# Popcorn popper vs heat gun



## mozbud (Jul 28, 2015)

I've been home roasting for about 18 month, the first 6 in a cast iron skillet and the last year using the heat gun and dog bowl method

The results I get with the heat gun are great, The roast is even and it only takes about 10 to 12 minutes but the chaff causes a bit of a mess.

I've been thinking of upgrading to a popcorn popper but after looking into it I finding it hard to see how it's any better than the heat gun.

I roast 250g batches with the heat gun which last me about a week, popcorn poppers seem to be limited to around 100g at most

It still appears that you have to watch the whole process, admittedly you don't have to manually move the beans

It looks as though you can control control chaff better with PP but this appears to me to be the only real advantage. Is there something I'm missing, is there any big advantage to using a PP rather than a heat gun?

Thanks

Chris


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## Stevebee (Jul 21, 2015)

I don't think so. I've combined a heat gun with a bread machine to provide the agitation and the results are very very good. If you look on coffeesnobs.au they call it corretto. Basically it's a hg with bread machine (bm). I've added a fire blanket for insulation, a cut down baking tray as a lid with a viewing window which encloses the system and helps the temps be consistant in various ambient temps. Also I've inserted two thermocouples which measures BT and one which measures ET. Combine this with Artisan software and you have a system which is incredibly responsive and flexible. My heat gun is variable from 1 to 10 with 10 being 550c and 1 being 100c. I can get roast times between 7 mins and 15 mins depending on the hg temp settings with a perfect declining ROR. My only concern has been the affect a hg has on the "aromas" compared to a std drum roaster. Because of this curiosity I have recently purchased a small Quest M3 to compare the flavours. I'll be doing some blind tastings as soon as I have got a handle on how best to control the Quest. Early roasts ( once I had installed a BT and ET thermocouple) are looking good!


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## mozbud (Jul 28, 2015)

Thanks for your reply.

That all sounds a bit technical for me, just use a dog bowl and whisk, and work off colour









I've considered trying a bread maker but thought the paddle would just push the beans around without rolling them over, I take it this isn't the case? Also my bread maker is a rather nice Panasonic and I don't want to damage it (I know I could buy a cheap one)









Chris


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## kingdean (Nov 27, 2016)

Popcorn popper are easier to add control to (because they have the extra airflow which agitates the beans) I usually turn mine on and come back in 15 minutes and it's roasted and cooled itself off (just blowing the fan through without the heater once it's done), couldn't be easier and way more repeatable than hot air guns (unless you turn the heat gun into a fluid bed roaster the same as a popcorn popper) so you can just do a few batches and they'll all come out the same anyway.


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