Hello,
Thought I’d try posting and get some opinions on my new homemade roaster. Be gentle with me guys, I know it’s pretty primitive by most standards. This may be something you have seen before or maybe not. So far the beta testing is promising. I have been roasting for a couple of years using a Ronco Showtime but it finally died. It worked, but was underpowered and I thought I could do better. As you probably can tell this is a modified Farberware vintage roaster with a second tub purchased on eBay to make the top half. Starting cold, I am getting first crack at about 12-14 minutes and I may be able to speed that up a little bit yet. I have yet to get a piece of sight glass cut to fill the top, currently I am just covering it up. I don’t have a way yet to check bean or drum temp, but inside the roaster gets up to 600 degrees entering the second crack. I may add a Varic to help with the profile, but still don’t know if I would profit from it. A 14 oz. batch is the perfect size for me, and I can adjust the RPM’s from 20 to 75 with the speed controller. The gear motor is a 1/30 hp Dayton, probably overkill for this app. Any thoughts? Seen this before? Impressions of the roast time or chamber temps? Thanks for any advise you have…….Russell