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Beeg
September 6, 2019
I picked up a new SR540 a few weeks ago after I dropped my SR500 roast chamber on the tile floor when I needed to roast. I strung out the beans I had left till the replacement chamber could arrive. This was not a good time so I figured I needed a “Back up” roaster! After contemplating a more expensive drum roaster and evaluating my satisfaction with the SR500 I thought I’d just order another one but they are discontinued so I decided to spring for the new SR540 and take my time fiddling with the new controls and roast profiles. I like simple.
After unboxing the new SR540 I hand washed the roast chamber in the kitchen sink ,stainless steel so not as rigid as cast/enamel, the slippery chamber fell out of my hand and dropped maybe 10"-12” to the sink and broke into numerous pieces. It landed on the glass handle which I guess generates a pressure point where it attaches to the glass chamber side. So, I ordered a new chamber for my brand new SR540! Bummer! Another $35.00 and hadn’t even got to use it yet. After the new 540 chamber arrived I was very careful washing it this time.
1.) You will need to run your new 540 through at least 3 cycles of about 6-7 minutes on it’s hottest (9) setting to burn in the coils so it doesn’t impart the hot electrical smell into your beans. I also left the fan on high (9) for the first two runs then ran it at fan (6) to get more temperature for a really good burn in. You will need to give it the obligatory minimum 30min. rest between cycles to maintain your warranty. I did one more burn in "roast" with some old beans for good measure.
2.) I broke another 540 roast chamber by making sure the bottom metal pice of the chamber was screwed on tightly to the glass. Again, the crack started at where the glass handle attaches to the chamber side. (WARNING: Be gentle when handling these new style roast chambers. Do not put much side load pressure on the handle!) I would recommend that the manufacturer redesign the handle so it attaches to the sides at two points top AND bottom!
3.) On to roasting. I live at sea level on the gulf coast. I measure out my beans to 120g and have only roasted African, Central American and Caribbean beans so far. I like Full City, Full City+ just at start of 2nd crack.
I tried a few different settings of fan speed and temperature and found it difficult to get high enough temperature on anything less than the highest temperature setting of (9) for what I consider a reasonable roast time. I live in an old house so maybe my voltage isn't what it should be? I was a little concerned the new SR540 controls were going to make things more complicated but I found you can keep it simple by just leaving the temp setting at it’s highest (9) and adjust fan speed to control temperature. Easy as pie! The time setting will be remembered on the machine so I just set mine at 10 minutes and it's always there when I plug it back in. I start at fan 9, temp 9.
I’m experimenting but am achieving very satisfactory results with this profile so far.
Fan/Temp/Time
9/9/2min
8/9/1.5min
1st crack
7/9/1.5min
1st crack ends in here
6/9/1.5 – 2.0 depending on bean. 1st couple snaps of 2nd crack.
When you hit the cool button you need to go back and adjust the fan speed back to 9! I think this should have been automatic unless my machine is broke.
All in all I like the SR540 accept for the fragile nature of the new roast chamber and having to reset fan speed in cool mode. I like the new timer as it can be set and remembered even after unplugging. The agitation of the beans had me concerned at first as movement seemed limited but I get a fairly even roast if you ease the fan down slowly.
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I had roasted coffee several years ago with a modified popcorn popper. I decided to try it again with upgraded equipment, as I liked the freshness when roasting myself. Overall the SR540 is an adequate roaster. It took a few roasts to figure the machine out. Out of the box, the roaster defaults to Fan: 9, Heat:5. I was not able to get anywhere near hot enough with these settings. I had to dump quite a few roasts. I thought maybe my voltage was too low, but I measured it and got 122V from my outlet. I actually reversed the settings Fan: 5 and Heat: 9, then I started getting somewhere with my roasts. Depending on the bean, I typically let that run for 2 minutes, then start moving the fan speed down whenever the beans start bouncing more. Fan: 4, Fan: 3, I typically hit the first crack. Then continue dropping to Fan: 2, and finally Fan: 1, all the time keeping Heat: 9. This has given me good roasts. Once you are satisfied with your roast, you can hit the cool button, and then have to remember to turn the fan up to 9.
Set the timer to the max of 20, and don't pay attention to it again, it might be useful if it counted up, so you can see how far into the roast you were.
I like that the new settings are remembered for the next roast, so I can always start on 5/9/20 on future roasts. Once the roast starts, spin the dial and you will see the temperature on the display instead.
120g pre-roast weight gives me about enough for 2 days of coffee. This is good right now as I am learning and adjusting roasts. I might want to get an extension tube to increase capacity later, as I hone my skills and settle on a few roasts I like.
A few things I wish were different:
- No need for the timer, it is useless. Or change it to a count-up timer, instead of a count-down.
- Automatically set the fan to 9, when starting cool.
- Always show the temperature display
- Separate dials (with stops marking 1-9) for Fan and Heat, this helps, the display could be dedicated to showing the Temp.
- Lock for the roasting chamber, currently only gravity holds everything together
Overall: It is easy to use, (could be even easier with the above ideas) It does beat the coffee from the popcorn popper roaster I was using years ago.
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Melissa
April 12, 2022
Bought this a few months ago; I had just started roasting coffee and was using a popper, and decided that was just a stupid way of roasting! I love this roaster. It is easy to use, and roasts consistently. There are warnings all over the internet regarding the top being heavy, the roast chamber just sitting kind of precariously, etc., but if you are careful, you should be ok! The only problem I have with this roaster is I bought it to roast beans for myself, but now everyone wants me to roast for them and is buying me beans…I should have gotten the 800! 😁
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Linda Van Prooyen
September 2, 2021
The glass roaster arrived in pieces, I emailed Coffee Bean Corral. They sent a replacement some day, and it arrived in less than 48 hours. Ran my first roast and was thrilled. My old roaster is very noisy and takes almost 30 minutes per roast. The SR 540 was quiet and I had freshly roasted beans in 10 minutes.
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Satoshi
July 2, 2021
OMG! It's just amazing how easy it is. I just love it.
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Lynn
March 14, 2021
My well loved sr500 gave out after many years of good coffee. The sr540 arrived quickly and I fiddled with the display and even read the directions until I understood how they worked. The first roast was a success based on color. First crack was hard to hear and the time at the end of the roast goes very quickly through CITy- FULL CITY Up to FULL CITY+ It was a scramble to cut the heat and turn the fan up full. The espresso the next morning was very satisfying.
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Dmitriy D
March 11, 2020
This is my first roaster so I have nothing to compare to but I am very happy.
It arrived very quickly and works great. I appreciate the roasting log, coffee sample kit and gift certificate that came in the packet. I already re-ordered more coffee.
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Brad
November 25, 2021
Love my new roaster! Took me a few tries to figure out what I wanted regarding the time, temperature, etc. The customer service here is awesome! Got a call making sure I understood what I was getting and how to use everything- Thanks CBC!
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jack p.
September 23, 2021
The SR540 is a welcome and big improvement to the SR500 I've used for the past 5 years. I like the larger bean canister. And the new heat/fan adjustment ability is like rocket science compared to my old popcorn popper roaster.
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Jeff Klinger
July 19, 2021
I had been using the SR500 for a couple years and have really liked it. I just got the SR540 and it works much better. The chamber is larger and the beans roast more even.
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Kathleen
June 16, 2023
After my old roasstarted burning the beans, I ordered this one. It's definitely different. My first two batches were very light. It's fun experimenting with it. I appreciate the free gifts. I've started using the notebook and pen. Thank you!
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Laura
June 21, 2021
My husband loves the coffee we bought him for Father's Day, it's exactly what he wanted.
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Joni
June 7, 2021
so far so good. I think it's going to last for a long time and so easy to run.
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Matthew
December 28, 2020
First roaster for me. I am surprised at how quickly it works. Overall I am very happy with it. Customer service was excellent and the packing job was great! My cats have taken over the coffee sack used to pad the box :)
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Sam Marshall
October 17, 2020
It is not making my roast as dark as I like it. My older model FB 101 300P did a nice dark roast at 6-7 minutes. Even at 15 minutes this one is just a medium roast.
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Rose Garza
September 8, 2020
We love our new SR540 Roaster. It is so different than anything we have done before. It makes coffee drinking more of an art for us.
We have been trying out all the different coffee profiles and rating them, so we know which ones hit our pallet the best. The coffee is so creamy, smooth and rich. Yum!!
We Love, love, love it!!! Shout out to the owner, he is super nice and helpful! Thank you again! Rose
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Charles Hardgrave
May 17, 2020
I have used an SR540 for years. I am on my second roaster. The only thing I don't like about it is it will only roast for 9.9 minutes. To get a dark roast you have to go back and add another minute or more to the roasting time after it gets below 9.0 or 8.0. This is an inconvenience when you are doing other things besides roasting beans.
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Alison Shaw
May 18, 2023
Was really enjoy this SR540 for the first year when suddenly out of nowhere the controls stopped working about15 months into it. (3 months past the warranty).
The numbers when turning the knob to set do not graduate in order in fact they are sporadically all over the place. I'm still using it as I was finally able to get a setting of 9,9,&13 mins which works ok for.my Guatamalan beans but is not the setting I prefer. I've been debating on whether to get another or move to a different machine.
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Joey Hand
February 13, 2022
Super easy to use and seems very solidly built!
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Scot May
December 29, 2020
I started with a popper a year ago. I upgraded for Christmas this year to the SR540. I will say it has been like night and day. I now control the temp and roast time with what seems like scientific precision! The cooling feature is great as well, I was using a homemade cooling box with computer fan. One machine now, it is awesome. One slight negative is the 30 min wait time between roasts. It takes 2 roasts to fill the small valve bags, so an hour per roasting event. My routine so far: 140g Beans- 2mins @ 9/9/20 to dry the beans. Drop down to 4/9 or 5/9 to raise temp to approx 400° until first crack. Will go to 3/9 to raise to 405-410° until second crack. For most of my beans, I am hitting a rolling second at 10-11 mins. I don't do dark so need to try that I suppose. I love the fact time/temp is now a controllable parameter.
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SAM
January 26, 2020
SAM
The 540 Roaster was delivered within a few days. Very quick service. I was roasting coffee within hours. After several batches, I got the hang of it. Very easy to use and I was able to make some great coffee. Really beats the popcorn roaster I was using. I selected the Central America free coffee pack and found the coffee I've roasted so far is really tasty. For the money, I think it's worth it.
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Dave
September 7, 2019
What is this with dropping new stuff? I just got my new 540 this week - and promptly dropped the black top on the table breaking a small chip (cosmetic) off the edge. Happy to report they listened to Beeg (posted below) and now ship a glass chamber that has a solidly attached handle on the glass chamber, top and bottom. Noticed some numeric ghosting on the LED display, but functionally, it is fine. Thanks, Beeg, for reminding me about the burn-in. I am thinking of drilling a small hole down thru the top to add a wireless temp sensor. So far - awesome machine. Beans? Burundi Kayanza Mpemba. Full City roast.
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Stacey A Green
May 31, 2021
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Beeg
September 11, 2019
Since my review I have received my 3rd roast chamber for the SR540 and it is indeed the new and improved model with the handle attached at top and bottom. I think this should greatly improve the durability and eliminate the fragile nature of the original "series 1" roast chambers of the SR540.
Good job Fresh Roast!
BB
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Leon L Slater
March 3, 2022
Takes FOREVER to roast. My original older unit roast 4 times faster, literally!!
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LEE
August 22, 2019
ARRIVED QUICKLY, WORKS GREAT
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