Commercial roasters, how did you get roasting experience?

[poison]

To reply to all, yes, I have a home roaster. I currently roast on a Behmor.

Buzz, I don't know why they are on the fence. I have met the guy several times and I told him I would roast for free just to get experience. He knows I have a day job so I wouldn't be getting into this for a while. He asked me what I was looking to get from him when I was talking with him and I said that in a perfect world I would be an apprentice. He said he was thinking about possible bringing one on in a few months and said it wouldn't pay well (at which time I said money isn't an issue).

John P., I am pretty sure you're somewhat unique in your ability to drop $5K on a roaster and not even be sure that you would enjoy it...I can only imagine that roasting on an large-scale, gas roaster is MUCH different than an electric roaster.

For those of you who have used a home-built drum roaster on a grill and the high-end gas roasters, are they similar?

I am currently an engineer and would eventually, in ~20 - 30 years, like to retire and open a coffee shop where I roast the beans. At any rate, I just think it would be nice to get experience on a gas roaster without paying $$$ for a class or owning the roaster.

I apprenticed on a Diedrich ir12, then started my own business with a bbq drum, on which I roasted a metric shit load over 8 years. A month ago I took receipt of a san Franciscan roaster. I highly recommend going the bbq route. It's cheap, it'll closely replicate the quality of a real roaster, and it'll teach you a lot about roasting.

 

[JumpinJakJava]

Still laughing at Eldub's last post!!! Sounds like you dodged a missile instead!

 

[expat]

We started roasting on the stove top in a cast iron pan. Then bought a 10kg drum roaster and never looked back. I guess buying the drum roaster was like Cortez burning his ships. We had to make it work at that point. No safety net tends to give you a lot of focus.

If your goal is 20+ years away then save up your pennies and once you've got $2K or so keep your eye out for a 1-2kg gas roaster. They'll turn up from time to time and you can jump on it. Might need some work but every roaster needs maintenance and repair at some point so it'll be a good learning experience.