Hello, I'm roasting in Belgium (the coffee, that is!)

[PabloElFlamenco]

Greetings!
I'm Paul, 66 and active with coffee, at home, as amateur.  I've roasted coffee exactly 505 times, since January 8th, 2008, using an early issue Hottop electrical roaster, the simple machine, wherein I put around 210 grams of beans, which I roast for around 18 minutes and ... presto! 

My espresso machine is an 8 year old ECM Giotto.  I drink my coffee "cortado" style, something like a large "doppio macchiato".  I add "false" sugar, usually "sucralose", because I have diabetes but like my coffee sweetened.  My wife Irène drinks "latte", she heats the substantial quantity of milk in the microwave (and skims the thin "peel" off the surface with a spoon, before letting the Giotto do its thing).

Statistically, I roast about 60 times a year which boils down to once a week, but that's not accounting for holidays when I'm not at home, nor the fact that sometimes I consume commercially roasted coffee.  In actual practice, our consumption is worth about two Hottop roasts a week, and that's where the problem lies.  The Hottop, whilst a very good and reliable machine (for my intents and purposes), needs to cool down between roasts, and I would like to limit the "work" to one roast per week.

I think the Huky 500 could be perfect for that.

The reason I've not yet made the switch is because I only learned about the existance of the Huky last week, and my Hottop has not broken down!  At 66, retired, the investment is ... pending ... but ... itching.

I feel I have quite a bit to learn, the Huky seems capable of much, and I don't know if I want to hook up a laptop to set coffee.  Maybe I want to keep it simple.  Granted, this may be an injustice to the capabilities of the Huky 500 (T), observing this forum may provide necessary answers and advice...

Please allow me to peek over your shoulder!

Paul

[LTB]

Bienvenue à toi Paul !

You'll find some good advices here, I bet, and the Hucky could be a great adventure ! It's not little money, but seems that any user don't regret the innvestement.

I'm sure you can can run the Huky without a lap-top computer, only with the thermocouple connected to some center, even if lot's of us are using artisan or so, wich helps a lot. But I'm knowing some profesional roasters, good ones, roasting without computer help.

good roasts meantime

[Gregr]

Welcome 
I think the Huky might be good for your needs since there is a viewing window and a trier. The aromas coming from the roaster during the roast and the bean color will give you your cues once you invest some time getting used to it- that is the old fashioned way of roasting after all. It's different from the Hottop in that you need to be very attentive and I think even the simplest profiles call for at least a handful of adjustments. Also, your 18 minute roasts will be a thing of the past 
And like LTB mentioned- you could plug the thermocouples into a datalogger and get very good results with only a little practice. Artisan is a superb tool but it's not necessary by any means.

[edtbjon]

Welcome to this small world.
The Huky is a very different machine compared to any Hottop/Behmor/GeneCafe etc in that you are in full control and have to be in full control. The IR stove have enough power to roast a 500g charge in under 10min and you can then cool that roast in about 3min with the very powerful fan. The heater is fully adjustable and with some kind of voltage controller you can adjust the exhaust fan in a similar way.
With that much power you can easily adjust the flavour profile of the coffee to your liking.
I use an 11 year old laptop for running the computer software (Artisan), that is you don't need anything expensive for the software. But it makes it much more easy to learn, adjust and/or replicate roasting and roasts and also to discuss your roasts with us.
I am personally very much interested in profiling (adjusting the taste) the coffee and the computer graphs helps me a lot, but after almost 2 years I'm now just starting to feel like I don't have to watch the graph "live on screen" but rather watch a timer and the "live" temperature. I'd still record the whole thing in Artisan, but I may start to put a piece of paper in front of the graph and just use the timer and temp readings from the corner of the screen. (Look at "live screen dumps" on how Artisan looks while roasting.)

[PabloElFlamenco]

Hi!
I'd like to thank those who posted a reply to my introductory message.  I have to admit to not having visited the Huky site much at all, because ... all has been well!
Until today!  My Hottop is starting to make me worry:  the drum doesn't seem to revolve smoothly any more, and I fear this may be the beginning of wear and tear breaking it down.

Huky?  Well, I'll be having a serious look at it.  First of all, I have to determine what a "minimum" configuration is, and then a "recommended" configuration.  And, bearing in mind transport costs, I'd need to foresee the possibility of, indeed, anticipating and aiming for a minimum "Artisan" setup.

I'll have some serious studying to do...

Good roasting to you all,
Paul

[Bjsulla]

... all has been well!
Until today!  My Hottop is starting to make me worry:  the drum doesn't seem to revolve smoothly any more, and I fear this may be the beginning of wear and tear breaking it down.

It must be a sign 

I recently bought a Huky after doing much research. It feels a bit scary to leave a roaster that has provided me with decent coffee for years but in my case it felt necessary to improve my skills and continue to learn and enjoy both roasting and tasting coffee. There is much to read and learn from this forum.

From one newcomer to another I wish you most welcome.

[jeffdt]

Hi Paul! As someone who recently ordered a Huky and is awaiting its arrival, I hope you choose to make the investment and learn the roaster along with me!

The only thing I've used so far is a popcorn popper... once I found out about the Huky, I knew I couldn't order a Behmor or Hottop, because I'd be fantasizing about the Huky the whole time 

Anyway, whatever you decide to do, welcome to the forum!

[Gregr]

Welcome Paul. It's great to see new members from all over the world.
A Hottop was my second roaster after I outgrew a Behmor. If you enjoyed using the Hottop and the coffee you roasted with it the Huky will give you many many years of great coffee and great enjoyment.

[coffeemumbojumbo]

Hi All,
It's so good to meet fellow roasters keen to dare explore new grounds and keen to improve their roasting skills, as indeed is the reason why I upgraded from a hottop (manual control panel) to the huky T 500 only a few weeks ago. (see my post re. noise) This is the reason why I have only done 1 roast so far on saturday Aug. 6th, Kenya AA washed high grown as a trial)
The possible adjustments one can make on the hottop are limiting (heat & fan only) and having only the one temp.reading (positioned geared towards a BT reading) is not ideal either. This said, I have really enjoyed using the Hottop and got lovely results over the years, roasting a number of different origins/different processed beans. The chute to drop the beans was great. No bean ever got left behind. Noticed on saturday that the chute on the Huky is not as straight forward
Getting the Huky was so tempting though and the itch got the better of me
I received the huky in May. Then I was travelling a lot, then I had difficulties getting the right ducting fittings fro the exhaust pot. Last week it all clicked into place I had all the right coupler and ducting only to find out about the noise the motor and drum make (see my post). I'm confident though that I will be able to sort that too, greatly thanks to fellow Huky users on this forum and with Mr. Li's help too!
Artisan is a learning curve in itself. Having more controls on the Huky will also take getting used to. My idea is to take it one step at a time, still writing temps/time and curve down manually. I use a separate timer to also check rate of rise in 15 or 30 sec increments - I'm used to 15sec. increments. If multitasking is your thing, keeping an eye on the artisan curve all at the same time is good too  
Anyway exciting times ahead SO want to sort the noise out asap, cause it's annoying and more to the point not being able to hear 1st C is a real ( additional) challenge
happy roasting everyone! -
PS: having the forum is great, by the way! Many thanks for starting it and for all the posts!
 

[hankua]

Hi!
Congratulations on the new toy, sorry it's not running correctly. I wouldn't use it any more until it's back in proper running order. I'm not sure why this is happening, could be getting bumped around during shipping? Mr. Li must turn them on before packing up for delivery?