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renatoa
03/29/2024 1:55 AM
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Super cooler/dechaffer of simplistic design.
Kaffee Bitte
I guess I will start this off before I am fully finished with the cooler. Not far now though.

This contest is great because I had already been searching for a better bean cooler. The design I was going to go with has been put by the wayside for the moment, but my present cooler has been pimped to allow me to run larger loads of beans in my drum. I may very well be able to use this simple design indefinitely.

To start I will list what it is made from:
1. Rigid shop vac. 22.5 liter, 2.5 hp. ~$40
2. two large plastic buckets. $10 total.
3. two lids for plastic buckets. $4 total.
4. Two stainless steel collanders, each different. One was $23. other was $12.
5. Extra hose for shop vac. $19.
6. Ample amounts of Duct tape. Lying around.
7. 2 short hose attachment. $5 each

And now for a description, similar I am sure to what you have seen many times. The rigid shop vac is great for this purpose because it has both an exhaust port and an intake port for the hose. Both are used with this cooler.

The large buckets both had holes drilled through them about 1/3 from the bottom. These holes are just large enough to fit the shop vac hoses. I then took duct tape to permanently attach adaptors for the hoses. The hoses are then removable when finished making the whole apparatus easier to store.

The two lids I took and drilled holes just inside of the lip and then used a scroll saw to cut out a circle. The lids were then ready to be placed back on the buckets. I used duct tape around the inner circle of the lids to provide more stability for the collandars and allow more airflow through the collandars themselves. They don't fit perfectly but they do fit well enough. Each collandar can be removed easily which was a requirement for how this cooler is used.

I will include pics and other info soon, but I want to finish her first, so not too long of a wait.

As to the usage of this super vac....

I was originally using just one bucket. This was a bit of a hassle for me because my collandar could only hold approx 3.5 lbs of beans. This meant that some 1.5 lbs had to wait to be cooled. This was not acceptable to me. I had thought to build a cooler similar to the ones used on commercial drums but then a thought struck me. Why the hell am I just using ONE bucket and switching the hose back and forth?
So I went and got another bucket, lid, collandar and hose.

When cooling each bucket is designated to a specific task in the cooling process. The bucket with the hose from the exhaust system is used largely for dechaffing the beans and really does a fine job of it with a little stirring. The bucket leading from the intake is dedicated to cooling only and works surprisingly quickly at a high load.

The collandars are a bit of a sticking point right now in my overall usage. They are two different collandars, one which works perfectly for the dechaffing side and the other which is largely only useful for the cooling side. This is something I will have to face and deal with soon, since I really want to be able to just lift each collandar and transfer it to the other bucket.

Ok that seems a good beginning to me. I have lots more to add here in the next week or two.
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
Kaffee Bitte
As with all of my projects, they just take longer than I imagine they will. Really though this cooler has been done for sometime. I have only had to use both buckets twice since it was done, since most of my loads lately havee been 1-3 lbs, which easily fits in one of the collanders.

So now for some images.

This first one is the complete cooler. The bucket on the left is the exhaust side and does the bulk of dechaffing. The colander that resides in it is suitable for either bucket at it's maximum holding capacity. The colander on the right is my sticking point still. I cannot use it in the exhaust side, since the beans get blown out, unless there is one pound or less in it.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/2263538802_ffce65dbd8_m.jpg

This pic is of the shop vac. The Rigid is great for this purpose since it provides two different openings for exhaust and suction.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2074/2262750365_039aaa2456_m.jpg
Edited by Kaffee Bitte on 02/13/2008 1:42 PM
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
Kaffee Bitte
Now to the nuts and bolts.

These two pics are top views of the buckets. To cut out the lids I drilled a hole in each, then threaded a scroll saw through the whole. I cut a circular hole all the way around the lid leaving the raised sections as is. Can you tell which bucket has been used more?
farm3.static.flickr.com/2414/2262750117_09dc7a0152_m.jpg

Notice that I made a mistake in the cut of this lid? Scroll saws are not generally simple to use on anything but wood.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2358/2262750227_7e4ec35bde_m.jpg

This pic is of the whole that I drilled into the side of the bucket to accept the vaccum hose. It was simple to do with a standard hand drill and a hole saw drill bit of the proper size. The other bucket contains the same hole.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2059/2263539944_ba7e125623_m.jpg

This is the hose connector that I place in the hole in the bucket. Were I to just stick the hose in there would be a big gap and air would not move as rapidly through the beans. I actually gave up on the duct tape for this because the fire marshal didn't like it. So I removed what I had and left it open. There is a small gap around it that is maybe two millimeters total.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2078/2263540034_76a0109f94_m.jpg

The next two photos are of the buckets with hose attachments in place.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2007/2262750789_764744ec84_m.jpg

farm3.static.flickr.com/2384/2263540136_62cd00e935_m.jpg
Edited by Kaffee Bitte on 02/13/2008 1:56 PM
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
Kaffee Bitte
And now to the colanders! I REALLY wish I could find another colander like the one on the left in this pic. It is absolutely perfect for both buckets. Sadly though the place I got it has been unable to source another one. The colander on the right works well for the cooling side. Perhaps it just needs some extra holes drilled into it.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2113/2262749559_97ae6c190d_m.jpg

This is a view into the colander on the left in the last pic. Even at a load to near the top, beans simply don't fly out of this one. EVER.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/2262749943_59c0cbabe4_m.jpg
A top view of the colander on the right in the first pic. For some reason loads above about a pound cause the beans to literally fly out of this one, when it is placed in the exhaust bucket.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2192/2262749723_de4b7fd4ce_m.jpg

Another view of the "good" colander.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2382/2263538934_ba3a2dd517_m.jpg

Another view of the "bad" colander.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2188/2262749847_96aced8006_m.jpg
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
Kaffee Bitte
And now the roasting. Today was rather a comedy of errors where the roasting was concerned. I was planning on roasting in the afternoon because for once the weather was pretty decent. Got outside at 1:30 and had all the equipment set up quick as usual. Just roasting along and BAM! clouds roll in very fast. Snow starts pouring down (and still is). Nothing to do of course but keep roasting away. The whole time though snow is covering everything in its path.

Just for fun, here is a pic just as the snow starts.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2379/2263748570_efeb981942_m.jpg

And another just a few moments later.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2099/2262959069_5b1ce59ec6_m.jpg
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
Kaffee Bitte
Just got set up outside to start the roast. The roaster itself is heating up. All is well.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/2262958725_390a2272eb_m.jpg

The coffee for this load is Peru Aparma FT/O. Four pounds pre roast weight. I didn't do more because this was precisely the amount I needed to roast for an order I have today.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2070/2263747594_feeb2891c9_m.jpg

Load the beans.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2114/2263747744_fc443b45c9_m.jpg

Kick the drum a spinning.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2263748048_7f20ac3fee_m.jpg

AND SNOW!
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
Kaffee Bitte
So I am just getting ready to dump the beans in at this point. But I have to clean out the two colanders thanks to the snow that has now stuck to them.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2393/2263748846_0577e99dcb_m.jpg

A four pound load does not come near to maxing this out. I have done a seven pounder which was pretty much the max, but I think 6 is best. The cooling power is just right at that load, with some stirring.
farm3.static.flickr.com/2272/2263749022_ce3250b7a3_m.jpg
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
Kaffee Bitte
I will do a breakdown now by the contest numbers.

1. I use this cooler often with just a single bucket. The second bucket comes out when roasting anything over 3 lbs pre roast weight. 3.5 lbs is the max that either colander can hold without bean spillage. I am unable to add a pic with thermometry and time for total cooling, due to camera batteries running out just as I took the first pic of the coffee in the cooler.

2. Time to cool. Each bucket cools slightly differently. The exhaust bucket cools three pounds in just under three minutes, provided I am stirring pretty regularly. The suction bucket cools in between two to three minutes often regardless of stirring or not. Loads in the cooler that are a pound in each side actually cool slower than the max 3.5 pounds per side. I assume this is because more of the air is being pulled through the holes above where the beans are.

3. Range of cooling capacity. Maximum with present collanders is 7 pounds pre-roast weight. I would never think of trying that though with large beans (Columbians or Sumatrans!) They would overflow without doubt. For larger beans maximum is five pounds pre-roast weight. Six pounds is about perfect for most beans though. Smaller batches can be done, but don't cool as quickly.

4.The cooling process is by air blown or drawn from a Rigid shop vac. Both the exhaust and the suction ports are used.

5. Chaff removal. Chaff is either blown out with the exhaust side bucket, or sucked through the suction bucket. By far the more efficient dechaffing side is the exhaust, so that is the more important part. I stir this colander most frequently. Once the beans on that side are cool I usually dump them into a large stainless steel bowl and transfer the beans from the suction side into the "good" colander. These beans are always cool by this time, but they get a good stirring to blow off any chaff that remains. A small amount of chaff is collected in the suction bucket as well as inside the shop vac itself. Perhaps a quarter cups worth over the course of 30 lbs of coffee will end up in these two spots. Most of it goes to enrich the soil nearby my home.

6. Dimensions. With the cooler all together I would estimate that it requires a good four foot by four foot region to reside in. The hoses are the part that are most difficult to arrange satisfactorily but with a little manhandling they aren't too difficult.

7.Portability. I don't have to move this cooler very far to use it, but it does fit nicely in the trunk of my car. The hoses get wound up and placed inside the buckets along with the hose attachements. Then the colanders are replaced on top. Wind the shop vac cord up and they all go into a corner in the garage.

8. Cost of the cooler.
1. Rigid shop vac. 22.5 liter, 2.5 hp. ~$40
2. two large plastic buckets. $10 total.
3. two lids for plastic buckets. $4 total.
4. Two stainless steel collanders, each different. One was $23.
other was $12.
5. Extra hose for shop vac. $19.
6. 2 short hose attachment. $5 each
Total cost: $113.

9. Pics of building process. For the most part this cooler was already done by the time the contest came around. The only part I had not done was the second bucket, which I also do not have pics of thanks to my previous camera dying about the time I was finishing it.

10. Building this cooler is very simple. It only requires three things. A drill with whatever bit you have lying around. A hole saw drill bit. A scroll saw. This last one is really optional as a small, thin bladed hand saw could probably work as well. The scroll saw definitely made it quick though. To create the holes in the sides of the bucket for the hoses, I used the hole saw attached to a drill bit attached to a standard electric drill. I had to dig a little to find a hole saw that was the right size, but it was quite fast to drill the holes. I then just cleaned up the plastic shavings. The lids were a little more difficult but also fast to do. To start I took the drill with a medium sized bit and drilled a hole in each right near the raised edge of the lid. I then threaded the scroll saw blade through the hole and reattached the blade. At this point I started the saw and slowly turned the lid around trying to keep it just inside the raised edge of the lid. One of the two I did a rather poor job about this as you probably noticed from the previous pics. With the two lids cut I simply placed them on the buckets, and from here it was just a matter of connecting hoses and placing the colanders on the lids.


And this wraps up my simple bean cooler and dechaffer.
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
seedlings
Lynn, what more can be said? Your cooler screams "Homeroaster"! Everyone has ALL of these things lying around, and right now someone is using one! I am going to assume that you have only used the vac for coffee Grin and there's no sawdust and dog food blowing out into the second collander s:8

Great job!
CHAD
Roaster: CoffeeAir II 2# DIY air roaster
Grinder: Vintage Grindmaster 500
Brewers: Vintage Cory DCU DCL, Aeropress, Press, Osaka Titanium pourover
 
Kaffee Bitte
Actually this one has nver been used for anything but cooling coffee. I bought another shop vac that was exactly the same for cleaning the chaff from the grill. I wasn't really comfortable having the coffee chaff and ash blowing into my fresh roasts.
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
farmroast
Nice job Lynns:2 The Al Gore special award for using the in and out air of the the vac. for both coolers! s:2. Not sure how repeatable the snow flake spritzing will be for some:(
farmroast
Ed B.
DreamRoast 1kg roaster, Levers, Hand Mills http://coffee-roa...gspot.com/
 
Kaffee Bitte

Quote

farmroast wrote:
Nice job Lynns:2 The Al Gore special award for using the in and out air of the the vac. for both coolers! s:2. Not sure how repeatable the snow flake spritzing will be for some:(
farmroast


LOL! I really wish I hadn't had the snowflake spritzing. I do my best to not roast when it is actually snowing since I have a decent amount of electrical equipment involved. Not so sure I want to find out what an electrical burn looks like, or at least not through personal experience!
Lynn

"Some days it's spice, other days it's bitter dirt."
 
Hoomin Bean
Well, if worst comes to worst, you might find out what what an electric arc does to the roast. Roast medium, nice and sweet, then you get that little blue flash that tinges the outside without overcooking the center! You could wear those wired chainsaw pants and ground them to a buried copper rod. Make up a new label: Blizzard Blend

Really, a great cooler.

Ed
 
EddieDove
WOW! One that both sucks and blows!

Great job, Lynn!!!
Respectfully,

Eddie Dove

The South Coast Coffee Roaster
vita non est vivere sed valere vita est
Home Coffee Roasting Blog and Reference
http://southcoast...gspot.com/
 
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