Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ty Mulholland on June 12, 2008 at 6:48pm

I would only go with Diedrich myself but I have heard good things about San Fransiscan and Probat. Don't go with an air roaster! Please save us all the embarassment. Take it easy!
Ty

Permalink Reply by Chad Maslanka on June 19, 2008 at 5:26am

Check with all the companies you are interested in and see what they can do for you. There is no point in getting the best roaster in the world if you cannot get anyone to fix it or get any parts for it. All the right companies pride themselves in giving their customers the best support possible, and also see who will teach you how to use their machines. Even though most roasters work on the same basic principles there are subtle things that you can do to make your coffee taste the best and some of the big guys will show you how. Hope that helps...

Permalink Reply by Jamie on June 20, 2008 at 5:49am

Thanks for the feedback. Diedrich seems to have a strong following here. Their training opportunities seem to be a bonus for me. It would be great to get some extensive training on the actual machine I end up purchasing. At first I was lulled into the nostalgia of trying to get my hands on an old(er) Probat... but on second thought I would be flying by the seat of my pants trying to get everything operating properly and producing a desirable roast (not to mention when things go wrong).

Permalink Reply by b smyth on November 2, 2008 at 5:12pm

I'd suggest a small Probat - in my opinion you have more control over the coffee than with a Diedrich. They are fickle machienes, though... you may have to put in a little more work and attention, but the payoff is amazing coffee.

Permalink Reply by Matt Higgins on November 25, 2008 at 2:23pm

I agree with Ty, Diedrichs are the way to go for small batch. One thing to keep in mind is how small or how big you want to be, also what are the air laws where you live, will you need an afterburner? Most cities don't require an afterburner under 4kilo, so maybe start there, anything larger and plan for the added price of an afterburner. IMHO, I had my hands on a Probatino and was not very impressed, I have heard from other roasters that they too have experienced profiling problems with the Probatino. This may not be true in every case, but I love the Diedrichs 12kilo and under, anything larger and Probat owns the field, ... give me a UG22 any day.

I have a IR 3, its as well built as any IR 12, superb craftsmanship for such a small roaster.

Look for a used Diedrich, and if the price is right maybe an ambex as you will save thousands. US roaster corp has some amazing machines too? Also, ... I agree, no air roasting, or electric models.

hope this helps, ..

Permalink Reply by Adriano Arronte on December 15, 2008 at 5:34pm

I am in the same situation that Jamie, I was looking for refurbished Probat5 Kilo and just had a talk with Dan from US roaster corp, he says that his Millennium 5 Kilo is better than the Probat, does any of you know anything about this machine? he said that in a recent competition their Millennium beat the Probat.



Matt Higgins said:

I agree with Ty, Diedrichs are the way to go for small batch. One thing to keep in mind is how small or how big you want to be, also what are the air laws where you live, will you need an afterburner? Most cities don't require an afterburner under 4kilo, so maybe start there, anything larger and plan for the added price of an afterburner. IMHO, I had my hands on a Probatino and was not very impressed, I have heard from other roasters that they too have experienced profiling problems with the Probatino. This may not be true in every case, but I love the Diedrichs 12kilo and under, anything larger and Probat owns the field, ... give me a UG22 any day.

I have a IR 3, its as well built as any IR 12, superb craftsmanship for such a small roaster.

Look for a used Diedrich, and if the price is right maybe an ambex as you will save thousands. US roaster corp has some amazing machines too? Also, ... I agree, no air roasting, or electric models.

hope this helps, ..

Permalink Reply by Travis Kizer, i will tell u litteri on December 15, 2008 at 10:03pm

If it's not late I would like to add....I have been roasting on Probat Roasters for over a decade and recently made the switch (for under 25lbs batch) to a San Franciscan 25# continuous roaster. Let me tell you so far I am in love. Way more control than the L12 and way more power, it's pretty sweet! There is no doubt in my mind that Diedrich amongst others manufacture a good roaster but so far for the price I am pretty sold on this one. Good Luck!

Permalink Reply by Marty G Curtis on January 4, 2009 at 6:56am

Here is a paper I done a few years back this may help or if not it should confuse you than.

May 20, 2005

Roasters

Why do you want to roast coffee?
1. If you think that you are paying too much for coffee?
2. You will get the coffee fresher?
3. You think that any one can roast coffee all you have to do is turn the roaster set the timer and you have coffee?
4. Or do you have the passion to roast the coffee and you want to buy the best coffee and you are welling to take the time to learn to roast.
5. Do they use a fully automatic espresso machine?
6. Do they like coffee and like to drink coffee.

Picking a coffee roaster

What to look for in picking your roaster. If a consumer wants to buy a roaster.
First I would like to give you a few things to think about when you start looking at roasting and what it involves.
Here are some of the things you will be doing as a roaster.
1) Green coffee buying.
2) Keeping track of inventory of green
3) Designing your labels or pay to have them designed. And the you have to keep track of them in inventory.
4) Bags for the coffee and how many sizes, inventory them.
5) Cupping the roast and figuring out which coffee need to be roasted which way.
6) How many different coffees are you going to handle
7) Coffee Organic, or regular or both. Trans-fair coffee.
8) Cleaning roasters.
9) Grinding coffee for the customer.

Know you need to pick controls. What kind of controls do you want?
• Automatic / PLC
• Manual
• Semi-automatic
• Flow meters
• Bean probes
• Pressure gauges
• Exhaust probes
• Drum probes / environmental
• Variable drives
1) Destoner
2) Stack material
3) Ducting material
4) Cleaning equipment
5) Scales
• Data logger

Cupping equipment
Sample roaster Plus learning how to sample roast then how to production roast samples

Looking for the right roaster! We would recommend that you go to about 30-40 roasters and buy a pound of coffee from each of them. Take them home and try to see which one you like. After cupping and evaluating each one, know with the score you have given each one you should be able to eliminate half of them. Then you will go back to each one that made the first cut and buy another pound of coffee. You will do the same thing as before. We will do this till you have it down to about five companies. By doing it this way you will be able to determine which machine you like the taste of. There is some other things that will be accounting for the taste but we go into that in a minute.

So you have it down to five companies. You go to each one ask them what type of roaster they use, make and model. With this now we have a few roaster brands to look at. Know we can look at each one roaster manufacture and ask them if they give class. I would take the class and see if you find things that like better one to other roaster. Also know would be a good time to start looking at who has won best of taste for the local coffee roasters. If you find who has won then you make a list of those roasters and see what type there are using. Now we should have four lists of roasters.
1. All the types of roaster you can find.
2. All the types of roaster you like the taste of their coffee.
3. All the roasters that has won in best taste for the local or national competitions.
4. The roasters that have won in world class competitions such as Barista contest what kind of roaster their using.

You should start to see a few roasters making the entire list. I would then start talking to people that have those type roaster and ask them what the good points and bad points are.

Once we have this list of roasters. You can find the cost of these machines. We will say by know you should have it down to one or two brand roasters.

Not all coffee roaster are equal some are easy to roast coffee not saying it great coffee.
So now we have to decide weather we are going to roast coffee and just be another local roaster or you want to roast great coffee.
Also just because the machine you wanted did not make the cut base on the others thing we have recommend does mean you should not buy. It just means you may have a harder time with that roaster getting a great coffee time after time.
Also we want you to think about is most people can roast coffee but can they roast great coffee. And then do it time again and again.

And does the roast machine have flexible controls so you can change as the crop changes. Can it stand up to some of the Artistic roaster out their. Are you willing to stand at the roaster (by the way it gets about 100-160 degrees next to the roaster after you have roasted a few loads. Also do you realize that you will need to roast about three to four times a week? To become really good at it. Yes you can use automated controls but the coffee will only be good coffee and maybe you will get a great coffee but not often. To get great coffee and do this time after time it takes practice cupping every roast and keeping really good record for comparing want you do. Yes there are making data loggers that will help you keep these records easier but you will need to constantly be monetizing and tweaking the roast because each day the coffee you have bought will change it is a comditily that changes as time goes by. Also the weather changes thought the day so you will need to make change for this also. This is the reason when you visit roaster that are doing a great job on roasting you see them looking at the tier full of coffee. The clock for time the roast has been in the drum roasting, the bean temperature, the exhaust temperature, the color of the coffee, and the smell of the coffee as it progress.
This is why we when we talk about roaster we ask them if they can smell, taste and stay focused. Also to do you like to cook or grill.
As a roaster you need not to be worried about what’s going on around you and be one with the roaster.
After you have bought your roaster know you will spend a life time perfecting your style of roast. You probably will be able to roast coffee with the help of automated controls but I’m righting this article for the one that wants to be the best of the best. When you get started you will make a lot of coffee that’s just that coffee. But after a lot of practice you can become a great roaster. But this is going to be a lot of work.

Are you going to buy new or used or rebuilt or refurbished.
• New = Normal get a warranty.
• Used = Has been roasted on and used to roast coffee either as a demo or in a business. AS IS
• Refurbished = someone has bought and just cleaned it up and fixed just enough to run and roast coffee. AS IS
• Rebuilt = This is when the roaster is taken apart and clean to bare bones and then completely repair bought back to factory spec. and if the person or company doing the work is good you will get a warranty.

Also roasters are not built for the same reason. Some are design for the beginners and some are for the experience roaster. Some are designed for the budget mined buyer and are beginner type roasters. Or some are better at roasting fast roast or dark roast. Some do a great job on roasting very fast and light to medium like the air roasters. Some of the roasters are built to run by a computer program or profiler. Some roaster are design for fuel savings like the infer red units. Some say there are smokeless roasters. Or we have some that recycle the exhaust. Some are continues roaster the later two are more for the production roasters. Some roaster are easily cleaned others are not.

Why there is large price different on roasters.
1. The reason is the amount of material and type.
2. Would be engineering that goes into them.
3. Type controls you get.
4. Warranty you get.
5. Ability to help on the phone with regards to machine operation, roasting problems, and installation help.

Now how much is this going to cost it is very expensive to do. The machine that is going to get great coffee and have a lot of variables is going to cost a bunch. Plus then you have t have it installed correctly with is not cheap either. The stack is very expense normal running in the neighborhood of $100 per foot and up. The learning and all the coffee you mess up will be a lost. Also you have to buy really high quality beans. Which is going to cost a lot? If you are short cash maybe roasting is not for you and you should look at seeking out a roaster that is doing a great job with their coffee and buy it from them

The companies that are doing a great job on their coffee will be very good at roasting and making sure you get the best out of their coffee.

Area of people you will need to work with.
1. Roaster mfg.
2. Air pollution control Mfg.
3. Stack Mfg
4. Green brokers
5. Landlords
6. City inspectors
7. Food inspectors
8. Organic inspectors

The last thing I have to say is no matter which machine you pick, American made, European made, German made, Spanish made, or Third world made.
Because any machine can be made to roaster a great cup of coffee. With a skilled Craftsman’s/ Roaster, lots of money, a good understanding of what you want your coffee to taste like, and a very good mechanic that understands heat transfers, air flow and how that relates to roasting.

Some of the Roasters also are just built for more flexibility than ours as for the different way of roasting and style of roasting you want to do.

Do remember when you call someone that builds, rebuilds, refurbishes or supplies roaster he or she is a salesman. So right down what he say the roaster can do and can not. Go roast on two or three of his machines and talk to a lot of people about the roaster you have decided on. Find out what kinds of service do you get after you have bought the roaster and the warranty is gone. Is he still that willing to help. You can go the BB and get advice but remember the people that are giving advice on their roaster may have just started to roast.

Or haven roasted on anything else but their current roaster. Also their don’t use their real name WHY? They come up with some funky name that no one knows and then there are experts. So when you use that type advice understand they didn’t use their real name for a reason.

Permalink Reply by Eli Kalen on January 9, 2009 at 3:43pm

Marty I just wanted to say that your paper on what to consider when you are going to buy a roaster is very informative.
Thank you.
Eli Kalen

Marty G Curtis said:

Here is a paper I done a few years back this may help or if not it should confuse you than.

May 20, 2005

Roasters

Why do you want to roast coffee?
1. If you think that you are paying too much for coffee?
2. You will get the coffee fresher?
3. You think that any one can roast coffee all you have to do is turn the roaster set the timer and you have coffee?
4. Or do you have the passion to roast the coffee and you want to buy the best coffee and you are welling to take the time to learn to roast.
5. Do they use a fully automatic espresso machine?
6. Do they like coffee and like to drink coffee.

Picking a coffee roaster

What to look for in picking your roaster. If a consumer wants to buy a roaster.
First I would like to give you a few things to think about when you start looking at roasting and what it involves.
Here are some of the things you will be doing as a roaster.
1) Green coffee buying.
2) Keeping track of inventory of green
3) Designing your labels or pay to have them designed. And the you have to keep track of them in inventory.
4) Bags for the coffee and how many sizes, inventory them.
5) Cupping the roast and figuring out which coffee need to be roasted which way.
6) How many different coffees are you going to handle
7) Coffee Organic, or regular or both. Trans-fair coffee.
8) Cleaning roasters.
9) Grinding coffee for the customer.

Know you need to pick controls. What kind of controls do you want?
• Automatic / PLC
• Manual
• Semi-automatic
• Flow meters
• Bean probes
• Pressure gauges
• Exhaust probes
• Drum probes / environmental
• Variable drives
1) Destoner
2) Stack material
3) Ducting material
4) Cleaning equipment
5) Scales
• Data logger

Cupping equipment
Sample roaster Plus learning how to sample roast then how to production roast samples

Looking for the right roaster! We would recommend that you go to about 30-40 roasters and buy a pound of coffee from each of them. Take them home and try to see which one you like. After cupping and evaluating each one, know with the score you have given each one you should be able to eliminate half of them. Then you will go back to each one that made the first cut and buy another pound of coffee. You will do the same thing as before. We will do this till you have it down to about five companies. By doing it this way you will be able to determine which machine you like the taste of. There is some other things that will be accounting for the taste but we go into that in a minute.

So you have it down to five companies. You go to each one ask them what type of roaster they use, make and model. With this now we have a few roaster brands to look at. Know we can look at each one roaster manufacture and ask them if they give class. I would take the class and see if you find things that like better one to other roaster. Also know would be a good time to start looking at who has won best of taste for the local coffee roasters. If you find who has won then you make a list of those roasters and see what type there are using. Now we should have four lists of roasters.
1. All the types of roaster you can find.
2. All the types of roaster you like the taste of their coffee.
3. All the roasters that has won in best taste for the local or national competitions.
4. The roasters that have won in world class competitions such as Barista contest what kind of roaster their using.

You should start to see a few roasters making the entire list. I would then start talking to people that have those type roaster and ask them what the good points and bad points are.

Once we have this list of roasters. You can find the cost of these machines. We will say by know you should have it down to one or two brand roasters.

Not all coffee roaster are equal some are easy to roast coffee not saying it great coffee.
So now we have to decide weather we are going to roast coffee and just be another local roaster or you want to roast great coffee.
Also just because the machine you wanted did not make the cut base on the others thing we have recommend does mean you should not buy. It just means you may have a harder time with that roaster getting a great coffee time after time.
Also we want you to think about is most people can roast coffee but can they roast great coffee. And then do it time again and again.

And does the roast machine have flexible controls so you can change as the crop changes. Can it stand up to some of the Artistic roaster out their. Are you willing to stand at the roaster (by the way it gets about 100-160 degrees next to the roaster after you have roasted a few loads. Also do you realize that you will need to roast about three to four times a week? To become really good at it. Yes you can use automated controls but the coffee will only be good coffee and maybe you will get a great coffee but not often. To get great coffee and do this time after time it takes practice cupping every roast and keeping really good record for comparing want you do. Yes there are making data loggers that will help you keep these records easier but you will need to constantly be monetizing and tweaking the roast because each day the coffee you have bought will change it is a comditily that changes as time goes by. Also the weather changes thought the day so you will need to make change for this also. This is the reason when you visit roaster that are doing a great job on roasting you see them looking at the tier full of coffee. The clock for time the roast has been in the drum roasting, the bean temperature, the exhaust temperature, the color of the coffee, and the smell of the coffee as it progress.
This is why we when we talk about roaster we ask them if they can smell, taste and stay focused. Also to do you like to cook or grill.
As a roaster you need not to be worried about what’s going on around you and be one with the roaster.
After you have bought your roaster know you will spend a life time perfecting your style of roast. You probably will be able to roast coffee with the help of automated controls but I’m righting this article for the one that wants to be the best of the best. When you get started you will make a lot of coffee that’s just that coffee. But after a lot of practice you can become a great roaster. But this is going to be a lot of work.

Are you going to buy new or used or rebuilt or refurbished.
• New = Normal get a warranty.
• Used = Has been roasted on and used to roast coffee either as a demo or in a business. AS IS
• Refurbished = someone has bought and just cleaned it up and fixed just enough to run and roast coffee. AS IS
• Rebuilt = This is when the roaster is taken apart and clean to bare bones and then completely repair bought back to factory spec. and if the person or company doing the work is good you will get a warranty.

Also roasters are not built for the same reason. Some are design for the beginners and some are for the experience roaster. Some are designed for the budget mined buyer and are beginner type roasters. Or some are better at roasting fast roast or dark roast. Some do a great job on roasting very fast and light to medium like the air roasters. Some of the roasters are built to run by a computer program or profiler. Some roaster are design for fuel savings like the infer red units. Some say there are smokeless roasters. Or we have some that recycle the exhaust. Some are continues roaster the later two are more for the production roasters. Some roaster are easily cleaned others are not.

Why there is large price different on roasters.
1. The reason is the amount of material and type.
2. Would be engineering that goes into them.
3. Type controls you get.
4. Warranty you get.
5. Ability to help on the phone with regards to machine operation, roasting problems, and installation help.

Now how much is this going to cost it is very expensive to do. The machine that is going to get great coffee and have a lot of variables is going to cost a bunch. Plus then you have t have it installed correctly with is not cheap either. The stack is very expense normal running in the neighborhood of $100 per foot and up. The learning and all the coffee you mess up will be a lost. Also you have to buy really high quality beans. Which is going to cost a lot? If you are short cash maybe roasting is not for you and you should look at seeking out a roaster that is doing a great job with their coffee and buy it from them

The companies that are doing a great job on their coffee will be very good at roasting and making sure you get the best out of their coffee.

Area of people you will need to work with.
1. Roaster mfg.
2. Air pollution control Mfg.
3. Stack Mfg
4. Green brokers
5. Landlords
6. City inspectors
7. Food inspectors
8. Organic inspectors

The last thing I have to say is no matter which machine you pick, American made, European made, German made, Spanish made, or Third world made.
Because any machine can be made to roaster a great cup of coffee. With a skilled Craftsman’s/ Roaster, lots of money, a good understanding of what you want your coffee to taste like, and a very good mechanic that understands heat transfers, air flow and how that relates to roasting.

Some of the Roasters also are just built for more flexibility than ours as for the different way of roasting and style of roasting you want to do.

Do remember when you call someone that builds, rebuilds, refurbishes or supplies roaster he or she is a salesman. So right down what he say the roaster can do and can not. Go roast on two or three of his machines and talk to a lot of people about the roaster you have decided on. Find out what kinds of service do you get after you have bought the roaster and the warranty is gone. Is he still that willing to help. You can go the BB and get advice but remember the people that are giving advice on their roaster may have just started to roast.

Or haven roasted on anything else but their current roaster. Also their don’t use their real name WHY? They come up with some funky name that no one knows and then there are experts. So when you use that type advice understand they didn’t use their real name for a reason.

Permalink Reply by Adriano Arronte on January 9, 2009 at 4:32pm

Yes, thank you Marty for taking the time. I was just in Mexico and saw some nice roasters for half the price of that of the well known names, the owner said because they don't pay the salaries that a German company pays to their employees. I was surprise, they looked really good. He even said that their machines have a lot in common with the Probats.

Adriano

Eli Kalen said:

Marty I just wanted to say that your paper on what to consider when you are going to buy a roaster is very informative.
Thank you.
Eli Kalen

Marty G Curtis said:

Here is a paper I done a few years back this may help or if not it should confuse you than.

May 20, 2005

Roasters

Why do you want to roast coffee?
1. If you think that you are paying too much for coffee?
2. You will get the coffee fresher?
3. You think that any one can roast coffee all you have to do is turn the roaster set the timer and you have coffee?
4. Or do you have the passion to roast the coffee and you want to buy the best coffee and you are welling to take the time to learn to roast.
5. Do they use a fully automatic espresso machine?
6. Do they like coffee and like to drink coffee.

Picking a coffee roaster

What to look for in picking your roaster. If a consumer wants to buy a roaster.
First I would like to give you a few things to think about when you start looking at roasting and what it involves.
Here are some of the things you will be doing as a roaster.
1) Green coffee buying.
2) Keeping track of inventory of green
3) Designing your labels or pay to have them designed. And the you have to keep track of them in inventory.
4) Bags for the coffee and how many sizes, inventory them.
5) Cupping the roast and figuring out which coffee need to be roasted which way.
6) How many different coffees are you going to handle
7) Coffee Organic, or regular or both. Trans-fair coffee.
8) Cleaning roasters.
9) Grinding coffee for the customer.

Know you need to pick controls. What kind of controls do you want?
• Automatic / PLC
• Manual
• Semi-automatic
• Flow meters
• Bean probes
• Pressure gauges
• Exhaust probes
• Drum probes / environmental
• Variable drives
1) Destoner
2) Stack material
3) Ducting material
4) Cleaning equipment
5) Scales
• Data logger

Cupping equipment
Sample roaster Plus learning how to sample roast then how to production roast samples

Looking for the right roaster! We would recommend that you go to about 30-40 roasters and buy a pound of coffee from each of them. Take them home and try to see which one you like. After cupping and evaluating each one, know with the score you have given each one you should be able to eliminate half of them. Then you will go back to each one that made the first cut and buy another pound of coffee. You will do the same thing as before. We will do this till you have it down to about five companies. By doing it this way you will be able to determine which machine you like the taste of. There is some other things that will be accounting for the taste but we go into that in a minute.

So you have it down to five companies. You go to each one ask them what type of roaster they use, make and model. With this now we have a few roaster brands to look at. Know we can look at each one roaster manufacture and ask them if they give class. I would take the class and see if you find things that like better one to other roaster. Also know would be a good time to start looking at who has won best of taste for the local coffee roasters. If you find who has won then you make a list of those roasters and see what type there are using. Now we should have four lists of roasters.
1. All the types of roaster you can find.
2. All the types of roaster you like the taste of their coffee.
3. All the roasters that has won in best taste for the local or national competitions.
4. The roasters that have won in world class competitions such as Barista contest what kind of roaster their using.

You should start to see a few roasters making the entire list. I would then start talking to people that have those type roaster and ask them what the good points and bad points are.

Once we have this list of roasters. You can find the cost of these machines. We will say by know you should have it down to one or two brand roasters.

Not all coffee roaster are equal some are easy to roast coffee not saying it great coffee.
So now we have to decide weather we are going to roast coffee and just be another local roaster or you want to roast great coffee.
Also just because the machine you wanted did not make the cut base on the others thing we have recommend does mean you should not buy. It just means you may have a harder time with that roaster getting a great coffee time after time.
Also we want you to think about is most people can roast coffee but can they roast great coffee. And then do it time again and again.

And does the roast machine have flexible controls so you can change as the crop changes. Can it stand up to some of the Artistic roaster out their. Are you willing to stand at the roaster (by the way it gets about 100-160 degrees next to the roaster after you have roasted a few loads. Also do you realize that you will need to roast about three to four times a week? To become really good at it. Yes you can use automated controls but the coffee will only be good coffee and maybe you will get a great coffee but not often. To get great coffee and do this time after time it takes practice cupping every roast and keeping really good record for comparing want you do. Yes there are making data loggers that will help you keep these records easier but you will need to constantly be monetizing and tweaking the roast because each day the coffee you have bought will change it is a comditily that changes as time goes by. Also the weather changes thought the day so you will need to make change for this also. This is the reason when you visit roaster that are doing a great job on roasting you see them looking at the tier full of coffee. The clock for time the roast has been in the drum roasting, the bean temperature, the exhaust temperature, the color of the coffee, and the smell of the coffee as it progress.
This is why we when we talk about roaster we ask them if they can smell, taste and stay focused. Also to do you like to cook or grill.
As a roaster you need not to be worried about what’s going on around you and be one with the roaster.
After you have bought your roaster know you will spend a life time perfecting your style of roast. You probably will be able to roast coffee with the help of automated controls but I’m righting this article for the one that wants to be the best of the best. When you get started you will make a lot of coffee that’s just that coffee. But after a lot of practice you can become a great roaster. But this is going to be a lot of work.

Are you going to buy new or used or rebuilt or refurbished.
• New = Normal get a warranty.
• Used = Has been roasted on and used to roast coffee either as a demo or in a business. AS IS
• Refurbished = someone has bought and just cleaned it up and fixed just enough to run and roast coffee. AS IS
• Rebuilt = This is when the roaster is taken apart and clean to bare bones and then completely repair bought back to factory spec. and if the person or company doing the work is good you will get a warranty.

Also roasters are not built for the same reason. Some are design for the beginners and some are for the experience roaster. Some are designed for the budget mined buyer and are beginner type roasters. Or some are better at roasting fast roast or dark roast. Some do a great job on roasting very fast and light to medium like the air roasters. Some of the roasters are built to run by a computer program or profiler. Some roaster are design for fuel savings like the infer red units. Some say there are smokeless roasters. Or we have some that recycle the exhaust. Some are continues roaster the later two are more for the production roasters. Some roaster are easily cleaned others are not.

Why there is large price different on roasters.
1. The reason is the amount of material and type.
2. Would be engineering that goes into them.
3. Type controls you get.
4. Warranty you get.
5. Ability to help on the phone with regards to machine operation, roasting problems, and installation help.

Now how much is this going to cost it is very expensive to do. The machine that is going to get great coffee and have a lot of variables is going to cost a bunch. Plus then you have t have it installed correctly with is not cheap either. The stack is very expense normal running in the neighborhood of $100 per foot and up. The learning and all the coffee you mess up will be a lost. Also you have to buy really high quality beans. Which is going to cost a lot? If you are short cash maybe roasting is not for you and you should look at seeking out a roaster that is doing a great job with their coffee and buy it from them

The companies that are doing a great job on their coffee will be very good at roasting and making sure you get the best out of their coffee.

Area of people you will need to work with.
1. Roaster mfg.
2. Air pollution control Mfg.
3. Stack Mfg
4. Green brokers
5. Landlords
6. City inspectors
7. Food inspectors
8. Organic inspectors

The last thing I have to say is no matter which machine you pick, American made, European made, German made, Spanish made, or Third world made.
Because any machine can be made to roaster a great cup of coffee. With a skilled Craftsman’s/ Roaster, lots of money, a good understanding of what you want your coffee to taste like, and a very good mechanic that understands heat transfers, air flow and how that relates to roasting.

Some of the Roasters also are just built for more flexibility than ours as for the different way of roasting and style of roasting you want to do.

Do remember when you call someone that builds, rebuilds, refurbishes or supplies roaster he or she is a salesman. So right down what he say the roaster can do and can not. Go roast on two or three of his machines and talk to a lot of people about the roaster you have decided on. Find out what kinds of service do you get after you have bought the roaster and the warranty is gone. Is he still that willing to help. You can go the BB and get advice but remember the people that are giving advice on their roaster may have just started to roast.

Or haven roasted on anything else but their current roaster. Also their don’t use their real name WHY? They come up with some funky name that no one knows and then there are experts. So when you use that type advice understand they didn’t use their real name for a reason.