Good info. What do you recommend using instead of a popcorn maker?
The method I use now is a modified bread machine and a heat gun. It's nice because it can handle up to a pound of coffee at a time, and it works in sub zero temperatures. It takes some work to get it up and running as there aren't as many resources or 'how-to's' online, but the setup only cost $30 and works as well as the $300+ commer
That's really awesome. Could you share the details of how to do this? I have a 1000w heat gun already. What kind of modification do you make to your bread maker?
Sure thing! Basically, all you need is a bread machine that:
a) doesn't have a hole in the bottom of the bread chamber
b) doesn't have any plastic or rubber parts in the bread chamber, and
c) has a paddle that will stir the beans constantly.
C is the only one that you can't easily pick out ahead of time just by looking. You might get lucky and find one that has a programmed setting to stir constantly (a lot of people find a 'knead' setting that just spins the paddle), but if not you'll need to do some re-wiring. I bought my machine at Goodwill and it turned out it didn't have setting to constantly stir, so I just followed the advice on this thread:
http://www.homeroasters.org/php/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=528, and it worked out great. Probably took a half hour to do the modification.
After you have a working bread machine, you just dump the beans into the bread chamber, get them moving, and point the heat gun at them. You can go by sight/smell (dump them out when they are done cracking and start to smoke) or you can buy an infared tempature gun for $10-15 and go by temperature, which is easier. It takes 10-15 minutes to roast.
I can post pictures some pictures the next time I roast if anyone is interested.