Just in case anyone was pondering this purchase. I didn't see this posted elsewhere but I apologize if I missed it.


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I have been seriously thinking of getting a Hottop programmable.

I roast dark and recently did the Behmor suggested inside cleaning every 40 roasts and what I saw inside made me cringe.

I gave it a good cleaning, but it reminded me of the Behmor's limitations.

For the amount of use I get out of a roaster, it more than pays for itself and the price increase, while not something I'm thrilled about, won't keep me off a quality purchase.
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Pete, I would not purchase the programable unit, it does not have manual control and only allows you to cycle the burners off and on unlike the B which has full control of burner in 10% increments at anytime. I would also look very hard at the Quest M3 when making a decision.Quest m3 Tom from SM's is selling them at Coffee shrub. 4 years of heavy use is what my HT B got subjected to and it has held up perfectly. If HT is what you decide on send an email to Hottop USA to see if they have any reconditioned ones, I believe I paid $600 for mine.
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Thanks Rob.

I'll start researching the Quest as you know what the heck you're talking about when it comes to coffee.

Seems like it's not THAT much more than the HT and sure looks cooler from first impressions.
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The Quest is capable of doing back to back roasts even while cooling the beans that where just ejected, with the HT you have to cool the machine down after every roast. It also has better air flow through the roaster then the HT which gives convection heat to the beans. Both are very well constructed machines that will last for a long time with regular cleaning and maintenance.

I do not see anything at HT USA about price increases but it wouldn't surprise me if they do. I know you where thinking about the HT P and it's pricing but $1200 is a big jump from $720 for the HT B but I don't think there is a wrong choice between the two machines.

I have such a fondness for my HT I can't bear the thought of parting with it even though I likely will never use it again.
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I watched the video on the Quest and really like a lot of the little things it does.

I learned a while ago that an extra few hundred dollars can make a world of difference with coffee equipment, although in this case, it's more than a few hundred.

I've also been out of the loop for a while as my Behmor has been doing a good job and when I left off, it was the HT that was getting all the talk and I wasn't even aware of the Quest until you put up the link.

I also remember the back and forth I went through before getting my Macap grinder and Brasilia E61 machine and couldn't imagine life without either.

For me, it's a matter of dealing with something I use every day and get so much enjoyment from and buyer's remorse has never hit me when I went for the top end stuff, but regret has hit me when I went for what I thought was sufficient.

I freaked out the other day when my Brasilia wouldn't turn on and the outlets all checked out fine in the wall.

All I could think about was breaking out the old Gaggia from storage and the horror of not having my chrome queen Brasilia.

I rushed to Coffegeek seeking advice as it was the Friday of the rapture and I wasn't sure if the tech support guys at Brasilia would ever be back to take my call and it was situation critical.

After a closer inspection, it turned out that one of the hoses in the water resevior was pushed onto the auto trip where it turns off if the water gets to low to prevent boiler burnout.

The sound of the pump firing up was such a wonderful sound.

Odd hobby this coffee is.
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For me, the HT B is the best choice considering the price difference with the Quest. I think the price increase notice was provided to the distributors, but I've seen it posted in multiple places. I spent some time looking at a variety of the smaller gas roasters, but that is really out until I can make a designated location with ventilation in the garage, and that won't be soon. Most places offer green beans but Marlton Coffee offers 8 lbs. I'll ponder a bit more while I roast during this coming long weekend.
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I agree the HT B is a very good value but if you want the very best coffee you can roast on a home roaster then the Quest will out preforms the HTB. Do understand the Quest has no safety features so I would not recommend this for someone just starting out with roasting. The HTB will be able to roast 2 batches in 1 hour (200-225g is what I found to be the best batch size but can be pushed to 300g sacrificing some qualities of the roast) however it is reasonable to be able to get 4 200g roasts from the quest in 1 hour (definitely 3 roasts if taking your time)

I have a commercial 1kg gas roaster in my garage and it is wonderful but expensive. I spent on crating and trucking the machine to me as much as a Quest costs plus setup of duct work and NG gas lines. I suggest if anyone plans on a large gas roaster they have it setup for natural gas if putting it in their home, the pressure of NG to a residence is not enough to get full power out of the machine.
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I received the Hottop B this week. I will be using up my last roasts and firing this up when I have about 2 days of roasted coffee left. I'm excited.
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Congratulations :-). I found it helpful to put some red nail polish on the eject button since it is line with other buttons I push throughout the roast, nothing worse then ejecting when you really wanted to change temp or fan speed.

Here is a link to Randy G's web site (he writes the manuals for the HT's)

http://www.EspressoMyEspresso.com/

Under how to pages is "How to Profile a Roast With the Hottop KN-8828B Coffee Roaster" & "Add Bean Temperature Monitoring to the Hottop" and under COFFEE COLLEGE is "Hottop Bean Roaster FAQ"

Adding a bean mass probe is very helpful, I added my probe through the rear wall of the roaster, not every body wants to be drilling holes in their machine so Randy's method is simple and bean chute covers are $10.
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Thanks Rob. I've read a bunch of Randy's articles before. I have a fluke multimeter with thermocouple so I figured it was just a matter of time until I added a bm probe, though not thinking at the moment of hooking it up to a laptop to graph the profiles.
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