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Stovetop Roasting with the Whirley-PopPage 1 | Page 2 Other home roasting articles on INeedCoffee focus on roasting with electrical roasters, such as the West Bend Poppery or the Hearthware Gourmet. You can easily start roasting at home with one of these roasters. But there are other, older methods of home roasting. This article explores using a stovetop popcorn popper, which enables you to roast coffee right on your gas stove. It's not nearly as easy as roasting with an electrical popcorn popper, but the advantages of this method are that you have 100% control over the roasting profile and you can roast greater quantities at one time.
Is Stovetop Roasting Wrong For You?Let's start with a basic truth. Home roasting coffee is easy. That is up till now. Whether you are using a popcorn popper, a Hearthware, Fresh Roast, or even an oven, it really doesn't take much time before you are making excellent coffee. A big reason for the ease is that the roasting device handles the roasting temperature for you. Even the oven remembers where it should roast once you've set the dial. And some roasters even handle the cooling. With stovetop roasting it's the roasters responsibility to keep the coffee in a temperature profile that will roast the coffee not too fast and not to slow. That requires some practice and constant attention. During the roast the roaster will need to monitor rising and falling temperatures and make adjustments all while hand cranking the Whirley-Pop. This is rodeo style roasting. Too much heat and the beans will burn, too little and they'll bake. If you are a hands-off roaster, you can stop reading now. This isn't for you. The next requirement is excellent ventilation. Roasting coffee produces smoke and the Whirley-Pop can roast 3 times as much as other roasters. This means 3 times the amount of smoke. The last caveat is the electric stove. I have a gas stove and could not imagine roasting on an electric stovetop. The reason is that during the roasting portion the temps will fluctuate, dropping fast at first and then rising gradually. While this is happening, the roaster is increasing and decreasing the temperature. Electric stovetops do not respond as quickly as gas stoves. Is it possible to use a electric stove? I'm sure it is and I'm sure someone is doing it, but it will add another level of difficulty for the beginner. Is Stovetop Roasting Right For You?There are a few things that stovetop roasting can provide that other roasting methods can't. The first is quantity. Most home coffee roasting machines, including popcorn poppers roast around 2.5 ozs (by weight). The Whirley-Pop can handle 8.5 ozs with no problem. The next thing stovetop roasting provides is complete control of the roast temperature profile. At best other home roasters will only let you control ambient temps, not the roasting temp. With complete control you have more freedom to create different tasting coffee roasts. And the last difference is it uses conduction heat.
Getting StartedTo get started you will need a stovetop roaster with a temperature guage that goes to 500° F. Without a temperature reading you are roasting blind and will have no idea if you're burning or baking the beans. Sweet Marias sells a Whirley-Pop 6 Quart stovetop popcorn popper with a 550° F Pelouze thermometer already attached. They also sell the thermometer by itself so you can modify any exisiting Whirley-Pop. Page 1 | Page 2 |
