Posted Mon Jan 10, 2005, 5:19pm Subject: Zach and Dani's: The Only Roaster Suitable for Indoor Roasting?
Here's the deal: I want to start roasting at home but must roast indoors (I live in a small apartment). Is Zach and Dani's the only choice for me? Thanks a million for your advice!
drwoo Senior Member Joined: 8 May 2004 Posts: 166 Location: Toronto, Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Miss Silvia , Saaeco Via... Grinder: Rancilio Rocky , Braun... Vac Pot: thinking of one Drip: Bodum FP ,Phillips , Melitta... Roaster: FR+8
Posted Mon Jan 10, 2005, 5:34pm Subject: Re: Zach and Dani's: The Only Roaster Suitable for Indoor Roasting?
I have a Fresh roast plus 8 . If you have a decent exhaust fan in your kitchen you may get away with the FR+8. It does produce some smoke but you may also want to open a window if nearby. Check out Sweet marias as they describe both machines well. Also the FR+8 is about $100 in Toronto , the Z & D about 150. Check out greenbeanery.ca as they have great prices & Frank there is very nice & helpful. I belive the Z&D has a built in catalytic converter like a car & so there is minimal smoke. Hope it helps. Also once you get into it there is nothing like home roasted beans. Good luck in your hunt! Wayne
SweetyPea Senior Member Joined: 8 Dec 2004 Posts: 39 Location: So. Calif Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Starbucks Barista Drip: Melitta Clarity Roaster: Zach and Dani's
Posted Mon Jan 10, 2005, 8:08pm Subject: Re: Zach and Dani's: The Only Roaster Suitable for Indoor Roasting?
My Z & D should arrive at my doorstep tomorrow. The reason I chose it was because of the "no smoke" feature. I ordered it with the 4 lbs of green beans - 1/2 lb of 8 different coffees. Gail in rainy, wet So Calif
Posted Tue Jan 11, 2005, 4:53pm Subject: Re: Zach and Dani's: The Only Roaster Suitable for Indoor Roasting?
Unless you have a very effective range hood I would say the Z&D is the best option. My Z&D does not produce visiable smoke but it will on occasion set off the smoke alarm. This happens if I leave the range hood on low speed as I approach second crack. My loads are about twice as large as the loads I used to roast in my HWP and I get much less smoke.
If your roasting needs are in line with the capacity of the Z&D I can't imagine a better home roaster.
I think Tom at Sweet Maria's said the Z&D is the roaster he would give his grandmother. I can see why he says that. Out of the box it is easy to use although a bit under powered.
My machine is not your grandma's roaster. I have a thermocouple probe into the beans and I have seperated the roast heater from the rest of the machine and I run it on a variable transformer.
Within its capacity, I would pit it against any home roaster.
Posted Wed Jan 12, 2005, 10:06am Subject: Re: Zach and Dani's: The Only Roaster Suitable for Indoor Roasting?
I use the I-Roast indoors with the vent dryer hose out the kitchen window and it works very well. There is some roasting smell but not a lot and I have never tripped the smoke alarm. One thing I do, however, is take a length of electrical wire long enough to loop around one of the dryer attachment "posts", under the roaster and up the other side to loop around the opposite "post" effectively holding the attachment in place. I did this because I found the weight of the dryer hose would cause it to lift a bit and not vent properly. I stripped the insulation off at least 3" from each end of the electrical wire as the attachment gets very hot.
It's much simpler than it sounds, I can post pics if anyone's interested.
Posted Fri Jan 14, 2005, 9:12am Subject: Re: Zach and Dani's: The Only Roaster Suitable for Indoor Roasting?
Captain or Dave- Does the Dryer vent hose effect the roasting cycle and times of your I-0 Roast? The smoke is getting to be a bit much for me when I go into the darker roasts? Very visable and quite thick and I hate setting off that damned smoke detector eveytime.
"Duddly Dawson? Call me Booger!" -Revenge Of The Nerds-
Posted Fri Jan 14, 2005, 11:06am Subject: Re: Zach and Dani's: The Only Roaster Suitable for Indoor Roasting?
Booger Said:
Captain or Dave- Does the Dryer vent hose effect the roasting cycle and times of your I-0 Roast? The smoke is getting to be a bit much for me when I go into the darker roasts? Very visable and quite thick and I hate setting off that damned smoke detector eveytime.
So, to answer a couple questions -- First, I have my I-roast vented out through my basement window. When its cold, it definatly effects my roasting time.. I think it really changes the initial heat up times because of the fact that 30 degree air is pouring in directly onto the iroast. I've remedied the situation by ramping up the phase one program temp.
For the original thread question -- I don't think the Iroast would be a bad choice for an in home roaster, pending a few things... How sensitive are you, or people you are living with to smoke??!! I've done a number of roasts on my kitchen stove using the hood fan.. Roasts didn't really smoke noticably until reaching the vienna point. After that, it increased dramatically. I set off the smoke alarm a few times, and there would be a layer of smoke lingering near the ceiling.. OPen up the windows, and it was gone in about 20 minutes. My wife couldn't take it though, So i was forced to go into the basement and get a venting system going, which now works great. If i was living by myself though, it wouldn't have bothered me.
Posted Fri Jan 14, 2005, 12:08pm Subject: Re: Zach and Dani's: The Only Roaster Suitable for Indoor Roasting?
Booger Said:
Captain or Dave- Does the Dryer vent hose effect the roasting cycle and times of your I-0 Roast? The smoke is getting to be a bit much for me when I go into the darker roasts? Very visable and quite thick and I hate setting off that damned smoke detector eveytime.
Tom from Sweet Maria's says it does, but I haven't figured out how. If you're running in a well ventilated place then there shouldn't be much air recirculation, and I think air recirculation is the only obvious way to effect the roasting time. Other than recirculating air the only difference I can see between a vented i-Roast and an unvented one would be back pressure and I don't think a 4" vent hose would offer much back pressure at the air flow rates in the roaster. Unless of course you're venting into the wind.
As others have noted, the vent hose adaptor is not firmly held in place and this can be a problem. I like Cap'nClueless's solution for that, and I'll have to try it.
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