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Hello from the UK
ron6
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Posted on 10/03/2021 12:58 PM
My name is Ron and I'm posting from London.
I started roasting a few years ago using a cheap motorised drum over a butane burner and measuring temp with an IR thermometer. I've been roasting about a year on a Kaldi wide using just the standard thermometer that comes with the unit. I've just fitted the roaster with two thermocouplers connecting through a TC4, so I can use Artisan to get more control over my profiles.
My general roasting preference is a light city for pourover, and a full city for espresso, but it depends on the bean.
My espresso machine is a Londinium R24 spring lever with the preinfusion module, which allows for lighter roasts.
Looking forward to learning more and getting new ideas.
 
allenb
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Posted on 10/04/2021 9:09 AM
Hi Ron and big welcome to HRO! Good to year you're able to get more feedback via thermometry. Always helps for consistency especially when not using precision gas metering via adjustable reg or precision needle valve.

Keep us updated as to how your roasts are turning out and ask us any and all questions that come up.

Cheers
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
renatoa
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Posted on 10/05/2021 11:55 AM
Ron, please can you make a versus of this roaster, compared to Kaldi ?
www.aliexpress.co...32127.html
Interested to wet my feet into gas drum and this seems appealing as price and complexity.
Edited by renatoa on 12/14/2021 2:56 AM
 
ron6
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Posted on 10/06/2021 2:08 PM

Quote

renatoa wrote:

Ron, please can you make a versus of this roaster, compared to Kaldi ?

It's a perforated drum roaster like the Kaldi wide that I have, and it looks like it will work with the same type of butane burner that the Kaldi uses. They don't specify the capacity, but I'm guessing it's a 200 - 300g capacity roaster. I would want to see if there's any screen between the burner and the drum to spread the heat more evenly, and to catch the chaff that escapes the drum perforations. If there's no screen the chaff will filter down onto the flame of the burner, which will be a bit more smoky and messy.

You will need to make some sort of funnel to charge the drum, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

It's not clear how you would drop the beans. There must be a way of lifting the drum to tip the beans out, but it's not obvious. This isn't a great design on the Kaldi either. You have to clear the chaff collector and TC's out the way and lift the whole roaster up and tip the beans out the front.

The pics don't show the fins inside the drum. That's a fairly important from a practical view because you want the tip of your BT thermocoupler in the beans to give accurate readings, and the fins need to accommodate that.

The legs are a question. They need to sit squarely on your burner and be stable. You won't know how well that works until you've put the two together.

With addition of thermometers, I'm sure that its capable of producing results as good as the Kaldi.
 
ron6
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Posted on 10/06/2021 2:56 PM
Addendum, the fins inside the drum *are* shown. Only practice will show how well the probe sits in the beans.

Also, it looks like the drum is just lifted out of the frame to drop the beans, which is simple enough.

Can't beat the price, even after adding postage and VAT.
 
renatoa
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Posted on 10/06/2021 3:23 PM
Yes, you lift the drum using the handle shown in this exploded pic:

https://ae01.alic...6cef4v.jpg

From same pic we can see there is no flame screen, I am planning to add a ceramic honeycomb to the setup, above the flame, to turn the burner into a Diedrich style IR burner.
Also, a triangular bean feeder can be seen, an unusual shape for a funnel, but I hope effective.

Capacity is 150-350, is wrote somewhere.

Playing with airflow with that dumper will be the biggest challenge to me Shock

Thank you for your insights !
 
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