Steve, here is a photo of the stainless steel wall cap that I purchased today, and will be using with my 1kg gas roaster. It's a Wall Termination kit made by Noritz. I am pleased to say that Noritz makes available online a lot of technical information about how to properly install their products for maximum safety.





The Santoker seems to be a great roaster indeed; thanks for sharing your installation experience.

Fern

Fern, I hear your getting English labels for your xj-101

Just got back from visiting BellaTaiwan, was there for three hours discussing roasters, examining the air valve, taking panels off the machines, etc etc.

I saved a few bucks and just used class A stove pipe inserted through a crock

hankua wrote: ... just got back from visiting BellaTaiwan, was there for three hours discussing roasters, examining the air valve, taking panels off the machines, etc...

Hank, you must indeed find yourself in "Coffee Roaster Nirvana"!

Did you get a chance to see how the XJ-101 (Half Hot Air) evolved into an XJ-101S (Half Hot Air) and then again into an EVO-1 (Direct Fire)?

It sure would be interesting to learn more about the direction that BellaTW is taking with its roasters. It would also be really cool if you might possibly post a few photos. Thanks!

Fern

No problem

I've got that mostly covered

You are one really lucky dude

I've watched the 1K Feima type machines twice, roasting one pound of SM Aricha.
OK, maybe this is an exaggeration. It's so easy almost criminal!
My .5K Feima is more difficult to use than the 1K.

And I'll give you some tips on the air valve if your interested.

Would you mind sharing the air valve advice generally please?

Sure

But I can't figure how to re-post Fern's air valve photo.

The air valve is supposed to have 12 positions and the bubbles indicate which setting is higher/lower.
Now I was curious about the terminology they were using; and asked. If you went 1-12 it might be a little confusing to operate. eg: started the roast on 6, then went to five, move to 11 at the end of drying, etc.

They mark the center with a sharpie, that's the zero point for reference. In actuality the valve is half open.

One notch left of the center line is "L1". One notch right of the center line is "R1"

They told me this way is easier to remember and record.

You don't really need that many settings, but the changes from say L1-L2 have a smaller value= more control

hankua wrote:
The air valve is supposed to have 12 positions and the bubbles indicate which setting is higher/lower. Now I was curious about the terminology they were using; and asked. If you went 1-12 it might be a little confusing to operate. eg: started the roast on 6, then went to five, move to 11 at the end of drying, etc.

They mark the center with a sharpie, that's the zero point for reference. In actuality the valve is half open.. One notch left of the center line is "L1". One notch right of the center line is "R1". They told me this way is easier to remember and record. You don't really need that many settings, but the changes from say L1-L2 have a smaller value= more control

Photo of Fern's BellaTW XJ-101

ciel-007 wrote:
Did you get a chance to see how the XJ-101 (Half Hot Air) evolved into an XJ-101S (Half Hot Air) and then again into an EVO-1 (Direct Fire)?

It sure would be interesting to learn more about the direction that BellaTW is taking with its roasters. It would also be really cool if you might possibly post a few photos. Thanks!

Fern

Fern, I didn't think to ask when the XJ-101 changes were made, but remember something about them on their Facebook page. The perforated observation door both out roasters have was replaced with a solid viewing window. The hinged door/viewing port is handy if you want to light the burners with a torch, or air out a gas build up. The chrome roaster covers we're replace with satin and have some insulation underneath; if I understood correctly.

I learned from my meeting with FeimaPro, some restriction of the vents surrounding the atmospheric burner chamber would increase efficiency; thus the reason for the solid viewing window. The EVO-1 has rigid insulation attached to the panel adjacent to the needle valves and possible on the other side. All the roaster except the Mini500+ have the solid viewing windows.

People with older machines could play around with insulating the chamber and replacing the perforated door. Maybe we should put our heads together and work out something simple.

The very first Feima coffee roaster was the XJ-101 in 1999. Then came the 1st generation Mini500 in 2002, 2nd generation Mini in 2004, 3rd generation in 2013. The EVO series machines were introduced in 2008. BellaTaiwan has hosted the World Roasting Competition in Taiwan two year in a row and plans on sponsoring in 2015. Jackie Lai won the 2014 Taiwan roasting competition and took first place on the world stage in Rimini, Italy. If you check out their Facebook page, it's pretty obvious that was a major undertaking for a small company; and quite expensive I was told.

I can post a few pictures next week some time, and will try getting them all on an external link.

What I want to know, Fern, is how the heck we are going to manage without you in the HT community?