If my Bullet R1 could do 3kg at a time, I would be running it that way pretty often. I guess success is a mixed bag and 1kg at a time is consuming long days for me.
Has anyone moved up from the Bullet to a floor standing roaster? Alibaba sells 5kg roasters for about 1.5x what the Bullet V2 Pro costs. I guess I could add a second Bullet to my shop and on a good mental day keep both of them going without burning beans, but I’m curious to hear about anyone’s experiences moving up to bigger equipment and especially from a seller like Alibaba.
For our church roasting projects, the R2 Pro is more than enough for now, but when we were shopping, the Valenta fluid bed roasters from Coffee Crafters were highly recommended. One of their models can do 8 lbs. at a time and about 45 lbs. per hour.
Not long after I bought the Bullet R1, I had the opportunity to buy an electric Rio 5kg New roaster made in Vietnam and imported to Australia. Previous owner had only done seasoning roast or two and I picked it up for less than half RRP, so too good to pass up 
.
It quickly became my production roaster, despite lower tech and no computer link, very much a sight and smell style of roasting. It was very beneficial both in terms of my development in roasting skill and my ability to escalate weekly supply volume.
When the Rio5 broke down (lightning strike on shed nuked one of the heater elements that wrap around the drum) and I went back to the Bullet for production for about 3 months, it was both a pleasure (using the more advanced tech again) and a pain (reduced production capacity).
I still use the Bullet at markets but will be looking at a larger production roaster (12-15kg?) in a year or two.
Hey @snidely_whiplash , where in Australia are you out of curiosity. Are you in Sydney by any chance ?
Would be nice to connect at some point.
Anyhow, sorry to hear about your Rio5 mishap. Lucky it wasn’t worse
Based in glorious Canberra and do markets around the region 
. Message me if down this way and check out the Roastery shed. I do random trips to Sydney for equipment or green bean purchases but not regular.
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I am based in Sydney but will surely reach out if I ever come down to beautiful Canberra.
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