Home Coffee Roaster User Guides
Gene Cafe Home Coffee Roaster
A hybrid roaster that uses principles from both the fluid bed and drum roasters. The Gene Cafe Roaster is relatively quiet, very easy to use, and roasts up to 8 ounce, by weight, of coffee per batch. I find it best to weigh out the batches; otherwise the results will be inconsistent. This roaster is sensitive to batch size. If your a dark roast fan you may want to try cutting back your batch size a little.
When roasting high chaff coffees such as dry processed or naturals (for example out Brazil Beija Flor) be sure to cut back the batch size to the lower fill line (around 8 ounces) or there is some risk of the chaff getting stuck in the roast chamber.
I generally roast between 440-470 degrees and set the time around 15-22 minutes. Keep a watch towards the end of the roast, when it achieves your desired roast be sure to end the roasting cycle by hitting the cool/start button. Once you get to know the machine you will be able to set the exact time and temp so you will not need to hit the cool/start button. While the roaster can do multiple batches in a day I would let it cool down in between batch for 40-50 minutes.
After the roast is completed you will have to empty the chaff collector. Be sure to keep an eye on the double screens to make sure they are not getting clogged. If a fair amount of chaff is stuck between screens be sure to unscrew the collector and remove the chaff.
Coffee will taste best if allowed to setup for 24 hours.
More Roaster Use Notes:
All roasters are sensitive to your home voltage, so it helps to roast on a circuit that is not being used at the same time you are roasting. The time setting may vary so be sure and watch carefully, especially with a new roaster.
Keep in mind that these are home roasters, not commercial roasters, you will need to let them cool down between batches or you may trigger the thermal protection which requires the roaster to be reset by the manufacturer and may void the warranty.
Never leave the roasters unattended. Home coffee roasting is similar to frying bacon on your stove top, it can and will burn if left unattended. If you want to stop the roast at any time, just hit the COOL button. Don’t turn it to off, the roasters are quite hot and require a cool cycle before handling.
