# Is the Gene roaster still the go to for a 'budget' roaster?



## RagingMammoth (Sep 21, 2013)

I'm looking at around the £300 mark. I'm pretty outdated on coffee gear these days, I'd just like some advice regarding roasting.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

I think for the money, you can't really find much better (decent used roasters are expensive), It's not like grinders where you can buy a bargain super jolly. Used genes do come up from time to time, but they usually command a decent price. If you are prepared to modify the roaster with a power controller, then it becomes a remarkably good roaster. I seem to remember and I think it might still be the case, that such modification will not invalidate your warranty with Bella Barista....other companies, I have no idea.

There are 2 mods you can do.

1. Simple Power control, only requires a dimmer or the now available £13.99 Maplin power controller (much better). I actually use the same thing in my 1Kg CBR1200

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/kemo-ac-power-control-module-4000va-n85ql

For a small Gene cafe, you won't even need to heat sink it if you don't want to. It comes supplier with a 400K variable potentiometer, but I would buy a 100K variable pot for £1 as you get much finer levels of control.

2. Advanced power control - means getting a gene with a 230V (not the normal 240V element for the UK) and NOT using it until you have added the power controller. This way you can keep the max power consumption 1200W or below (usually 1180W in winter and 1130W in summer). However, if the voltage drops significantly you can simply turn the potentiometer dial to compensate and keep the power draw the same.

This allows you to follow any profile, reduce power input a little during/after 1st crack, roast faster with less max heat input. More importantly make roasts repeatable as your roasting by power not duration or just temperature. this means if the mains voltage is different on a different day, it doesn't matter. To my mind the best £25 you can spend (including price of project box, controller, cable, potentiometer and spade connectors) and it's fully reversible.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

I've seen Dave's kit and tasted the results. Very consistent roast so the above mod certainly seems to be worthwhile and world certainly seem to take some of the guesswork out. (Admittedly I have never roasted anything other than chicken or chestnuts myself so I'm no authority but the coffee I've seen tells me it works)


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## RagingMammoth (Sep 21, 2013)

Thanks a lot for the help Dave, I'll consider modding if I don't get the results I want.


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## RagingMammoth (Sep 21, 2013)

Well, it was just ordered. Now I just have to wait until my birthday...


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## RagingMammoth (Sep 21, 2013)

Well, I had a shot at it on Friday. Went for the 'full city' roast according to instructions. It wasn't full city.


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Hi Mammoth

There is a todays roast thread within the Home roaster section that may assist if you wish to upload a photo and some details as to what roasted (bean / raw weight in / roasted weight out / for how long etc) / set temperature etc as may well be that one of the contributors has roasted before and can offer guidance on how best to roast.

If havent already got an energy measuring plug or multimeter might be worth investing in one to see what voltage / wattage you drawing during roasting noting external to the machine temperature may also have a bearing etc.

If got from BB then the included roast guide detailing different profiles is a really useful go to and was written by DaveC (posted apove) and a handy start to getting somethign useful out of the roaster.

One of the mistakes I made early on in teh first couple of roasts is stopping it a little too early being paranoid woudl over cook them, sometimes an extra 20-30 seconds is all that is needed to develop them a little more.

Off to go and roast some beans myself now, first tiem with the dimmer mod in place so could be like starting all over again or an epiphany!

John


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## RagingMammoth (Sep 21, 2013)

johnealey said:


> Hi Mammoth
> 
> There is a todays roast thread within the Home roaster section that may assist if you wish to upload a photo and some details as to what roasted (bean / raw weight in / roasted weight out / for how long etc) / set temperature etc as may well be that one of the contributors has roasted before and can offer guidance on how best to roast.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the help John, it's appreciated. I just followed the guide for 'full city' on the manual. My goal is to get a roast similar to the one on Raves IJ.


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## RagingMammoth (Sep 21, 2013)

Well, just gave it another shot. 210g at full temp for 16 minutes... left the door open by accident though. Had to ramp the time up from 15 to 16 minutes, smells and looks a lot less burned. Very similar to Raves IJ.


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## RagingMammoth (Sep 21, 2013)

Right, think I've nailed it.

250 for 8-9 minutes, 230 for the remainder. Total time 16 minutes.

Thoughts?


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

The heating element is either on or off, not in between. The 250C you refer to for 8-9 minutes basically means you set it to heat up to 250C (I can't remember how fast the gene will heat up but will assume it has heated up to 250C by 9 minutes) if you then turn it to 230C the heating element is off and the fan cools the drum until 230C and then the heating element will cycle on and off causing the temperature readout to drop to 225C before going back up to 230C....

Personally I wouldn't go beyond 245, maybe gradually allow the temp up to 248 with a modified Gene but that would really be pushing it and I wouldn't expect to see that temp until first crack starts when I'd be lowing the temperature anyway. I wouldn't want the temp to go below 236C either.

Having said that I have heard you can throw the beans in, set the Gene to full power and you end up with a decent roast.


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