'Accessible' coffee roaster (KKTO based?)

coffeehorse

Hey guys (and girls),

Most of you who know me know that I've stuffed my back of late, and am now fairly seriously disabled. However, my neuralgia hasn't gone, and nor has my enjoyment/need for coffee, so as I'm without an income and about to hand back Hazchem's Gene Cafe, I'm really keen to find a way to modify my turbo oven setup to let me start using it again, and would love people's input.

The main issues with the TO setup at the moment are:

- lack of visibility (I can't stand over it for ~16mins)
- lack of temperature/roast profiling (have spare K and bead thermocouples, but thinking arduino?)
- can't remove coathanger wire agitator from motor drive shaft easily - need to be able to upturn the roaster to dump contents.
- lack of 'accessible' (read 'cripple-friendly') cooling station.
- lack of roast visibility

I'm thinking about hinging the entire setup (PSU, motor, pan) so it dumps, but will add some pics as soon as I can and see what you guys think - there are some roasting genii (plural of genius, yeah?;)) here.

Am also wondering about switching back to a solid state element TO from the KMart one as the roast seems a little slower and more uneven, and housing all moving parts in a PC case, so the PSU isn't exposed to anything.

My main issues:

- I can't bend forward easily, stand for long periods of time or do anything not at waist-shoulder height without large amounts of pain.
- I can't lift anything greater than ~1.5kg, and that only for short periods of time.

Thanks everyone

Kelsey

Sorry to hear about your troubles mate, that's no good at all. Couple of ideas: Check out Derrilex's KKTO version - the visibility is incredible. I posted a week or so ago about a new temp profiling tool in accessories - got no replies and I'm on iPad, so can't hunt it down easily. That could be a good solution. There have been oe than a few who've used the vacuum-cleaner dump method with great success, that could prevent unnecessary bending and lifting. There is a particularly nice roasting station featured on CS where the guy used the vacuum system and had both the KKTO and cooler embedded into a bench in his shed. Seems like a really easy and stable system, one that I'd like to replicate at some point!

derrilex

Have a look at the hybrid concept as Kelsey mentioned. With the mods I've done to it the most strenuous part is lifting the TO off at the end of the roast. The bean bowl / agi comes out as one for the dumping of hot beans. As Kelsey mentioned, the visibility is unreal and I think unmatched by all other KKTO's - probably all other roasters now I think of it. There is no reason why it couldn't be built into a bench top with the right insulation and a cooling station could be sunk into the bench right next to it, with or without and vacuum function. As far as the fancy electronics and profiling goes, I haven't tried it and cant be bothered with it. After excellent advice from KK & AM I just chill out, watch and listen.

Brett H

Hi CH,  let me also express my sympathies for your health issues.  The two posts above are excellent and unfortunately I don't have much else to add.  I wonder KK if there is a sweet spot in the turbo oven/bean amount ratio where the TO can be used with its original bowl and no third-party agitation.  I know its not ideal but neither is CH's mobility.  For the sake of argument and finding you the most cost effective and visible solution mate I'll have a go with some various batch sizes today and report back. 

Koffee_Kosmo

I will address all issues one by one 1] Visibility - one has 2 options First is to use a Turbo Oven with a light & * second is a shallow design (* same as derrilex's design) or use both options 2] Temp Profiling - unless one has electronics to control this aspect it then becomes a hard task However I designed the KKTO with a mechanical view over an electronic view, correct volume to available heat ratio to roast over and over again with good accuracy to a sweet spot of 500gr to 650gr without any user input 3] Dumping beans to cool - Vacuum to drum cooler is you best option as it will [1] remove the beans from the roaster [2] cool the beans [3] remove the remaining chaff if any 4] Lack of 'accessible' (read 'cripple-friendly') cooling station  - See answer #3 5] Lack of roast visibility - The KKTO was made to be mobile & to be packed away, also to roast on any flat surface For this reason and in light of your disability I suggest a roast station lower to the ground or on the ground This way you have a birds eye view so to speak KK

hiphipharar

Sorry to hear you're doing it tough, John. If your finances can manage it, I suggest the Behmor roaster as an 'accessible' option. I own a KKTO but recently acquired a 2nd hand Behmor from Crema member, Rider. The Behmor really does a good job of roasting. Like any roaster, some trial and error is required to hone technique but the results in the cup have been great. I can roast dark for espresso or light for manual brewing with ease and the results in the cup have been really good. The only fiddly part is fitting the drum. The rest is just selecting the right combinations of batch size, program and profile and sit back. It will do everything for you, including cooling. You could even roast indoors. The downside is that it doesn't offer much in the way of temperature profiling and, like the Genecafe, you can't measure bean temp in the drum. But there are a few variables to play with. Visibility isn't great, but adequate. Yes, you can only roast up to 350g at a time (possibly more) and each roast takes about 35 mins but, in your situation, that inconvenience may be a reasonable price to pay for your comfort.

Brett H

on 1342832763:

Sorry to hear you're doing it tough, John. If your finances can manage it, I suggest the Behmor roaster as an 'accessible' option. I own a KKTO but recently acquired a 2nd hand Behmor from Crema member, Rider. The Behmor really does a good job of roasting. Like any roaster, some trial and error is required to hone technique but the results in the cup have been great. I can roast dark for espresso or light for manual brewing with ease and the results in the cup have been really good. The only fiddly part is fitting the drum. The rest is just selecting the right combinations of batch size, program and profile and sit back. It will do everything for you, including cooling. You could even roast indoors. The downside is that it doesn't offer much in the way of temperature profiling and, like the Genecafe, you can't measure bean temp in the drum. But there are a few variables to play with. Visibility isn't great, but adequate. Yes, you can only roast up to 350g at a time (possibly more) and each roast takes about 35 mins but, in your situation, that inconvenience may be a reasonable price to pay for your comfort.

I thoroughly agree!  Great post.  I didn't mention this before because I mistakenly or otherwise infered that finances were tight.  No success on the TO as yet.  About to burn 300g.

hiphipharar

on 1342846384:

I thoroughly agree!  Great post.

Thanks. If it comes down to using the KKTO, it's going to require some expense and modification work anyway to get something that meets CH's requirements. Perhaps the simplest modification would be an in-roaster cooling system where the turbo oven is replaced with a lid that has a hole in a top to insert a vacuum cleaner tube that could either suck the hot air out or blow in cool air. Blowing air in has the problem of also blowing chaff everywhere. Once cooled, the beans are more easily scooped or tipped out The Behmor is the hassle free solution.

UNM

a warning, not specific to this thread - if using a vacuum on blow, make sure you use new vac and air hose, otherwise you will get all sorts of household dust and debris mixed with freshly roasted beans.

Lacehim

CH, I'm not sure what volume you want to roast, but there is also Jack's roaster. http://sorrentinacoffee.myshopify.com/products/i-coffee-home-coffee-bean-roaster I wouldn't bother with the cooler (it's just a pc fan), but the roaster I saw at the previous Brisbane gathering looked okay, and roasted okay.

Brett H

Irrespective of batch size I couldn't get the beans to agitate in the standard TO configuration.

hiphipharar

on 1342869413:

Irrespective of batch size I couldn't get the beans to agitate in the standard TO configuration.

What do you mean by that? It won't rotate or the beans aren't stirred?