Sounds like you had a great time and made some progress to boot!

If you decide to go for supplemental heat I can highly recommend the $10 Harbor Freight Heat gun + their $20 router speed controller, mine has served me well for around 200 3/4 lb. roasts now. Just be sure to remove the plastic cowling from the front of the heat gun and run it on high for at least 10 minutes to break it in...

Big News,

I installed the ceramic fiber blanket squares I bought from Amazon on MerlinWerks' suggestion, by wrapping it in Aluminum foil first and aluminum taping it to the inside of the roaster.



It was a little tricky placing it so the drum still spins freely without touching the insulation, but the plus is that the entire thing is well insulated now and retains the heat very well.

As a bonus, the moving parts seem much less quieter now and I can hear first and second cracks for the first time with this

Bad news: I took 14 oz of Daterra Sweet Blue from green to complete carbon in less than 16 minutes, I'm going to have to dial down the heat on that Turbo Oven now!

Good news: I now have dead even roasts, 14oz (400g) roaster capacity at ~14 to ~15 minute roast times.

I can FINALLY quit modding it and get to playing with roast profiles!

Good Luck with the "no more modding" thing....

Glad it worked out for you.

Great project! How's it been for you over time? Looks like the insulation, and not having to use a gas flame, make it an ideal outdoor roaster. Have you made any more modifications since your last post?

I'm curious how you get the beans out. Do you tip the whole pot over a mixing bowl?

It's been very good to me over time!

I haven't actually made any modifications to it after the last post, but I still use it regularly. The last couple months it has gotten quite cold here so I started doing 300g batches, I'll go back to 400g batches probably in April. I bought some more thermocouples and a Phidget to do that Artisan thing but I haven't had the time to set it up yet.

I do indeed hold the whole thing upside down over a bowl and then open the drum door, but after a couple minutes of "leaf blowing" the thing is cool enough I don't even need gloves.