I have been actively roasting coffee for about a year and a half now. I have used a popper, a highly modified SC/TO and the Behmor. I know the smells of coffee roasting at different stages; I know the differences between 1st snaps and full rolling 1st & 2nd cracks. I could roast coffee blind-folded and get a good roast. Having said that, most of us were blessed with sight, I was talking to, and standing two feet from a Master Roaster at Intelligentsia throughout a roasting process, and the visual importance of seeing the roast of the final stages of roast is as important as all other indicators to get an exacting degree of roast. I could not tell you how frequently a master roaster intensely checks the Trier at the final stages of the roast to get the exact degree of roast. I preface this all, only because there are some who indicated that visual cues, for roasting plays little or no importance at all if one is “experienced”; maybe, but I don’t believe that, besides, I still find it intriguing to visually watch the progression of the roasting process, and without seeing this, I think would take some of the excitement away from roasting, at least for me. I have toyed around with thoughts of a dedicated BBQ Drum roaster ….So I ask: Has anyone come up with a practical way, (or even ideas) to visually inspect a BBQ Drum Roast, during the progress, either by an integrated Trier or other means. I realize this may mean to highly modify the Roaster itself. I bet even some of you seasoned BBQ roasters would like, and use the option if it were incorporated somehow, otherwise you wouldn’t have bothered opening up this post.
Thanks Much, hope all is having a Happy 4th- God Bless America
Posted Sun Jul 6, 2008, 7:00am Subject: Re: BBQ Trier
It certainly would be possible. You would need to adapt to a similar design as a commercial drum roaster. Did you get to see inside the roaster to see how it is set up? Not sure where to find a picture. Maybe someone with a comm. roaster could show a pic. A small trier could also be part of the non-drive end hub using a piece of pipe. farm
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Posted Sun Jul 6, 2008, 8:09am Subject: Re: BBQ Trier
Quick and easy way to do a visual inspection method is to purchase a bbq with the new interior light setups and then also cut a hole through the lid using a 4" circular hole cutter. On the inside of the hood put high temp ceramic glass available at most area glass cutters. Affix with a retainer made of machine screws and a glass holder you could easily make with aluminum strips. Seal with high temp sealant.
You should be able to see the beans decent enough to determine color, without having to rip into your drum and further rip into your BBQ grill to pull beans out for inspection.
Most grills now have the light option; you may even be able to get an aftermarket setup for the grill you currently have.
Furthermore, you may be able to get an IR thermometer that can read the drum temp through the window; however you will need to discuss this with your IR thermometer vendor as they will need to know the glass type, etc., so that the IR can penetrate it.
Just some thoughts. Personally I wouldn't do the visual on BBQ roasting; sound of cracks, temp reading, and smoke visual works fine for me.
Posted Sun Jul 6, 2008, 11:34am Subject: Re: BBQ Trier
Some possible ways are:
-Have a stationary plate against one end of the drum, where the end of the drum butting up against it is open. This way you could have an opening in the fixed plate for a trier and even a temp probe.
-Make the drum open (and possibly conical) on one end in just the center area, big enough for a trier but not big enough so the beans fall out while rotating. This is similar to the Jabez Burns style of sample roasters. If it's conical, you could easily use this end to dump the beans out for cooling.
Other than that, a sight glass would probably be easier to fit to the grill as Len mentioned above.
Posted Sun Jul 6, 2008, 10:03pm Subject: Re: BBQ Trier
Thanks all for the ideas. One more advantage of an actual Trier, would be to Try the beans of different stages of roast, meaning: easily pulling a few small samples, at different stages of the roast to cup; and really see where the “sweet spot” is for a particular bean.
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