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Baby George Roaster
vmgress
I spent all day yesterday putting together a drum to fit around the rotisserie spit. My craftsmanship has a very crude quality, as I was shooting for a proof of concept. I wasn't sure if the rotisserie heating element was capable of bringing my beans to the first crack temperature, so I did not want to put too much effort into a something that wasn't going to even finish a batch. I was pleasantly surprised that after about 30 minutes of waiting I started hearing the cracking: music to my ear!

I view this as a functional prototype at this moment. There is no way to keep track of the bean mass temperature, no way to control the amount of heat, so there is only one roasting profile I can do: roasted. I am quite pleased, however, that I was able to make a switch in the direction of a larger capacity roaster from my modified PopperyII.

I forgot to mention that the total cost so far came to around $10. The rotisserie was $5 at the Salvation Army, and the sheet of steel was $5 at the Home Depot. I'm darn proud of getting a completed batch with such a small financial investment and a bit of elbow grease.
vmgress attached the following image:
drumroaster1_sm.jpg
 
Koffee Kosmo
Now you need to reduce the first crack time by a third to 10 min
Try this by reducing the batch
Experimenting is invigorating

KK
I home roast and I like it. Designer of the KKTO
Roaster Build information
https://homeroast...ad_id=1142

https://docs.goog...lide=id.i0
Blog - http://koffeekosm...gspot.com/

Bezzera Strega, Mazzer Robur Grinder, Pullman Tamper Convex,
(KKTO) Turbo Oven Home Roaster.
 
vmgress
So, you are of the opinion that I should strive for a roast time of about 10 minutes? I have roasted two more batches since my first post, and my approach has been more sporadic than scientific so far. Oh, and my first batch was 200 grams of green, so I would hate to go smaller than that. My original driver for going drum was to increase my batch size. After all, the ratio of time vs. benefit derived of roasting with air popper was really getting to me.

I have modified the roaster before my second roast by moving the heating element from the back wall to almost directly underneath the drum. The placement was not very good because it prevented the sliding drip-pan from being inserted, which left a big gap at the bottom. I also modified controls to have a separate switch for the heating element in case it heats too fast. Ri-i-i-i-ght.

I boldly decided to go with a pound of green this time. This second roast took 1.5 hours, and I wasn't even sure if it cracked, I just could not stay around the roaster for so long without interruptions. The final result was far from glorious, but still surprisingly drinkable. I'm just glad I didn't have to trash a pound worth of beans.

For the third run I wanted to stay with one pound of green. I moved the heating element closer to the drum by 3/4 inch, which now allowed the drip pan to cover the gap again. There was also this steel plate that I repositioned back to its original location, which in my opinion served as a heat reflector. It also reduced the airflow through the top vents. I heard the first crack at 40 minutes, and let it go for another 3, ensuring all beans got to pop. Can't wait to see what this tastes like.

I may try reducing the batch size by 100 grams, just to observe the effect on TTFC (time to first crack), but like I mentioned above, my goal is to have larger batches, so I am considering buying another cooker of some sort that I can harvest a heating element from and increase my heat output. My long term goal is to hack-up a PID control for this thing, which is why I decided to wire a separate switch for the heating element so early on. My thinking is that I can roast a pound of green and get my time to about 15 minutes, provided I can have a more flexible heat control.

Just because, I'm attaching a pic of my roasting arsenal, with my two popcorn roasters, the new drum, and the cooling fan.
vmgress attached the following image:
roaster_collection.jpg
 
Lylabrown
Hey there. Great work so far. It looks like you are on the right track regarding your heating element. The Baby George only pulls 950 watts of power, which is not enough to bring 1lb to first crack in a timely fashion. With some pre-heating, I bet you could get half a pound to work in under 20 min.

Just a suggestion: A quick way to get more power is to scavenge the bulb & socket from a halogen work light to mount inside the roast chamber. They can be found in second hand stores for 5 bucks. If the bulb is 500 watts, that puts you right in the sweet spot for roasting a pound of greens (+/- 1450 watts).

Russ
 
vmgress
More progress to report: my wife found a mini-oven at a thrift shop that had nichrome coils in glass tubes as heating elements. I was very pleased to find that they fit PERFECTLY in the Baby George body. I connected them in parallel with the original element, and according to my Kill-a-Watt the new appliance is now using 1750W of electricity. I am slightly concerned about side effects on my electrical circuits, but for now I am just tickled pink that I am getting random cracks around 7 minutes, and by 13 minutes I am starting to hear the second cracks.

I also replaced the sheet metal drum with a steel mesh, which may be helping to transfer heat to the beans faster. I feel very good about this development. Now I need to modify the drum to allow for a temperature probe, and for easier way to load and empty out the beans. Once I have the ability to monitor bean mass temperature, I can start thinking about PID controller. Gotta have some goals in life, right?
vmgress attached the following image:
roaster_meshdrum_sm.jpg
 
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