Behmor Coffee Roaster: Getting Great (and safe) Dark Roasts

Dan shows you how to get a good dark roast with your Behmor roaster.

Starting off with half a pound, in a pre-heated machine, Dan starts off in manual mode at P5 (100% power). After about 1 minute into 2nd crack, he put the Behmor into cooling mode. Any longer would be a little dangerous and your coffee would probably end up tasting like charcoal.

If you are looking for a shiny, oily look, give your coffee a few days and the oils will start to come out.

Cleanliness is very important. Chaff and oil buildup can cause your roaster to catch on fire and can also interfere with visibility and temperature readings.

More info on roasting dark with a Behmor

Behmor Drum Roaster

Behmor roasting playlist

Roasting light with a Behmor

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#Behmor #Behmor2000AB #Behmor2000ABPlus #Behmor1600 #HomeRoasting

[randalbladel]

I keep a fine mister water bottle handy to quench the roast into the hot beans through the rotating drum at the start of the cooling cycle. (Chaff will fly out, so you probably don’t want to do this in your kitchen.). I that’s the added function as a fire extinguisher in the case of a chaff fire. I have only had one chaff fire, while roasting some Robusta beans my son-in-law brought back from Congo. They have more chaff than I have ever seen before, and I discovered I could shake a lot of it off before roasting by shaking the beans in the drum first. They roasted very quickly, and have heavy body, low flavor notes only, and no acidity.

[SRPickett]

I've always roasted dark on my Behmor roasters for about 10 years now. The Sweet Maria's Monkey Espresso and Dark French Roast blends are really good at a dark roast using the Behmor roasters. Of course you do have to pay close attention to the roasts as the video states. I've had a couple of small small flair ups in the roaster before and one batch that turned out like charcoal unfortunately.

[earlystrings]

I usually roast just past first crack but have taken the Behmor into second crack before. Didn’t know it was an iffy thing and definitely did not know about the auto shutdown. Thanks for the very informative video. All the Sweet Maria’s videos are low key but packed with useful info.

[LJ-gnun]

Please understand - I'm not advocating the following roasting method on a Behmor!

According to my roasting log I have over 450 roast on my 1600+ using one pound batches going up to 30 seconds into the 2nd crack. I have experimented with batches weighing up to 1lb 3oz with equally good results.

After purchasing the Behmor I quickly realized roasting 1/4 or 1/2 pound batches was going to be a hassle since a pound batch of 'greens' only last me about 5 days. I roast out of necessity, not for the fun of it!

I always preheat for 1:45 minutes. I start on automatic using the one pound setting, maximum time. I allow the machine to run on auto until the 7 minute override/countdown. At that point it's usually at 286-289*. I switch to manual, drum speed on high, and hit P5 and run it up to 325*. At that point I toggle between P4 & P5 to maintain between 315* and 320*. I use the rosetta button to add time as needed.

After switching drum speed back to low I pull the drum for manual cooling, re-install the chaff tray, and allow the machine to run through its' cooling cycle. Afterwards I clean the machine and run it through a cleaning cycle.

I NEVER - EVER - take my eye's off or walk away from the roaster! When you use this machine manually things happen rapidly. Behmor doesn't recommend using their machine like this for obvious reason! I had hoped they would release the new 'Jake' over a year ago to replace the 1600+ but apparently that's not going to happen any time soon.

Did I mention Behmor DOES NOT recommend using their machine in this manner?

[lorettacwalinski]

I thought the instructs say not to roast past 15 seconds on 2nd crack? And should the roasted beans sit open for a few days right after; I don't have any bags letting gasses out but no air in and my last roast isnt getting that beautiful rich oily look.

[richardthenryvideos]

Excellent! Thanks to my favorite green bean and all things coffee supplier SM!
In process of French roast right now myself.
I'm not a fan but I got my first customer and they wanted a pound of French!

Here we GO!!

[lmankj]

This method works very well to achieve a nice dark roast. I was struggling to get a good roast on some Sumatra beans. Tried various methods, even auto on P3, (Behmor recommended for SE Asia beans), just barely got to first crack at 15min.
1/2lb Sumatra Mandheling
P5 Drum high all the way to 1st crack at 10:13.
I never had to change to P4, max temp reached was around 280F.
Pushed through to 2nd crack, 13:30. Hit cool after 30s.
Next batch I plan to drop to P4 after 1st crack, then hit cool as soon as I hit 2nd crack.

[dalen]

A lot of acrylamide is given-off during the roasting process, always roast outside.

[bornonthebayou]

Great vid. Any way to recover a batch from a dreaded Behmor safety shutdown? (Too bad they force a shutdown rather than modulating the power to maintain a safe temp!)

[davidbergin]

Still hope to see you folks do a video on the Gene Cafe.

[titaewaz]

Thank you! This was very informative. One question you suggested not using "dry processed and ( ?) processed coffee"? I couldn't quite hear what you said aside from dry process types.

[michaelnoeldner]

I think this video made my decision to buy a Gene Cafe.

[MikiCab]

You sell the Hottop roaster but have ZERO review videos of it. Will you ever do a video on it? Other coffee bean sellers have some reviews of it but I buy my coffee from you guys and would like your opinion? Thanks Richard

[cs]

Just tried it for the first time since a family friend likes dark roasted beans and I don't think I'm going to do that again. I rolled right through first crack at the usual pace, had some eerie silence, then came the rice krispy sounding second crack. I think I started cooling about 25 seconds into that and watched as smoke was coming from the machine likely into my apartment neighbors' places. I'm sure they love me by now.

[winterburden]

I've always thought this roaster seemed cool, but every time I see a video on it I'm glad I went with the GeneCafe - dark roasts are super easy on that one 😅

[nedscheebly]

How do you find this fairs in roasting indoors? I have a hood vent above my stove and the fire alarm is somewhat close, but will be wanting to roast right underneath the vent. Would the chances of the fire alarm going off be very high?

[thepetesuprize]

Is that the King Dome in the background?

[rickyoung]

great video...missed one part..did you say wet process beans do better for dark over dry?? I have achieved past 2nd roast without difficulties but have to stop before any smoke or I am in big trouble...thanks..

[mightymightyironhead]

Nice video as always. I sometimes get asked for a dark, and i dont really have any problems achieving a decent dark roast with my Behmor, actually my very first roast with my new Behmor was a dark roast. I have a video on YouTube showing the results of that first roast and also the same beans at two other roast levels, with very slight adjustments in time and temp.
I tried pre-heating the Behmor one time, just like in this video, but i found that i did not really need to pre-heat to get a dark roast, so i dont bother with the pre-heat anymore. Obviously the type of beans that you are roasting will determine the results you get, but yes you can actually do a decent dark roast using the Behmor.