My Flowerpot KKTO

[chookdoyle]

Hi All,
Soon after stepping on to the slippery slope of coffee snobbery I decided to build a roaster, so after settling on the KKTO (totally brilliant by the way!!) for inspiration I read and re read the forums and found a common thread on heat loss from the side of the pot. So I decided to use a terracotta flowerpot as my chamber, to act as insulation and retain more heat. as you can see I fitted the cut down spacer inside the top of the pot to make a nice lid seal and sealed that with some fireproof silicone. The drive from the windscreen wiper motor is a series of bolts and sockets that all detaches easily.
The beans sit in a steamer pot and are stirred as in the KKTO. All seems good up till now.
So far I’ve done about 4 roasts, 2 300g (green) and 2 600g.
Any comments criticisms or suggestions welcome.
Thanks for all the info on this site!!
Liam

[chookdoyle]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Here are my latest 2 roasts, the first (lighter) was a 300g(green), the second the 600g
Both Guatemala

[maheel]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

great setup, thats great thinking outside the "stock pot"

out of interest does any heat come through the pots? i guess it would but wondering how hot?

[Mono]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Nice set up Liam, thinking out side of the square. Seems like a creative and logical solution. Have you measured the total internal volume, you may find roast times more suitable with a lowering of the volume? I believe KKs research shows that around 7-p litres work best.
Keep us posted.

Steve

[Bean_Bear]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Great work Liam,

I wondered where Bill and Ben ended up.
I guess you pre heat for a while before dropping in the beans? The thermal mass of the pots must give you a very even temperature rise, do you have any temperature profiles for us?

BB

[chookdoyle]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Sure do, just cont work out how to pop the snobs profile on :-[

[Justin_Boyle]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Im pretty sure you will find that terracota/clay wont stop heat loss. I think the reason they use it in ovens is that it holds a lot of heat so keeps temp consistent. I suspect this setup would benefit from a good pre-heat. Does the setup have enough power to heat the bean mass and the pot quick enough to get the gradients you need? Not being negative just my thoughts. Certainly a tried and proven system in other forms of cookery.

P.S. If I was setting up one of these roasters this would definitely be one I would consider.

[Bean_Bear]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Im pretty sure you will find that terracota/clay wont stop heat loss.

Terracota isnt a great insulator, but its better than stainless steel or aluminium .

P.S. If I was setting up one of these roasters this would definitely be one I would consider.

I agree Justin, Id love to see profiles from this roaster, or maybe do a "Potroast" or two myself.

BB

[Yelta]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Hi All,
Soon after stepping on to the slippery slope of coffee snobbery I decided to build a roaster, so after settling on the KKTO (totally brilliant by the way!!) for inspiration I read and re read the forums and found a common thread on heat loss from the side of the pot. So I decided to use a terracotta flowerpot as my chamber, to act as insulation and retain more heat. as you can see I fitted the cut down spacer inside the top of the pot to make a nice lid seal and sealed that with some fireproof silicone. The drive from the windscreen wiper motor is a series of bolts and sockets that all detaches easily.
The beans sit in a steamer pot and are stirred as in the KKTO. All seems good up till now.
So far I’ve done about 4 roasts, 2 300g (green) and 2 600g.
Any comments criticisms or suggestions welcome.
Thanks for all the info on this site!!
Liam

Like the terracotta pot idea Liam, re the heat loss/insulation comments, have you considered filling the airspace between pot and steamer pot with insulation, I suspect it would make quite a difference.

[chookdoyle]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Yep the preheat certainly does help a lot!! I like the idea of filling the space more between the colander and the pot and have done some thinking on it, It would also help to reduce the space I have to heat. Big bonus.
I am yet to think of something suitable to use!!, something that is malleable enough to go around the inside of the pot, still leaving a small gap between it and the colander, that the chaff wont get stuck in and that wont deteriorate with the heat ........
:-?

[Justin_Boyle]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

There is a topic on here somewhere about boiler insulation. I reckon that stuff might work. Would have to look at temperatures as I recall some of the insulation talked about was only good for 150c or something like that. Other options include exhaust manifold tape. Would need some with some sort of adhesive though.

GL

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Very nice job Chook
The design is more like my original or 1st set up
The beauty of this design is that its very adaptable & flexible

I believe KKs research shows that around 7-p litres work best.

7 lts in the lower end and 9 lts at the high end

Sure do, just cont work out how to pop the snobs profile on

You need to do a screen capture, save and post as an image  

There is a topic on here somewhere about boiler insulation. I reckon that stuff might work. Would have to look at temperatures as I recall some of the insulation talked about was only good for 150c or something like that. Other options include exhaust manifold tape. Would need some with some sort of adhesive though.

Barazi sell the ceramic insulation we use for the kit roaster along with any individual parts one may require for a DIY build
It is 6mm thick and rated @ over 1000 C

KK

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Yep the preheat certainly does help a lot!! I like the idea of filling the space more between the colander and the pot and have done some thinking on it, It would also help to reduce the space I have to heat. Big bonus.
I am yet to think of something suitable to use!!, something that is malleable enough to go around the inside of the pot, still leaving a small gap between it and the colander, that the chaff wont get stuck in and that wont deteriorate with the heat ........
:-?

The liner in the kit is 120mm deep and 240 mm diameter

Its made to
1) fit around the perforated insert  
2) while leaving enough room for the chaff to escape and collect
3) gives you the correct range of litres required for good roasting

Not sure if it will fit in the terracotta pot so you should measure first

KK

[Dimal]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Any comments criticisms or suggestions welcome.
Thanks for all the info on this site!!
Liam

An absolute ripper of an adaptation Liam [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Seems like it will be particularly amenable to a number of tweaks and be a very capable Roaster. Great stuff mate.... 8-)

Mal.

[smokeydeck]

Re: My Flowerpot KKTO

Looking good mate. Drop by with a recent roast and well do some testing. 8-)