My initial impression of our new Loring S15 Falcon is that it is quite the coffee roaster. I keep telling people it’s like going from a rotary phone to the new iPhone. There is no comparison between the way it operates and the clean, crisp flavor the Loring coaxes out of our current lineup. With only a few roasts under my belt so far, the Loring S15 is undoubtedly a standout coffee roaster and one I’m excited to work with going forward.
What’s Great About The Loring S15
One of the great new benefits of the marriage between Loring and Cropster is that now when I make a gas move on the Loring screen, it records that in Cropster. That will make my marks in Cropster that much more accurate, especially since there is no way to mark gas moves visually on the Loring curve.
Another massive benefit to using the Loring over my conventional drum roaster is the lack of air going to the machine to actuate the gates. Now the Loring comes with all electronic actuators, making it quieter and less fussy, especially when there is humidity in the lines. That hissing sound and lack of functionality until the moisture is out of the lines can drive you mad. Now, my only issue is not hearing the actuators move at all.
Finally, one of my all-time favorite upgrades is the automatic warm-up and cool-down features. No more standing around for an hour wasting time. Now I can pop in to see how things are going, and when the time is up, I can start roasting right away—no more waiting and waiting.
What To Consider When Getting A Loring S15 Coffee Roaster
The first thing is the speed at which you can roast. Coming from an old Diedrich, I had a BBP of around 8-9 minutes. As you can imagine, after roasting ten batches, I’ve wasted 80-90 minutes just waiting for the machine to cool down and then warm back up to my charge temp for the next roast. While it’s nice to have time to read the news or watch a youtube video, I’d instead be roasting more coffee per hour. Thankfully, the Loring S15 affords me this with its almost instant BBP. Since there isn’t as much thermal stability in the drum, the Loring cools down and warms up quickly. Once a roast is complete, it goes into an idle sequence, which keeps your temp within a reasonable range of your charge temp. It’s essential also to mention that my charge temp never changes. I charge at 475 degrees on the return air temp and that never changes since I’m always using the same 30-pound batch size.
The second is the difference in temperature readings and when to end a roast. After speaking with Loring’s resident expert Rob Hoos of hoos.coffee, I learned that the Loring would give me much higher-end temps than my Diedrich did because of the size of the bean probe. My Diedrich probe is 3mm, and the Loring’s probe, possibly the fastest on the market, is 1.5mm. This thermocouple produces a very high peak on your RoR curve at the turn and a flatter looking middle to end RoR through the rest of the profile. It also makes your end temp look a lot higher. For example, on the Diedrich, we ended our Guatemala around 399-401 degrees. On the Loring S15, the probe is reading 415 for about the same end color.
Finally, and possibly the most challenging thing is that the machine can be selective when you light it. My Diedrich always lights the first time. This machine will light and stay lit, but the next day it doesn’t. There should be a way to update the burner to be more consistent when you light it. There is nothing worse than having a cold coffee roaster. It’s not good for your business either. Initially, when we first went to turn it on, there must have been some debris around the area where the flame catches. It corrected the issue by blowing that out, but I was hoping this wasn’t a Loring feature.
One thing about the Loring S15 is that you have to have a good steady stream of gas. It can’t be over seven or below 4. We have a booster at our roastery, which creates too much gas pressure, so we installed a regulator, correcting the issue. Please be sure of your gas pressure before installing your machine and double-check if you need a booster or regulator. You don’t’ want to have to wait weeks to get that installed.
The Loring S15 coffee roaster is so far one of the most advanced, drivable, and speedy coffee roaster I know of on the professional coffee roaster map. I look forward to continue roasting and learning and will report back over time to inform you about the things I love and the things I’m not so hot on. Roasting joke, I know.
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Path Coffee Roasters is located in Port Chester, NY, where we roast and package all our coffees weekly for our wholesale, retail, and dropshipping customers.
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