After months of stuffing around looking for an easy way to roast with the heat gun without standing there stirring for 20 minutes with smoke billowing into my eyes I finally took the plunge and just tossed the beans in my 10 year old breadmaker.   A dry run confirmed that it should work.  Then caution was thrown to the wind and the bread maker was taken outside, heat  was applied, and the roasting began using 150 grams of Ugandan Bugisu.

All seemed to go much better than expected, with the first crack around 9/10 minutes.  I've never had a first crack before where all the beans seemed to crack in such a short time.  Sounded a bit like fireworks going off!  Maybe the bowl concentrated the sound of the cracks out of the bowl like a foghorn ... not to mention uniform heating throughout the bowl.

Turned the HG down to low and at 14 minutes the second crack came, much quicker than I wanted.  At this stage I realised how hot the bowl was.  Very hot!  Oven mitts were needed.  By the time I got them the beans were in rolling 2nd crack even without any heat being applied.  

So into the Vaccuum cooler they went and down to room temp in 60 seconds.   The best uniformly roasted beans I've done in 4 months of roasting with a heatgun and popper.   Was very pleased  

Did a second roast shortly after with 200g of the Mocha Java Blend (love that one) and didn't need to turn the HG above low.   Maybe due to residual heat left in the bowl.  1st crack at 9/10 mins and rolling 2nd by 14/15.   Now more than pleased  

BTW I'd say that you could roast up to 500 grams in this.  

Regards
Belinda

p.s how do you attach more than one photo?

Thanks Java.

Here are some more photos of the roast.

Side shot with beans jumping around.  Fan to blow the smoke and chaff onto the lawn




Beans at the start.  With temperature probe to the left.  Showed temps of up to 290C with HG on high.  Not sure about that ....




The beans jumping around with some smoke coming off.




Beans a fraction of a second later




The end product




Chaff and 3 beans that made it into the body of the bread maker at the end.  BTW the external walls of the breadmaker kept at near air temperature during the roast.

Hey Hey Hey- Ive got a bread maker that's not doing anything!
Tell me please how do you get it to perform at the right time- I mean my machine waits for 20 minutes before it does anything!
Did you reprogram it or what???
This is exciting! Except I can't see your pictures  
Tell me more- what have you done how do you do it? what settings and stuff- Thanks
RH

Hi Rayzur

Just use the breadmaker on the Dough setting.  I'm sure they are all a bit different but mine wizzes slowly for 2 minutes and then wizzes quickly (kneads) for 25 minutes.  The breadmaker doesn't heat up itself on this setting, so it's perfect for whirling the beans around  

What a great idea Corretto, definitely a  .

I reckon a lot of us must have a breadmaker stashed away in the back of a cupboard somewhere just waiting to be put to a much more useful purpose. My next roast is gonna be in the BM, can't pass this idea up ,

Mal.

Darn it ,

Our bread-maker is a Breville and even in the Dough setting, only stirs continuously for a maximum of 10 minutes after the intermittent stirring finishes after 3 minutes..... looks like it's going to be a no-go ,

Mal.

Looks like this method is very dependant on the type of Breadmaker.  My Breville Country is 10 years old.  On Dough mode it whirls once per 5 seconds for 1 1/2 minutes and then lets rip for the next 25 minutes.  Maybe the old Brevilles are the ones to go for.  

How hard would it be to bypass the circuitry as per Thunders suggestion??

I've done 7 batches in it now and find it fantastic!  With my hands free I've been able to take notes about how long the different beans take.  Generally 15 - 19 minutes to 2nd crack.  Very repeatable.

The superautomatica bottle capper makes it easy to raise and lower the heatgun to adjust for roast lengths/temps.   Because of the heat retention of the bowl the gun only needs to be just above the top of the BM as above in the pics.  Shoving it further in would definitely speed it up of course, but I reckon that would be too vicious.

Gotta have the fan on behind it too.  That blows away the smoke and seems to even out the temp inside the bowl.  Maybe.  Could be imagining that....

Belinda

I've wondered about the teflon problem.  By the end of the roast the temperature probe is showing about 270C, and this is located almost in the middle of the beans.  So not sure what temperature the bowl is getting to, but surely it's not 270C (which might cause problems with the teflon?? )

After 7 roasts, the rotor which is mostly directly exposed to the HG blast, is turning a browny colour along the middle, but the rest of the bowl has not changed colour at all.

Belinda

great idea, corretto.

what is the largest batch you have ever attempted?  possible to do 300g or more?  

rayzurhed, hope you like coffee flavoured bread...

slow

Mal wrote on Aug 7^th, 2006, 10:58pm:


You'd better get permission first! Just in case the SO has ideas on baking some bread all of a sudden  

Quote:

Nahhh,

Not a problem . As well as being the coffee roaster in our household, I'm also the baker.... so, it's all good ,

Mal.

Glad you like it Polly!  When I finished my first roast with this setup I was almost euphoric  
I'd found a way that other CS'ers can use to roast with a Heatgun without standing there for 20 minutes, smoke getting in the eyes, burnt hands and an aching back  

Most of all it's fun!  And thats what this is all about  

Belinda

Great Setup Rayzur!   Don't you just love it when a plan comes together  

Just wondering are you using a fan to blow the smoke and chaff away?  

I found the fan also helps to keep temps in the bowl more even.  Just wondering if anyone else finds this?

Belinda

Baristacrat wrote on Aug 11^th, 2006, 6:57pm:

Corretto certainly has my vote ,

Just bought the necessary bits and pieces today to bypass our Breville's Auto-kneading sequence.... might even get a quick roast in this weekend ,

Mal.

Hi Dkelly

I can't say for sure, but I feel it's a bit like the popper syndone, ie, the bowl of the BM will retain some of the smell.   It's sure not as bad as the popper though in this regards, and the BM bowl is much easier to give a good wash to than the popper.  

After 7 roasts my bowl is not discoloured at all.  But the spindle bit in the middle has turned a bit brown.  But thats the most exposed part and gets all the heat, so it's probably just a bit burnt.  No coffee smell at all.

You'd just have to try it and let us know  

Belinda

well it only took a week. SWMBO's mum found me a breadmaker at a garage sale. Remmington 'big loaf'.... a quick clean to remove the gunk from the two loaves it had made and its good as new! it has a rapid setting which pulses for 2 minutes, then spins constantly there after.
If this method allows me to do one 300-400g roast each week i will be very happy.!
i owe you a beer corretto..

Cheers
KoNG

A party- now that sounds like fun!
Hey Mal whats all this about the parts required to bypass auto kneading sequence?
I'm interested because mine goes for 15 minutes then stops!
This is okay because I generally am finished then anyway- but I'd rather have total control!
What do I need to buyu and how do I set it up?
Pics please
RH

rayzurhed wrote on Aug 14^th, 2006, 6:54am:

Hi RH,

Don't have any photos, and what I did to our BM might not necessarily be the same for yours. All that's needed though, is a switch (rated for 240V AC and 2.0 Amps as a minimum) that you mount in a convenient and non-destructive location on the BM (I used a small Push-button type that you press for 'On' and then press again for 'Off').

If your not sure about how to do any of this, I'd seek the assistance of a licensed electrician since we are talking about playing with 240V AC and it can KILL . The switch needs to be wired in 'Parallel' with the source for the normal supply to the Stirring Motor. If the motor is rated for 240V AC, then you could take it from the most convenient 240V source in the BM, in series with an "in-line" fuse if necessary. If the Motor is not a 240V unit, then you need to make sure that you take off the parallel feed from the same point as the Auto-Stirring system, probably from the base of a relay either electro-mechanical or solid state. You can see why you need to make sure that you know what you are doing with this.

Once you've done the mod, test it out before putting everything back together and if all is well, then button everything back up and head off to the garage to start roasting . I would really recommend that this mod is left to a licensed person as if the least goes wrong, you can fry your bread-maker, should the worst go wrong.... you can fry yourself or someone very near and dear to you . You've got to weigh up the pros and cons very carefully.....

Mal.

Hi KoNG

I bought a GMC Platinum, cost about $70 bucks. From the choice available at Mitre 10 this seemed to have greater power (2000w) and a good heat setting (up to 650 degrees) The GMC platinum range is marketed toward a more 'industrial' user - therefore I figured it could take a higher level of abuse  so was worth paying a bit extra.

So far, so good. It comes with a range of nozzle attachments, one of which is a wide narrow heat diffuser, this works really well in in combination with the diameter of the breadmaker tin.

Polly

I've been using a $15 XUI heat gun from Bunnings (not available anymore I don't think).  However it's starting to look like it's on it's last legs after only a few months.  Every now and then the fan slows down and then speeds up, and sounds like it's going to stop.

Thinking of upgrading it to a GMC or Black and Decker.  Not sure.

Belinda

Corretto wrote on Aug 15^th, 2006, 1:11pm:

Ive been thru about 4 xu1 guns from bunnings, they have all died eventually, some dying mid roast others tripping fuses (fan speeding up and slowing down was the exact symptom) , the later models have a slower fan in them and roast times are definitely slower than an equivalent rated ryobi which I got for $35. The best thing about the ryobi is the 3yr warranty, just keep the receipt and you know the max it will cost you will be less than $12 per year.

I wouldnt have minded a fancy bosch or makita one but i think roasting beans for 20minutes straight is going to kill any heat gun eventually (when the beans are past 1st cracck they are outputting a lot of heat especially with batch sizes just under a kg) and the dearer ones only have a 12mnth warranty

I too am now on the lookout for a cheap breadmaker

Ryobi tools are now made in the PRC, Peoples Republic of China..
Or so It says on my new cordless drill..
I consider these as consumables, use them till they stuff up, get a replacement on warantty then throw it away.. Its rather sad that we have gone down the American way- Cheep is good..
It allows the great unwashed to own a sh!te load of tools which they may use several times before they go tits up, The Upside is that you can leave GMC tools on a worksite and nobodt pinches them..
Tepin

Corretto wrote on Aug 18^th, 2006, 1:03am:


I can feel a Poll coming on.......

Well today was the day my BM was revamped! Bullitt - who lives round the corner- was able to wire it up so that it doesn't stop when it gets too hot or after 15 minutes- which it did last time.
Now there is a simple switch on the top.
I roasted up 300 grams with the heat gun on the lowest setting about 2 inches from the rim of the basket/tub thingo.
first crack at 10 and a half minutes.
second at 14
pulled it at 14:30.
perfect!  
Now I'm roasting coffee like a professional
RH

Well done Corretto. Part of the fun of home roasting is utilising equipment at hand, converting  the prosaic to the sublime.  And when it works--- added satisfaction.

Robusto