How To Choose The Right Roaster Size
Finding a coffee roaster with the right capacity for your needs is not an easy task. Are you starting a new roasting business? Or are you looking to expand your current one into a bigger capacity? There are plenty of things to consider before deciding on the roaster size. And in this unique industry, bigger isn’t necessarily better. In this blog, we are providing the guidelines so you can choose the right roaster size for your coffee business.
Understanding Roaster Capacity
Every roaster machine has a recommended capacity size as stated by the manufacturer. The number indicates the maximum recommended roaster capacity that you can roast on that particular machine, but not necessarily the optimal batch size for the best result. The rule of thumb is to operate the roasting machine at 75% to 80% of its maximum recommended capacity to ensure consistent airflow throughout the roasting process.
Overloading the roaster machine may lead to insufficient energy to heat all of the beans, which means longer heating time and slower Rate of Rise (RoR). It also may lead to inadequate stirring of the coffee beans inside the drum roaster, which means uneven roast and possible scorching.
On the other hand, underloading the roaster machine makes it harder to control the heat during roasting, and the roaster needs to adjust all other variables such as the airflow and the drum speed to compensate for the extra air space inside the drum. This makes it more difficult to achieve product consistency.
Taking these considerations into account, how do we decide which roaster capacity is the right one for our business?
How To Choose The Right Roaster Size
Before you decide on a roaster size, it’s a good idea you have to determine your business goals as well as current and future market size for your coffee. You can start by looking at your current roasting capacity and calculate your projected growth for the next few years. It is important to be strategic in determining how much coffee you can roast, based on how much coffee you can sell. You’d want to roast at the same rate that you are selling, to keep the inventories at a minimum. It makes more sense to roast in small batches and sell them fresh every day rather than roast a big batch that sits in the stock room and eventually goes stale.
If you are a small to medium scale roaster, a smaller increase in roaster size might be preferable rather than jumping into a significantly larger one. But if you already have a large customer base, it might be a more efficient strategy to switch to a large commercial roaster rather than roasting around the clock with a small roaster machine.
Another thing to consider in choosing the right roaster size is how much space you have. Larger roaster machine requires significant additional space for ventilation, gas supply and maintenance, not to mention extra effort to clean and more complex to maintain. Switching to a large commercial roaster is more likely to require a large budget for setting up the space for the new machine to operate on, and also additional maintenance costs.
It is worth noting that changing the roaster size may affect the roasting profile you have identified with a certain green coffee bean on your current roaster machine. Roaster machines of different sizes may perform differently, so be ready to tweak and change and cup your results to achieve the same profile with the new machine.
Berto Size Categories
Berto Roaster machines come in the following capacities:
- Berto One, Berto Essential, for micro-roasters and coffee shops: 1kg
- Berto D Roaster, for small to medium commercial roasters: 3kg, 6kg, 12kg
- Berto R Roaster, for large commercial roasters: 8kg, 20kg, 60kg
Whether you are an artisan cafe looking to roast coffee in your shop, or a coffee distributor considering to scale up your business, there are many points to consider before you can make an informed decision. With Berto Roaster machines, there is a whole range of sizes to choose from according to your needs. We can help you to select the roaster machine that is right for you.
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