Coffee Gurus-Grinder Recommendations?

[Mac McQuinn]

+1 to the information at Sweet Maria's.


There are a bunch of links off of Sweet Maria's site to people who have DIY'd all sorts of roasters as well, if you're feeling ambitious that would be a fun way to go.

I'll second the "recommend outside", "lots of chaff" and "smells strongly" comments although that will vary somewhat based on the bean and the roast and the system. Its not super hard to do though.

I've also shopped at SM and use the Stainless Pop Corn popper w/ Thermometer. Once I do my crack and pop routine and watch the counter, I dump the beans in a Lee Valley fine mesh Colander and shake the heck out of it and then let it cool. Removes 95%of the chafe.
http://www.leevalley.com/us/garden/p...33,44734,46940
Mac

[Jim Becker]

Unlike someone else (who I will not name in order to leave him a chance to recant his heretical opinions) I like the smell of roasting coffee.

[Ryan Mooney]

I've also shopped at SM and use the Stainless Pop Corn popper w/ Thermometer. Once I do my crack and pop routine and watch the counter, I dump the beans in a Lee Valley fine mesh Colander and shake the heck out of it and then let it cool. Removes 95%of the chafe.
http://www.leevalley.com/us/garden/p...33,44734,46940
Mac

I was getting some non-trivial airborn post-first crack chaff out of the popper itself... not to mention during the transfer.... I guess I'd just say start outside and decide for yourself before trying it in the kitchen

Good point on the cooling, we used the colander trick as well (different colander but the same idea) - but we also used a small Vornado room fan to blow up through the colander to stop the cooking. The active cooling isn't strictly necessary but it makes controlling the amount of roast somewhat easier because its stops additional post-roaster cooking so you can get pretty close to the final roast in the popper without having to figure in carry over as much. If you were roasting exactly the same product the same way all the time this would be less interesting, but part of the cool factor of the mini roasting setup like that was being able to play with different roasts and this made it a smidge easier.

[Matt Meiser]

Capresso just showed up and I ground some coffee. Does a really nice job and is incredibly quiet! Just in time too. Had to push the button at least 10 times on the old grinder to get enough this morning.

I would definitely want to go simple/cheap for trying roasting.

[Russ Filtz]

Another Baratza user. Virtuoso.

As far as static, ANY grinder with a plastic cup will likely have static. Supposedly ones with borosilicate glass do better with that.

[Mac McQuinn]

Another Baratza user. Virtuoso.

As far as static, ANY grinder with a plastic cup will likely have static. Supposedly ones with borosilicate glass do better with that.

Russ,
FWIW,
My Baratza Vario has ceramic burrs and compared to my old Solis Maestro w/ steel burrs is relatively static free.
Mac

[Russ Filtz]

Unlike someone else (who I will not name in order to leave him a chance to recant his heretical opinions) I like the smell of roasting coffee. You do get some chaff that can be a bit of a mess, but it has been manageable for us and in my opinion the benefits of a freshly roasted, freshly ground cup of coffee every morning are well worth it.

During the actual roasting process, it does smell pretty noxious. And will set off smoke detectors if done indoors. As for chaff, every origin of beans is different, and can be better/worse based on how the beans are processed

The traditional roasted coffee smell takes a little time to develop

[Nicholas Lawrence]

During the actual roasting process, it does smell pretty noxious. And will set off smoke detectors if done indoors. As for chaff, every origin of beans is different, and can be better/worse based on how the beans are processed

The traditional roasted coffee smell takes a little time to develop

More heresy. I hardly know what to say. I usually start the kitchen fan, and have no trouble with the smoke detector. Keep in mind I use a popcorn popper, the other methods may make more smoke or denser smoke or something. I would not know.

In my opinion you want to let it rest for about 24 hours after roasting. You can grind and drink pretty much right after roasting (within reason, it needs to cool), but the flavor is much better a day later. After a couples of days I start to notice the bitter flavors you get with stale coffee, but which are pretty much absent from truly fresh coffee.

[Nancy Strevelowski]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the Breville BCG 820 BSSXL. $200 and grinds wonderful coffee. We home roast too with the side vent style air popper ($1 at garage sale.)

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Screen Shot 2017-08-04 at 7.50.08 AM.jpg
$31.49 Mr Coffee from Amazon. Round Canister makes pouring easy.
They last about 2 years. I'm on my third.

[Matt Meiser]

That's the one I had! And about how long mine lasted. Lots of reviews that they don't last so I didn't want to roll the dice on another. That's a good price though--I think it was about $50 when I looked a while back.

[Matt Meiser]

No regrets after a few months with the Capresso. Consistently good grind and I know right where to set the timer for just the right amount for my pour over. It leaves a slight mess at times but I just wet my hand and wipe the counter and pick it all up.