One Pound Roaster For under 100

[sea330]

Most of this stuff is made in China, do we trust them to apply Teflon correctly???. They are known to cut cost or find ways to cheapen the process! just speculation. Please air on the side of caution. I think we got a little off topic on this thread but building a roaster under $100.00 on the cheap may have a down side. I think the SS pot method is the best system, the only thing is you need allot of shop tools to build. I think I have spent over $1000.00 just to support my roasting hobby, good investment, affords me hours of tinkering in the shop. The electrical/electronics part is a piece of cake, the fabrication part is tough to get it right.

Rich

[espressomaker]

whats the ss pot method?

[rustic_roaster]

whats the ss pot method?

A Koffee Kosmo type approach using a stainless steel pot(s) and a Turbo Oven. 

Not as simple a solution as the stir crazy as you need to create your drive and no easy second heat source.  Still in  the $100 neighborhood.

[peter]

You don't really need the bottom heat.

[sea330]

I installed a heating element from a SC on the bottom of the SS pan with a 3000 watt dimmer and set temp limit at 400 deg and control the roast with the Turbo oven. I never roast over 440 deg, I will need to play with temp settings to get it right. I am using a inexpensive temp controller that I purchased off ebay for the bottom element. I plane to use two TC, one for the bottom and one for the top and using SSRs to control. I am about 3/4 of the way threw the project. I am hoping to stay under $100 bucks in parts. Fabrication has very little cost just allot of time.

Rich

[peter]

Does that mean the two thermostats will always be doing what you want?  I found it frustrating that when I was trying to maintain a set temp, the bottom t-stat would come on and/or when I wanted to ramp up the heat it would turn off.  I found it simpler to just deal w/ one heating element.  But your controls may be different.  If you're using a temp controller for the bottom element, why even have a t-stat on it?

[sea330]

I don't know whats going on with my PC but when I hit the back space I loose all my text, I will try it again. I am using a K type TC to find the sweet spot for temp on the bottom element, I am thinking 400 deg to start. The T stats that come with the SCs has way to much dead band to be useful, it can swing 20 deg or more. Once I find a good setting for the bottom element I will leave it fixed at set point. I will add another TC for the turbo oven. There will be two rigid K type TCs mounted on the SS pan in the bean mass, mounted center of the pan. I am using a DC drive motor with rpm running 0 to 80 rpms. I guess I should drag the project out and take a Picture of it to give you a better Idea, The last 3 months have been very busy around here remodeling my shop, finally done with insulation, drywall, and texture,painting. The only thing left is the base boards. Spent most of last night installing ac unit. Can;t wait to get back to my hobby projects.

Rich

[donn]

whats the ss pot method?

Not that it was what was meant by that, but ... have dog bowl/heat gun people ever managed a one pound roast (I forget if we're talking about one pound in, or one pound out?)  That always struck me as the rock bottom, since the bowl and heat gun both have other useful applications.

[rustic_roaster]

whats the ss pot method?

Not that it was what was meant by that, but ... have dog bowl/heat gun people ever managed a one pound roast (I forget if we're talking about one pound in, or one pound out?)  That always struck me as the rock bottom, since the bowl and heat gun both have other useful applications.

I use a heat gun with a cast iron pot on a camp stove and can do a 1lb of green coffee.  My pot is a 2.5qt size, I can do from 1/4 to 1lb,  1/2 to 2/3 is best, above 3/4 it is work to keep the beans mixed,  a larger pot would be better for a pound or more.      I think the simple HG/DB approach could do a 1 lb but the time may be sort of long.   

Iron pot $30, whisk $10, Heat Gun $15, stove $40.  I had the stove and heat gun already so it was $30 to get started(whisk added later).    Hands on roasting, no multi-tasking, with some practice consistent roasts and results.   Agitator  tends to drags toward the end of long sessions and requires a thorough cleaning.

[espressomaker]

Hi
does anyone have some basic roast profiles for the stir crazy/ turbo oven?

[peter]

Hi
does anyone have some basic roast profiles for the stir crazy/ turbo oven?

Are you, and if so how, measuring bean temps?

[sea330]

I usually preheat to 300 deg, dump in beans, when bean temp gets to 300 deg, run for 3 min then bump up set point to 440 deg and let it go, you can get fairly good roast in about 15 min or less. This is fairly basic but a good start. Another is to preheat to 350 deg dump in beans when BT gets to 350 deg run for 4 min then bump up set point to 450 deg for a little darker roast. I always dump beans at first sign of second crack.. Hope this is helpful

[espressomaker]

i am not measuring bean temp, should i take out the heat source of the stir crazy?

[sea330]

I left mine in, I just wired a sw to turn off when things get rolling. You should get a temp probe, they are cheap on ebay. There is a thread for SC/TOs on this site, it explains things very clearly. High quality greens are to expensive to screw it up

[peter]

What Rich said.

Put a switch inline between the input and the t-stat on the Stir Crazy.  And w/o a thermometer in the bean mass, there's almost no point is talking about profiles.

That said, you can roast by color and time.  By that I mean, watch for when the beans lose just a little bit of their green-ness, and let them coast at that temp for a couple minutes - that's the drying phase.  Once they're gone from green to light yellow/gold, turn the heat up and just let it go.  The power on the TO is such that w/ 12oz. of beans you'll have a nice gentle ramp to 1C, and you don't really need a profile in between.

But get a digital thermometer on ebay anyway, just 'cuz we said so.