USRC sample roaster is here! - Page 3
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[creative nickname] (original poster)
- Posts: 1832
- Joined: 11 years ago
Thanks, David. I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes!
LMWDP #435
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Goldensncoffee
- Posts: 166
- Joined: 10 years ago
I'm drooling over here....Love the color. Congrats on your new roaster
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[creative nickname] (original poster)
- Posts: 1832
- Joined: 11 years ago
IT'S ALIVE!!!
Got the hookup, and lots of helpful instructions, from a friendly local propane dealer. I did a bit of jury-rigging to get the venting finished---I plan to upgrade to attractive and sturdier stainless eventually, but for now it is aluminum dryer venting & duct tape. (Yes, I learned some bad habits back when I did theatrical tech work!) What the hell, it works for now, even if it is ugly as sin.
Rigged the propane connections and everything fit. Fired up the roaster and ... nothing happened. Rechecked the connections and saw that the connection to the tank wasn't tight enough to open the valve. Smack forehead with palm, tighten, and retry. Got positive pressure, discover a leak using the soapy water trick (in a fitting connected by the store guy, not by me, no less)! Applied teflon tape, retightened, tried again. Finally we have positive pressure and no leaks. Fired it up for real:
(This moment felt so good!!!!)
I did three test roasts of some cheapo Colombian greens. There was some confusion due to very different temperature readings for the milestones, but it is so easy to hear/see/smell everything that I got through it all OK. I roasted 1200g of coffee in an hour, which would have taken me half a day in the HG/BM. I took the first one all the way to full city, just to get a sense of the pace, and then did a city and a city plus. The city roast might even be drinkable -- we shall see!
I definitely feel like a complete neophyte with this thing; I'm used to a single knob, and now I have separate controls for heat and air, plus all the thermal mass of the drum to account for. It's going to be a long time before I have the control I am used to from my home-built kludge, but I'm sure it will be well worth it. Just having an honest-to-god tryer and a functional cooling tray to dump into, with no mucking about with bread machine pans and oven mitts, is a god-send.
Any senior users want to offer some sample control tips? I'm sure I'll get there eventually through trial and error, but it never hurts to get notes from the upperclassmen, either.
A few more pics, starting with the kludgy vent:
Here's a view of the roaster getting fired up, with my iPad and Bluetherm Duo datalogging all set-up:
The first roast in progress, seen through the view-port:
Got the hookup, and lots of helpful instructions, from a friendly local propane dealer. I did a bit of jury-rigging to get the venting finished---I plan to upgrade to attractive and sturdier stainless eventually, but for now it is aluminum dryer venting & duct tape. (Yes, I learned some bad habits back when I did theatrical tech work!) What the hell, it works for now, even if it is ugly as sin.
Rigged the propane connections and everything fit. Fired up the roaster and ... nothing happened. Rechecked the connections and saw that the connection to the tank wasn't tight enough to open the valve. Smack forehead with palm, tighten, and retry. Got positive pressure, discover a leak using the soapy water trick (in a fitting connected by the store guy, not by me, no less)! Applied teflon tape, retightened, tried again. Finally we have positive pressure and no leaks. Fired it up for real:
(This moment felt so good!!!!)
I did three test roasts of some cheapo Colombian greens. There was some confusion due to very different temperature readings for the milestones, but it is so easy to hear/see/smell everything that I got through it all OK. I roasted 1200g of coffee in an hour, which would have taken me half a day in the HG/BM. I took the first one all the way to full city, just to get a sense of the pace, and then did a city and a city plus. The city roast might even be drinkable -- we shall see!
I definitely feel like a complete neophyte with this thing; I'm used to a single knob, and now I have separate controls for heat and air, plus all the thermal mass of the drum to account for. It's going to be a long time before I have the control I am used to from my home-built kludge, but I'm sure it will be well worth it. Just having an honest-to-god tryer and a functional cooling tray to dump into, with no mucking about with bread machine pans and oven mitts, is a god-send.
Any senior users want to offer some sample control tips? I'm sure I'll get there eventually through trial and error, but it never hurts to get notes from the upperclassmen, either.
A few more pics, starting with the kludgy vent:
Here's a view of the roaster getting fired up, with my iPad and Bluetherm Duo datalogging all set-up:
The first roast in progress, seen through the view-port:
LMWDP #435
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johnny4lsu
- Posts: 775
- Joined: 12 years ago
Just so beautiful...Forgive me for coveting my neighbors possessions.
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JK
- Posts: 626
- Joined: 12 years ago
GET RID OF THAT DUCT TAPE!
Before it starts a fire..
Visit a HVAC store and get the proper aluminum tape..
Duct Tape is NOT for Ducts
http://www.lowes.com/pd_237724-56131-14 ... Id=3077865
Before it starts a fire..
Visit a HVAC store and get the proper aluminum tape..
Duct Tape is NOT for Ducts
http://www.lowes.com/pd_237724-56131-14 ... Id=3077865
-----------------------------
I'm on a Mission from God!
I'm on a Mission from God!
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boar_d_laze
- Posts: 2058
- Joined: 17 years ago
MAZEL TOV![creative nickname] wrote:IT'S ALIVE!!!
Rich
Drop a nickel in the pot Joe. Takin' it slow. Waiter, waiter, percolator
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SAS
- Supporter ❤
- Posts: 322
- Joined: 14 years ago
Congrats again Mark!
One thing I didn't like about many roasters I saw at SCAA in Seattle this year were the poor finish of the tryer handles. This included Chinese, Korean, and some US roaster, including USRC. When you spend five, six, seven, eight thousand dollars or more on a very simple machine, couldn't you get a small piece of quality wood with a nice finish that is an appropriate size?
Many handles are roughly finished with the grooves still having splinters showing. You can see in the out of focus portion of [creative nickname]'s photo, that the grooves are not finished. I don't think I'm being too perfectionistic here. The rest of the roaster looks well finished. Come on manufacturers, the part of the roaster that is touched the most when in use, is the tryer handle; make it nice too! So what if it costs the company twenty-five dollars instead of ten. You won't see much of a difference in your net at the prices you are charging.
OK, I'm through ranting.
Here are my efforts at making a better tryer handle including the old one off the SF-1. The one in use now is good for length but I want to make it a bit thicker. It just doesn't feel right in the hand yet. The stouter one on the left was too short.
SF-1 efforts to date.
The small one on the right is what came with my roaster. It could be stock, I don't know.
My Quest M3.
One thing I didn't like about many roasters I saw at SCAA in Seattle this year were the poor finish of the tryer handles. This included Chinese, Korean, and some US roaster, including USRC. When you spend five, six, seven, eight thousand dollars or more on a very simple machine, couldn't you get a small piece of quality wood with a nice finish that is an appropriate size?
Many handles are roughly finished with the grooves still having splinters showing. You can see in the out of focus portion of [creative nickname]'s photo, that the grooves are not finished. I don't think I'm being too perfectionistic here. The rest of the roaster looks well finished. Come on manufacturers, the part of the roaster that is touched the most when in use, is the tryer handle; make it nice too! So what if it costs the company twenty-five dollars instead of ten. You won't see much of a difference in your net at the prices you are charging.
OK, I'm through ranting.
Here are my efforts at making a better tryer handle including the old one off the SF-1. The one in use now is good for length but I want to make it a bit thicker. It just doesn't feel right in the hand yet. The stouter one on the left was too short.
SF-1 efforts to date.
The small one on the right is what came with my roaster. It could be stock, I don't know.
My Quest M3.
LMWDP #280
Running on fumes.
Running on fumes.
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[creative nickname] (original poster)
- Posts: 1832
- Joined: 11 years ago
Yeah, that was definitely a questionable shortcut. I'll fix it before I roast again!JK wrote:GET RID OF THAT DUCT TAPE!
Before it starts a fire..
Visit a HVAC store and get the proper aluminum tape..
Duct Tape is NOT for Ducts
http://www.lowes.com/pd_237724-56131-14 ... Id=3077865
LMWDP #435
