New toy

by **Gouezeri** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:12 pm

If it is something for the kitchen, in these situations I normally start trying to find recipes that will appeal to her sense of "gourmandise" (sorry, that doesn't translate well)... I suppose I'm basically saying, indulge her and you might just get away with your own indlugences! ;-)

by **Raf** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:31 pm

Okay, can you puh-lease tell us what it is, Simon? We give up!

by **simonp** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:31 pm

I'm going to be a taxi service to the station for a while till we can find her a car. Does that count as indulgence?

by **Gouezeri** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:13 pm

Hmm, depends on whether it keeps raining as it has done for the past few days! Soon as wimbledon and Glastonbury happen, it starts to rain, you'd have thought they'd realise that by now... what's worse is I'm waiting for my new toy too (on its way from germany) and if the weather doesn't improve, I'm not going to be able to use it much either.
So come on then Si... give us some clues at least!

by **simonp** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:25 pm

I forgot to mention that the station is 12 miles from home!

Well, mine is not exactly new, it is 2nd hand (as with all my stuff, even the tamper!)., and it does get quite hot.

by **Raf** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:34 pm

It's a hottop.

by **simonp** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:54 pm

Raf wrote:It's a hottop.

OK, yesy it's a Hottop, you guessed earlier, but I was just keeping it going for amusement :wink:

.

The Imex is fun, especially with the controllable heat, allowing proper profiling, but it is really hard to judge 2nd crack on some beans with the noise, and I have roasted the Daterra too long (although not undrinkably so) on many occasions. The Hottop came up at a price that is hard to miss.

I'm going to see where I can fit it to use, and where I can store it (and what Jess says!) and decide whether to take up the offer. It does look quite big out of the box so we'll have to see.

I do remember seeing a demo of one at Steves place at the TMC get together last year, and was really impressed by it, especially being able to hear the cracks so well.

by **Gouezeri** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:57 pm

The question now is, what mods do you have lined up for it!?! ;-)

Oh, and when are you going to PID your Bodum?

by **simonp** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 4:23 pm

gouezeri wrote:The question now is, what mods do you have lined up for it!?!
Oh, and when are you going to PID your Bodum?

Funny you should say that

There is the possibility of adding a function to bypass the heater control to allow manual heat control and profiling. The standard profile is very good (I beleive) for almost all beans, but a few (ask Phil) benefit from a slower run through 1st crack, so it might be fun to have the option (whilst leaving in the original control too) to manual profile. A light dimmer like I use with the Imex will work fine with the Hottop heating element.
Once all the Hottops are out of warrante perhaps I should offer an upgrade service :wink:

Hmm, PID on the Bodum, I could wrap a heater round the glass, and use the PID to control it to pre-warm the glass before pouring in the water I suppose

by **Gouezeri** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 4:42 pm

simonp wrote:Hmm, PID on the Bodum, I could wrap a heater round the glass, and use the PID to control it to pre-warm the glass before pouring in the water I suppose

yeah, but Si, you've got to have a light dimmer in there too... somewhere.... maybe put a motor on the plunger and have it controlled by the dimmer...?
:lol:

D

by **simonp** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 5:03 pm

by **stevenzaat** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:03 pm

Simon,

Congratulations with your new Hottop, as a master Roaster/Blender the members of this site should provide you one. Big advantage for me is that I can easily follow your profile from now!!

Enjoy it as I do two times a week. My Hottop has been open with very screw taken from his place, so I am open for every modficarion.

Best regards,

Steven

by **simonp** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:36 pm

stevenzaat wrote:Simon,

Congratulations with your new Hottop, as a master Roaster/Blender the members of this site should provide you one. Big advantage for me is that I can easily follow your profile from now!!

Enjoy it as I do two times a week. My Hottop has been open with very screw taken from his place, so I am open for every modficarion.

Best regards,

Steven

I think the honours of master roaster/blender have to go to Steve, being our resident pro on this front. I just post more junk on this than others.

Like I said, it remains to see if it is a viable purchase. At the moment the location I had in mind to use it in the kitchen is an issue as I have the choice of being able to see in the window and have the smoke vent pointing at the cabinet on the wll full of glasses, not ideal. Or I can point the vent away from this and vaguely towards the window, but then I'd have to lean over the very hot machine to see in the window.

Obviously I can roast outside in the summer, but there is a problem in the winter hence trying to find a kitchen alternative location. I do have some flexible metal "elephant's trunk" style tubing which I use with the Imex, which I may well be able to fit over the Hottop vent and so run the fumes out of the window which would increase the location possibilities, and I can keep the machine in the shed when not in use. I will try my hardest to persuade my other half round

.

It is a very nice bit of kit, and really looks the bussiness. I am surprised to find the vent fan has plastic blades though with all that heat.
I turned on the machine briefly to make sure it was OK from the postage (no roasting yet until I decide whether to keep it), and was stunned how quiet it is, which I think is one of its biggest advantages over an air roaster.

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