Posted Sun Aug 8, 2004, 8:36am Subject: Ice cream maker turned bbq coffee bean roaster
I have been putting together a home-made bbq coffee bean roaster from an old ice cream maker. I placed a previous post on the use of the motor, and then it occurred to me to use the ice cream bucket as well.
After my last roast which was very good, I discovered the beans close to the open face were not really moving. This was causing an un-even roast unless I would intervene with the roasting by fairly strong manual agitation, ie shaking it back and forth a little in the middle of the roast. After some inspiration from Ed Needham’s web site www.anywhy.com/5pound.html , I decided to ad agitator vanes to the inside of the bucket via some pop-rivets.
Anyway here is what it took to get it to this state:
Rotisserie items - spit rod, forks with clamps(2sets), handle, and flanges – ( it’s about $20 or so)
Ice Cream Maker - Motor, and bucket - I lost the lid – this was about 10 years old – ( $0 )
Agitator Vanes – from home flashing material – ( 16 cents each – two used)
Lid mesh screen and foil – from gutter guard material – ( 50 cents or so)
Old Spark Plug socket – to connect motor to spit rod – ($0 )
Old bike rack – (0$)
The tines on the fork with clamps are reverse mounted in the ice cream bucket to support the front end. The hole in the middle of the bucket was slightly smaller than the spit rod, and then filed square. I think this will need some flashing riveted to it to make it a little stronger. The other fork with clamps supports the bucket from the back side and keeps it in position. The third fork (this is why I needed two sets) is used to hold on the lid.
The motor is mounted to an old bike rack that is clamped to the BBQ with some c-clamps until I get a more permanent mounting.
The system works very well. I’ve had a surprise one day when some beans escaped because the lid was not secure. The next phase will be to get a reasonable lid for the unit. I like Ed’s funnel lid idea….etc
Ed – thank’s for the inspiration for this via your web site.
Found your site on the profile. Yes it looks a lot like what you have set up! And I thought I'd be the first to use the ice-cream bucket / motor converted to coffee roaster. I guess I didn't get up early enough. I had not seen this site before tonight...etc.
The biggest difficulty is getting something to connect to the ice cream motor to the spit rod. I'm still trying to improve on it. I've found that the ice cream motor mount will seat a 3/4 inch square, but there does not seem to be anything that fits well.
I found the agitation to be a significant improvement for an even roast. However the added noise of bean agitation makes it more difficult to hear the crack's.
The last item will be the lid. I like my screen as it allows me to peer into the bucket and see the roast, so I'm inclined to a hybrid screen / rim.
The way I dealt with the issue of connecting the rod to the ice cream motor outdrive was this: I lightly coated the inside of the outdrive stardrive with vaseline. Then I centered my rod in the outdrive. Next, I mixed up epoxy and epoxied the rod to the stardrive. When the epoxy sets, you are able to simply pull the rod out of the stardrive and VOILA, you have a custom fit stardrive connector.
I used a 1 gallon green bean can for my roasting chamber and I roast over my turkey fryer. I cant roast more than three cups of greens at a time but I can see/hear the beans during the entire roast. (And, 3 cups is much better than 1/2cup in a popper)
Dwight-Thanks for the idea about using a sparkplug socket. I'd been thinking about the linkage problem between the spit and the ice cream motor and was about to try drilling a nut so as to fit an allen screw to tighten onto the spit. But the plug socket sounds like it would work better. Now to work out a brace that will stablize the ice cream motor at the correct level. Tom
I just completed squaring the inside of the socket to conform with the spit. I used a file and gave the inside of the socket some shape. It seems to work great now.
I've been working on making a lid, and am still at a loss for a good design. I'd like the lid to stay flush with the aggitator vanes, that way I don't have any un-agitated beans.
Also my tendancy has been to lengthen the roast too long. I'm still getting first crack at 16 to 18 minutes. ... need more heat.
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