icantroast wrote:
I made a post in the wiring thread, but in case no one sees that here's the link.http://forum.home...post_52673 Any advice would be appreciated!

David wrote:



I'm with you on all of these points.
(What follows is a bit philosophical, but I think it's worth saying.)

I like an open design so I can see hear and smell the roast in progress. In fact, I discard the entire external shell around the motor, deck and loaf pan. That way I can see the beans changing color; I can associate the smells with the colors; and I can hear the beans as they protest loudly against their fate.
I would like to be able to feel them as well, but as a proxy for my precious fingertips, I use a probe that descends along the side of the roast chamber, running through two screw eyelets to hold it steady in the bean mass. It ataches to a digital cooking thermometer and timer.

Interestingly, the smells change just before first crack and then again just before second crack. That helps with timing a lot, especially if I don't want to go into second crack at all. Eventually, the temperature readings become less and less relevant and the smells more and more important.

It is hard to hold the heatgun steady without a frame around the roasting chamber, so I have tried various arrangements, including a gooseneck lamp to hold the heat gun have also tried a microphone stand.

I know that I have sacrificed some replicability with the open design, but to me it is worth it to stay in sensory connection to the roast. I think it may be a Zen thing, but I have learned a lot about the fundamentals of roasting going this route. For example, roasting chemistry makes more sense when tied to sensory data rather than just to numbers from dials and gauges.

You can add more and more elaborate elements to the roaster and end up with a semi-automatic roasting appliance. Or, you can simplify and end up with a mostly-manual roaster. I really do like the former, but I love the latter. It's a matter of choice.