Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

[rayzurhed]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Mal- Wild man! Nah- just sick of the mimimal popper capacity when people are asking for my coffee! :
This morning I roasted another 700 and used the popper for some light roast colombian to add to the mix- nearly didnt get the milo tin lid on! ;D
Had to munch a few of the strays! ;D

BTW- Belinda, I dont roast mine as dark as you - that is way dark for me.
Is it just me? I dont reckon Ive ever roasted so many minutes into second crack- they are almost black!
RAYZUR- the wild man- HED

[grendel]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

We ought to have some sort of annual awards in coffee snobbery - I reckon Belinda would have 2006 wrapped up - Im now getting anxious that I havent got my own Corretto running yet!

[Corretto]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

BTW- Belinda, I dont roast mine as dark as you - that is way dark for me.
Is it just me? I dont reckon Ive ever roasted so many minutes into second crack- they are almost black!
RAYZUR- the wild man- HED

Actually mine didnt turn out that dark really Rayz. Just the lighting conditions. The most realistic picture is of the beans in the white bowl at the bottom of the series. So I suppose they are just Full City. Ive brought beans before ( in my pre roasting days of course ) that were much blacker than anything Ive done.

I often mean to pull the beans earlier, but its too much fun watching them go round and round :-) I get mesmerised ;D

Belinda

[Corretto]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

We ought to have some sort of annual awards in coffee snobbery - I reckon Belinda would have 2006 wrapped up - Im now getting anxious that I havent got my own Corretto running yet!

Oh Grendel :

Im waiting patiently to see what you can do with this setup. From your Bling work Id say you could take this setup to another level. Ive been thinking about getting gas involved in the heating side of things. It would allow even better control over the heating side of things.................... The HG is a bit limited.

Belinda

[Corretto]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Well I used the "Corretto" to roast 250 grams of a differnet variety of Brazilian bean today.

The bean goes from first crack straight into the second.. the rate of "browning" was unbelievable

Fortunately with the flexability of the setup I could immediately see and hear what was happening and back off the heat gun and control the roast so that it slid into the second crack just enough....

I think it would be almost impossible to roast this bean in a popper..... it would be charcoal before you knew it.

I continue to be amazed just how well this works

Well done Belinda [smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]

Thanks Java. You have done well there.

Yep, it does make it extemely easy to see what is going on and allow for instant changes where needed. I love how you can hear and see everything so well. Enough to take a major series of photos even

Did you ever try roasting that Brazilian in a popper?

Belinda

[JavaB]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Did you ever try roasting that Brazilian in a popper?

No I havent Belinda.....

Might give it a try over the weekend, but I fully expect that it will run away before I can stop it.

If I didnt know it was going to roast that quickly, there would be no time to react, unlike the "Corretto" where there was enough warning to back the heat off - QUICKLY

Im not ready to go for the record for quantity just yet..... but going to give 800 grams a go before too long.... I reakon it will do that - maybe even more ;D

EXCELLENT - such a simple idea works so well!

[grendel]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Thanks belinda - most of my work in preparing for BM roasting has been around designing a stand for the heat gun that allows a big range in terms of movement, angle etc. Starting in wood and working up from there.

[Corretto]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Any ideas for cooking with gas? Im thinking that the end of the flame part (dont know the name) will have to be connected to some sort of distributor so the heat is distributed evenly over the top of the beans.

Belinda

[JavaB]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Any ideas for cooking with gas? Im thinking that the end of the flame part (dont know the name) will have to be connected to some sort of distributor so the heat is distributed evenly over the top of the beans.

Belinda

They do a similar thing with gas powered soldering irons and heat guns where the flame plays onto a wire mesh (well really there is no flame, the gas air mixture reacts with the mesh which glows red hot)- like the catalytic converter in a car exhaust.....

See:
http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=T2480

This produces lots of heat (possibly too much for roasting) :-[

The other problems with these is when you start to reduce the gas, the heat output falls off rapidly- you dont have much control unfortunately.....

I was/am toying with the idea of making an electronic heat control for the heatgun so it could be varied either smoothly or with switched (repeatable) steps from 0 to 100%.... still thinking about that one. :-/

Ideally it would not require modification to the gun itself (can do it really easily if you modify the gun - but not everyone would /could do that)...

And whatever is done most be easy, simple and effective as it is now

[Dimal]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Any ideas for cooking with gas? Im thinking that the end of the flame part (dont know the name) will have to be connected to some sort of distributor so the heat is distributed evenly over the top of the beans.

Dont think it would be all that difficult to do Belinda,

You can get all sorts of attachments, hoses and valves that can be configured for use with a standard BBQ gas bottle. Controlling the flame distribution wouldnt be difficult either, it just comes down to the type of nozzle fitted to the end of the burner..... something along the lines of a fan shaped nozzle would probably do the trick. I dont think youd need to go all that big with the burner either since you arent heating up a mass of metal or a huge volume of air, just directed straight at the beans in the bread-pan. Maybe a visit to your local friendly licensed gas-fitter or BBQ repairers or some such thing would have it sorted out for you pretty quickly.

Cheerio,
Mal.

[Thundergod]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

The thing is that the paddle rises to the level of the brass shim tie.  Grinding off the bottom I believe will only cause the gap to increase.  Maybe another hole needs to be drilled slightly lower than the first to stop the paddle rising.  But as this isnt causing any real concerns I think its best to leave it alone for now  

If you decide to deal with the problem, maybe all it needs is to enlarge the diameter of the current hole and to replace your current tie with something thicker.

It may even be that the hole is already adequate and that only the tie is too thin.

The bottom of the hole (closest to the bottom of the spindle) obviously needs to be the point that you dont want the spindle to rise above.

If or when that is correct I would suggest a split pin of the correct thickness will hold it quite firmly in place.

[Corretto]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Thanks Mal and Java.

I think this would be something worth trying. If it doesnt work out then so be it. If it does then it could add a whole new dimension to this hobby.

Maybe gas heated beans done in the BM could take on a different taste/flavour dimension?

Maybe not. Just have to try it and see really.

And in the process save on electricity costs :-)

Belinda

[Corretto]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

The thing is that the paddle rises to the level of the brass shim tie. Grinding off the bottom I believe will only cause the gap to increase. Maybe another hole needs to be drilled slightly lower than the first to stop the paddle rising. But as this isnt causing any real concerns I think its best to leave it alone for now

If you decide to deal with the problem, maybe all it needs is to enlarge the diameter of the current hole and to replace your current tie with something thicker.

It may even be that the hole is already adequate and that only the tie is too thin.

The bottom of the hole (closest to the bottom of the spindle) obviously needs to be the point that you dont want the spindle to rise above.

If or when that is correct I would suggest a split pin of the correct thickness will hold it quite firmly in place.

Thanks for that Thunder, sounds like a good idea or two.

If I was to do that Id need to buy a proper vice though. Maybe I should. Not too fond of having lots of tools, but u need them to get the job done I suppose.

But since I made that modification Ive done 3 more roasts all with about 160 grams and have had no problems. So theres been no real need to do it. But I might :-)

Belinda

[grendel]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Gas always works better heating objects above than below - pressure is the problem mostly. That being said there are some great gas jets you can get but on the pricey side.

We have NG to the house and Ive been looking at a variation of the BBQ roaster that might be more compact.

I think though that the Corretto is a more practical solution to increasing roasting yeild.

[Javaphile]

Re: Easy Hands Free Heat Gun Setup: Pt II

Maybe gas heated beans done in the BM could take on a different taste/flavour dimension?

Maybe not. Just have to try it and see really.

And in the process save on electricity costs :-)

Generaly bottled gas costs significantly more per BTU than electricity. Plus you have the cost of the construction of the device. If the intention is to keep costs as low as possible youre probably better off sticking with the heatgun.

Another issue would be the higher heat of the gas degrading the teflon and all the previously discussed potential problems surrounding that issue.

Java "Roast you golden beauties, roast!" phile