So it begins... home-made drum roaster

[gonzob]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

Latest addition: a thermometer!





I bought the thermometer (0-400C) off e-bay for $22.80, silver-soldered a 1/2" copper tube into the end cap, and drilled through the handle to accept the probe.

Beats flying blind!

Gonzo

[gonzob]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

Sorry, I hadnt checked this thread recently. Answers to questions:

Crema, etc: Im now roasting at a flame level which gives me first crack about 10 mins and 2nd crack about 13 mins, although it varies quite a bit due to the difficulty getting the flame setting right. The crema and taste are very good - see my post of the Pneu-Presso .

The agitation of the beans is fine with the little paddle inside. I think the off-centre handle would be more of  a pain than its worth from the point of view of having to rotate the drum continuously for ~15 mins. It would want to fall into one position all the time.

Im pretty happy with it. That said, however, my breadmaker has just become unreliable for bread, so Im making a corretto... well see

Gonzo.

[coffee_mogul]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

Great work!
Could you rotat the drum of centre to aide agitation, like the Gene cafe?

Move the handles (pivots) of center slightly, and allow a little more clearance in the support frame for the off centre rotation.

[philschl]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

That DIY roaster is just beautiful!
Have you sorted out the coffee quality yet?
What was the answer to the lack of crema you had described?

I just got a bag of green beans from another CSer and this little construct looks like a fantastic place to start.

Phil

[chokkidog]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

Awesome work Gonzo!!
My two bobs worth........
Andys right about the paddles and if you didnt have to shake it,
the bottom end could be a compression fitting in a bearing (like an axle)......
Hey presto and you can run the CS Roastmonitor by running the probe through the compression fitting...... awesome!!

beanut

[gonzob]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

OK, heres MkII. I made it bigger, and it can handle 200g of beans easily.



The tube is 150mm long now. Taco, you will note that this time I pop-riveted the blind end. I fitted a vane inside for turning the beans over.

I had to make the frame longer to accommodate the longer tube. I buy the 5/16 whitworth threaded rod & nuts from Bunnings, and cut to length. I clean up the ends with a linisher, but of course you can use a file.

I used pop rivets because I could see the thing becoming rattly if I used screws and nuts, especially with the heating/cooling. The bayonet I made with my Dremel and a file. You can do anything if you have a Dremel! You can see a spare hole or two in the open end of the tube. Thats where I stuffed up the position of the screws for the bayonet.

Gonzo.

[Randy_G.]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

If you cut it yourself is there a trick to not screwing up the thread?

To cut any threaded part (even bolts and screws), run the nut onto the part first, cut the part to length, grind or file the end smooth with a beveled edge, wire brush the cut end )with a power tool preferably), and then run the nut off over the cut end to clear the threads, Wire brush again if necessary.

Another tip: you can make a die to clear the threads by taking the correct size nut, and using a jewelers saw or small file, cut two or three slots inside the nut through the threads. Heat the nut up to a deep red and drop it into some powdered sugar. The sugar will carbonize the surface a bit.

[taco]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

I love the simplicity of this design, and I think that once Ive gotten the hang of popper roasting Ill be looking at knocking one of these up too and cooking over the wok burner of my BBQ.

Not having done any metal work since high school, Im not sure of the tools required.
Did you buy the threaded rod already in correct lengths or did you cut it? If you cut it yourself is there a trick to not screwing up the thread?
Most of the construction looks simple enough, screws and rivets. Any particular reason you screwed the base cap on but used rivets for the handle mounts?
What tool did you use for creating the bayonet style locking mechanism for the lid?

Sorry for asking so many questions :s

[Dimal]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

Gday Gonzo....

Just from your profile timings above, Id reckon you could reduce the heat a little at the start of the roast in an effort to stretch out the time to the start of Rolling 1st-Crack - Say to around 12 minutes, give or take....

When you hear 1st-Crack start to roll, reduce the heat a little more so as to prevent running directly into 2nd-Crack and aim for about 3-5 minutes from the end of 1st-Crack to the first few snaps of 2nd, at which time you could dump the batch and cool. Keep notes on what happens with each roast batch until such time as you get more of a feel for the process itself and the idiosyncrasies of your particular setup (which is great by the way 8-))....

Youll get there mate, its a learning process and coupled with your new roaster, it may be a little steeper curve than that for a Popper for example. Once you get a handle on it though, youll be churning out some wonderful coffee....

Stick with it....

Mal.

[gonzob]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

KK - no I havent added a vane yet. Im doing more shaking! Helpful link. Thanks

Sniff - Yes, Im letting them rest in glass jars which I open once a day. Others comments suggested that I could use the beans from a drum roaster right away, but I soon learned that I couldnt. Ive let them sit for 4+ days.

Beanz- The tube and endcaps come from Reece plumbing. Any plumbing supplies will have them. Unfortunately, copper aint cheap these days.

Any thoughts on the crema?

Gonzo

[Beanz.]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

Hi Gonzob A great no nonsense roaster that would be very practical when on the road travelling and camping. Where did you pick up the copper tube and end caps ? Most of the copper tube I have seen has been smaller diameter

[SniffCoffee]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster


Hi Gonzo

How long are you waiting between roasting the beans and using them?

You should probably let the beans degas for at least 3 or 4 days before using them. Stick them in a bag with a one way valve, and each morning squeeze the bag and smell what comes out of the valve...the smells and flavours should become more apparent after the beans have rested.

If you like try some beans each morning from the same roast and see how the flavours change. I generally organise my roasting so that the beans rest for about a week before I start using them.

cheers

Sniff

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

Have you added vanes for better mixing yet?

Here is a guide to roast level
http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.php

KK

[gonzob]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

OK, what an I doing wrong?

I got a sample pack of Mexican Yeni Navan, Colombian Volcan Galeras, Ethiopian Ghimbi, and Peru Caja de Selva

Ive roasted them in the roasting drum, generally getting 1st crack at about 9mins and getting about the right colour at about 16mins. I havent been able to detect a second crack, the 1st crack just seems to get louder, then tapers off, and then it looks like getting too dark. I cool with colanders in a fan breeze. I havent got a CS colour gauge, but it looks to be about 9 or 10. Theres a bit of variation, bean to bean.

Anyway, thats what Ive been doing. The problem is the taste. Im getting not a lot of crema (certainly less than I get with Supermarket Beans, Vittoria, Harris), the taste is not sweet, and there aint much body. The aroma both of the beans before grinding and the coffee after brewing is nowhere near as strong as SBs. Altogether a bit of a let-down.

Im thinking Im not roasting for long enough, because there are still some smells like weetbix/cattle-dung. However, I dont want charcoal.

Suggestions please. Keep em nice

Gonzo

[lindsayra]

Re: So it begins... home-made drum roaster

Hi Gonzob,
Great work, love it.

consider putting a 10mm "paddle" in there

maybe silver-solder a small "shelf"

Why not swing your "shelf" off a couple of those hefty Philips head screws you used for fixing the endcap and bayonet for the lid lock?

Lindsay