Natural Gas Coffee Roaster, 2-Pound, Brushed Stainless Steel

This is the perfect roaster to bridge the transition from small batch home roasting to a semi-commercial business. It is easy to operate and has worked flawlessly. In my opinion it is a great product.

This is the second Sonofresco I have purchased through Amazon. They both were defective. I had to repair the first one myself with parts sent to me. I was told there was a batch that had defective temperature sensors and after I replaced it it worked fine (why they did not recall all of them and replace the sensor themselves seems like a lackadaisical approach). The second one I purchased almost exploded everytime it ignited; I had to send it back for a complete replacement. Now the replacement one has problems too (I get periodic E2 errors). I've been in touch with them and trying to get the problem resolved for over three months now and nothing has happened. They work great when and if you can get one that works properly. The quality control seems to be nonexistent.

Good investment, I roast coffee weekly for the Farmers Market and have no problems! Sonofresco Company is great people they will answer any questions you may have.

The roaster is a little expensive for what it gives, I would recommend Coffee Crafters.[...]Coffee Crafters Artisan 6m(6lbs roaster) or 2M(2lbs roaster)-All electric - Clean hot air roasting-Easy to install, easy to use, and easy to maintain.

The Sonofresco is basically a gigantic popcorn popper. For those who have started their path to coffee roasting Nirvana with a popcorn air popper, this will seem very familiar to you. For others, there will be a learning curve, although not quite as steep as you may expect. The controls are dirt easy with one switch for the power and one for the natural gas. There are two buttons to adjust the target roast up or down from 0 through 9. The higher the number, the darker the roast. The target roast number is based on temperature readings taken by a tiny thermometer in the vent flue of the Sonofresco, You can view the temperature reading by pressing both the up and down buttons together. This thermometer takes air temperature reading and not bean temperature readings so the thermometer reading will only get you into the ball park range. A little search on the Internet will help you find modifications that allow to measure bean temperature.Thankfully, the saving grace of the Sonofresco is the clear roasting chamber. Not only does it allow your clients to see the roast as it happens (which seems to be endlessly fascinating), but it allows the you to judge the roast by look and (marginally) by sound. The noise of the roaster makes it difficult to hear the coffee's telltale cracks at particular roasting stages. First crack is clearly audible, but the start of second crack is hard to gauge. The clear roasting chamber will allow the experienced roaster to stop the roast with a high degree of accuracy based on the color of the bean and the amount of oils on the bean;'s surface.Another issue is the amount of coffee you put in the chamber to roast will dictate the type of roast you get. An overfull roasting chamber results in an uneven roast where some beans are very dark and others rather light. Even though the machine is made to roast up to 2.8 lbs. per cycle, I don't recommend it. I roast at the minimum 2 lbs. per cycle and get consistent results.The other downside is the 2 lb. minimum load. if you do blends, you have to make a LOT of coffee. Let's say you have a blend that requires 50% South American, 25% Ethiopian, and 25% Indonesian. Since the minimum load is 2 lbs., you have to roast 2 lbs. of Ethiopian, 2 lbs. of Indonesian, and 4 lbs. of South American for a total of 8 lbs. of beans. Even with the weight loss of roasting, you still wind up with nearly 7 lbs. of coffee. If you do mostly blends and are a small time roaster, I would recommend a 1 lb. roaster instead.The unit requires cleaning after every roasting cycle (roast chamber, chaff collector, etc.) and some end of day cleaning as well (thermometer). You quickly get used to the cleaning and it doesn't slow you down much.That being said, a little study and management of roast profiles, temperatures and times will result in very accurate and tasty results. The unit fires up the burner on a cycle which brings up the temperature of the beans slowly over the course of 10-15 minutes depending on the beans and your roast setting. This results in an excellent development of the coffee's flavors. I have not been disappointed, even though I have roasted beans that traditionally require some close attention.The Sonofresco has allowed me to step from a minuscule operation to offering my coffee at farmer's markets and events. If you're just getting set up as a commercial roaster, the Sonofresco is the perfect unit to bridge between the tiny home roasting units and the larger commercial roasters that cost $10K and more.

These are good. Don't buy the completion . Coffee crafter is no match to quality