Taiwan Huky500 coffee roaster introduces the skills of using Huky500

This idea has gone beyond the idea of every serious coffee nerd: can I bake my own coffee? We debated for enough time, and when we first stumbled upon a picture of the Huky 500, we were obsessed with it. The device looks like something between a firestick and a spaceship-a tool for a new world of coffee knowledge and experience. When we found out that baker Joe Marrocco owned and approved the Huky 500, we didn't need any incentive to empty our piggy bank and place an order.

It is made by Kuang Li from Taiwan. Mr. Li doesn't have a website, just an e-mail address. Judging from our Huky serial number, that email address has been passed a lot. We found that Mr. Li responded to our email in a very timely manner, and we already had our baker within ten days of the purchase.

More than some of our Instagram and Twitter followers have asked us what we think of the Huky 500, and we have been postponing and committing to a comprehensive review. After six months, hundreds of batches, we felt that we finally had some opinions worth sharing.

Full disclaimer: I work as a highly acclaimed professional coffee roaster, but I have never baked coffee for them-unlike sample batches. So although I am a coffee professional, when it comes to barbecue, I am an amateur. Thankfully, I am an amateur with a few close friends and many years of baking experience. In the past six months, I have dragged these friends into the garage and sent our cars to many cupping tables. With my insight, Scott Rao's A coffee roaster's companion's dog ear copy, and the RoastWatch on my phone-I love learning how to bake coffee.

Design

It's a beautiful device. The polished chrome and wood decoration is reminiscent of a classic muscle car, and each of its functions is powerful. The most attractive thing about Huky is that its design is less like a traditional sample roaster and more like a miniature drum roaster. Although most home roasters function like a high-tech oven, they use a modular system. The roaster, heat source and fan are all different units. The roaster uses a sturdy or porous drum (even if developed, choose solid), which is rotated by a small motor at the back. For heat sources, Mr. Li provides an infrared burner, but Huky can be used for burners of any industrial strength. We even saw a cunning car owner using it on a gas stove. We ordered the infrared burner in stock and hung it on the propane tank.

Airflow

The fan, plus a grid filter, acts as an airflow and cooling tray. The transition from airflow to a cooling tray can be embarrassing, especially given that it is the most critical point in a barbecue. I would recommend buying an extra filter and fan, so you don't have to worry about the transition.

When the airflow fully exploded, we found that a few grams of coffee was finally sucked into the air duct. Although some fast food restaurant owners are frustrated by the prospect of losing 3-5 grams of coffee per roast, we don't think this is a big problem.

On the bright side, once a high-power fan is dropped, it is very effective in cooling coffee. Many bakers do additional development in cooling pallets, but there is no need to use Huky 500s. After a few seconds, the coffee is cool enough to touch with your hands and even drool (the old compass tradition).

Like all roasters, the air duct should be cleaned frequently because cheese is piled up in it. A good store vac is a mandatory accessory for any home baking.

Thermal control

There are two thermometers: an analog thermometer mounted on a drum and a second probe connected to the Center 301 digital thermometer (for data recording software). Its temperature is quite fast and it has incredible heat preservation. We have no way to measure its heat, but we bet a lot of money is better than other home roasters on the market.

Boast that it can bake 500 grams, but like all coffee ovens, it is the most effective under capacity. We found that 330 grams of raw coffee is a perfect batch size. This gives us the baking time we are looking for without any danger of pause.

We have encountered some setbacks with stock infrared burners. The burner provides three basic settings, with slight adjustments between settings. Unfortunately, this does not provide a lot of thermal control. Therefore, we find that resizing the batch is probably the most effective way to adjust the baking profile. We plan to buy gas burners and compare the results.

The last thought

We like our Huky 500s. The equipment is not perfect, but we have been able to use it to bake coffee, and we think it is not as good as specialty coffee baked by a leading process. The Huky 500 is ideal for small coffee companies that want to roast large quantities of home roasting, or even small coffee companies looking for sample roasters at reasonable prices.

Article source: thecoffeecompass