Anyone have suggestions for a cheaper yet effective roaster for a beginner? I don't want to spend too much money on a roaster yet if I don't want to continue doing it down the road. Just sick of the same old coffee all the time

^ Starbucks...

Meh, sick of them

You need a cat to make the expensive stuff for you!!!! LOL

A cat?

Oh no...... not this story......

they eat it then YOU harvest it

Search Scott harr and cat **** coffee.

Not gonna search it. You can scratch the idea of me drinking cat ****.

I own dogs anyway

chicken...

even better

They'll do the grindin for ya

Damn funny post Tony. Worth a top.

^ Wish granted.

Nice. Thanks 5.0

jalapeno spinchter

I use a Nesco roaster - it's only about $150 (or less) and does a decent job. Others use the old hot air popcorn makers but you have to listen for the cracks to get it right. Mine has a timer and it makes it easy. It can get a little smoky at times but I do most the roasting outside so it's not an issue.

Tony,

You can start off with a hot air popcorn popper. They only do about 3 oz. at a time, and they tend to burn out quickly, but it will get you started.

After going through half a dozen of the units, I finally ended up with a Behmor 1600 drum roaster. At the going rate of $299, it may sound expensive, but it does a full pound at a time, and is far less expensive than many other drum roasters.

Do a search for Sweet Maria's. Best green beans on the planet. Check out their Library while you are there for all kinds of tips on how to home roast. They even have an entire section dedicated to roasting with a hot air popper.

A word of warning. Once you start home roasting, you'll never be able to go back.

The Nestco recommended by Cheifburg is a very fancy, electronic hot air roaster. Better than the popcorn poppers, but again, you are limited to 4 oz. batches. No where near large enough for my needs.

Hot air popper works fine. So what if you end up roasting more often? Isn't that the point?

A heat gun and a stainless steel dog bowl are easy to use and very inexpensive. I use this method to roast a pound of green beans once a week.

http://www.homeroaster.com/heatgun.html 

This is how I cool off the roasted beans, a critical step in roasting is stopping the roast:

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/05/cooling/ 

Google of related info:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=dog+bowl+coffee+roaster&btnG=Google+Search 

No matter what way you try, buy some inexpensive beans to learn how to roast.