Coffee Roasting Honed

Stephanie took it upon herself to photo document the entire coffee roasting process a few weeks ago. Both the machine and the process have been highly refined since last time. Andy got an old grill for free so he cut it down and mounted the roaster semi-permanently over the existing burners. We upgraded to a 5/8" shaft and reinforced the shell. It now dons a hopper with a valve, and the fanciest modification is the adjustable drum. This way, we can manipulate the location of the drum on the fly.

Here it is in all of its glory. It will comfortably roast a pound of coffee in under ten minutes.Here is a close up of the fancy adjuster. The end of the shaft is threaded and is free to move within the bearing. The cylinder extending from the bearing is secured to the shaft collar on the bearing as well as the nut on the threads. Therefore, if you hold the shaft and turn that collar, the shaft will be adjusted in our out by the threads. This allows us to adjust for the expanding and contracting of the drum. The weight of the door is the only thing that keeps the beans in while they roast. You can see the chaff resting on the machine. Maybe one day we will install an after-burner, but for now it is just a messy process.While roasting, I continually assess the progress by the sound of the beans cracking, the smell of them roasting, as well as continual visual inspections using the tryer shown below. The difference between a light light roast and charcoal is only about 120 seconds.

Here is an action shot of the beans being dumped! You can see the flame below! They look perfect!

This last photo is of my beautiful mother overseeing the high-tech cooling process. It actually works remarkably well. Note that the fan is blowing down. If it was blowing up, the coffee beans would be everywhere! That's it folks! If you want a pound send an email to bumblesboast@hotmail.com We should have a label soon!

Coffee Roasting attempt #7?

Coffee roasting has come a long way!  My father-in-law was laid off two months ago, and as much as I hate to admit it, I have benefited greatly!  He is a union plumber/pipefitter and is great with all things metal.  He also is an avid coffee drinker.  All of these things made it easy for him to catch the home-roasting fever.  We fumbled around with a fluid airbed roaster design for awhile but he quickly let go of that and began pursuing a more conventional design.  Before I knew it he unveiled the roaster below.

Well, it was not quite this glorious to begin with.  Having watched many drum roasters on youtube and even studied their blueprints in books, I was able to offer lots of constructive criticism that has led to the current design.  The amazing thing is that as pictured, the only thing we didn't have on hand is the thermometer!  I purchased some bearings and a gearmotor today from Surplus Center.  That site is amazing and has incredible prices.  I bought bearings online a month ago and thought I was getting a good deal.  Well, they suck compared to similar priced ones from that catalog.  Currently, the drum only rotates at about 4 rpm, and the new motor will ramp that up to 64.  I am excited for that!  It easily roasts a pound at a time with good but slightly inconsistent results.  I am banking on the higher rpms to fix this.

So, if you love good coffee, buy it fresh from me and I will cut you one heck of a deal!  God bless.