senorswiss Senior Member Joined: 10 Feb 2008 Posts: 109 Location: West Lafayette, Indiana, usa Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Silvia Grinder: espresso: EB, others:Maestro... Vac Pot: Moka Pot Drip: French Press, Aero Press Roaster: Modified HG/BM
Posted Fri May 23, 2008, 7:28pm Subject: New HG BM setup
Well I've just completed some modifications to a BM I got at a thrift store ($3).
First, I rewired it so that when I plug it in, the motor always runs. If I find it a hassle to unplug when I want it to stop, then I'll add a switch, I guess. Before I did that, I removed the thermostat. However, since the motor is now wired to always run, I suppose it was unnecessary. I also drilled through the casing etc, so I can stick my temp probe into the bean mass (pic). As it is, I can pull the probe out (read: HAVE to pull the probe out) before pulling the basket and dumping the beans.
I moved the beans aways from the probe so that it wasn't covered up in the picture. It does indeed sit in the bean mass under normal operation, as long as I have around a half pound of beans or more in there.
I think I'll roast normally with the heat gun for the first few times, but I may try adding the metal tubing as Pete did here. I have a Milwaukee heat gun that my father let me take. It's rated 1200W and has 10 settings. At any rate, I'm excited to try this thing out. It'll be nice to be able to roast larger batches than I was able to in the popper.
Posted Sat May 24, 2008, 6:54am Subject: Re: New HG BM setup
Go for it, you'll never want to go back to a hot air popper, being able do do a 1# roast is nice.
You might want to get a router speed control at some point so you can vary the output of the heat gun but with the top completely open you can always just pull the HG back a little bit.
Posted Sat May 24, 2008, 3:56pm Subject: Re: New HG BM setup
I'm glad you are having success with the hg/bm combo "Corretto" roaster method, I've been using mine for 70 roasts now and it is great, full control over the roast, I usually roast 600g and get nice even roasts. With a heat probe in bean mass it gives full control over the roast and most of my friends rave over it and how it outperforms or matches the commercial products like Gene etc................ happy roasting
senorswiss Senior Member Joined: 10 Feb 2008 Posts: 109 Location: West Lafayette, Indiana, usa Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Silvia Grinder: espresso: EB, others:Maestro... Vac Pot: Moka Pot Drip: French Press, Aero Press Roaster: Modified HG/BM
Posted Sun May 25, 2008, 5:45pm Subject: Re: New HG BM setup
I Just finished my second roast, and I'm thrilled with the new setup!
It sure makes a mess, though, with such an increase in the amount of beans I'm roasting now (and I only did 1/2 pound batches). I ran one batch to the start of 2nd crack and the other about 20 seconds into it. Both runs took about 17 minutes.
Both times I have tried yanking the basket without removing the thermocouple, which obviously doesn't work very well. So here I am trying to hurry to cool the beans struggling in vain to twist the basket unlocked, thinking "what the heck is wrong with this thing!?!" Then after 5-10 seconds I realized my mistake and felt like an idiot...BOTH times.
I knew this was going to happen when I installed it that way! :D
It's taking me way to long to cool the bean mass, since I'm using the same colander I was with the 1/3 cup popper batches. So, next up: Building a fan cooler.
Posted Mon May 26, 2008, 7:52am Subject: Re: New HG BM setup
senorswiss Said:
I Just finished my second roast, and I'm thrilled with the new setup!
Both times I have tried yanking the basket without removing the thermocouple, which obviously doesn't work very well. So here I am trying to hurry to cool the beans struggling in vain to twist the basket unlocked, thinking "what the heck is wrong with this thing!?!" Then after 5-10 seconds I realized my mistake and felt like an idiot...BOTH times.
I knew this was going to happen when I installed it that way! :D
It's taking me way to long to cool the bean mass, since I'm using the same colander I was with the 1/3 cup popper batches. So, next up: Building a fan cooler.
Don't feel bad about trying to pull the basket without pulling the TC out first, I do that almost every time. :)
What kind of colander setup are you using, just shaking them around or pouring them from one to another?
If you have a Shop Vac you can make one from it and a bucket and colander, very efficient and cheap. You probably have seen that setup on the forums. Cooling 1# is no problem at all unless you had one of the little shop vacs with the small 1 1/4" hose, it might not work as well. I use the colander bucket method hooked up to my dust collector and it cools a pound in less than 1 minute.
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