Bread Machine Chaff Collector

[greenman]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

I started to get very uneven roasts and beans seemed to collecting in the corners of bucket and not rotating evenly, so I fabricated a new paddle, it worked a treat but with a little extra length it was emptying 2/3 of my beans into the bm, so I made an extension to the bucket top with some sturdy aluminium fast food containers, this worked really well and havent lost a bean since, but the bonus of all this is that all of the chaff now leaves the bucket and I end up with chaffless roasts, I just vacuum up my workbench at roasts end. With the bucket being more protected I have had to raise the heat gun as more heat is being retained in the roasting area.

[seedlings]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

I just used a hole saw in the lower, rear corner.



CHAD

[Andy]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

I recently made a chaff collector of sorts for my bread machine.

Great chaff colour David, looks like its working well.
Nice and pale means that you didnt toast it during the later stages of the roast.

8-)

[DavidPx]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

The PID controls the heat gun element while the switches control main power, the mixer, and the heat gun fan. My writeup: http://www.tracezero.net/Beer/2008/1...ter-version-2/

Nice one DP,

Im interested in your other coretto mods, how are you implementing the PID?  [or is it Just for temp display].....also what do the other switches do?

Fell free to post this in another thread if you want to keep them seperate.

Cheers

Reuben

[bassway]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

Oh really, thats cool... Does it make much of a difference?  Can you roast a lot more beans at once?  We pulled the element and everything else that wasnt a motor out of ours :-)

It seems to get more of the variatal flavour out of the bean instead of the roast flavour.
On a couple of a "test" roasts, using Yirga, the roast with the BM element came with very strong, bright flower taste. Like drinking rosewater.
The roast with the heatgun only gave a more "round" nutty taste.

The thought behind doing it was to contain more of the heat into the roast. Instead of the heat gun trying to heat the beans and the breadmaker the heatgun can just try to heat the beans. It kind of turns the coretto into more of a drum roaster instead of a fluid air bed. Some thoughts are that the heat gun may blow of some of the oils. Dont know. Either way I get more control and more choice in how I roast my beans.

I did notice the BM was getting a lot hotter on the outside. So I put insulation between the walls. Which, again, adds to the heat containment.
Also put that fan in, which keeps all the eletronics and motor cooler.

I wrote a bit more about it on this thread;
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1230273327

[Humphrey]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

Except I use the Breadmaker element as well as the heat gun. Can lead to a smoky roast!

Oh really, thats cool... Does it make much of a difference? Can you roast a lot more beans at once? We pulled the element and everything else that wasnt a motor out of ours :-)

[bassway]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

Although, there isnt really anything wrong with it piling up in the bottom of the BM. :-)

Except I use the Breadmaker element as well as the heat gun. Can lead to a smoky roast!

[Humphrey]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

We used wire flyscreen mesh nailed to a little wooden frame. It sits on top of the breadmaker and the (slight) breeze from the heat gun blows it over the side of the BM pan and into the BM itself - where it collects very quickly!

Im the Humphrey that stu mentions.  I was surprised how well this mesh works.  Pretty much no chaff is left in the bowl but it all actually sits in-between the BM casing and the bowl.  Then we just have to take the BM outside and tip the chaff onto the garden.  The chaff does sit on the stirring mechanism but it hasnt effected the spinning at all.

The main weakness with this method is that some chaff still floats up between the screen and the heat gun.  However this is mostly because I did a crap job at cutting out the mesh.  BTW Make sure that you use a metal mesh - PLASTIC MELTS!  I originally had a plastic-y mesh held onto the frame with gaffa tap, and the tape just melted!

The fan and chaff hole means the chaff ends up on the same place in the garage floor.

I really like the idea of this fan!  That would great improve our approach because the chaff could just get sucked out into a mesh container or something.  Although, there isnt really anything wrong with it piling up in the bottom of the BM. :-)

Id like to add in some sort of fan to our system to suck away the smoke. We roast inside mostly because (a) moving the setup is effort, and (b) we live in Tasmania, so for 362 (365 - 3 warm days) its usually cold, windy, and wet outside :-P Placing a vacum cleaner near the top of the machine eliminates every bit of smoke, but its very noisy. I wonder if I could use a side fan and use it to suck away the chaff as well?

The other reason to eliminate chaff is to keep the heat gun internals clean. We are on our 3rd or 4th heatgun now (thanks bunnings warranty).

[stuartgrant]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

Hi all,

Weve adopted a reasonable balance between collecting chaff and leaving the beans visible during the roast.

We used wire flyscreen mesh nailed to a little wooden frame. It sits on top of the breadmaker and the (slight) breeze from the heat gun blows it over the side of the BM pan and into the BM itself - where it collects very quickly!

Not entirely easy to see through, but good enough. Im kinda with Bassway on this one; we go by temp rather than bean colour anyway.

[NB. I didnt build the chaff catcher! My roasting mates, including CSer "humphrey", made it in my absence...]

Oh, and the last couple of photos show our set-up for the HG - we turn the temp right down and submerge it in the bean mass.

Cheers
Stuart.

[bassway]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

Great job DP!

I have found that looking at the bean colour not that important. I am sure many home roasters would disagree!

More important to me is the bean mass temp/time and crack temp/time.

Heres my Corretto;


The fan and chaff hole means the chaff ends up on the same place in the garage floor. Quick sweep or vac and its gone.
The hole also allows for the sound of the beans crack to come out loud and clear.

You can also still see the bean colour but it is a lot harder;



A few other Coffee snobs have done similar. As you have found out you can lower the temp that the heat gun puts out.

[reubster]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

Nice one DP,

Im interested in your other coretto mods, how are you implementing the PID? [or is it Just for temp display].....also what do the other switches do?

Fell free to post this in another thread if you want to keep them seperate.

Cheers

Reuben

[DavidPx]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

you may collect more with a short pipe??

Youre right on this one. There is always more chaff left amongst the beans when using the exhaust lid than when "running free". The airflow from the heat gun isnt that great and the stream doing out the pipe wouldnt be uniform enough to assertively carry off the chaff. Hence the drum roaster design!

[Thundergod]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

TG - how did your BM die, were there any symptoms? My BM appears to be vibrating more than it used to.

I was getting earth leakage trips to the power half way through a roast and actually suspected my new Aldi heatgun or new bean cooling bucket.

The last time everything tripped, the first thing I turned on (and the only thing plugged in) was the BM.
Tripped again immediately.

Ive pulled it apart for a quick look and everything appears normal.
i.e. no burn marks on th circuit board etc.
The only thing was a fair amount of chaff had built up that had worked its way into the guts from small holes under the breadpan.

I doubt the BM was earthing via the chaff though.
I havent put it back together to test that theory though as the portable ELCB I was loaned has been taken back.

[bolb]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

Given the chaff gets collected on its own momentum, you may collect more with a short pipe??

TG - how did your BM die, were there any symptoms? My BM appears to be vibrating more than it used to.

Mal

[fishinglizard1972]

Re: Bread Machine Chaff Collector

buy a pyrex jug and sit it in a hole in the metal, then just look through the bottom of the jug. No cutting