Ken Fox wrote:Ray,

The gas burner came from Charles A. Hones Co., a smallish manufacturer of furnaces and related items. They are/were located in New York, and used to have the somewhat amusing web address of http://www.cahones.com

Presumably someone pointed out to them how that URL might be otherwise interpreted, and they either have a new web address...

yep... their new address is http://www.charlesahones.com/

dave

Interesting- the "cahones.com" brings up a bunch of links (like you'd find if you were browsing for something to buy, but didn't quite know exactly where to look..). The "charlesahones.com" site takes you right there.

I've had some contact w/ Pinhalense, and a 2-barrel roaster will ship to Phoenix (w/i driving distance for me) for around $2500. I'm sure I'll need to make certain aspects very clear (eg. motor is single-phase and 110 v), and it'll probably need quite a bit of modifying before it's up to par; from what I've heard they tend to roast a bit too slowly, so maybe the cahones burners will fix that problem-- to say nothing of custom thermocouples, a better digital thermometer than the one I bought from sweetmarias and datalogging software some time down the road. I'm glad I've got lots of vacation time saved up!

Does anyone have any experience achieving good airflow through these Jabez-Burns style roasters? Also, I'm sure there's a way to connect a chaffe colector and ductwork from some of the photo's I've seen-- just not sure where to find a good source for that kind of gear...

Ray

Rainman wrote:Interesting- the "cahones.com" brings up a bunch of links (like you'd find if you were browsing for something to buy, but didn't quite know exactly where to look..). The "charlesahones.com" site takes you right there.

I've had some contact w/ Pinhalense, and a 2-barrel roaster will ship to Phoenix (w/i driving distance for me) for around $2500. I'm sure I'll need to make certain aspects very clear (eg. motor is single-phase and 110 v), and it'll probably need quite a bit of modifying before it's up to par; from what I've heard they tend to roast a bit too slowly, so maybe the cahones burners will fix that problem-- to say nothing of custom thermocouples, a better digital thermometer than the one I bought from sweetmarias and datalogging software some time down the road. I'm glad I've got lots of vacation time saved up!

Does anyone have any experience achieving good airflow through these Jabez-Burns style roasters? Also, I'm sure there's a way to connect a chaffe colector and ductwork from some of the photo's I've seen-- just not sure where to find a good source for that kind of gear...

Ray

I was away from home all day today, and will be gone tomorrow as well. In addition, there is an enormous wildfire a few miles from my home so I have other things to do right now than attend to coffee forums

If I had it to do over again, I would not spend $2500 on my roaster plus the expenses for a smoke hood plus the expense and aggravation of putting in a custom probe. Although I am happy with my results, I think you could just spend a little bit more and get a self contained 1lb - 1kg roaster that vents directly outside, that would be preferable to the setup that I have.

ken

Thanks, Ken- I've got just enough doubts rolling around in the back of my mind about the quality of these Jabez-Burns knockoffs to keep me from committing just yet (now if my sweetie would just understand what a $6500 Ambex can do for our coffee habit?)

Good luck dodging the flames- they're not from sparked chaffe, are they

Ray

Sorry to revive an old thread but it seems appropriate. The HR-1 is no longer being produced and the IR-1 gas fired 1kg roaster takes it's placed as Diedrich's "home roaster". I found Diedrich to be the only company in my search for a small roaster for the home to take me seriously and Shaun Contreras at Diedrich had no problem giving me lot's of his time in answering all my questions. Well I should mention Dan Jolliff at US Roaster Corp. was also very helpful, the rest I was lucky if I got any reply at all. It seems to me home roasting has come a long way in the short 3+ years I have been doing it and more and more companies are taking notice.

I have no intention of starting a business with an IR-1, it will be a home roaster with the luxury of producing 7-10kgs a week for friends and family in the same time my Hottop B does 4-6lbs. I am told that the IR-1 matches well with the rest of the IR series so if I ever want to set up shop with a bigger IR roaster the IR-1 will work for sample roasting and for tuning profiles. The IR-1 is small enough to be set up in the kitchen if it is big enough and I considered it but it will be set up in the garage so I have a place to get away to.

In the past 6 months of researching roasters I have met 3 home roasters that have recently purchased a new 1lb-1kg gas roaster, so there is a growing market for this size machine. Feima has a 1lb gas roaster (800N) that fits the bill for a $2-3k home roaster and if this gets distributed in the US I would bet they would sell more then a few.

I don't know all the legal/liability differences between a home roaster and a commercial one but there are differences. I think I remember reading that a commercial roaster comes with some amount of training from the seller to guarantee the user is aware of how to use it safely where a home roaster does not. Just including instructions I don't think is considered the same. Thus a home roaster must have more built in safety features usually resulting from our experiences in less user control.

farmroast wrote:I don't know all the legal/liability differences between a home roaster and a commercial one but there are differences. I think I remember reading that a commercial roaster comes with some amount of training from the seller to guarantee the user is aware of how to use it safely where a home roaster does not. Just including instructions I don't think is considered the same. Thus a home roaster must have more built in safety features usually resulting from our experiences in less user control.

There's no end of potentially dangerous things that a careless person could get into trouble with. One needn't look any further than the lowly automobile to verify that fact.

I doubt that there is anything legal (at least in most jurisdictions) preventing an individual from using virtually any appliance or cooking device in their home. The issue is going to be with liability (both to the producer/seller and to an installer), and as regards the various certifications that a Mfr. might seek. I doubt that UL, for example, would certify the new Taiwanese roasters (such as the M3) without more safety protections and a lot more testing than the manufacturers would care to expend. This is no issue to them, however, as long as they can get their product past US customs.

A commercial roaster manufacturer is not going to seek home UL certification for their product, since their product is not going to generally be sold into the home environment. If someone wishes to buy one for use in the home, assuming the mfr. is willing to sell it under those circumstances, then the buyer is essentially on their own (as I was when I bought my own sample roaster).

When I bought my sample roaster, it was originally set up to run off a propane bottle. I decided at one point that I was tired of roasting outside in the winter, and decided to buy a long propane hose and to locate the bottle outside but the roaster inside of my garage. The gas supplier I contacted to try to buy a hose from absolutely refused to sell one to me once he understood how I was going to use it -- he said it was illegal in my area to run ANY propane appliance inside a structure, period, end statement. He was obviously covering his a** and not willing to accept liability in that circumstance. I'm not questioning his judgment, which I'm sure was correct, but in the end it was the potential liability that constrained him, not any particular concern about home roasting, or what device I might use. I ended up getting the thing converted over to natural gas and had a permanent natural gas line installation done to the roaster. The installer was incredibly restrictive in the way that he was willing to install it, where he would put it and how it would have to be permanently fixed in place. All of this was for liability reasons, e.g. covering his a**.

The above experiences are probably more typical of how a home roaster would be restricted in the use of a commercial roasting appliance in the home, than would be any sort of specific legal issues or rules applying to home use of such a roaster.

ken

Ken
Does your roaster have any certifications such as NSF.?

farmroast wrote:Ken
Does your roaster have any certifications such as NSF.?

Certainly none that are evident or in any way marked on the thing.

I bought it from Dan Joliff at US Roasters (formerly roastersexchange.com which I think got confused with a site promoting sex change operations, so they changed the name ) and they were being made as "one-offs" in South America when I ordered it. I had to wait a few months after ordering before I received it. To my knowledge US Roasters no longer sell that roaster.

I should add that in actual use this sample roaster is extremely safe. Perhaps this is related to the bean charge, which is only around a pound and could not go above 500g even if you wanted to because the beans would simply fly out of the tryer hole if you tried to overload it like that.

ken

Ken, did you try another gas supplier? I can't imagine Idaho being more restrictive than NY. I live rural and have no access to natural gas, and my home indoors gas range runs on bottled propane outside, like every rural resident in the area,installed by the gas supplier. 20# tanks are available at Loewe's, Home Depot etc and I have a gas grill that is moved from the back deck to the front entranceway, open entirely in the front only, the back is the house, the left the entrance, the right the garage and overhead is the attic, the space is recessed. This enables me to avoid some of the wind and shoveling snow. A wood smoker does come out about once a month from the garage in the winter but is in the driveway when used. The gas grill is visible from the road, unsecured, and I've never had a legal problem.

Marvin