Soooo. I was at my dentist today getting the coffee stains removed, and I was asked if I had ever tried to roast my own beans on the grill. The person cleaning my teeth mentioned that her boyfriend had done it, and had had some very promising results. So what about it. Has anyone out there tried this? Let us know and how you went about it.
Interesting. I know several guys who roast their own beans, but with electric roasters. I think the trick with using the grill would be that you do NOT want smoke. So I am thinking gas/propane would be the way to go here, or an electric smoker, but not pellets.
I know real coffee roasters use a tumbling type action, so now you have me thinking about whether a rotisserie basket on my gas grill would be a good way to roast my own coffee beans!
Learn how to roast coffee beans on a grill with this step-by-step guide. Discover the tools, techniques, and tips needed to roast fresh beans for a delicious cup of coffee.
This could finally be the use for my otherwise useless rotisserie setup on my Weber Genesis II E-410 grill. And if I want smoke, it would work on the kettle rotisserie too...
How much does it cost to buy green coffee beans for roasting?
A quick search found a couple of sites that sell un-roasted beans. The cost is less than I'm paying for a bag of roasted beans, but I don't know what shipping will run you.
> Weber Genesis EP-330
> Grilla Grills Original Grilla (OG) pellet smoker with Alpha/Connect
> Grilla Grills Pellet Pizza Oven
> Pit Barrel Cooker (gone to a new home)
> WeberQ 2000 (on "loan" to a relative (I'll never see it again))
> Old Smokey Electric (for chickens mostly - when it's too nasty out
to fiddle with a more capable cooker)
> Luhr Jensen Little Chief Electric - Top Loader circa 1990 (smoked fish & jerky)
> Thermoworks Smoke
> 3 Thermoworks Chef Alarms
> Thermoworks Thermapen One
> Thermoworks Thermapen Classic
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> Searzall torch
> BBQ Guru Rib Ring
> WÜSTHOF, Dalstrong, and Buck knives
> Paprika App on Mac and iOS
The Original Coffee Roasting Drum to Roast Coffee Using Your BBQ Grill, Wood-Fired Oven, Over Open Fire and More. 6LB Capacity. Made to Last a Lifetime.
I’ve been roasting my own beans for a decade. The unroasted green beans cost about $6 per pound (Hacea, Sweet Marias, etc) and lose about 15% of its weight after roasting. I use a Gene Cafe roaster. Very easy and satisfying. But need the tumbling action to get uniformity.
I started with a popcorn popper which actually works. I now have a Behmor which I use. Basically it is a rotisserie basket which rotates in a small electric oven but has settings for different stages of the roasting. If you search Amazon you will find many rotisserie circular baskets made for roasting coffee beans. Use your gas grill. You don’t want smoke during the roasting process.
As to green coffee beans I usually buy from Roastmasters but many also recommend Sweet Maria’s Coffee.
MAK 2 Star pellet
Big Green Egg
Fuego gasser
Pitboss ceramic griddle
Eastman Outdoors wok burner
Ooni 16 pizza oven
Cast iron chimenea with pizza steel
Breeo smokeless fire pit, with Titan rotisserie and Titan Santa Maria style adjustable grate
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I roast my own coffee. I went through several DIY methods, and now have a Fresh Roast SR800 that works well for me to roast a pound a week or so.
As far as roasting on a grill, there are 3 ways I can think of that can work:
In a cast iron skillet with a lot of stirring, and probably least satisfactory result,
In a wok so it can be tossed (I've done this - serious forearm workout and decent but not great result)
In a rotisserie basket with manual or motorized turning (I was considering going this route when I decided to get the SR800).
If there are other methods I don't know, I'd love to hear about them.
Interesting thread. I have a local roaster that is excellent. Year's ago I experimented with an electric roaster, but the high cost of the beans combined with the loss of weight discouraged me.
The topic caught me eye because I imagined that just a bit of smoked flavor could be interesting, but apparently the consensus is not.
I'm wondering cost of beans compared to what? I'm not a coffee snob, and I'll drink whatever is available, but for drinking at home everyday, I prefer a quality fresh roast. For me, roasting my own costs more than buying beans at Costco, but is cheaper than fresh roast from a local roaster.
(Not arguing, just curious what your baseline is for comparing cost.)
It all depends when it comes to cost comparisons, and this was many years ago. At that time I was buying the green beans from a mail order spice company in Detroit. They also sold some roasted coffee too IIRC but I was not buying that. As I recall at that time I was getting roasted beans at the supermarket. I remember that I was definitely disappointed by the quantity of beans for a pound of green beans!
My snobiness has grown and nowadays I pay about $15/lb but only from very specific roasters
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I'm a 'run-n-gun' person. 100% K-cups in this house. I'm way too busy huntin', fishin', & blowin' up clay targets with shotguns to make my own coffee dust. But if that's what floats your boat; sail on.
What (not who) floats my boat? Water. 😂
Since I take cream & sugar in my coffee, I go the cheap route with 100 cup boxes of Wally World Breakfast Blend. My coffee doesn't have to be strong enough to stand a spoon straight up. 😁
I used a Weber 26” kettle with a large basket that fits an electric rotisserie. The rotisserie is essential because it has to keep moving. Fired hot at warp 10 (600F) there’s very little smoke and can roast 2 lbs in about 10 minutes. Then I dump the basket and toss the beans between two large bowls until the chaff blows free, then reload the basket and do a couple more batches before I run out of charcoal.
if you buy green coffee in bulk it’s cheaper and the result once you’ve dialed it in is amazing. You have to be sure to get a container with a valve because it will out gas for a few days. In a chemex pour over set-up the coffee is so fresh it nearly blooms out of the filter.
however I will say there are some good roasters out there that do a great job and if you get it soon after roasting it’s just as good (except for the satisfaction part).
if you want to try different varieties, the fresh roast air roaster does a good job on small amounts and is easy to use. I needed a larger supply, hence the scale up to the charcoal grill.
Last edited by Polarbear777; March 11, 2025, 05:59 PM.
It was an onlyfire of some kind. Nothing special except the ring fit the 26” kettle. It wasn’t very fast but the key is it absolutely has to keep moving. It got stuck once and when I went to check on it I had a fireball in the rotisserie hopper.
I used the kettle so much for high heat cooks I wore it out in a few years. I replaced handles twice and vents too.
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