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2 reviews for 2kg Gas Coffee Roaster
Drew M
February 22, 2016 - 9:15 pm
Bottom Line Up Front: If the durability of the TJ-072 is anything close to my initial assessment of this 2kg Coffee Roaster, you will get a ton in terms of “Bang” for your Buck!
Research: Simply put, there is not a lot of information available for the TJ-072. Even the more popular TJ-067 1KG Roaster has limited information available for it. I suspect this will change considerably over the next 12-18 months, but I was forced to look at information about the 1kg machine and assume the 2kg would be similar.
Decision: There are other roasters available that are made in China…A LOT OF THEM! What made this even more difficult was the fact that the pictures were all very similar; some were the exact same! This added to my concern about getting what I paid for. Email correspondence is okay, but I wanted a trusting voice. I found two different people distributing different machines in the United States and I went with my Gut in terms of Mill City Roasters. I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER! Before dropping your hard earned money on a roaster, I would highly suggest that you spend a little bit of money and visit Mill City Roasters and spend some time with Steve and Dave. Not only did they address every single one of my concerns, but I also had the opportunity to do a bunch of roasts on the 1kg machine they have set up at their business. I walked away from that visit with a bunch of coffee, all my questions answered, and a TJ-072 on order!
Waiting and Delivery: The wait is the hardest part, but it gave me time to plan for the arrival of my new roaster. I read and re-read “The Coffee Roaster’s Companion”, and did everything I could to prepare my work space for the roaster. Delivery proved to be a bit frustrating as the date on the web site changed the day it was supposed to arrive (Friday). The date that it was changed to (Monday) never happened either and it finally arrived the next day (Tuesday). From that day forward, it has been an incredible learning experience.
Set Up: Two Things: Watch the videos on uncrating your roaster and Have a Crow Bar!! That alone will make the uncrating easy. Setup was also a breeze and the manual provided with the roaster is more than adequate to get you up and running. A schematic of the Roaster that identifies all the different items on the roaster would be convenient, but there was no significant obstacle in setting the roaster up.
Seasoning Roasts: I strongly suggest you use every seasoning roast to get acquainted with your roasting profiles. It is a very steep learning curve and you really can’t mess up bringing a roast to a rolling Second Crack. This roaster is a BEAST! I lost control of the ROR on my first two seasoning roasts, but used them to learn my issues. Steve and Dave were readily available to reassure me of what I was doing and by the end of my seasoning roasts, I had a pretty good feel of how to control the roast through Sight/Sound/Smell and more importantly, how to incorporate Artisan in this process.
My First Series of Roasts: Using the Seasoning Roasts to hone my understanding of my roaster set me up for success with my first real roasts. As of this writing, I have done the four different roast charges of 1kg, two-2kg, and 600g. This machine can go all day and with every roast, I learn more about the nuances of my specific roaster. I did not loose control of any of these roasts!
Quality: I cannot find one aspect of the machine that I would classify as poor workmanship. This roaster is a Beast! Every aspect of the build shows a piece of equipment that built to perform brilliantly and last forever. The packing crate of my roaster was great and I had no damage to the finish. The only thing wrong upon delivery was the Hex Bolts for the front and back doors were missing. A simple trip to Home Depot solved that problem immediately. The finish inside of the Cooling Tray is a little rough, but it is 100% functioning. I would consider both of these issues as trivial.
Final Thoughts: I cannot be happier about my decision. My initial results show that I can get great results at a small charge of 600 grams, a half charge of 1kg, and a full charge of 2kg. I have yet to try an over-charge and really see no reason to at this point. Artisan has been a big change for me as I never bothered with adding it to the Hottop I used for 3-years. Comparing this roaster to a Hottop is like comparing a Harley to a Moped! This machine is built to perform. Installation of Artisan software was easy and the instruction book took me through step by step to connect my Phidget to the thermocouples. All instructions we clear and concise and had me up and running in no time. Roasting on this machine is simply fun. Add to this the incredible customer support before, during and after the sale, and the TJ-072 from Mill City Roaster is a “NO BRAINER”
Thank You Steve, Dave, and The Entire Mill City Roaster Team!
I have owned this 2 Kilo roaster for a few months now and I couldn’t be more pleased. This roaster in conjunction with the Artisan software are in my opinion the ultimate combination for building, storing and consistently recreating roast profiles. There is literally no more guesswork in my roasts. My customers really appreciate the consistency of the beans I have been supplying. The 2 Kilo roaster is a great size to learn the craft of coffee roasting. It can roast a small batches for profile development or you can use it for production roasting of a bag per day. This roaster is and will remain the showpiece of my shop long after I move onto a larger roaster. It looks very cool and people are continually asking about and wanting to know more about roasting because of it. In short, this machine is creating more business for me. The guys at Mill City Coffee have been extremely helpful with all my set up and roasting questions. You couldn’t ask for better tech’ support. I have never called and found nobody to help or been pushed off to voice messaging. This outfit and the people behind it are truly a class act.
Chris Swift
Bull Mt. Coffee Roasters
2 reviews for 2kg Gas Coffee Roaster
Drew M
Bottom Line Up Front: If the durability of the TJ-072 is anything close to my initial assessment of this 2kg Coffee Roaster, you will get a ton in terms of “Bang” for your Buck!
Research: Simply put, there is not a lot of information available for the TJ-072. Even the more popular TJ-067 1KG Roaster has limited information available for it. I suspect this will change considerably over the next 12-18 months, but I was forced to look at information about the 1kg machine and assume the 2kg would be similar.
Decision: There are other roasters available that are made in China…A LOT OF THEM! What made this even more difficult was the fact that the pictures were all very similar; some were the exact same! This added to my concern about getting what I paid for. Email correspondence is okay, but I wanted a trusting voice. I found two different people distributing different machines in the United States and I went with my Gut in terms of Mill City Roasters. I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER! Before dropping your hard earned money on a roaster, I would highly suggest that you spend a little bit of money and visit Mill City Roasters and spend some time with Steve and Dave. Not only did they address every single one of my concerns, but I also had the opportunity to do a bunch of roasts on the 1kg machine they have set up at their business. I walked away from that visit with a bunch of coffee, all my questions answered, and a TJ-072 on order!
Waiting and Delivery: The wait is the hardest part, but it gave me time to plan for the arrival of my new roaster. I read and re-read “The Coffee Roaster’s Companion”, and did everything I could to prepare my work space for the roaster. Delivery proved to be a bit frustrating as the date on the web site changed the day it was supposed to arrive (Friday). The date that it was changed to (Monday) never happened either and it finally arrived the next day (Tuesday). From that day forward, it has been an incredible learning experience.
Set Up: Two Things: Watch the videos on uncrating your roaster and Have a Crow Bar!! That alone will make the uncrating easy. Setup was also a breeze and the manual provided with the roaster is more than adequate to get you up and running. A schematic of the Roaster that identifies all the different items on the roaster would be convenient, but there was no significant obstacle in setting the roaster up.
Seasoning Roasts: I strongly suggest you use every seasoning roast to get acquainted with your roasting profiles. It is a very steep learning curve and you really can’t mess up bringing a roast to a rolling Second Crack. This roaster is a BEAST! I lost control of the ROR on my first two seasoning roasts, but used them to learn my issues. Steve and Dave were readily available to reassure me of what I was doing and by the end of my seasoning roasts, I had a pretty good feel of how to control the roast through Sight/Sound/Smell and more importantly, how to incorporate Artisan in this process.
My First Series of Roasts: Using the Seasoning Roasts to hone my understanding of my roaster set me up for success with my first real roasts. As of this writing, I have done the four different roast charges of 1kg, two-2kg, and 600g. This machine can go all day and with every roast, I learn more about the nuances of my specific roaster. I did not loose control of any of these roasts!
Quality: I cannot find one aspect of the machine that I would classify as poor workmanship. This roaster is a Beast! Every aspect of the build shows a piece of equipment that built to perform brilliantly and last forever. The packing crate of my roaster was great and I had no damage to the finish. The only thing wrong upon delivery was the Hex Bolts for the front and back doors were missing. A simple trip to Home Depot solved that problem immediately. The finish inside of the Cooling Tray is a little rough, but it is 100% functioning. I would consider both of these issues as trivial.
Final Thoughts: I cannot be happier about my decision. My initial results show that I can get great results at a small charge of 600 grams, a half charge of 1kg, and a full charge of 2kg. I have yet to try an over-charge and really see no reason to at this point. Artisan has been a big change for me as I never bothered with adding it to the Hottop I used for 3-years. Comparing this roaster to a Hottop is like comparing a Harley to a Moped! This machine is built to perform. Installation of Artisan software was easy and the instruction book took me through step by step to connect my Phidget to the thermocouples. All instructions we clear and concise and had me up and running in no time. Roasting on this machine is simply fun. Add to this the incredible customer support before, during and after the sale, and the TJ-072 from Mill City Roaster is a “NO BRAINER”
Thank You Steve, Dave, and The Entire Mill City Roaster Team!
Chris Swift
I have owned this 2 Kilo roaster for a few months now and I couldn’t be more pleased. This roaster in conjunction with the Artisan software are in my opinion the ultimate combination for building, storing and consistently recreating roast profiles. There is literally no more guesswork in my roasts. My customers really appreciate the consistency of the beans I have been supplying. The 2 Kilo roaster is a great size to learn the craft of coffee roasting. It can roast a small batches for profile development or you can use it for production roasting of a bag per day. This roaster is and will remain the showpiece of my shop long after I move onto a larger roaster. It looks very cool and people are continually asking about and wanting to know more about roasting because of it. In short, this machine is creating more business for me. The guys at Mill City Coffee have been extremely helpful with all my set up and roasting questions. You couldn’t ask for better tech’ support. I have never called and found nobody to help or been pushed off to voice messaging. This outfit and the people behind it are truly a class act.
Chris Swift
Bull Mt. Coffee Roasters