Mini 500 Roaster - Page 6

Discuss roast levels and profiles for espresso, equipment for roasting coffee.
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Carneiro
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#51: Post by Carneiro »

Yes, the room will have a ventilation that I'm planning. To use with the Quest only as an external exhaust to not mess with the roaster design, but it could be use with the cyclone of a bigger roast too.

Márcio.

chang00 (original poster)
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#52: Post by chang00 (original poster) »

Marcio,

The machine can be set for natural gas, but needs different fire nozzles.

Having mentioned this, it may not be a good idea to use natural gas. The line natural gas pressure can be quite different in different countries, therefore you most likely will need a local heating company to custom fabricate the nozzles for you, or adjust line pressure. Not impossible, but can be quite tedious.

The tank propane pressure is quite uniform around the world. So it is really plug and play/roast. Since getting the roaster, I am only on the second tank, roasting on average once per week, 3 batches each time. Even if you live in a high rise apartment, to carry a tank up once a year is not too frequent.

Venting is quite important. Mini500/Yang Chia 800N comes with two blowers, not usually found in machines of this size. You can cool and roast at the same time, unlike machines with one blower. For this reason, you need to have two vents. It should be vented to outside. The ducts also need to be cleaned regularly, so ideally the ducts should not be too long. In commercial settings, custom double walled ducts are required to prevent fire. Home hobbyist can probably get by due to smaller/less frequent roasts and more frequent cleaning and changing the inexpensive flexible/rigid ducts regularly. Hank has the luxury of roasting in his gorgeous yard.......

FYI, Yang Chia handles export outside Taiwan. BellaTaiwan only sells within Taiwan.

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TomC
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#53: Post by TomC »

hankua wrote:Here's a shot of the Yang 800n, same as the Mini500 Henry has, except it cost more money now.
We need a few more people to get one and have a club. :D
<image>
Wow, that's purdy! Now if someday, I really go off the deep end (most people outside my little online world already say I have) then that's what I'll need to step up to, if I can roast in a garage or outside.

For now, I'll have to slum it with my feeble new Quest M3 :P jk, I'm loving it so far.
Join us and support Artisan Roasting Software=https://artisan-scope.org/donate/

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blueface
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#54: Post by blueface »

Really envy :( ... that's my dream roaster but too bad, can't afford one. Hank, care to reveal the final cost inclusive of shipping? Thks.

germantown rob
Posts: 231
Joined: 15 years ago

#55: Post by germantown rob »

chang00 wrote:Marcio,

The machine can be set for natural gas, but needs different fire nozzles.

Having mentioned this, it may not be a good idea to use natural gas. The line natural gas pressure can be quite different in different countries, therefore you most likely will need a local heating company to custom fabricate the nozzles for you, or adjust line pressure. Not impossible, but can be quite tedious.

The tank propane pressure is quite uniform around the world. So it is really plug and play/roast. Since getting the roaster, I am only on the second tank, roasting on average once per week, 3 batches each time. Even if you live in a high rise apartment, to carry a tank up once a year is not too frequent.

Venting is quite important. Mini500/Yang Chia 800N comes with two blowers, not usually found in machines of this size. You can cool and roast at the same time, unlike machines with one blower. For this reason, you need to have two vents. It should be vented to outside. The ducts also need to be cleaned regularly, so ideally the ducts should not be too long. In commercial settings, custom double walled ducts are required to prevent fire. Home hobbyist can probably get by due to smaller/less frequent roasts and more frequent cleaning and changing the inexpensive flexible/rigid ducts regularly. Hank has the luxury of roasting in his gorgeous yard.......

FYI, Yang Chia handles export outside Taiwan. BellaTaiwan only sells within Taiwan.
Hooking up to natural gas does require different burner nozzles and would want to make sure gas line pressure where you live is high enough to meet the specs of the roaster, if it is higher then a pressure regulator in line before gas entered the machine would be all that is needed.

Ducting exhaust is something that needs to be matched to the power of the blower, ever bend in the line adds many feet onto the total feet, something like a 90 degree bend in equal to 5 feet of straight pipe. My blower can do 20 feet and has two 90 turns so I can only have 10 feet of straight pipe.

The Diedrich IR-1 has only one blower fan, it can cool and roast at the same time with no problem. The blower is Y'ed to the cooling tray and the drum and both exhaust through the cyclone. When it is time to dump the beans I move the air flow through the cooling tray which still has 20% air flow going through the drum which cools the drum in moments for a new drop in of beans, by the time the drying phase is over the beans in the cooling tray are cool and I can divert the air through the drum at 50/50% .

chang00 (original poster)
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#56: Post by chang00 (original poster) »

If the natural gas line pressure is high enough, a simple regulator should suffice. If it is low, in addition to changing the nozzles, the burner itself can be shifted up. It may be difficult to change the gas line pressure in a multi-unit or high rise apartment. In any case, because of these uncertainties and potential language barrier, tank propane may be an easier option.

jedovaty
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#57: Post by jedovaty »

Neat photo and short blurb in the 1/2012 Sunset Magazine, congrats! (google search for the roaster itself brings this thread up as the #1 search, go figure).

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hankua
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#58: Post by hankua »

Alan: sorry for the late reply, the 800n roaster cost 85,000nt which included crating. Shipping costs are not that bad to the US, and if a member is interested in importing a Yang roaster I can walk them thru the steps involved. But there are some negatives to be aware of: Warranty work need to be done at the factory or dealer (Bella Taiwan), no safety features-not going to be ETL or UL approved, and the roaster needs to be paid in full before construction begins. On the positive side I recently heard "Yang roasters are the best on the island".

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Carneiro
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#59: Post by Carneiro »

I would be nice to have a electric version... As I live in an apartment and we can't use propane gas here, only the natural gas that comes from the street, a electric version would be nice. I could use 220V to keep the current not so high... Does anybody know heat power (BTU or kWh) of the burner?

Márcio.

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hankua
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#60: Post by hankua »

Congratulations to Henry!!!

We just our copy of Sunset Magazine, and there he is. Check it out on the newsstand.