Please introduce your homebuilt or modified roaster

[fretboardcafe]

Wow! That is a really sweet roaster!

[kaboodle]

I call it the "Alpen-Grill" and it has been in use for over 5 years. It's an old Sunbeam 44K BTU Gas Grill with a modified Alpenrost Drum using an electric motor/spitrod for movement. The Alpenrost Drum was originally designed to only roast 1/2 lb of beans when used inside the electric Alpenrost roaster. However, with the larger heating power of a gas grill, that capacity easily jumps from 1 to 2lbs of beans. If I use a very large bean, then 1.5lb is the max, but for smaller beans 2lbs is achievable. I also added some internal and external deflection to counter wind effects which is a common issue with Gas Grill Roasters (due to their large openings in various places). Here's some photos of the Grill, Motor Asst and some of the Wind Deflection parts:

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Motor-assy.jpg (77.82 KiB) Viewed 155 times

Rick

[kaboodle]

A few more pics of my modified Alpenrost drum for those that may be interested. The basic modification was drilling a hole in the center of the butt-end, mounting washers for smooth movement and then adding a flip top to the other end. The flip top is held closed by a pin that is easily removed for dumping the beans. It's not super elegant, but is functional. One day, I want to build a larger drum from scratch that will have more capacity and a flip lid that doesn't require removing the drum from the spit rod to dump the beans. But this does work very well, and if you have an old Alpenrost drum, this is one way to put it to use.

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Rick

[BeanMeUp]

here is my hot rod!

i got the idea from looking at the aeroroast, and thought to myself, "heck, that's just a george foreman and a halogen lamp!"

i decided to look for a used gf rotisserie to get my project started, and with some patience i finally found one for $50. the GR80S, in new condition which includes a drum for veggies and is perfect for rotating the beans for a more even roast. this is NOT the GR59A which a smaller unit that only reaches about 325°F by itself, and has no temperature control, only a timer. (apparently some people have tried to use the GR59A as a roaster by itself only to come out with baked beans). the GR80S is a larger unit and can roast a turkey! it also has an lcd and temperature control up to 450°F.

i can properly roast beans with the rotisserie by itself on a "good day." a good day meaning its warm, no wind, and a steady flow of electrical current (i do not have a variac). to compensate for all of these variables, i added a 250w halogen lamp to increase the temperature. with the lamp, i get decent control over the roast and consistent results. i get to 1st crack in about 10-12 minutes and second crack if need be in another 4-5 min. i usually roast about 1/2 - 3/4lb, but have done 1lb batches successfully. i don't know if it can do any more than that as i have never tried.

anyway, here it is in all of it's uh...glory!

[kaboodle]

Just an update to my "hot-rod" roaster from my earlier posts in this thread. I decided to build a larger drum for my grill roaster that would easily handle 4lbs+ and would allow me to probe the Bean temps (at last). For comparison, I've attached a pic of my old Alpenrost drum (1.5-2lb max) and this new drum. Also made some improvements to my Grill by replacing the thin Aluminum Flashing material with SS Sheet that I'd added to reduce the wasted overhead area and reduce wind effect. Roasted 2 batches this past Sunday (2lb and 3lb loads) and felt like I had a whole new roaster!

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Rick

[kaboodle]

Just a few more pics of the new Drum and setup.

Mounting bracket, copper tube and thermocouple routed through to drum.

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Thermocouple holder showing TC inside the drum.

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View through open end showing cross brace and vanes.

Drum-inside.jpg (55.36 KiB) Viewed 158 times

Rick

[steam man]

And you built that yourself??? Awesome!

What are you using for thermocouple probes and temperature logging? It's not easy to see from the pictures

[kaboodle]

Thanks, it was a lot of work thinking through the design, materials, testing, making adjustments, etc. Except for the two end-caps (which are 2 SS 3Qt Bowls), the rest of the drum was hand built by me mostly from materials that I sourced from McMaster-Carr.

I got the Datalogger and custom (type K)TC probes from Omega several years ago and here's a direct link to the product:
http://www.omega.com/pptst/HH506A_HH506RA.html

I really like the Thermocouple builder tool that Omega provides on the site and you can call them if you need to do something beyond what the TC builder creates.

Rick

[steam man]

Rick,

Thanks for the information, as a matter of fact I was already looking at Omega but this:

http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref=HH11B&nav=VHEG02

since I wasn't looking for sophisticated data logging facilities.

[EddieDove]

Well done, Rick!

Did you have any trouble transitioning to roasting the larger batches? It would be great to know if / how you adapted the application of heat. How have the roasts cupped?

Perhaps another thread ...