Ideas for homemade roaster

[Kstreet99]

I've been using a Gene Cafe for a few months now and it's been doing really well for me, but I was curious as to how a homemade setup could work. I'm open to any ideas that could be out there, just let me know what options there are. I've got a barbecue and a wood-fired pizza oven that I could work with as well. I'd really like to explore some other ways to roast, so feel free to post anything!


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[peter]

I'm open to any ideas that could be out there, just let me know what options there are...  so feel free to post anything!


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There's a ton of stuff, a literal ton, all over the internet, and on this forum too.

[Batman]

Tons of options and combinations it seems. 

Stating the obvious - I think most roasters (homemade or not) come down to just a few mechanical aspects:

Bean agitation (stirring, tumbling, other...)
Airflow (timing and control of)
Heat delivery (again - timing and control of)

There are many ways to accomplish the above with some designs performing better than others.

I'm a fan of the SC/TO builds (easy to build, nice even roasts), and am building a drum roaster for future use.

[kzaenger]

I would add to that initial list of considerations (1) the desired energy source (are you looking to use gas or electric), (2) what kind of batch size you're looking to get and (3) what level of automation (i.e. something fairly automated, or something perhaps more hands on, are you looking to use motors, speed controllers, temp probes and PID's, etc).  Also keep in mind cooling of the beans, are you going to look to do back to back to back roasts, can you handle the volume of smoke, etc.

I went through the same process moving from a modified popper to a Behmor, then finding myself needing to do larger volumes.  I ended up with a design based on a kitchen stove/oven purchased from Craigslist, and while not without it's flaws, it can turn out very nice roasts...I've pushed it as high as 6 lbs in a batch to end up with 5+ lbs roasted.  It struggled a bit but could get through it...and then I quickly realized my cooling setup was not robust enough for that!  If you are accustomed to Behmor or GC sized batches, 5lbs of hot roasted beans is a LOT to handle! 

[grinderz]

Someone could spend years tinkering and still find it hard to roast better coffee than you can produce with a StirCrazy/TurboOven setup... as long as your fine with only roasting 12-14 ounces at a time.