Most manufacturers recommend that roasters don't make use of a machine at full capacity. As a broad rule, they recommend using about 75% of the listed capacity (depending on the manufacturer) to permit for consistent airflow through the roast.
You can even go right down to 50% capacity or lower for sample roasting and profiling. However, doing this will mean you've to adjust the manner in which you roast as you've a lot more space in the drum.
Altogether, this mean's that it's very important to take a balanced approach when choosing how big is your roaster; too large can be just as detrimental as too small coffee roasting business. For more insight, and to breakdown roasters in to a few different size categories, I spoke to Neil Maree from Genio Roasters in Johannesburg, South Africa. Continue reading to learn what he said.
Picking The Right Size Is Important
Neil says that at Genio, clients are often unaware of the details they need to consider when buying a new roaster. “People often require the absolutely wrong size, or they enquire about the price tag on all of our roasters,” he says. “If you ask me, this points to too little knowledge and understanding about both their target market and their power to sell.
He says that while people often seek out larger roasters as a means of ensuring that they have the capacity to expand, it's not that simple. “Plenty of folks have think they have to get a large roaster to be able to turn a profit. These people believe that they want a giant machine simply to roast coffee for the neighborhood community.
“Ultimately, upscaling your operation is simple, provided that you've a buyer for the coffee. Being able to roast 5,000kg of coffee doesn't mean as you are able to sell 5,000kg. Begin by selling 1kg, then 100kg, and then 500kg, and etc,” Neil explains. “Often, we find ourselves convincing people to go for smaller machines.
However, this doesn't mean there aren't mistakes among people trying to find smaller machines. Neil says: “On the other end, we've got those who think that they'll obtain a 1kg roaster and take up a business from it.
“It will take 15 minutes to roast a group on a 1kg roaster, that will sell for maybe US $30. In order to produce a salary as a company owner with that, you'd need certainly to stand behind the machine for the entire day,” he explains. “This leaves you no time to sell! Roasting doesn't equal making money. Selling equals making money.
To illustrate enough time cost for using roasters of certain sizes, Neil compiled some models and forecasts for roasters of different skill levels that you can find here.
Sizes & Categories
For the purposes of this list, we've broken down commercial coffee roasters into six main categories by capacity: sample, small batch, small commercial, medium commercial, large commercial, and extra large commercial.
Sample Roaster (50g to 500g)
While the name suggests, the key focus of an example roaster is to evaluate types of a specific coffee before you commit to buying large volumes of it.
While you can find exclusive and high-quality coffee roasted in small batches on sample roasters, they're one of many suited to anyone trying to take up a roastery at a big scale.
There is also a lot of overlap between craft and sample roasting as of this range; many home roasters will naturally adhere to a low minimum capacity if they are roasting coffee to solely be enjoyed at home.
Small Batch Roaster (1kg to 3kg)
After sample roasters, the next phase up for roasting coffee at any type of commercial scale is just a small batch roaster. These range in dimensions from 1kg to around 3kg and are good for sample roasting in larger batches or identifying the proper roast profile for a fresh coffee.
These are a great choice for micro-roasters, in addition to successful coffee shops trying to roast their own beans. Most coffee shops don't sell significantly more than 10kg of coffee in one day, but even if they do get close, a 1kg to 3kg roaster will have the ability to deliver that in a matter of hours.
For a café or even a smaller existing coffee business, this is an excellent destination for a start. By starting small and being strategic about how much coffee you roast, you are able to develop a wholesale customer base steadily without the risky overheads of a more expensive roaster.
Neil informs me that this is the goal market for Genio's smallest machine, the Genio 3 Micro Coffee Roaster, launching in December 2020. “With this particular, we wanted to concentrate on people have been ‘owner-operators '; one or two-person businesses who roast and sell by themselves,” he says.
“A 3kg roaster is the backbone of the owner-operated roasting industry. You have enough capacity to really grow with a low enough capital outlay to be accessible to anyone with some savings and an interest for business.”
Small batch roasters likewise have their uses for larger roasteries, however. Many can keep a machine of this size on-hand to profile new coffees without wasting large quantities of fresh green coffee. These profiles may then be translated onto larger commercial machines to begin roasting at scale.
However, additionally it is important to see that the consistency will naturally decrease as you start roasting a better amount of batches. Like, roasting 600 batches in a 1kg machine will leave more room for error than, say, roasting 100 batches on a 6kg machine. Bear in mind that too little consistency might have a direct effect on customer retention.
Small Commercial Roaster (5kg to 15kg)
Commercial non-small batch roasters start at around 5kg. The next step up from a small batch roaster, these machines are far more worthy of teams trying to roast coffee at scale rather than small businesses or cafés trying to diversify.
“A Genio 6 roaster can roast around two tonnes of coffee per month,” Neil tells me. “That's a lot of coffee.” He notes, however, that regardless of this potential output, smaller-capacity commercial roasters continue to be quite versatile and can still be properly used to roast really small batches for profiling.
Neil also warns against roasting to a machine's maximum weekly or monthly output. “Roasting two tonnes of coffee on a 6kg machine is like driving 5,000 miles on a monthly basis,” he says. “It is certainly possible, but you'd must have a mechanic regularly carry out a significant service on your own car.”
Finally, Neil notes that a roaster of this size is just a significant investment. For a lot of up-and-coming roasters, he warns that a larger roaster could be bigger than the business needs. “Even although you can roast two tonnes of coffee per month, you'll need to consider: who are you currently going to offer this coffee to?
Medium Commercial Roaster (15kg to 30kg)
Machines with a group size of around 15kg are most worthy of existing roasting businesses that have a solid base of customers. Many successful specialty coffee roasters will see that this is actually the biggest machine they will ever need.
Neil notes that many roasters find it tempting to offer their preexisting roaster to finance a pricey purchase, but warns against it. He says that he often sees this when people come to him to buy larger roasters, such as the Genio 15 or the Genio 30.
“Let's say you've a 6kg roaster and you wish to obtain a larger roaster. I'd say that you shouldn't sell the 6kg roaster – which should become your backup. Mechanical faults do happen – things break.” At this point, by having an established customer base, being left with out a roaster could be catastrophic.
Large Commercial Roaster (30kg to 70kg)
Moving after dark 15kg to 30kg bracket is only going to be necessary when you have a huge customer base. Roasters of this size are probably be operating on a big commercial scale.
However, as of this stage, you can find probably be unforeseen expenses which come combined with the purchase of a bigger roaster, as Neil explains.
“[With these bigger roasters], people often don't have the proper gas supply or ventilation in position,” he says. “Maybe it's just too hard to run a chimney out from the premises or a gas main in… as of this size, it's a significant consideration.
“At Genio, we offer pre-inspection through video calls or personally to be sure our larger products can fit into your space.”
Beyond ventilation and gas supply, you also have the particular size of your space to consider. As much roasters start a small scale and gradually scale up, their premises can often only fit several small machines. At this stage, it might be necessary to relocate.
Extra Large Commercial Roaster (70kg and up)
Beyond 70kg, extra large commercial roasters are usually useful for mass roasted coffee rather than high-scoring specialty coffee. Operating a machine of this size will require a dedicated team, and it is going to be used to deliver a constant, signature flavour profile on a wide scale rather than roasting different single origin lots, for example.
Just like the previous size category, roasters will also have to look at the physical constraints of the space before installing a device of this size. These roasters will often be found in large open manufacturing spaces, as they could require 50 to 60 square metres of space and often weigh over two tonnes.
Other Points To Consider
Neil informs me that in addition to living area, ventilation, and gas supply, in addition, you need to think about machine maintenance if you're upgrading to a bigger machine. Bigger roasters take more effort to clean and can be more technical to maintain.
Changing how big is your roaster will even affect the profiles you've identified for roasting certain coffees. While these existing profiles can still be properly used as a baseline, remember that machines of different sizes will act differently through the roast.
Be prepared to need certainly to tweak and change. “You can't truly copy profiles from one roaster to the other, even though we do go to extensive efforts as manufacturers to test and make that easier,” Neil says.
However, Neil says that enough time it will take to achieve a specific roast profile shouldn't really change as how big is your machine does. “Your roasting technique shouldn't be determined by the machine,” he says. “It should be determined by the flavour profile of the coffee. But your machine must manage to achieving these results.