Abe Carmeli wrote:As long as I'm not on the receiving end.

P.S. I can see a typical situation where I would be comfortable with hearsay, and that is when someone asks "Has anyone heard anything about..." He is specifically asking for it. I'll be cool telling him what I heard from my 2nd cousin.

I made it pretty clear in my posts on that particular roaster that it was 3 prominent people whom I personally respected who had independently made the comments to me about that piece of equipment. Had any one of the three said what all three of them said (all being fairly similar), I would not personally buy that piece of equipment, end statement.

I think it is more than simply hearing some potentially ill founded rumour and repeating it. I trusted the sources and repeated what they had said to me, however without attribution because none of them gave me permission to quote them about this subject in an internet forum.

kn

Yes I am a newbe--- and Yes you who have been are all wise. Even as newbe we come to the table with the ability to discern and make choices that benefit us personally. Otherwise we would all now own Silvia & Rocky:>
treshell

LOL, well said treshell! Here! Here!

I would also like to add that I really really like the title of this thread! "Middle Aged Men in Their Pajamas!" It has got to be one of the best titles I have ever seen on a forum! Ken, you really should write a book with this title. Or failing that, get an underwriter to write one for you. It really is GREAT!

That is all I have left to say on this subject. I'm leaving now...

treshell wrote:Yes I am a newbe--- and Yes you who have been are all wise. Even as newbe we come to the table with the ability to discern and make choices that benefit us personally. Otherwise we would all now own Silvia & Rocky:>
treshell

You can't make this up I tell you. Better than a bad spanish novela.


Michael.

Ken Fox wrote:I made it pretty clear in my posts on that particular roaster that it was 3 prominent people whom I personally respected who had independently made the comments to me about that piece of equipment. Had any one of the three said what all three of them said (all being fairly similar), I would not personally buy that piece of equipment, end statement.

Even though The Three Wise Men said Fairly Similar Things about That Piece Of Equipment, I think it's really premature to write it off. People are just beginning to understand its dynamics. With a decent bean temperature probe and a simple ramp/soak PID, that roaster will ROCK!

Maybe.

AndyS wrote:Even though The Three Wise Men said Fairly Similar Things about That Piece Of Equipment, I think it's really premature to write it off. People are just beginning to understand its dynamics. With a decent bean temperature probe and a simple ramp/soak PID, that roaster will ROCK!

Maybe.

I can understand the interest in hacking some (otherwise) remarkable piece of equipment, such as a really nice single group commercial espresso machine that just doesn't happen to be very temperature consistent when making occasional shots at odd intervals in a home environment.

It is something altogether different to take some inexpensive and unproven device with a previously untested heat source, and to put that much effort into it. If it were me, I'd start out with a nice bbq drum, put it in a gas bbq that I could insulate, and concentrate my efforts there.

But that is just me.

ken

Hearsay can provide some value, even without any backup.

It suggests that the item may need a little more review, even if in the end, the hearsay is discounted. The bottom line is that hearsay means nothing to those who know. But it can help those who don't know by causing them to review their information and do further research. If it is false, that source loses some credibility.

Ken Fox wrote:I made it pretty clear in my posts on that particular roaster that it was 3 prominent people whom I personally respected who had independently made the comments to me about that piece of equipment. Had any one of the three said what all three of them said (all being fairly similar), I would not personally buy that piece of equipment, end statement.

I think it is more than simply hearing some potentially ill founded rumour and repeating it. I trusted the sources and repeated what they had said to me, however without attribution because none of them gave me permission to quote them about this subject in an internet forum.

kn

Ken,

I bet that they had a bad experiences with that particular roaster because they did not talk with that piece of equipment.
From 'Heather Perry's 11 tips for World Class Espresso':
#2: Talk to Your Roaster

Ken Fox wrote:If it were me, I'd start out with a nice bbq drum, put it in a gas bbq that I could insulate, and concentrate my efforts there.

This is truly a good way to go. With the right mods you have a great deal of manual control and the possiblity of roasting larger quantities.

I have enjoyed this thread a great deal. Overall I don't think much should be done about this issue. People will make their own choices, and those who somehow can't will always let others do their thinking for them. I suppose that is their right. I have watched various threads where the posts took on higher and higher levels of personal attack, and it didn't take long for me to just utterly ignore those threads. They always turned out to be a few people nipping back and forth at each other. Honestly if you really want to join these attack threads, go for it, but I will just coast on to threads that contain something that actually interests me. There is certainly a point though when the thread should be locked, and I think the moderators are well aware of when that is. Just let them do their thing.