MiniMalady Senior Member Joined: 5 Feb 2013 Posts: 3 Location: Mississippi Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Tue Feb 5, 2013, 9:42pm Subject: Looking to build my first coffee roaster; found this mesh drum lying around
Hey guys, I'm new to coffee roasting and want to get started with a roaster of my own creation. I was thinking of trying a heat gun / dog bowl or bread mixer setup, but then I found this large mesh drum in my cabinet. I'm not really sure what it was designed to do, but it looks like it would make an excellent drum for coffee roasting. I also found a turbine blower that's more or less a leaf blower motor to use for cooling.
I think it was made to sustain some pretty high temps, as it's obviously cookware of some sort. I put it over a flame for a while to see if any smoke, melting, or strange smells occurred. I didn't see any evidence that there was a coating or anything fuming, but is there something else I should do to ensure that it will sustain the kind of heat involved with coffee roasting?
Also, I'm wondering what my approach should be now. Could I still use a heat gun and just mount the drum somewhere and apply the heat as I rotate it? Should I consider using it over a grill? Space heater contraption? What would you guys do? Is there any way to tell what sort of capacity I'm looking at once I figure out the roast method?
If nothing else, I'll definitely use this in conjunction with my turbine-blower as a cooling chamber. I just thought it would be neat to roast with this drum, then simply pull the drum from the heat source and spin it over my turbine to cool.
Here are the pics (sorry for the photobucket link, the pictures were too large too attach, and I haven't figured out how to resize them on Macs) Click Here (s1325.beta.photobucket.com)
First pic is of the turbine blower; second is the inside of the drum; third is the drum from the outside with a guitar neck for size reference.
What do you guys think? Thanks in advance for any help
EDIT: The dimensions of the mesh drum are 14" in length by about 6.5" diameter.
oldgearhead Senior Member Joined: 25 Jan 2010 Posts: 354 Location: Go Colts! Expertise: I like coffee
Grinder: Virtuoso by Baratza Drip: Chemex,Dilongi DCM900 Roaster: 1/2K Fluid-bed
Posted Thu Feb 7, 2013, 9:23am Subject: Re: Looking to build my first coffee roaster; found this mesh drum lying around
The drum looks to be from a toaster oven. It will might hold up to one pound of green coffee, but one-half pound might mix better. However, it will probably need stirring paddles installed on the inside before it can be tried with coffee...
MiniMalady Senior Member Joined: 5 Feb 2013 Posts: 3 Location: Mississippi Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Fri Feb 8, 2013, 12:00pm Subject: Re: Looking to build my first coffee roaster; found this mesh drum lying around
Okay, I don't think installing stir paddles would be much of a challenge. So the one existing paddle wouldn't be enough agitation? Should I be trying to rig it up with a grill or space heater, or would a heat gun be able to achieve high enough temps even with the open mesh drum?
Also, on a semi-unrelated note, I just found a poplite gourmet for 5 bucks at goodwill and modded it to increase air flow/lower temps since I heard it runs hot. I'm probably gonna use a power strip with an on/off switch so I can cycle it on and off quickly to cool it down a bit if it's still too hot. So I'll have plenty of time to get familiar with roasting in general on the popper while I work on the mesh drum roaster.
Posted Fri Feb 8, 2013, 12:46pm Subject: Re: Looking to build my first coffee roaster; found this mesh drum lying around
Looks like one of those drums they were using in those Rotoroasters that were popular on eBay a few years ago. If so it was designed for peanut roasting. If the holes are small enough I can't see where it would be bad for coffee roasting. Its a small drum so I don't think there is an issue with just the one fin. If I were you I would figure a way to attach it to a rotisserie rod and your grill. You may find some connection couplers on www.mcmaster.com , use search term: couplers
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 