seachelle Senior Member Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 2 Location: New England Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Mon May 12, 2008, 5:22am Subject: popcorn popper roasting
Hi all, I am brand new to roasting. First batch this morning. I bought a Stir Crazy type popcorn roaster (before finding this site) and discovered that it takes over 1/2 hour to roast the beans in it. Or am I doing something dreadfully wrong? And all the stuff about 1st crack and 2nd crack? Huh? chuckle...Can anyone give me any feedback etc? Thanks!
Hi all, I am brand new to roasting. First batch this morning. I bought a Stir Crazy type popcorn roaster (before finding this site) and discovered that it takes over 1/2 hour to roast the beans in it. Or am I doing something dreadfully wrong? And all the stuff about 1st crack and 2nd crack? Huh? chuckle...Can anyone give me any feedback etc? Thanks!
As Jasonian said, you need a hot air popcorn popper. Start by reading this article from Sweet Maria's on the Air Popcorn Popper Method. Try poking around their site and you'll find a LOT of great information.
CoffeeRoastersClub Senior Member Joined: 6 Jul 2005 Posts: 2,056 Location: Vernon Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Vintage La Pavoni Lever... Grinder: KitchenAid Pro Line Burr... Vac Pot: Vintage Silex Drip: Aeropress, French Press Roaster: "EL SUPREMO" w/QuikSPIN-CRC...
Hi all, I am brand new to roasting. First batch this morning. I bought a Stir Crazy type popcorn roaster (before finding this site) and discovered that it takes over 1/2 hour to roast the beans in it. Or am I doing something dreadfully wrong? And all the stuff about 1st crack and 2nd crack? Huh? chuckle...Can anyone give me any feedback etc? Thanks!
You are 1/2 way there to making a decent home roaster that will roast quite a bit of beans as compared to the hot air popper method. I suggest you do some reading here on CG by typing the following term into the search function: stir crazy URL to search function: http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/search
You have the bottom part needed already (stir crazy popper). With a little modding, and the top part needed (Turbo Crazy), you have yourself a bigger roaster, again much bigger than a hot air popper.
Hi all, I am brand new to roasting. First batch this morning. I bought a Stir Crazy type popcorn roaster (before finding this site) and discovered that it takes over 1/2 hour to roast the beans in it. Or am I doing something dreadfully wrong? And all the stuff about 1st crack and 2nd crack? Huh? chuckle...Can anyone give me any feedback etc? Thanks!
Stir-Crazy s frequently show up at goodwill, in good shape. I just snagged one in case the motor on my roaster stops working. It's the "SC" part of a SC/CO
Turbo/convection ovens also show up at goodwill, not as frequently, but generally in good shape. this is the CO part of a SC/CO aka SC/TO
it takes a little modding and a ring that is sort of like a cake ring and voila, a super coffee roaster. I PID'ed mine. Others use a variac and just set the CO heat on high.
Lobotomize the heater in the SC. Swap out that plastic nut in the SC for a metal wingnut and some protections. There are various guides/links that can be found if you search the forum.
seachelle Senior Member Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 2 Location: New England Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat May 17, 2008, 7:35am Subject: Re: popcorn popper roasting
Hi Kristi, and all who replied to my post. Thanks so much! Kristi, I do not understand all of the acronyms you used. I think I may have figured some out, but...PID? Is CO convection? TO turbo? How would you use a 'cake' ring? Put where? And what happens to the stirring arm? Thanks again, Michelle
Posted Sat May 17, 2008, 9:56am Subject: Re: popcorn popper roasting
seachelle Said:
Hi Kristi, and all who replied to my post. Thanks so much! Kristi, I do not understand all of the acronyms you used. I think I may have figured some out, but...PID? Is CO convection? TO turbo? How would you use a 'cake' ring? Put where? And what happens to the stirring arm? Thanks again, Michelle
Hi Michelle - yes, if you have questions, ask!!! :o)
PID is a "programmable, integral, differential" device - it's a bit of electronics that uses smoke and mirrors to control the heat, based on what the measured temperature is doing. So, TC (thermocouple_ connected to PID, and the CO heater element is also connected to the PID. The advantage is that the heat is a lot more regular/uniform, versus the rather large deadband (period when the heater is off, waiting for it to cool down a bit) which is common to a CO thermostat heater.
Yes, CO - convection oven. TO - turbo oven. same thing, just different marketing names.
I borrowed some ideas from that and went on on my own.
The ring simply raises the CO a few inches above the SC (stircrazy), and also holds in the heat - that is a problem with the one shown in the link as too much heat escapes with the chaff. I stumbled into a cylindrical barbecue unit at goodwill, and used tin snips to cut the width I needed and used that. It is hard to find a cake ring (the ring part of a cake pan with removeable bottom) or sufficient diameter - you will likely have to craft something.
The problem with the stirring arm in the SC is that coffee beans can get stuck under it (remember it was designed for popcorn and oil - no oil here and friction goes up a bit as you roast. I just took 2 pair pliers and put little raised bumps in the rod to clear the ridge on the SC base.
Note that the really nice thing about a SC is that the motor auto reverses if it jams. This may occasionally happen while you are roasting. This is a super nice feature.
As the link shows, it is necessary to replace the plastic cap holding down the stir rod as it would simply melt at 483F (probably a lot lower). The copper cap and other things help encourage the central motor drive shaft (also plastic) not to melt.
It is necessary to flip the SC, take off the bottom plate, and cut one of the ends of the heater wire - so the motor works but the SC heater doesn't. Otherwise the SC will get too hot. All heat comes from the CO sitting on top of the ring, which in turn sits on top of the SC.
When you first start, just use the thermostat on the CO to control the heat.
Next you can get a cheap thermocouple and cheap meter to measure the heat in there during the roast (or alternately, punch a little hole in the side of the ring and stick a oven probe thermometer in there that is capable of at least 500F.
The next step would be to control the wide variations in temperature that the CO thermostat allows by
set CO thermostat to full and plug the CO in to a Variac (15 amp) and control the heat by the variac setting. OR
PID the CO and control it that way.
Okay, that's a bunch of info - if more questions, just holler!!! :o) Remember - The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked!!!
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