esohn92 wrote:Hello, I've been eyeing on Ikawa Home for awhile (looking for a decent used one), and I wanted to ask how everyone thinks of the roaster.

I love the idea of just putting the beans and pushing the button. How is the consistency? Will you get the same results every time as long as you're using the same beans? And how is the flavor of the roasted beans? My favorite is Ethiopia Yirgacheffe and I'd likely buy the green beans directly from Ikawa.

Any competitors that may be better while providing one touch + smokeless solution?

Are you only using the roaster since you bought it? Or do you also buy roasted beans elsewhere? If so, why?

It seems a few have asked for updates, but I'm not sure there is much to report. It just works very simply and consistently. I stay in the Medium to Medium Light espresso range and now only buy beans from other sources (selection and price reasons, and because the generic profiles do pretty well for what I want). I might roast a single batch every other week on my coffee bar but most of the time I take it over to my kitchen range hood and roast about 8 batches at a time while I'm doing other kitchen things.

If, like you say, you just like the idea of hitting a button, then this is a great option. If you want to take a bean and master its nuances, you probably need more control and that will be a lot more hands on. I like it a lot and am happy with it but if I had a nice spot for a permanent vented roaster, that might be more fun.

I rarely order other coffee. Maybe if there is a group tasting on here or the Decent forum or if I'm traveling and want to bring a bag home, but it seems like a risky waste of money when I have this good option.

Occasionally I'll do an Ethiopian, but I generally mix one batch of Brazil with one batch of a central/south American.

So... if it's the sort of process that appeals to you, it's great. Want to really get into roasting for all it can be? Maybe look elsewhere, although the profiles thread may be finding a lot more tweaks than I've been bothering with.

Peppersass wrote:Your issue could be related to one of the issues I described: loss of all but 5 or 6 or my stored profiles. That could be a sync or download issue, too.

Just to report that my "legacy" profiles have returned to my Home app, and the rest of the functions of the app are working without difficulty -- even the bluetooth connects first time!

Wanted to update my issue because Ikawa got back with me. They said the black build up on the bottom is normal and does not affect the roast. They do replace/clean that part during the deep clean service they offer after substantial use.

mathof wrote:Just to report that my "legacy" profiles have returned to my Home app, and the rest of the functions of the app are working without difficulty -- even the bluetooth connects first time!

Does "returned" mean your profiles were gone for a while, then reappeared after some time passed (hours/days/weeks?) and concurrently the Bluetooth connection improved? Your experience can inform the rest of us on how many days of roasted inventory to keep on hand in the event of server-side drama at Ikawa, aka 'roast preppers'.

Big-Brothering my roasting profiles seems to be de rigueur for IoT appliances nowadays, but putting a cloud server in the path of powering up my roaster is a whole 'nother matter. Why does that need to be on a PowerPoint slide in a board meeting? I'm imagining a control room with a giant map of Earth, dotted with little blinking lights showing the location and activity of every Ikawa roaster...

Gonna keep emailing my profiles to myself as a backup copy. I've also confirmed the older Android version of the app will connect in less than a minute with cellular and Wi-Fi turned off (aka 'off grid'), so I can roast regardless of Ikawa's mood swings. For comparison, I've observed my iOS app can take about five minutes to connect if my phone is off-grid, versus seconds when I'm on-grid.

Milligan wrote:Any of you guys getting carbon build up in your roast chamber (Pro 100)? I'm getting some black residue at the bottom where Ikawa says not to clean. I'm wondering if this is normal "seasoning" or something that needs to be addressed. Curious to know if any of you have a roast chamber bottom that looks like this.

image

I'm able to easily clean the sides but everything I've read from Ikawa says to not clean the bottom. If this is abnormal then I guess I need to get in contact with them. I don't roast dark and I have around 100 roasts on it, maybe less.

Mine (Pro 100) looks like that. I asked Ikawa and they said it was normal and not to worry about it.

GDM528 wrote:Does "returned" mean your profiles were gone for a while, then reappeared after some time passed (hours/days/weeks?) and concurrently the Bluetooth connection improved?

Yes, that's what I mean. It was about three weeks ago that I first noticed that my legacy profiles did not load when logging on to my Home Roaster account. And it was a couple of days ago, when I searched for one in particular, that I discovered they were back. I took note at the same time that my Bluetooth connection seemed to take hold with less bother than previously. I have no idea whether these two welcome phenomena are causally connected.

Thanks for your reply! The current place I'm in has a decent yirgacheffe beans for a great price ($16/lbs) nearby, which I've been getting. But if I end up moving elsewhere, I think this might be both a fun and semi-economical way to indulge in my coffee hobby.

MNate wrote:It seems a few have asked for updates, but I'm not sure there is much to report. It just works very simply and consistently. I stay in the Medium to Medium Light espresso range and now only buy beans from other sources (selection and price reasons, and because the generic profiles do pretty well for what I want). I might roast a single batch every other week on my coffee bar but most of the time I take it over to my kitchen range hood and roast about 8 batches at a time while I'm doing other kitchen things.

If, like you say, you just like the idea of hitting a button, then this is a great option. If you want to take a bean and master its nuances, you probably need more control and that will be a lot more hands on. I like it a lot and am happy with it but if I had a nice spot for a permanent vented roaster, that might be more fun.

I rarely order other coffee. Maybe if there is a group tasting on here or the Decent forum or if I'm traveling and want to bring a bag home, but it seems like a risky waste of money when I have this good option.

Occasionally I'll do an Ethiopian, but I generally mix one batch of Brazil with one batch of a central/south American.

So... if it's the sort of process that appeals to you, it's great. Want to really get into roasting for all it can be? Maybe look elsewhere, although the profiles thread may be finding a lot more tweaks than I've been bothering with.

Milligan wrote:Any of you guys getting carbon build up in your roast chamber (Pro 100)? I'm getting some black residue at the bottom where Ikawa says not to clean. I'm wondering if this is normal "seasoning" or something that needs to be addressed. Curious to know if any of you have a roast chamber bottom that looks like this.

image

I'm able to easily clean the sides but everything I've read from Ikawa says to not clean the bottom. If this is abnormal then I guess I need to get in contact with them. I don't roast dark and I have around 100 roasts on it, maybe less.

What's your typical batch size? The pattern of the deposits at the bottom of your chamber are curiously asymmetrical. The build-up on the bottom of my chamber is much more uniform, but I typically load in 50-60g of greens. I also set the fan speed so the beans stay elevated off the bottom of the chamber during the roast.

You should always follow Ikawa's guidance on how to maintain your roaster...
Now that I got that off my chest, I've found that an alcohol wipe applied to the surface while its still warm, will gradually remove the residue. I can get a tub of 70% alcohol wipes at my local pharmacy, but the real badass +90% wipes can be found online (wear gloves for the high-proof wipes!). The alcohol wipe is damp, not drippy, but if I'm feeling extra cautious I'll lay the Ikawa on its side so nothing drains below the chamber.

esohn92 wrote:Hello, I've been eyeing on Ikawa Home for awhile (looking for a decent used one), and I wanted to ask how everyone thinks of the roaster.

I love the idea of just putting the beans and pushing the button. How is the consistency? Will you get the same results every time as long as you're using the same beans? And how is the flavor of the roasted beans? My favorite is Ethiopia Yirgacheffe and I'd likely buy the green beans directly from Ikawa.

Any competitors that may be better while providing one touch + smokeless solution?

Are you only using the roaster since you bought it? Or do you also buy roasted beans elsewhere? If so, why?

Re: consistency, check out post #67 of this thread: Ikawa Home thermal performance Consistency is over-the-top/crazy-good, to the point that I find myself deliberately changing things up just to counter the boredom from getting the same result every, dang, time.

Re: smokeless, the Ikawa has a clever way to keep the chaff from burning and producing smoke, but there's still some pretty active chemistry happening with the greens, which produce fumes - true for any roaster. I don't like the fumes, not even for one or two runs, so I park my Ikawa near my range hood to vent most of the fumes outside.

Re: flavor, if you press for an answer to that question you may trigger some long and existential responses - thoughtful, but may get you no closer to something you have to figure out for yourself. Remember The Dress? https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-dres ... this-dress

Re: economics, if it becomes a hobby (and good luck trying to avoid that), then the cost considerations can get really complicated. The Ikawa Home costs as much as 75 bags of Yirgacheffe, and it will take 150 bags to break even. It will take me years to justify the cost, but I don't have a problem with that

I am curious as to if Android app still can edit the temperature curve... (I have downloaded the app to play around and it seems to be). I don't have Ikawa Home machine so I can't tell if there will be any "blockers". I am interested in this roaster but definitely not interested in subscription that cost too much for being able to customize my roast profile.
Is this subscription only on apple devices and not on android? Is there major con of using android device with this machine? Thanks in advance!