Hi, I’m attempting to use the roaster for cacao. Although a typical cacao bean is 4-5 times the size of a coffee bean, most roasters are able to accommodate them without issue (we just lower temps and roast longer to achieve our goals).
I’ve been experimenting with the Bullet and have found the bean chute is sufficiently sized to allow cacao in and there is good flexibility in pre-heat temperature settings to do cacao. However, the bean temperature probe is in a very annoying spot and occasionally cacao beans will become lodged between the probe and the drum blades, causing a full jam of the drum!
Monitoring the bean temp is not particularly critical (chocolate is more forgiving I feel)…I can get what I need from the IBTS. Is it possible for me to just remove the bean probe completely and have the unit function okay without it? I know I’m in uncharted territory here, I have a Behmor fallback but getting the Bullet to work would be great!
)! Do you make your own chocolate? Some pictures would be awesome to see… I’m just curious. I had always though most any drum coffee roaster should be able to handle cacao. Is the roasting process / profile similar to coffee beans?