BC Roasters? Anyone have experience with these?

[brewbat2]

Hi All,

I'm new to roasting, but looking for a roaster that can do 1-2kg. Does anyone here have experience with BC Roasters? They appear to make 3 different lines of roasters and look reasonably well made, but I haven't seen many reviews online.

Thanks!

 

[sandollars]

I just bought a BC-3 expected to arrive toward the end of this month. They seem to be well made and reasonably priced. Randy is great to work with. I haven't heard anything bad about them or the company.

 

[brewbat2]

Thanks for that info. I'll be curious to hear your assessment of the BC-3 once you have a few roasts under your belt.

 

[tfehst]

How was your experience with Buckeye? I'm in the market for an entry level roaster and they seem to keep popping up on my list as their pricing is much better than Mill City.

Any tips or experiences you have to share would be awesome.

Cheers

 

[Gibsongi]

I would also like to have some reviews here!

 

[sandollars]

Well, it has been 2 years since I purchased my BC-3 BC Roaster and I just got an email notification that someone had posted on this thread, so I thought I would come back and offer my thoughts after 2 years of use.

Since my roaster is a double-wall, I have 6 burners. All the equipment is the same on this unit as his 3.5. This one is LPG, with Rose gold checkered trim.

First off, the roaster is HEAVY. No, I mean refrigerator heavy so be sure to plan for that when you buy or build a base or table for it. My double wall is about 350 pounds.

The roasting drum, chamber, and front and back walls are built from very heavy gauge (1/4 inch) stainless steel plate. I am a Steel man by trade and while I haven't shot it for metallurgy I am pretty sure it is at least 304-18/8 stainless but I suspect the actual drum is 316 or 321a. Sorry for the momentary geek-out.... What I am saying is it is made of high quality materials which is very important as NO ONE wants to deal with a warped drum.

This unit was made before they started using chain tensioners and that is the only complaint I have. The chain feels like it would hop off the drum wheel at the slightest provocation. I have to keep my chain pristinely clean in order for it to track perfectly. I understand the new models of this size have tensioners on them now.



ROASTING:

This machine, due to the double walls, takes about 20-22 minutes to uniformly warm up and once it's ready, it will run all day, batch after batch, no burning of beans. It emits a nice even heat to the entire drum. It's a little slow to respond but that's the give for having the consistency of a double wall. I have never burned a batch or had an exploded bean come out of this roaster.

I do mostly Full City and FC+ roasts and 3 pounds is dropped in 12-15 minutes per batch depending on the beans. They roast uniformly and consistently. The cooling fan and agitator (controlled separately from each other) do an excellent job cooling down the batch. Beans are room temp in less than 90 seconds. I can (but don't like to) roast 8 ounce batches on up to about 3 1/2 pounds. The roaster could do more but the cooling tray spills over the top when agitating after 3.5 pounds so.... There's that....

CONTROLS:

The electronics are good quality and commercial grade. the buttons, knobs and switches are also commercial quality. The gas solenoid has been reliable. The gas flow valve is a bit jumpy and tends to wander. I will probably replace it one day but it's just an annoyance, not a real problem. The fit and finish are very good for this price point. What I am saying is I am very happy with the quality of this machine but it's not a Probat. But... I only paid about the tax bill on that Probat to get the whole machine.

The parts that would ever need replacing are all off-the-shelf available so you don't have to go back to Buckeye. although the owner is a great individual who is very willing to help and seems like he is in this for the long haul.

This machine has a Bluetooth interface as well as a hard wired one for Artisan and possibly others although I only use Artisan. The setup and connection to Artisan was super simple and straightforward. I use an old MacBook Air and it works perfectly. The only sending data is BT and ET but once you find your "Groove" on your particular machine, I find this along with my timers, nose, eyes, and ears to be more that enough sensory input. Frankly, I roast mostly 3 blends and know them by heart so I only use Artisan when I get a new batch to dial them in.

Air control is okay. There is a squirrel cage fan that sits atop a cyclone to remove chaff that works very well and it is obvious it was engineered for this machine by how efficiently it works. NOTE: The squirrel cage fan DOES load up and needs to be cleaned off every 50 or so hours of use. If you install a Magnehelic gauge it's pretty easy to see when it's time to clean. The cyclone is a snap to clean as is the burner chamber tray and underneath the cooling tray. I can get my roaster ready to go in less than a minute. The latches are spring loaded at all both access points to make one handed use possible which I think was a very thoughtful touch. There is a POT that controls the fan but it is advised to leave the fan on the highest setting and use the manual damper which works quite well to keep the drum free of chaff and roughly control the airflow.

The machine has performed flawlessly for 2 years and I an completely satisfied with my purchase. This is the only "Commercial" roaster I have ever owned so I am unable to do comparisons but if excellent results in an efficient and reliable manner are the objectives, this machine achieves that. I would not hesitate for a second to recommend this machine or any of the BC line to those of you who need a reliable machine on a budget.

Below is a pic taken a while back so don't give me sh*t about the k-mart plumbing job. It served its purpose.

 

[BEANPEACE]

Machine looks brand new! Great shape! Thanks for all the details!

 

[tfehst]

Thanks for such an awesome in depth review and glad to hear the BC has treated you well.

Do you mind if I ask are you using it for business and if so how many pounds a week are you roasting on it?

Cheers