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New to Bread Machine/Heat Gun - Basic Questions

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  • New to Bread Machine/Heat Gun - Basic Questions

    I have a few basic bread-machine/heat-gun roasting questions. (Ive read a lot about this here on CoffeeSnobs, but never posted before.) As background, Ive been roasting for about a year in an unmodified Poppery II, without a thermometer, outdoors (ambient temperature anywhere from 7 C to 27 C or so).

    Ive got an unmodified Hitachi bread machine and a Milwaukee heat gun (and a fan), and Ive just finished my first try at roasting (outdoors, ambient temp around 10 C) this way.

    Question 1: My bread machine stopped agitating the beans (indicator said "--H" which I take to mean overheating) before FC and I had to finish the roast in the Poppery. How can I keep the machine from overheating? I had the business end of the HG slightly inside the bean-bucket -- maybe too low?

    Question 2: Looks like I should invest in a thermometer or DMM with thermocouple. Ive only seen the flex-type thermocouple, not the solid probe. How do people mount these? Are the IR thermometers (the hand-held types that dont use a physical probe) really not useful?

    I have only few tools and less skill, so Id rather not try to modify anything if it can be avoided.

    Any thoughts or ideas?

    Thanks!

    --Californian

  • #2
    Re: New to Bread Machine/Heat Gun - Basic Question

    Hi there
    I generally have my heat gun 1 - 2cm above the edge of the bread bowl. The only time i get the overheating issue is if i try to do my next roast straight after finishing one.

    I run a DM and probe the same as sold here on CS, i first used the flex prob but then moved to the solid probe. To insert the probe i drilled through the outer casing of the bread maker and then through the bread bowl. Very simple as long as you are steady with the pressure pushing the drill against the side of the bread machine.

    Mal

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    • #3
      Re: New to Bread Machine/Heat Gun - Basic Question

      Theres the option of detaching the breadmakers temperature sensor from its mounting and moving it away from the bowl.
      Dont remove the wires, as sometimes this leads to a different error message.

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      • #4
        Re: New to Bread Machine/Heat Gun - Basic Question

        The DMM is the way to go, drill though BM body into bucket and it monitors the roasts really well.
        When roasting aim a fan at the HG and edge of BM bucket, this disperses the chaff and cools the HG body down, your HG will last a lot longer doing this.
        Hopefully you can sort out your BM stalling. I use a Breville BM and have had no problems at all with it.

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        • #5
          Re: New to Bread Machine/Heat Gun - Basic Question


          Hi Californian, and Welcome to CS.

          I have to ask this, just in case........ Did you run the BM on the Dough or Knead cycles? If you didnt, that could explain the possible overheat problem? If you need to do the Thundergod mod, remember to disconnect it....zappy, zappy.

          Thermocouples..... http://www.omega.com I presume youre in the US and theyre in Stamford Connecticut.

          Regarding the DMM and thermocouple, Im sure one of our US Snobs can give you all the details.


          b4b.


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          • #6
            Re: New to Bread Machine/Heat Gun - Basic Question

            Hi Californian,

            Re the flex type thermocouple, if this is all you can get, it is possible to feed this down a piece of brass tubing to make a solid probe. I have done this successfully with a flex type thermocouple that I bought from Jaycar out here. The brass tube was an eighth of a inch diameter from a hobby (model) shop and was a neat fit in the tube. I just pushed it through until the bead of the thermocouple was at the end of the tube but not sticking out. Friction keeps it in position. It works like a charm and you can make the probe to the length you need.
            Cheers,

            Alan

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            • #7
              Re: New to Bread Machine/Heat Gun - Basic Question

              Do you know where the BMs temperature sensor is - maybe the heat gun was aiming right at it causing the error message??

              Ive only gotten this message when Ive tried to start the BM immediately after doing another roast - had to go grab the cold pack out of the freezer to cool the sensor down so I could do another roast straight away. I know mine doesnt like it when I point the gun towards the paddle either.

              I usually have my HG sitting just above the top of my bread pan pointing straight down, but others have it just below the edge.

              Ive heard around the threads here that the infrared thermometers arent any good in our situation. Cant remember the reasons though.

              Cheers

              Juls

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