# Ikawa Roaster VS Roest Roaster



## roaster90

Hi guys,

I am thinking of buying a sample roaster, currently considering Ikawa and Roest. Does anyone has any experience on these two roasters?

Would appreciate if someone can shed me some light on the pros and cons between the two.

Thank you very much.


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## Rob1

I take it you already have a large roaster and you want a sample roaster before committing to ordering large quantities of a bean or to test different profiles on?

There's at least one member here with an Ikawa so if you use the search function you'll probably find something. The Roest looks interesting but very expensive.


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## roaster90

Rob1 said:


> I take it you already have a large roaster and you want a sample roaster before committing to ordering large quantities of a bean or to test different profiles on?
> 
> There's at least one member here with an Ikawa so if you use the search function you'll probably find something. The Roest looks interesting but very expensive.


Hi there,

Ya, you are right, I do have a larger roaster. Just considering the two sample roasters and thought they might have slight differences on the functionality or probably one is better than the other?

Thanks for the input on the price! Appreciate it.


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## Rob1

Ikawa is an air roaster, roest is a drum roaster. I would go for the roest personally between the two but would just get a traditional one if I had a roastery. There's a double drum one on ebay now for £1.8k


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## roaster90

Rob1 said:


> Ikawa is an air roaster, roest is a drum roaster. I would go for the roest personally between the two but would just get a traditional one if I had a roastery. There's a double drum one on ebay now for £1.8k


Hey, thanks for that. I do feel that the result from a drum sample roaster would reflect better when I roast on the Giesen that I am using.

Would you suggest to install cropster on the traditional drum sample roaster? thanks


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## roaster90

but the heat supplied by roest is through hot air, isn't?


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## Rob1

roaster90 said:


> Hey, thanks for that. I do feel that the result from a drum sample roaster would reflect better when I roast on the Giesen that I am using.
> 
> Would you suggest to install cropster on the traditional drum sample roaster? thanks


In the sense that you connect your laptop to thermocouples and pull and plot data from them? Sure why not it looks like the one on ebay has at least one probe in there. I've no idea what cropster allows you to do so can't comment on particular software to use, it's up to you and your preference/what you already use.

Regarding the heat source of the Roest the main webpage indicates it's a drum roaster, their FAQ contradicts it with "Is it a drum roaster? Yes and no.". The heat comes from hot air but the beans are turned and agitated by the drum. This is how the Gene Cafe works for a few hundred ££ vs £5k. Granted the Roest has software an automation with fan control to set it apart. I don't know if the Roest works with pre-heating and/or how much heating the drum does to the beans...best ask the manufacturer.

To me it seems the value of the Roest is in the software rather than the roaster itself.


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## Step21

I think that the Roest may be more versatile than the Ikawa Pro. Maybe a little more expensive at 5000 euros.

You have double the capacity. Can choose profiles running either via ET or BT. You can take manual control at any point. It seems to be endorsed by Wendlelboe and they have a lot of input from him in the development process.

Certainly seems to be gathering a good name in Norway and recently was used by the winner of the Norway brewers cup.

With the Ikawa Pro you can run profiles based on either ET or input temperature and it is 100% air roaster. However, you have an extensive pool of shared profiles developed by pros to work with and it is widely used and respected.


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## roaster90

Rob1 said:


> In the sense that you connect your laptop to thermocouples and pull and plot data from them? Sure why not it looks like the one on ebay has at least one probe in there. I've no idea what cropster allows you to do so can't comment on particular software to use, it's up to you and your preference/what you already use.
> 
> Regarding the heat source of the Roest the main webpage indicates it's a drum roaster, their FAQ contradicts it with "Is it a drum roaster? Yes and no.". The heat comes from hot air but the beans are turned and agitated by the drum. This is how the Gene Cafe works for a few hundred ££ vs £5k. Granted the Roest has software an automation with fan control to set it apart. I don't know if the Roest works with pre-heating and/or how much heating the drum does to the beans...best ask the manufacturer.
> 
> To me it seems the value of the Roest is in the software rather than the roaster itself.


Hey, thanks for the useful information, appreciate it.


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## roaster90

Step21 said:


> I think that the Roest may be more versatile than the Ikawa Pro. Maybe a little more expensive at 5000 euros.
> 
> You have double the capacity. Can choose profiles running either via ET or BT. You can take manual control at any point. It seems to be endorsed by Wendlelboe and they have a lot of input from him in the development process.
> 
> Certainly seems to be gathering a good name in Norway and recently was used by the winner of the Norway brewers cup.
> 
> With the Ikawa Pro you can run profiles based on either ET or input temperature and it is 100% air roaster. However, you have an extensive pool of shared profiles developed by pros to work with and it is widely used and respected.


Hey, thank you so much for the information, will definitely take that into consideration while making the decision.


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## Microlot

I own both,Ikawa V2 and Roest.

Without any doubt, the Roest is superior,larger batchsize up to 120g,roasting and cooling at the same time,even with lightroasts around Agtron Gourmet 95( Lighttells Cm100 measured) absolute uniform roasted beans, great support from the Roest team.

The only advantage of Ikawa is the size, great for travelling.

Translating sample profiles to a bigger production roaster is a lot more easier with the Roest, creating own profiles depending on ET,BT or heating power super easy,complete manual roasting a dream.

The machine is very powerful,probes are super sensitive,the whole system is very easy to understand.


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