Please introduce your homebuilt or modified roaster

[kaboodle]

Just a quick note that I restored the photos that somehow got disconnected from view in the Forum's software or database. My new larger drum is working beautifully and my roasts now are typically 4lbs. It took a little time to adjust to roasting 4lbs vs 1.5lbs and the ability to measure bean temps has been a significant boost to grill roasting. The 30rpm motor is perfect for this new drum and the roasts are very even. I typically shoot for 1st C in the 14min timeframe and the heat retention mods to the grill allow me to roast 4lbs without ever needing to go above 1/3 on the burner settings. All is well in "hot-road roaster-land".

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Rick

[stupunkinetc]

Hello all--

My name is Stuart and my interest in coffee has taken me into the arena of home-roasting and I have developed a BBQ roaster like no other! This roaster has a hopper feed which allows the BBQ to remain closed during feeding. I have also designed the drum to swivel and dump the beans in a matter of seconds eliminating the problem of removing the drum. While roasting you can look into the drum and take samples without opening the lid! Essentially I have a 6# BBQ roaster that operates with all of the features of a commercial roaster. I currently have a blog at http://www.scsroasting.com where I will be posting complete drawings for the design.

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[farmroast]

Nice job Stu!

[Ringo]

I built a drum roaster, propain fired, chaff collecter, Bean temp probe, Environmental Temp probe bean cooler. It took almost 6 months to build, lots of parts had to be redone. Learning to run this roaster has been slow, all manual adjustments. Its been a fun ride.

[Derek]

Wow, a homebuilt shop roaster. You don't see that everyday. Bravo!

[Abenaki]

I got tired of hauling out my popper and setting it up on a folding table with the rheostats an all the necessary odds and ends. So I used a small cabinet from a previous kitchen remodel and put it all together in a few weekends. It is fully automated and so easy now.

Overall view.

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Found a way to load/dump beans by using a hinged shelf and a door closer.

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I had fun designing and building some nerdy features into it.

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If you would like to see more detail, check out my Google photo shoot;
http://picasaweb.google.com/11809550500 ... eeRoaster#

Thanks for looking, happy roasting to all!
Rodney

[Ringo]

Abenaki the this thread is for "Hot rod roaster" you have that. Thats one nice machine.

[farmroast]

Rodney

[oldgearhead]

I think I have a simple solution for "Rodney's Goldberg Popper Addiction".
Features:
1) Stirs the beans with an auger. (Wow!)
2) You can actually see the beans expand and change color as they roast.
3) The bean container in portable. (Hinged shelf not required)
4) It eats smoke.
5) It catches chaff.
6) My optional cooler works very well.
7) The bean mass temperature probe is pure genius.
8) Its been modified for 100% full-time manual control. (can you say 'profile'?)

I know, I know, it doesn't have PID temperature contol. However, I spent a good part of my working career
with PID, and now I'm retired...

[farmroast]

I can just picture someone snooping around and seeing that closed cabinet with that control box on the side and wondering what must be inside only to carefully open the door and see the popcorn pumper