knithq Coffee Pages -- Roasters

Turbo-Crazy

Our currrently preferred roaster is affectionately known as the TurboCrazy.

Named for the combination of a Sunpentown Turbo convection oven and a West-Bend Stir-Crazy popcorn popper, the TurboCrazy is a typical improvised home-roaster contraption. The Sunpentown oven is un modified and is held about 35mm above the Stir Crazy by a piece of strip aluminum bent to fit in the upper lip of the popcorn popper.

The Stir Crazy is moderately heavily modified; the popper's heat has been modified to include an switch to allow the heater to be turned off. The plastic nut which holds the stirring arm has been replaced with a steel nut and the center of the stirring arms, shaft and nut have been covered with at copper cap to further protext the assembly from melting. Finally, the strring arm has been increased in size by the addition of bushings to better alllow the movement of coffee beans.

The TurboCrazy roasts 200-500 grams of green coffee in 10-15 minutes, depending on amount and type of coffee, ambient temperature and supply voltage. Cooling of the beans is, accomplished by a 12 fan blowing up through a closed mesh 10x10x18 inch box containing the roasted beans.

Fluid Bed Roasting

The TurboCrazy, as well as each of the roasters described below, are atergorized as fluid-bed roasters. That is the beans are roasted by a moving fluid (air).

Other Johnston Roasters

West Bend Poppery Mark II feel another story coming on. During my initail reading on home roasting, I discovered that hot air popcorn poppers are a common means of roasting. Having a cellar full of junk, I wondered... Asking She Who Finds Thiings, I waited less that five minutes before she returned with a West Bend Poppery Mark I, the most sought after of vintage poppers.

The poppery roasts 70-80 gram batches.

Fresh Roast Plus 8 Roaster number two was the Fresh Roast Plus 8, manufactured by Fresh Beans, Inc.

The Fresh Roast roasts 60-80 gram batches in 5 to 8 minutes.

I-Roast The I-Roast was purchased as soon as the model was first available in North America. Manufactured by Hearthware Home Products, this roaster doubled the size of the batches I could handle.

The I-Roast roasts best with 120-150 gram batches in 8 to 11 minutes.

Makita Heat Gun and Dog Bowl This nove approach to coffee rosting affords a remarkable amount of control over the roast as it is very much a "hands on" undertaking. Aside from the scorching of the first wooden spoon, I was very pleased with the roast uniformity.

With an 1100 watt Makita heat gun, this method allowed the roasting of 300-400 gram batches in 10-15 minutes.

Coffee Knit

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Turbo-Crazy