Wonder if anyone has a solution for this scenario - I have my small roastery in a 250sqft space, and the big roaster - a Loring S7, is properly vented and that's all good.

Now, when I'm roasting samples, things get smoky. I use a Nucleus Link (commercial version of the Kaffelogic Nano) and although it doesn't produce a lot of smoke, if I'm doing 5-10 samples, it's a different story. I've tried to open a couple windows and have the roaster close to one of them with a fan pointed out at the window to create a draft, and it helped a little bit but I wasn't too happy.

Wondering if one of those box fans that you can install in a window would do it, but thought someone might have come up with an optimal solution for this.

Build a hood connected to an in line fan venting roaster exhaust outside.

I envision an adequately large box fully covering the litte roaster with an opening sufficient to load and dump. ambient air could then move generally out and take the roast exhaust with it.

That has been my thinking as well, the problem is that it would involve some significant changes in my current setup - repositioning furniture and as well there will be some drilling involved...

Any thoughts on one of those twin window fans? Right now I have a table right under a window, my only concern is that the smoke from the little roaster shoots up, and in this case the window fans would be at the same level of the roaster, then I'm afraid the smoke will end up trapped inside instead of immediately flowing outside...

Aguirre wrote:Wondering if one of those box fans that you can install in a window would do it, but thought someone might have come up with an optimal solution for this.

Something like this is an option Modding the behmor
Since the exhaust air is mixed with room air, it's cooled little by the time it reaches the fan so plastic fan may hold up. If you don't feel comfortable, you can use one of those metal fans.

I use a box fan in the window with the iRoast2, Hottop, and BellaTW, and did the same when I had the IKAWA for review. The window opening is below the height of the roasters.

I get a tickle in my throat if I roast even a couple 100g roasts without the fan blowing. On the other side, with the fan on, I've roasted for five hours continuously on the Hottop without issue. (My Hottop no longer has the factory air filter or back-to-back safeguards.)

It isn't an ideal setup, but it has worked for years.

Capuchin Monk wrote:Something like this is an option Modding the behmor
Since the exhaust air is mixed with room air, it's cooled little by the time it reaches the fan so plastic fan may hold up. If you don't feel comfortable, you can use one of those metal fans.

Ha! Something like that would definitely catch everything

I think unless you have a properly sized hood over the sample roaster, you will always have some smoke escaping into the room. I have small home roasters, Bemoher and FreshRoast, and also used a stove-top popcorn pan. The venting is the major problem for my home roasting operation, and the only way to mitigate the smoke is to use the roaster on top of the kitchen stove where the range hood will catch most of the smoke and direct it outside. I have constructed a makeshift hood out of a cardboard box to place above the roaster and use it near the open window with the window fan. This works, but the setup is cumbersome so never became a permanent solution for me.

BTW, I also had an old Zach & Dani's home roaster which was later sold as a Nesco roaster. Since it had absolutely no control other than setting the timer, it wouldn't work for profiling, but that machine was made for indoor use. With an afterburner and catalytic converter lid, I could roast directly under a very sensitive smoke detector and it did not trigger the alarm. Of course, with that small roaster, it was impossible to reach the second crack on most beans, so the roast was always light to med, so much less smoke than using Fresh Roast to take the beans all the way to the second crack.

If I get the window fan, my setup would be EXACTLY like this one. How does it work for you? How much of the smoke goes outside?

All of it goes outside. I have a sensitive air purifier showing µg/m3 nearby, and it barely budges. I do occasionally shoot some air freshener through the fan so my neighbors don't smell popcorn for a while if I'm doing a dozen batches. Had to make the wooden stand to safely hold the fan.