Equipment Suggestions

Greetings!
I became involved in Specialty coffee bean roasting a year and a half ago and have been interested in roasting and processing cacao beans. My green bean supplier has contacts that would help me choose.
I currently have two commercial roasters and will be purchasing a roaster( small one to start ) for the cacao beans from the same manufacturer. I really don't see the difference but there must be something.

We have Tazza Chocolate here in MA and was very impressed with their start up story and their artisan way of producing their finished chocolate. Although I would love to get an old roaster and melanguer, I feel the time looking and refurbishing would not put me where I want to be. So I guess my questions are....Santha products, any experiences? I looked at the BLT winnower and still looking.

I know what questions will be asked of me and that is volume. Not sure but I would rather purchase once than twice. I just want to offer something different with my coffee blends.

Any leads in the right direction for equipment will greatly be appreciated.
This forum is great and I spent all day reading every post.

Thanks
Charlie


updated by @charlie: 05/10/15 05:09:04AM

Charlie;Don't waste your money buying a third roaster for cacao. As long as you can turn the temperature down to about 300 degrees, your coffee roasters will work just fine.Remember: Cooking anything is about heat and airflow. If your cooking instrument creates both, then you can cook anything you want in it.Case in point: we use a commercial electric convection oven in our shop, roast a few hundred lbs of beans every week, and also toast our coconut, roast all of our nuts, bake brownies, cupcakes, cookies, and other pastries.Cheers.Brad.