Go ahead and drool, my (hopefully) new roaster

[zapty]

She is up and running.
After taking her completely apart, cleaning, adjusting, oiling, testing the motor, figuring out the electrics, rewiring it and having the three elements re-coiled, a stand made for it and put back together again I have now done a few roasts with it.
The little 3 barrel Probat works like a dream and roasts really well. No surprise there as that is what it was built for, it maybe old (1951) but in it's day it was a state of the art professional piece of equipment.
I am running the 3 heating elements with the help of a variac in order to have some more control over the output.
The old motor still runs like a dream.
It is a joy to operate and experiment with.
This little machine makes it much easier to experiment with different roast levels.

Should I now keep this little jewel or ....sell it?

[lukas]

Wow zapty, I'm jealous! Would you sell it to me for the price you got it for?

What about conversion to gas? too expensive?

[zapty]

Hey Lukas, No. I don't think I would sell it for what I bought it for, I have sunk some cash in it already to get it going (elements rewired, stand made etc). The conversion to gas is pretty expensive, yes but I decided to keep it original, exactly like it was built so many years ago.
If it had been gas the conversion to electrics would have been expensive also.
I'm glad I decided to leave the roasters original design intact.

Have you used the Alessi coffeemaker yet?

[lukas]

Yes, indeed! For some reason the Coffee I got was too cold. I guess it's the short heatup phase 'cause of the wide bottom. Fixable if you preheat the thing . It's making me a really nice cup of coffee every now and then.

That evil smiley above also meant to be an evil grinning smiley , I hope you enjoy the Probat and of course I hope you keep it. Is the profile controllable? How long can you stretch the roast? Awww, I want one

[zapty]

Yeah, the profile is very controllable, airflow, temperature, drum revolutions, you name it....
I'm still in the testing phase so....

[Sunnyfield]

This is just fantastic Zapty! I am very glad you did not convert it into a gas-powered roaster. Antique masterpieces like these need to be kept in their original (albeit reconditioned) state.

If you have the space for it, I would definitely keep it.

Are the original specs 220V AC? What is the power consumption (i.e. how many Watts)?

[grib]

So where do you guys come across such great old roasters, I'm probably gonna need an upgrade in the next few months and I may as well go big. Intelligensia have some great looking machines btw, anyone else agree?

[zapty]

Well, I started out with roasting 100 gram batches per barrel, then 150 grams and now have progressed to 200 grams per barrel with still excellent results.
I tend to roast the first barrel to just in to full first crack, the second barrel till right after first crack and the third barrel up to full second crack.
I then cool and blend all three roast levels together in order to have the full range of flavours from the beans.
Works really well. The Probat heats up in a jiffy and produces excellent roasts, one roast after another.

Draws a lot of comments from people too as in the summer I tend to roast with my garage door open...
The whole street smells of coffee....

[lukas]

Patrick, you just made me want to go back to your place immediatly!

[zapty]

Right on Lukas, I've got some nice whiskey we didn't get in to last time...give me a call when you are within 20 kilometers and I'll guide you in...

[lukas]

grzzssttrrrr! Okay