# I want to roast!



## kevind222 (Mar 6, 2016)

Hi guys. Hope all is well

First time post.

I have decided I want to start roasting my own beans. After trawling the net. The gene cafe 101 seems to be a decent but not great set up. Obviously only starting out so don't want to spend ££££'s. I'm happy to spend up to around £400/500 mark. Am I missing any roasters out there for the UK market or is the gene cafe the way forward with the MOD. I will be roasting indoors.

Any advice/tips/techniques would be greatly appreciated.

Also so a type of bean to try out first to perfect.

Many thanks in advance.

Kevin


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

I went for a £30 Nuvo hand held roaster to get into roasting whilst I'm looking for a 'proper' machine.

I know that most members here have dismissed the Ikawa roaster as not being capable of roasting a large enough batch at a time and being too much money but I'm waiting for it to be released in a couple of months as it's exactly what I want-asthetics, controllability and no mess or smoke.


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## Nobodysdriving (Jul 4, 2015)

I just bought a Quest M3 off a forum member, it is my first roaster and I would have not wanted anything less to be honest as I go through 1kg of beans in 8 to 9 days.

With the Quest I can roast batches of 250gr, it will leave me 209 post roast on average and if I roast 5 batches it gives me a good kilo and then I am done for 9 days or can have 2 to 3 batches every 3 days, I love roasting I could do it every day









this is the Quest M3 and the cost if bought new:

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/content/quest

there is one on ebay right now, I was lucky to get it much cheaper than that though...(PS it is an M3 and not M6 as on the ad...)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quest-M6-Speciality-Drum-Coffee-Roaster-/191816878926?hash=item2ca92d4b4e:g:8pkAAOSwG-1W1YFN


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Welcome to Coffee Forums UK Kevin

Often they pop up in the For Sale section on this site.

If you haven't already pick up a copy of Scott Rao's book The Coffee Roasters Companion


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## kevind222 (Mar 6, 2016)

Thanks guys. Looking forward to roasting. Just want to go down then right road. Thanks for info on quest m3. Will take a look. Looks a little pricey for stsrt up but worth a look on the bay.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Not sure why you think the 101 is not a great set up, for the price its right up there I think in the 250g range.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

If cost is an issue, the CBR 101 can't be beat...quests don't often come up and they are expensive...but good.

If you get a CBR101, you can mod it for power control, which makes it a much better and more controllable roaster.


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

+1 on the 2 above ( or is that +2?)

Power controlled gene very hard to beat with the budget you have and any remaining money from your budget buys an awful lot of green beans 

John


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## AL1968 (May 3, 2015)

I'm thinking about the Gene Cafe 101 and hope to get down to BB sometime over the next couple of weeks to have a look at one. Now people keep mentioning a mod, what is it and how do I do it? Please explain very simply I'm not at all technical! Is there a detailed description on this forum?


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

The article / guide is hosted here:

http://coffeetimex.wikidot.com/gene-cafe-dimmer-control-mod-stage-1

and written by the Davecuk a couple of posts up.

Once on this site you will find it quite useful for a lot of other bits of information relating to the gene including downloadable / printable roast logs.

You will also find a large amount of information in the home roasting section on here about the merits of the mod etc and will see a few of the todays roast referring to it. Main benefit is to control the amount of power going into the roaster as Voltage variables can affect your roast and makes a decent small roaster more consistent.

Hope of help to yourself AL and OP

John


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## AL1968 (May 3, 2015)

Perfect, many thanks for your help


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## kevind222 (Mar 6, 2016)

Cool. Mod looks good too. Want to go have s look/play with gene cafe but bells barista not open weekends. Anyone know where else it is stocked?


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