A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roaster

[JavaB]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Java,

Looks like you are just sooooooo close to finished..... Then you will have to find another project to work on....

Yep, I cant stand the smell of heated (almost smoking) oil either..... so yeah, I would be replacing those shields..... Dont want anything detracting from that lovely coffee roasting aroma.. Mmmmm

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

WooHoo!! The oil tube problem has been solved!

Testing the hole with various bolts it turns out that its a 6mm or 1/4" with non-standard threads. The 1/4" 20 threaded in farther than the 6mm so off I went to try and find a hollow tube with a 1/4" 20 thread on one end. After much searching I came to the conclusion that such an item was not going to be found in the size I needed.

Time for plan B.

I started going through the various tubing stocks and soon found a 1/4" alum tube with nice thick walls that looked to be capable of taking a thread. So I bought a foot long piece of it and headed home to do some customizing.

Upon arriving home I dug out my tap & die set and the bench grinder. After cutting the tube into 3 pieces I used the grinder to put a slight bevel on one end of each piece to make starting the threads easier. After locking the 1/4" 20 die into the vice I put the tubes into a variable speed drill which worked a treat and in no time at all the tubes all had a nice clean thread. I made sure that the threaded area was short enough that there was no possibility of the tubes coming into contact with the rotating shaft. The tubes screwed into the holes nice and easily and tightened down with no problems whatsoever.

Upon replacing the shields however it became obvious that I would in fact have to make new ones as there was a 3-4mm gap between the shield and the back of the barrel.

The main job of the shields is that of an air shroud and not a safety shield. They serve to contain and direct any combustion gases leaking through between the drum/shaft and the frame, as well as any smoke coming off the shaft, into the exhaust system.

The roaster is certainly usable as-is but the perfectionist in me wants the parts to fit perfectly, plus my nose really dislikes the smell of hot oil getting in the way of smelling the beans. Even if everyone else says they cant smell the hot oil, I can. And it bothers me! > So it must go! ;D


Java "Getting there!" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Looking good there Java....

I can see some serious roasting being done on that setup..... worth all the hard work and time I reckon.

It has indeed been worth all the time, money, and effort put into it.

So far since first firing it up a year and a half ago Ive put some 300kg or so of greens through it and given its sturdy build and new protective coating I see no reason why it cant continue to pump out roasts day in and day out for another 50 years continuing on long after Ive worn out and quit working.


Java "Cant wait for that first session!" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Thanks Robusto. It has indeed been a long journey, one filled with many surprises, frustrations, and rich rewards along the way.

The journey however is not yet over. In addition to the replacement of the oil tubes I still need to have a new gear made to replace the one thats stripped and making up some new cooling pans. At that point the roaster will be fully functional in all aspects.

Then I can start working on some mods. ;D

I have designs/hopes of putting in a new gas system. One that is thermostaticly controlled with the end result of it being controllable from roast profiles stored on a computer.

First up however will probably be to make some new pour shoots to better contain/direct the beans when theyre dumped and possibly recoating some parts where the powdercoating has failed to adhere.

Then Ill do...uuuummmm...Im not sure. But Im sure Ill think of something! ;D


Java "Always up to something!" phile

[JavaB]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Looking good there Java....

I can see some serious roasting being done on that setup..... worth all the hard work and time I reckon.

[robusto]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Well done Javaphile, very neat and prosessional installation. Its been a long journey but well worth the travel.

-Robusto

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

After the passing of almost 2 years since I began this journey the roaster has finally been placed in its permanent home and a very important question finally answered.

Much rearranging and moving of stuff has been going on here for over a month now and I took advantage of the need to move the roaster and the clearing of the only place in the basement where the roaster could be properly vented to the outside and easily hooked into the houses natural gas supply to bite the bullet and do the move.

While I could have vented the roaster through a window, with only 2 openable windows in the basement they were both needed to provide ventilation. Fortunately one of the joist spaces above one of the windows had not been filled with concrete and had no main beam passing through it. This meant I would only have to cut through 7cm of wood rather than 30cm of concrete and 24cm of wood. The placement of the vent was an easy decision to make. ;D

The other requirement for where the roaster could be located was easy access to tap into the houses natural gas supply. Less than half a meter from where the vent would be run was a union joint on the gas line, an ideal point for the easy installation of a T and shut-off valve.

Id found the location for the roasters permanent home.

With the area cleared and the roaster and its custom made bench that a friend gifted me with finally in the basement the time had arrived to put some holes in my house and play with explosive gases. I got ahold of a friend who is a Master Plumber, and also one of my CP converts, and with the promise of copious quantities of CP convinced him to come over and give me a hand with the installation. Yesterday afternoon he came over and we proceeded to drill, cut, hack, and screw and after a couple of hours and many cups of CP the roaster was hooked into a proper vent and gas supply.

To prevent a wall fire I used a double walled vent that is rated for appliances with up too a 40,000 BTU output. The roaster has nowhere near that level of output.

I used a flexible hose made from solid stainless steel as the gas line and a flexible alum vent hose so that any vibrations from the roaster will not be transmitted to the main gas line or the vent and cause them to crack or break loose.

The entire installation was done so-as to meet or exceed all building codes so all the pencil pushers with the city can now kiss my you-know-what. ;D

As those who have been following this adventure know Ive been questioning whether the roaster was truely set up for propane as Id been told by the previous owner. Id come to the conclusion that it in fact was set up for natural gas and not propane but had never been able to confirm this. With the roaster now in its permanent home and hooked into a natural gas supply the time had now come to test my theory.

After double checking all the gas connections for any leaks the time had come for the big test. Hoping like hell I was right and with a bit of trepidation I powered the roaster up and cracked the valve on one barrel and lit the burner. So far so good! The flame height and color looked good, much better than when running propane. I slowly opened the barrels valve all the way and was very pleased to see that even opened all the way the flame height remained very small with no signs of it wrapping around the barrel as it did with the propane when opened all the way. The flame height was also much easier to control with a smooth even transition from minimum too maximum rather than jumping from barely staying lit to 80% of max with just a tiny movement of the valve as was the case with the propane.

My theory had been validated and I could now look forward to having much better control and far easier adjustments of the roasting temp. WooHoo!!!

While this was a much anticipated and hoped for finding it once again brings into question just what is the designed batch size of the roaster. Maximum flame height with the NG is but a small fraction of what it was with the propane. Off-setting the smaller flame is the fact that NG burns about 30% hotter than propane. Im hoping that I will be able to maintain my 200g batch sizes and not have to reduce them too the more standard 100g batch size of most sample roasters. Time and trial will tell!

While the roaster is now in its permanent home and all hooked up, before I can start using it for more than a small amout of roasting I must first rig up a replacement for the tubes on the rear frame of the barrels through which oil is gotten to the barrels shaft where it passes through the frame. These were missing from the roaster when I bought it. While the roaster was in the bedroom the rear of it was easily accessible so I could add more oil to the shafts in the middle of a roasting session. In its new home the rear of it is no longer accessible and the mounting holes for the tubes are not visible from the front with-out craning your head over the top of the barrels. Not a very comfortable nor safe position in the middle of a roast with the barrels radiating off their hundreds of degrees of heat. Tomorrow I plan on taking the third barrel, the unmounted one with the stripped gear, around to various hardware and automotive places to try and find a suitable replacement for the tubes. Once I have them I will have to modify (or possibly make anew) the shields over the rear of the barrels that they pass through.


Java "Im so psyched!!" phile

[Thundergod]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

   

ITS AN ESKY MATE !!!

:P

AAaahhhh....Tis the first time Ive heard that term. A popularized truncation of Eskimo cooler I assume?

Close.

Esky is an aussie brand of cooler.
So popular that all coolers are known as eskies.
http://www.nylex.com.au/esky/

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

This is the Zimbabwe AAA+ Dandoni Estate taken into the beginning of 2nd crack but pulled prior to the roll.

Mmmm,

Beautiful Java..... Im sure I can detect the exquisite aroma of those beans from here. Great looking roast there mate [smiley=thumbsup.gif],

Mal.

Thanks Mal, it turned out pretty good considering some of the odd beans in it. Just tried the first cup of it (24 hours post roast) and itll need to rest for a bit more. Now to try the Gatare.


Java "Happily experimenting" phile

[Dimal]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

This is the Zimbabwe AAA+ Dandoni Estate taken into the beginning of 2nd crack but pulled prior to the roll.

Mmmm,

Beautiful Java..... Im sure I can detect the exquisite aroma of those beans from here. Great looking roast there mate [smiley=thumbsup.gif],

Mal.

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Heres the only half-way decent pic of the finished beans so far. The batteries for the cam died and Ill have to wait for them to recharge before I can try taking some more pics.

On my system here the picture is a pretty near identical match for what the beans look live. The other pics I took looked nothing like the real beans so Ill have to experiment with lighting and distance to get a more representative image.

This is the Zimbabwe AAA+ Dandoni Estate taken into the beginning of 2nd crack but pulled prior to the roll.

Java "Hhhhmmm......spresso!" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Love those checkered shorts too!

What can I say, they help keep the local punks under control for as everyone knows, only Scots and Crazies wear plaid. ;D


Java "Not a Scot" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Great looking roasts Java. Seeing the "punchline" here is a little like us all goo-gaaing over baby photos after following the whole journey (so far).

You must be roasting for half the town with sessions that big!
(I guess word had got out)

Thanks Andy. I took some close-ups of the finished roasts but they werent very good pics so Ill have to redo them here today. Ill post them when I have some good quality ones.

I must say Im still goo-gaaing over the roaster myself.

It has been quite the journey to date and its not over yet as the thrid barrel still needs to be brought on-line, and once that is done Ill be looking to update the gas supply side of the system. A never-ending adventure Im afraid. Well and truely hooked! : ;D


Java "Hooked on da bean" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Others may worship said Javaphile, but I really thought hanging out with us mob of Aussies would have rubbed off a little on him....

Sitting on top of the cooler on the right side is my BBC (Bean Bucket Cooler).

ITS AN ESKY MATE !!!

:P

AAaahhhh....Tis the first time Ive heard that term. A popularized truncation of Eskimo cooler I assume?

/me files the information away in a cubby hole like the good little pack rat he is

And after a roasting session like that, its no wonder your two year bean stockpile has been depleted so quickly !

My 2+ year stockpile of beans that Id accumulated dissapeared with-in a couple of months of the roaster going on-line.

Ive since gone through an additional 100kgs or so. In fact Im looking at having to do another restocking run here in the very near future as Im down to about 15kg.

I do a roasting session of this size roughly every 1-2 weeks. The 2.8kg blend roasted for CP will yield about 9l of concentrate of which usually half will go to others. During the hot months here I was having to do up a CP batch every week. Now that were getting into the cold winter up here itll be interesting to see how many stick with the CP vs how many will switch to brewed.

The 3 smaller SO batches are for purely internal consumption here at home via the Cimbali and will last anywhere from as little as 2 days if I have a lot of visitors or as long as 4-5 days if I get to enjoy them all myself.

In between the large CP roasts Ill usually do another session for espresso here and whole beans for friends.

(whos still accumulating far quicker than consuming)

How you manage to do that with your commercial roaster (Im still wondering how you bribed that ships captain to return the roaster to you after Id bribed him so well to deliver it to me!) is a pretty question! ;D


Java "Roasting up a storm" phile

[grendel]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Love those checkered shorts too!