roasters - any other benefits I should think of?

 

[slurp]

Buy the biggest roaster you can afford!!!!!!!!!!!! There are a million threads in this forum and at the end it is the bigger the better. Does not matter where you roast buy the biggest machine you can afford. After 4 years my 15 kilo runs 10 hours a day and we have ordered a 60 kilo. Buy the biggest one you can afford,

Buy the biggest one you can afford. Buy the biggest one you can afford.


Did I get the point across LOL

 

[Musicphan]

Slurp - do you use your 15K for roast profile development?

 

[slurp]

Right now we are using the 15kilo for production. We are putting just about as much coffee thru it as Topher roast on his 60 kilo.

our 60 is on order and we are currently remodeling our facility. Our 15 kilo is a work horse running non stop every day.

 

[Axel]

Right now we are using the 15kilo for production. We are putting just about as much coffee thru it as Topher roast on his 60 kilo.

our 60 is on order and we are currently remodeling our facility. Our 15 kilo is a work horse running non stop every day.

Hi slurp,
I'm looking to build a drum modeled on something like what's in a 15kilo roaster.
Which roaster model is it?
Do you know the drum size(length, width, wall thickness)?