Indoor Coffee Roasting


 
T

Tom Chips

TVWBB All-Star
My ultimate in geek innovation. I haven't bothered to roast my own beans in quite a while, since i find it too tedious to drag out an extension cord to my small apartment patio, to set up my little roaster, just for a few days worth of coffee beans.

Now various places I've lived and rented since I bought this roaster back in 03, have been unsuccessful in trying to roast the beans on the counter, near a window, etc. Nothing worked without filling the house with acrid stench and setting off the smoke detector.

So, after thinking about it a bit, and staring at my vent hood, I got some inspiration of how I could get my roaster right underneath the vent, and roast away, without filling the apartment with smoke and getting a visit from the fire department.

I propped up a heavy duty cutting board with my teapot, and just as I thought, the top of the roaster sits right under the vent. With the vent on high, there wasn't a trace of smoke or smell while I roasted away.

Now my coffee roaster can once again sit proudly on the counter and be used more regularly. Now I'm off to buy some more green beans. I fired up some Sumatra for tomorrow.

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Tom,

The back wall looks like stucco, popular in the south east, and may be an outside wall .. Is that so and is the vent venting to the outside air or recirculating to the interior?

Bill
 
It's the drywall behind my oven. The vent is going to the outside. My microwave is on the left, toaster on the right. It really looks like it's outside? I wouldn't be pulling anyones leg.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tom Chips:
It really looks like it's outside? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Sorry, not what I meant. Stucco is used widely in the SE mostly on the outside but is also used on the inside on an outside wall and it looks exactly like that. Hope that helps clarify.
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Also, the hood vent looks like it's headed back (toward what I though was the outside). sorry..

Bill
 
I frequently roast in my basement using a heavily modified, pid controlled Poppery. I only do 5 to 8 oz batches but the smoke and smell is never really an issue. I wouldn't want to run a big drum roaster without ventilation, but for small batches in an air roaster it isn't too bad.
 
I've been on a green coffee forum for a little bit. I see "PID" written a lot, but I'm not entirely sure what it is. I assume it's some sort of temp control device. What does it stand for? Is it a brand name?
 
I'm lucky that at the office we have a 4 burner jabez burns sample roaster here at the office, so i can roast several pounds at once when i need to.
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I recently upgraded my espresso machine with a PID (Silvia)

Normally the boiler turns off and on with over a 50 degree difference. This maintains boiler temp steady within 1 degree making for better espresso time and again (IMHO). Plus I like toys. I imagine that the guru uses similar software for smooth correction of error signals.
 
I just finished roasting 11 lbs, and I smell like burnt coffee and have chaff in my hair!
Weber Genesis 1000 and RK Drum roaster
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The RK Drum has a 4lb capacity, but I only do a pound at a time. Yemenis, Ethiopians, PNG, Brazilians and an El Salvadoran. First crack @ 8-9 minutes on average

Tom do you get your beans from Sweet Marias?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tom Chips:
Very nice. Do you sell it at work? That's a lot of coffee to go thru on your own. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm feeling the effects of the economy, my wife and kids have had to scale back on their trips to Starbucks and are becoming coffee snobs on MY beans! I'll make some gift bags up, but thats pretty much for home use. I like a variety, when I want it.
 
Wow! That looks like 25 pounds you have there on the table. You must have a nicely caffeinated family! It looks perfectly roasted. I've never seen pictures of that roaster in action.

How long will that much coffee last you? How do you store that much? I'd imagine you wouldn't go thru all that work, if the beans were going to sit around unused for several weeks.

One of the best coffees I bought from George Howells website was one of his El Salvador roasts. Absolutely delicious. I really need to get myself over to the green coffee club and buy something, I'm almost out of my Sumatra.
Nice pics by the way!
 
Those look like very well-developed roasts! Nicely done.

The problem with too many home roasting devices is that you just can't get them hot enough and you end up with a lot of baked roasts.
 
I love gleaning over all things coffee related. I am reading up on the Rancilio Espresso maker, and it all looks wonderful. The only thing that holds me back, is I know for me, it's a slippery slope kind of thing. First I would spend nearly $500 on the espresso machine, then I'd need to upgrade my grinder, good ones are about $200, then of course I'd want to get a "proper" coffee bean roaster, and so on and so forth.....

I could easily spend $1,000 trying to make good coffee drinks.
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