Time to accessorize the bread machine

Discuss roast levels and profiles for espresso, equipment for roasting coffee.
Jake L
Posts: 34
Joined: 13 years ago

#1: Post by Jake L »

Hey everyone I am finally getting around to starting a thread about my roaster setup and upgraditis. Been roasting about once a week for the last four years. I use a corretto setup (bread machine and heat gun) and up until now I have been relatively satisfied but after a couple of only OK batches I have been hit by upgraditis.

Brief history
Version 1.0 - Open bread machine and holding heatgun, cooling in a baking pan with a fan
This version was fraught with problems. First holding the heat gun led to inconsistent results and lots of smoke inhalation. The cooling was painfully slow and ineffective. In the cup results were OK with few worthless batches

1.1 (10-12 roasts later)- Closed bread machine and jammed gun through viewing port.
The bread machine had a sight glass which was easily removed and held the gun in place. This was a little more consistent but the heat and chaff had no escape which led to the heat gun sucking up a lot of chaff and the guard of the gun getting melted. Results were better but gun distance to the beans was fixed and led to tipping and underroasting. Cooling still ineffective

1.2 - (15-20 roasts later) Still closed bread machine Heat gun dies due to chaff buildup in the ventilation and sucking in hot air. Replace with new heat gun and create gasket out of aluminum foil so hot air is contained and directed away from the heat gun. Built wooden stand to hold heat gun so height is adjustable. Resulted in less tipping and more consistent roast. Interesting note is that the gasket caused the hot air to escape out the sides of the machine's lid but also directed the chaff to the space between the sides of the bread pan and the machine avoiding scorching it. Addition of the gasket made heating more even and allowed the gun to be kept further away from the beans which resulted in less tipping and more consistency. Results in the cup are now consistently good. Cooling still sucks.

1.3 - Same setup except added a cooling system of a mesh screen and ultra powerful box fan. Cooling is much more effective but tedious not to lose beans due to the fan blowing them off the screen.

1.4 - TBD

My current desires in a roaster are
-Must be ventable outside
-Capable of 1-1.5lb of greens
-Electric
-Manual hands on roasting

I was interested in the Huky 500 but the necessity of gas and apartment complexes is an awful idea. The Quest was pretty cool and had everything I was looking for except volume. I really only have the time to roast once a week if that so the Quest fell out of favor. Visited other coffee sites and found that the ideal solution might be what I am currently using just improved.

My plan
-Add PID to machine to monitor and graph roasts
-Wrap bread pan with fire blankets to retain heat
-Custom make lid for bread machine with one port for the heat gun, second port for chaff and heat escape
-Design new cooling system

What I plan emulate -

Jake L (original poster)
Posts: 34
Joined: 13 years ago

#2: Post by Jake L (original poster) »

Questions yall might be able to help with

1) What thermocouple system and temp monitoring do yall suggest? Ideally one that links to the computer for data logging
2) Any simple but awesomely effective cooling systems before I go trying to reinvent the wheel?

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drgary
Team HB
Posts: 14345
Joined: 14 years ago

#3: Post by drgary »

Hi Jake:

I'm having a pretty easy time with my HG/BM. There's no need to deal with chaff. The chaff falls under the bread basket and I remove it with a vacuum cleaner after each roast. The heat gun has a nice variable control. I have two thermocouples going into a data logger that feeds into Artisan. One TC inserts through the outer wall into the bread pan. The other inserts in the top vent. The only thing I might do differently is have ungrounded thermocouples to eliminate electrical noise. I have a way of securely fastening the heat gun to the lid, which I've modified to lift it off. I haven't found a need to cool it, although I do have a chimney arrangement that I almost always now cover with a steam pitcher. Also haven't found a need to insulate it but I'm not in a cold climate. The sweet spot seems to be 12 oz, so I don't know if 1 - 1.5 lbs would work but haven't experimented with that. At 12 oz control is excellent and repeatable. The upgrade I'm thinking of is Huky. I'm as happy with the HG/BM as with my Hottop. Of course the way I vent it outside is I use it outside. But I've seen others put a strong fan on a nearby window to pull the smoke out.

Gary
LMWDP#308

What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

BTD1986
Posts: 146
Joined: 12 years ago

#4: Post by BTD1986 »

As far as cooling goes, I use a metal colander and a box fan. I have the fan blow the air upwards, instead of having it suck the air down through the beans like the commercial machines do.

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drgary
Team HB
Posts: 14345
Joined: 14 years ago

#5: Post by drgary »

My cooling tray is in my photo above. It's so simple and it works. It's a paint bucket with the bottom taken out. An office fan is inserted in that and blows downward so I can bring fresh cool air to the beans. The screen fits in the top of the bucket and is taken out of a frying pan splatter guard. All of that is sitting inside a milk grate. Total parts cost is under $25.
Gary
LMWDP#308

What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!