by Jasonscheltus » Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:16 pm
I watched a couple of roasts on a Probatino (a 1 kilo capacity Probat) and I feel like I should reiterate the smoke point. I know there are people who roast "in shop", but I think they must do it with ventilation, a chaff cyclone and a certain amount of leeway considering the smell the roaster produces. The Probatino I saw work had a chaff cyclone (though whether it was needed or not) and had an aluminum smoke vent propped up out the window, which it most definitely needed, as the smoke it started to produce around the first crack was similar to that of a old car burning oil, and much worse as it cooked. Although the smell was more pleasant, it was still a lot of smoke with a load of 800 grams of coffee.
I reckon shop roasting is the way to go, I think you should give it a crack, or your friend should, even if you've only seen a couple of roasts before. Once you have it in, you can log roast profiles and taste taste and taste more.
But. I don't think you should try it out unless you can vent the smoke out somewhere. Perhaps there's a way of using the kitchen's range hood as an exhaust? Or a window somewhere the owners won't miss?
Also there's a huge fire risk. Like HUGE. If you're gonna do it you need to pay attention to it, there a lot that can go wrong with roaster and fire is the most common one and the most dangerous. I don't think "setting it and walking away" is viable, it's not like steaming milk!
Good luck mate, overall, I think you should give it a bash.
***Sorry, I keep saying "you", I mean your mate. Your mate should definitely give it a crack.