Relevant

Fresh Beans, Inc. has stopped making the venerable Fresh Roast Plus 8.  In it's place they are introducing two new roasters that have larger batch size and better heat and air flow.  Named the Fresh Roast SR-300 and Fresh Roast SR 500, they are a major improvement over the earlier model. 

Tim  Skaling at Fresh Beans sent us a pre-production SR 500 and we've had a chance to try it out.  Here's what we think so far:

Both the SR 300 and 500 have the same maximum batch size--120 grams or about 5 ounces of green coffee.  That's twice as much as the old Fresh Roast Plus models.

Both have a digital time remaining  read out, and both can have time added or subtracted from the roast time by tapping a "up" or "down" button.  A single tap adds or subtracts 6 seconds.  The cooling cycle can be started at any time on either model by pressing the "cool" button, or you can just let the roasting time run out.  The cooling cycle is 3 minutes long.  Both roasters have a footprint of approximately 7" in diameter and stand slightly over 12" tall when assembled.  They weigh about 5 pounds.

The SR 300 is the more basic of the two, and operates just like the Fresh Roast Plus did.  It basically starts up, heats up, roasts coffee for what ever time you select, and then cools down.  Very simple.  Very easy.  And it does a good job.

The SR 500 has a knob that allows you to adjust the fan speed plus or minus 10%.  It also incorporates a 3 position temperature select switch for high (490°F) medium (455°F)and low (390°F).  Using a combination of fan speed and temperature allows you produce a pretty sophisticated roast profile. 

Here's what we did for our tests:  We loaded up 4 scoops (a 43cc scoop comes with the roaster) because that's what most of you'll do--go for the maximum batch size.  We roasted out doors at approximately 50°F, so the roaster really had to work to heat up.  Initally we set the fan speed and temperature at maximum.  As the beans lost water weight and began to agitate more rapidly, we slowed the fan speed down, to medium and then slow to allow the heat to build more rapidly.  When our beans got to the first crack, we turned the temperature to medium and the fan speed to high to slow down the time between the first and second crack in order to increase the body of the coffee.  Just a few seconds into the second crack, we pressed the cool button and turned the fan speed back to high to cool the beans quickly. 

Under these conditions and using this technique, it took just a little over 9 minutes to reach a Full City +, which was our target roast.  The beans were evenly roasted.  The chaff collector, which sits on top of the glass chamber (just like the Fresh Roast Plus), did a nice job, but when we removed it, a few chaff flakes fell back into our beans.  Not a big deal.  They don't hurt anything and were easily removed. 

Results?  Very nice.  The flavor and body development were improved noticeably over the Fresh Roast Plus.  We roasted for drip and espresso and thought each was very acceptable.  The roaster is significantly quieter than the iRoast 2, and we could hear the first and second cracks--something we can't do with an iRoast.

These roasters solved the major complaint with the Fresh Roast--batch size.  They are both well made, are better packaged than the Fresh Roast (should help eliminate damage during shipping) and will carry a 1 year warranty from Fresh Beans.  The chaff collector is heavier than the Fresh Roast (should help reduce thermal cracks that sometimes occured over time).  The roasting chamber is along the same design concept as the Fresh Roast, but has a lighter aluminum base.  We think it will be more durable.  On the whole, this is a much more substantial roaster and is a well thought out replacement for the Fresh Roast Plus.