I've had this idea in the back of my mind for a while to share some photos of my homemade drum roasters on here. Lately stovetop roasting seems to be coming up in conversation here, so now I'm finally getting around to doing it. I'll start with my small roaster, since that's the one I'm using now, as it's too cold to be out in the garage most of the time, and because I just got some photos of it when I took it apart to upgrade some parts. So here it is:



The can itself is from a year ago, Christmas time. The handle (a piece of 5/16" UNC thread rod threaded into a wooden dowel) is the original from my very first stovetop roaster, which I made nearly seven years ago.





I first installed a piece of pipe in the can because my it would get crushed and start swinging, then I would tighten the nuts, and the process was repeated. The really dramatic change came when I had the thought of screwing a lid down to this pipe. That allowed me to turn the can every which way, where before I had been holding it upright all the while. The quality of my roasts went through the roof. Before I could never get my roasts to progress fast enough, now it's no problem. This year the cheesy tapped threads on the old pipe stripped out, so I replaced it with this shiny new one (thicker walls, thicker diameter) and filed the first few threads off of my eye bolt so I can get it started more easily.

And here's a "semi-exploded" view:



I "upgraded" by adding a larger heat shield, just so that the roaster would balance itself and not flop back on the handle side, but I don't like the extra weight. I may go the opposite direction and put an extra small disk on just to keep my thumb and fingers off the hot handle. I'm not even sure how useful it is, but I know that I don't singe my hair while I roast, so maybe it's working. The heat shield itself is cereal box cardboard with a light coat of super glue for good measure, wrapped in HVAC tape. The old one was just plain cardboard with aluminum foil stapled on. HVAC tape is better



And a boring pic of the bottom. If I make another one, I'll drill slightly smaller holes. I lose some extra small beans out of these.



All polished up, reassembled, and ready to go!

I see I neglected to include a photo of the final product. I don't have a recent one, but I did find this from last year:



I do 85 gram batches in my soup can. I can't easily put a thermocouple in it with my roasting technique, so I don't know exactly what's going on in there, but I usually get a good strong first crack at around 9.5-11 minutes (although a few outliers usually start popping 0.5-1 minute before this), first crack lasting about two minutes, and then maybe 1-1.5 minutes before I get the first hints of second crack. Lately I've been roasting this dark, and it seems to be the level that this roaster does best at. The roasts are usually quite consistent, I just get some minor scorching. As far as I can tell, that only amounts to a cosmetic defect.

How did you manage to find a can without a plastic lining?
They are ubiquitous here and I wouldn't like the fumes in my coffee...

Actually, that plastic lining disintegrates quickly. I heated the whole thing red-hot with a torch, ran sand through it while hot, washed it with alcohol, repeat, repeat... Then once I was satisfied it was all gone I started using it for coffee.

that's campfire roasting indoors

vilseiprairien wrote:Actually, that plastic lining disintegrates quickly. I heated the whole thing red-hot with a torch, ran sand through it while hot, washed it with alcohol, repeat, repeat... Then once I was satisfied it was all gone I started using it for coffee.

Ah - interesting process, thanks.

Thanks for sharing, very interesting indeed and especially the lid design. Does the lid handle burn at all? You might want to add a stand or similar to take the load off your wrist?

Looks nice, and similar to my proof of concept MkII
Am using a cordless drill to spin it over whichever stove is nearby

samuellaw178 wrote:Thanks for sharing, very interesting indeed and especially the lid design. Does the lid handle burn at all? You might want to add a stand or similar to take the load off your wrist?

I see I forgot to mention this part. I went with the eye bolt because the only tool I need to open it is a chopstick, wooden spoon handle, or similar. Just put the chopstick in and give it a few turns.

If I do add a support, it would be in the form of a second handle, perpendicular to the thread rod, most likely in conjunction with a longer rod that would protrude out past the front of the can. But I'm not using this enough right now to wanna mess with it. It's just my "travel roaster." :B

Marcel, that looks nice! Stainless, no? Is that screw/bolt that is visible holding a support for the "handle?" Do you have, or have you thought of adding fins to keep the beans tumbling?