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CRF-800 Drum Roaster
allenb
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Posted on 03/28/2014 9:53 PM
Another roaster from Ceroffee



Allen
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
smico
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Posted on 03/30/2014 4:18 AM
Interesting product. It is nice to see many roasters in two pounds range in development. It seems that our hobby has matured and many home roasters are looking to save time and roast a bit bigger batches, to keep friends and family fresh-coffee-happy.
Hottop B2 + HTC, Cremina 83, OE Pharos, Brewtus IIIR, Baratza Vario
 
ciel-007
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Posted on 05/20/2014 10:55 AM
Allen thanks for posting.

This Ceroffee unit would appear to present a breakthrough in electric home roasting. I am particularly attracted by the novel idea of suspending an infra red element immediately above the roasting greens inside the chamber - I have never seen this approach before. Further, I have read claims that infra red heat enhances coffee roasting flavors.

Allen, given the extent of your knowledge, and your wide range of experiences, can you share some of your thoughts about the merits of infra red roasting in general, and the design of this electric roaster in particular?

Ciel
Ciel... seeking Heaven in my cup with ................................................................................................................. EXPOBAR Brewtus II - MAZZER Mini E - MAHLK?NIG Vario - GeneCafe - RAF-1 Extreme (Modified B-2 HOTTOP) - BellaTaiwan XJ-101
 
allenb
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Posted on 05/20/2014 7:53 PM
Quite a few years ago Unimax (later called Royalmax) made a tabletop inside the drum infrared roaster that used long halogen bulbs and claimed to do 1 kg. It and most previous offerings of infrared roasters with internal or externally mounted infrared elements suffered from lack of control making any nuanced attempt getting from first crack to end of roast virtually impossible. A Unimax version I had which was the vertical version (Unimax 2000) gave you a nice gradual rate of rise until the beans changed to a light brown and then the rate of rise went through the roof due to much increased IR absorption rate. Hopefully the CRF-800 is equipped with controls capable of maintaining smooth profiles throughout the roast while in auto mode and hopefully they allow you to read rate of rise while in manual mode to allow one to feather power back quick enough to avoid racing through 1C to finish.

As far as merits of infrared roasting? I had heard quite a few claims that pure infrared heat transfer caused the least amount of cellular damage to the beans surface and due to this will produce the cleanest possible cup. When my easydrum 1 lb drum roaster was inside the drum radiant powered, I achieved some very good roasts but I have achieved better since converting to conventional, under the drum gas heat. What many fail to understand about heat transfer when comparing roasters using infrared heating elements versus a conventional under drum heated drum roaster is that the only real difference is one is utilizing a medium to short wavelength IR while the conventional drum is using a long wavelength IR being transmitted by the drums inner surface. There is very little conduction happening between drum and bean in conventional drum roasters and with drum roasters with very low convection rates it's mostly long wavelength IR.

I would like to see someone do some extensive experimentation using long wavelength IR compared to medium and short wavelength. I have a strong suspicion that long wavelength will be much superior even though short wavelength is supposed to be more easily absorbed.

I unfortunately don't know much about the CRF-800 to be able to comment about it but it sure looks cool! Wish I had the $ to pick one up when it's available.

Allen
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
ciel-007
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Posted on 05/21/2014 10:26 AM

Quote

allenb wrote:


I would like to see someone do some extensive experimentation using long wavelength IR compared to medium and short wavelength. I have a strong suspicion that long wavelength will be much superior even though short wavelength is supposed to be more easily absorbed.



Ceroffee claims that the special ceramic heater they invented for this roaster uses Far Infrared (longwavelengths) rather than Near Infrared (shortwavelengths).

Ceroffee also claims that the CRF-800 will roast 7 kg of greens in 5 hours.

Ciel

Ciel... seeking Heaven in my cup with ................................................................................................................. EXPOBAR Brewtus II - MAZZER Mini E - MAHLK?NIG Vario - GeneCafe - RAF-1 Extreme (Modified B-2 HOTTOP) - BellaTaiwan XJ-101
 
allenb
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Posted on 05/21/2014 9:29 PM
Very informative video! I love how the guy narrating changes his voice higher and lower with various inflections depending on who they were videoing. The young kid got a high voice from him and the more serious older gentleman got a gruff deeper voice.

Yes, it looks like they are using a long wavelength IR ceramic heater so most likely they did the homework and found the long wavelength to be superior.

I did some more pondering about what's happening (IR wise) in a single wall conventional drum. With a drum wall temperature of 300 to 450 degrees F you've got a very long wavelength IR coming off the drum wall probably in the range of 6 to 10 microns. To effectively imitate the very long wavelength IR from a conventional drum one would need to use more than one salamander style ceramic elements to allow keeping the ceramic surface temperature down below 1000 F. You could mount them up to 3 or so inches away from the beans and should still get good efficiency.

Looking at the color of the CRF-800 element in the video, it probably is in the 3 to 5 micron range which is definitely longer than medium wavelength but at the short end of far-infrared.

Allen
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
Omega
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Posted on 06/21/2014 10:19 PM
That's quite a roaster! I would expect a healthy price tag, as well.

Thanks for the primer on IR roasting, Allen!
 
Steven Tay
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Posted on 10/05/2017 7:56 PM
Hi, I am new here. Could I ask if anyone out there still using CRF800? Or looking to sell one?
 
renatoa
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Posted on 10/06/2017 1:17 AM
Not sure if they are even still in business, never seen the unit for sale somewhere...
Even the price was fuzzy, in the 6-8000 ballpark.

I would consider instead the Rubasse machine, with 2 kg capacity.
http://rubassecaf...
Edited by renatoa on 01/31/2022 10:46 AM
 
renatoa
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Posted on 01/31/2022 10:48 AM
Another roaster apparently using an inside drum radiant element, similar with Ceroffee
 
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