[tjambro]

I resisted the urge to buy a popper last year during the powerbuy but I'm seriously considering it now.


I'm a noob when it comes to popcorn machines and I have a couple of q's if anyone with a popper wouldn't mind answering:


1) Will the popper emit steam or an oily substance in my room?


If I do this, my popper will have to be in the back of my 14' x 21' foot dedicated theater room. This room has no windows and is totally enclosed but does have an HVAC return and registers. Naturally, I don't want oil on my Stewart Microperf.


2) Roughly how long will heated popcorn on the warming tray stay "fresh"? Is it unreasonable to think a batch of popcorn could remain on the tray for 24 hours?


I mostly watch movies myself but occasionally have friends over and occasionally my wife will watch. If the popcorn will remain reasonably fresh for 24 hours or so, I can see making popcorn before I watch a movie one day, and snacking on it the rest of the evening and perhaps the next day before discarding the leftovers. Is this unrealistic?


Thanks!


-Tom A.

 

[barry v s]

#1 A little steam, dissapates quickly. My 10 year old Stewart StudioTek has been unaffected by anything.


#2 I have had popcorn on the tray for up to 4 days, actually tastes better after the first day, crisper. Don't disgard it, eat it.


I bet others will echo my thoughts. I just got to be lucky respondant #1.


Good questions Tom and get the popper soon, you wont regret it.

 

[navydoc]

As a newbie to the HT crowd and this forum, I also had some of the same concerns you did - I pulled the trigger during this powerbuy on the 6oz with warming tray (thanks to the expert advice on numerous threads from forum members including brickie, the popcorn guru).


Have had the machine over a month and am thrilled with it - steam is produced but negligible and dissipates quickly with the door left slightly ajar. The warming tray keeps the popcorn warm but as many others have pointed out, the popcorn seems to taste better as it ages. As a former theater usher in years gone by, I remember storing the popped popcorn in plastic trash bags at the end night and resusing it the next day - it really does taste good...


Good luck with your decision - I don't regret mine...for what this newbie's opinion is worth

 

[DoyleS]

Depending on the amount you pop you will definitely get vapor. The most of which is steam. My popper has a filter built into the exhaust fan so I don't get a lot of oil and stuff outside but lots of aroma and the steamy air. The Filter does get dirty (oily) so I would be wrong to not say there is oil in the vapor.

With regard to the corn, it is not necessary to leave the warming tray on all the time. You can turn it off and then turn it on an hour or so before you plan to eat the popcorn and it should be fine. Each popper is a little different so depending on the unit you get and how big a heater is in the warmer. Mine has botha warming tray and a floodlight that shines on the corn. Both heat the corn but the tray does the majority of heating. I tend to toss the corn in the tray a couple times while it is heating to redistribute the hot and cold corn. When I worked in concessions, we could have popped corn sitting around for weeks and then put it in the warmers and it was great. I would say be reasonable about how long you keep it. Leaving the warmer on is really up to you, if you can handle the electricity bill then your corn is pretty much always ready to eat. Do toss it around a bit. It really helps to have a regular metal popcorn scoop and you can use it also to scrape the old maids and bits into the catch tray under the warmer.


..Doyle

 

[tjambro]

Thanks Guys!


You told me what I wanted to hear so I decided to go with the TP 8oz. I was originally gonna go with the 6oz but for $40 more figured the 8oz would be a better deal with the same footprint.


I had planned on getting the cart but read about the opening in the back. That won't work for me since the popper will be as near to the wall as safely possible. My space requirements are also tight, so I will build a stand no bigger than the popper itself. Also saves quite a bit of money.


It's funny how things work. I haven't been reading the forum much in the last month (hanging head in shame) so I didn't know about the powerbuy. My wife and I were out two days ago looking at flooring options (not for the theater but for the kitchen and util room) and the flooring place had a popper out on the infamous red cart with yellow wheels. I grabbed a small bag of popcorn they already had bagged and while we found nothing of interest for the floor, the popcorn was great. Just two days later (today) I checked my email and got a notice from Stargate that the powerbuy is about over. I couldn't resist the temptation any more!


Thanks again for answering my questions. This forum is great...my wife thinks it's not great for my wallet...but oh well. ;-)


-Tom A.

 

[brickie]

Congrats!! Nothing more for me to say here..


brickie