Quest Analog Probes

Discuss roast levels and profiles for espresso, equipment for roasting coffee.
EspressoForge
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#1: Post by EspressoForge »

Does anyone have a good source for some analog gauges to replace the stock and ET outside drum locations? I've been using Artisan for a long time, but lately I'm not feeling like needing my laptop to roast.

I could go with the stock BT, and a standard candy thermometer, but wanted to see if anyone had a better idea of ones that respond faster than stock, and ideally would thread into the M4 location for MET.

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TomC
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#2: Post by TomC »

Bimetal analog thermometers aren't known for their fast response time. But to your point, I agree, the Quest is quite capable of purely analog monitoring. Part of this is due to the fact that it being a clean roasting (non-gas) style heat and simple to assess aromatics blowing out the back.

An MET probe might let you get away with a slower thermometer, but if I wanted to track a temp, I'd want a very accurate and very fast responding BT probe and that's not going to happen in the analog world.
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EspressoForge (original poster)
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#3: Post by EspressoForge (original poster) replying to TomC »

Yeah, I do like the responsiveness of TCs and to see them being graphed live on the screen, but almost every roast I feel I really don't need it. I just need a guide, and drop more based on smell than an actual temp. Not needing a laptop to roast and having the roaster a little more self-contained seems more desirable to me at this stage.

If I'm really wanting to log the roast, I can connect back up my TCs, but these days I really never save or analyze my roasts anymore...maybe I'm getting lazy? :)

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turtle
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#4: Post by turtle »

get yourself a dual channel datalog meter like a Amprobe TMD-56.

Many times I don't break out the lappy and just run my roasts with the TMD-56, and a timer.

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I'd rather be roasting coffee

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#5: Post by EspressoForge (original poster) »

I have thought about that (or a smaller thermocouple for just the MET), but hoping to get something self-contained that doesn't have the probes hanging off the roaster, and won't require pulling them in/out. Mostly for MET where if I remove it, the position could change next time. No batteries are nice too.

More or less, I'm looking for the least hassle possible in an effort to simplify my life.

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SAS
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#6: Post by SAS »

I used a two channel digital thermometer when I started roasting with my Quest. Using one or one like it would allow you to keep the thermocouples in place and just plug them into the reader. I bought an Extech EA10 on eBay for about $60.00. I was logging roasts by hand, transferring the data into a spreadsheet, and creating graphs from the spreadsheet data.
Then I found out about Artisan and sold the Extech.
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turtle
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#7: Post by turtle replying to SAS »


the nice thing about the Amprobe is it has a USB output that interfaces directly to the lappy and Artisan.

So it runs stand alone or plug a USB cable in and run automated logging.

Mick - Drinking in life one cup at a time
I'd rather be roasting coffee

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turtle
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#8: Post by turtle »

EspressoForge wrote:I have thought about that (or a smaller thermocouple for just the MET), but hoping to get something self-contained that doesn't have the probes hanging off the roaster, and won't require pulling them in/out. Mostly for MET where if I remove it, the position could change next time. No batteries are nice too.

More or less, I'm looking for the least hassle possible in an effort to simplify my life.
My SF-1 came with an Ascroft dial temp probe. Same threading that the k-type thermocouple used. I as surprised how accurate it was when compared to the k-type I replaced it with

If you have a threaded coupling in your roaster Ascroft will make a dial gauge that will have the same thread pattern. All you need to do is match the thread and depth of the probe and you should be able to swap out your thermocouples with dial gauges

http://www.ashcroft.com/products/thermo ... ometer.cfm

Mick - Drinking in life one cup at a time
I'd rather be roasting coffee

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#9: Post by EspressoForge (original poster) »

Thanks for all the suggestions. The Ashcroft style is basically what I'm looking for, but they seem only available threaded with 1/2 or 1/4" NPT connections. Generally that makes sense as normally they would need to have a pressure seal. But I believe the threaded holes on my Quest are M4 and M8.

I have some drilled bolts that I may go with and just slide a non-threaded gauge through. But the stock threaded gauge is a nice way to go. Finding ones like that with M8 threads seem a bit difficult to find.