I bought a 1989 probat. It was used exclusively for French roast coffee before I bought it. I took it apart and chipped and brushed out a significant amount of carbon build up.

I did my first roast last night and the coffee wasn't good. It had a slight metallic smell to it. No doubt, part of that is from my lack of experience, but I was also wondering if all those years of dark roasts have somehow soaked into the machine.

Is there a way I could do more cleaning? I was thinking about getting some junk bean and running several batches through it. Or even heating it up and letting it sit at 450 or 500 for an extended period of time.

Any thoughts or advice are appreciated!

If you have a twitter account, ask @roasterjoe (Joe Marocco at Cafe Imports). Former roaster and now Training Coord and Greens Rep at Cafe Imports, large greens importer here in the Twin Cities. He would know and would be glad to respond.

Hey! What model Probat? And Congrats! I've roasted on some different machines with different levels of dirty. About to fire up a 1952-53 Probat myself.

Take a dry paper towel and a slightly damp one and swab the inside of the drum and see how much soot comes off.

How is the airflow when you hold a cigarette lighter up to the trier?