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PostPosted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:15 am
by Joris
I will try that out if the roasts i'm doing today are too smokey again.
Will keep you guys informed.

-edit-

OK, just did 2 roasts, one with Sidamo and one with Panama Bambito.

Changes on roaster compared to last roasts:
- New vanes in drum (better mixing, no stuck beans)
- Adjusted burner placement to reduce hotspots

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First Roast
Beans: Sidamo
Amount: 1200g
Burner: Minimum setting
1th: 14m20s
2nd: 16m50s
Dump: 17m

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I was pleasantly surprised, the roast look nice and very even. After leaving it for an hour it smells quite nice already, it doesnt smell smokey (like the previous roasts did). Will have to wait a couple of days to taste it and know for sure though.

During roasting I kept an eye on how much smoke was in the drum and chamber, this was not that much. Most of it exited the drum through the opening in the lid. I did also notice that there was a lot less smoke before 1th crack than in previous roasts, I guess no beans got stuck and burned up :)


I was planning to do the 2nd roast with a front cover in place but after doing the first roast I decided not to.

Second Roast
Beans: Panama Bambito
Amount: 1200g
Burner: Just a bit above minimum setting
1th: 12m30s
2nd: 14m55s
Dump: 15m10s

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Nice and even again, the new vanes work great. Again the same observations during roast as described above. Dumped the beans a bit too late so they're a bit darker than I planned.

All in all a fruitful morning, can't wait to taste them ;)

PostPosted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:39 pm
by Joris
Update: I've gotten my hands on a couple of K-type probe USB data loggers and an USB relais-switchboard. So I thought "let's connect the roaster to a pc". Well, at work I dug up a Thin-Client PC with Windows XPe on flashmemory which will, in the end, be the "heart" of the roaster. With the USB stuff came a couple of programs to log the temps and control the switchboard so connecting it all to test it will be pretty straight forward.

Oh and the coffee I roasted last time (see post above this one) was very nice, the smoky taste was not there in the lightest batch and just a tiny bit in the dark batch.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:20 pm
by CakeBoy
Nice Joris. I'll be interested to hear more about how the XP flash memory thing works out. It's good you largely sorted out the smokiness too. Your roaster project is really coming together :D

PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:46 am
by Beanie
Joris, I am just simply in awe :)

PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:00 am
by GreenBean
Congratulations Joris, very impressive results. :D

PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:54 pm
by Joris
Even though the last batches of coffee I roasted were very nice and the smoky taste was absent I decided to install a flue, after all if I want to take a roast a bit darker than I usually do there will be more smoke in the drum so it might come in handy.

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I did 2 test roasts. In both cases I noticed that there was almost no smoke escaping from the flue. It seems that either the flue is too small (1.2cm x 10cm) or the airflow through the drum in insufficient to carry away the smoke. The latter might be the case since the holes in the drum are quite small (3mm) and the front of the chamber is open so the airflow might go around it in stead of through it. What do you guys reckon ?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:13 am
by Joris
Stumbled on this thread... will update it with some pics and info of the final build, just to complete the post ;)

The final build has been in use since august 2009 and still running strong.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 1:20 pm
by GreenBean
It is great to see you around here, Joris :D I will look forward to the update. This is still the most impressive roaster build on TMC 8)

PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 7:13 pm
by bruceb
Hi Joris! Great to see you around. What coffees are you drinking these days. I bought a full bag (30kg) of Yirgacheffe, so that gets into all my blends at this time! LoL

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 7:49 am
by Joris
Any fresh roasted coffee I can get my grubby little paws at and in greens I have some Columbia Finca La Luisa, Guatamala Finca La Candelaria and Costa Rica Santa Elena...