New 1kg Gas Roaster

[brettreaby]

Just installed and ran my new roaster. ( At factory as the wife said no to the shed )

It is a very similar build to the "North" ones on Mill City roasters ( USA Website also on Youtube ). They recommend and I have run 6 "seasoning" roasts to line the drum with coffee oils instead of machine oils.

Then followed with 2 runs with Vietnam Thon Boun Choi ( because its cheap at $ 8.50 from Andy). The drop to drop time was 13.40 secs and I think they are slightly overdone.

I will do all my runs at 1kg so i can start to tweak settings one by one and mimimize the variables. A lot of learning to go for sure.

So far it exceeds my expectations, as you can see its very solidly built and even sports a bit of bling.

Here's some pics including the chaff cyclone when it was expelling the burnt seasoning roast.

Considering my Behmor was 375g and took 19 minutes, the new machine more than triples my throughput, so i will have more coffee to hand out to friends as this is strictly a hobby.

[Dimal]

Great stuff Brett...

Your wife is going to feel abandoned with you spending all your free time at the Factory/Roastery now...

Mal.

[matth3wh]

Looks like a nice setup there. Enjoy! Will be interested to hear more how you get on with in over the coming weeks.

[greenman]

Nice looking unit--enjoy!!

[Andy]

Good stuff, looks like a nice setup too.

You need to add some flue to the cyclone, even 6 foot will help draw better when it gets hot and if you get a chaff fire (very possible) then having some flue will help contain it. Adding the flue will change the amount of air pulled through the roaster and will also change your profiles so get it on there sooner rather than later to save starting from scratch again.

You might want to also play with air flow and drop weights, you might find if a kilo roast was <14 min that a 1.1kg or a 1.2kg drop might improve the timings.

Same as on when you learnt on the Behmor, take lots of notes and make one change at a time and you will be belting out great stuff in no time.

Enjoy!

[snedden9485]

Great stuff. I have something similar, i control the RoR generally via the airflow and slowly metering gas down as it approaches 1C. They work well and can produce great coffee. Enjoy the journey!

[brettreaby]

thanks Andy, I will try the flue . I have done about 7 1kg roasts so far and they go to about 12 minutes.

I have been throttling the gas ( 2kpa down to 1kpa ) and upping airflow ( 25% to 70% ) at the end of drying ( about 6 minutes) .

it was ordered with a data logger but the factory forgot to put it on! It has arrived, but now missing the rs232-usb adaptor so that frustration continues. Plus the software looks very basic so i may probably need to look at better options. I have fitted the K thermocouples supplied and they came up well.

At the end of the day stuff like this is to be expected when you buy a no brand unit at a fraction of the price so I am actually happy as a pig in.

Currently enjoying the Yemen Mocha Ismaili which I plucked up the courage ( $ 35/kg) to roast a few days ago.

There is one other thing i am grappling with: I cannot hear 2nd crack like on the behmor which was my flag to drop the beans.

Even on a quite dark roast i never heard it: what with the exhaust fan, drum motor and beans in the drum there is a lot of noise. I am going purely on roast colour depth.

Is this usual with larger roasters?

[brettreaby]

the software i got doesnt inclue ROR so i will need to get something better down the track.

Great stuff. I have something similar, i control the RoR generally via the airflow and slowly metering gas down as it approaches 1C. They work well and can produce great coffee. Enjoy the journey!

[snedden9485]

I don't roast into 2c, so I don't hear it. However you're best to use your pid and software and knowing when that point should be. I would expect sometime around 222c (however this will vary on your thermocouple and placement.

[brettreaby]

So, fitted the flue today, will try a roast later in the week.

Good stuff, looks like a nice setup too.

You need to add some flue to the cyclone, even 6 foot will help draw better when it gets hot and if you get a chaff fire (very possible) then having some flue will help contain it. Adding the flue will change the amount of air pulled through the roaster and will also change your profiles so get it on there sooner rather than later to save starting from scratch again.

You might want to also play with air flow and drop weights, you might find if a kilo roast was <14 min that a 1.1kg or a 1.2kg drop might improve the timings.

Same as on when you learnt on the Behmor, take lots of notes and make one change at a time and you will be belting out great stuff in no time.

Enjoy!

[Seth57]

Hi Brett, That roaster looks cool. I have a 5kg roaster that does a good job but is noisy. I cannot hear the second crack, but I tend to go on the amount and colour of the smoke coming out of my extraction unit. Sounds a bit hit and miss, but it works for this roaster. When the smoke is an egg-shell blue, I drop the beans immediately. Just a thought.

[brettreaby]

Thanks Seth, good idea however the cyclone is outside and i couldnt see it during the roast. ran some a few days ago and pretty sure some reached 2nd crack but couldnt hear them or be sure. btw my hearing is rubbish.

[snedden9485]

TBH i think you may struggle to hear 2C on a drum roaster like this as the burner and fan are generally a little noisy and 2C is often not too prominant. I would suggest going off your BT for a more accurate data point.