GroundLevelCoffee

Had my first serious look at barbeques for roasting today.

The first shop I went to (Barbeques Galore) had a wide selection from 2-burner jobs up to the 6+ burner cow-roasting ones. I came across a helpful assistant in the shop who seemed genuinely surprised and intrigued that you could roast coffee in a barbeque. Anyway, it appears that most burners are rated around the 15MJ mark, and so a 3-burner model seems the way to go. Rotisseries appear to be a bolt-on add-on at about $40 for the kit (excluding motor which I don’t need anyway).

A few come with side burners - which may be useful to try skillet roasting one of these days; but a ring burner sells for around $20 and so it’s no big deal. Standard roasting bay measurements appear to be around 65cm wide and 50cm deep (front to back).

Called in at another shop after that, but they seemed to be flogging only the higher-end, higher-priced brands. No thanks.

I’ll check out another shop or two over the coming week. Still no great rush.

The RK Drum and motor has been ordered, paid for, manufactured, despatched and delivered. From payment to delivery was less than two weeks and from South Carolina to New South Wales. It was sent via USPS on Thursday and was available this morning.

It’s a fine piece of work. The drum appears to be rock-solid and the motor no less.

I need to crack the whip looking for a suitable barbeque and associated bits and pieces. Unfortunately Australia isn’t so well endowed with small, fairly cheap barbeques as is the US, but I reckon I’ll find something appropriate before too long.

Having received the drum and motor, I’m pretty keen to get it going…

After several months of pondering, I’ve finally decided to purchase an RK Drum. Ron will be supplying me with a 4 pound drum and, because I’m in Australia, a commercial motor to spin it around. Should arrive in around 5 weeks time - but I’m in no hurry since I also need to check out barbeques, gloves, and some bean-cooling paraphernalia.

My roasting began 2 1/2 years ago in a popcorn popper or two, moved to an Imex, then I added a few heat guns to my repertoire. I also put together a Stir Crazy/Turbo Oven combo, but I have some concerns about its longevity.

The RK Drum is the last (at least for a few years) in a line of home roasting gear. It reputedly gives excellent results and is built like a tank. The main things I’m looking forward to are improved roasts (particularly for espresso machine use), and the ability for larger batch sizes. I current give away or sell small lots of coffee, but with a roasting capacity of close on 2 kilos, there is greater scope for that.

My progression through various coffee roasting methods continues. My first roaster (well, first two actually due to a melt-down) was the popcorn popper. I suspect many people now into roasting started there. These days there are a number of low-cost, easy-to-learn, fairly easy-to-get-decent-results-from methods such that the popper may not be the roaster of choice for so many beginners.

After my second popper’s case started melting, I figured I needed something a little more durable. I opted for a Caffe Rosto or Imex CR-100 roaster. It’s a fluid-bed roaster (ie. hot air) with a batch size in an unmodified roaster of around 160 grams. My Imex has now down around 180 roasts and is starting to slow down a little. To get the roaster up to sufficient temperature to roast the beans it needs to spend part of its time in a cardboard box so it is recycling hot air. I’m guessing it will make it to around 250 roasts before ceasing.

Given the relatively small batch size of the Imex, I’ve also been down the Heat Gun method (usually referred to as HG/DB for Heat Gun/Dog Bowl). I don’t have a dog and so have used an aluminium steamer and a saucepan to roast in very successfully. The problem? I keep burning out heat guns. My first two were $20 XU1’s from Bunnings, but each only lasted around 40 roasts. Third time ’round I really splashed out on a $40 Ozito and it lasted about 60 roasts before it ceased running on its ‘high’ setting. Heat Gun roasting is good and easy, and cheap, and you get instantaneous feedback and good control over the roast. The downsides are turnover of equipment (!) and a very ‘hands-on’ approach meaning you are involved in every second of the roast (that can, of course, be good; but it means there is no flexibility).

I’m looking for something that allows reasonable control, good results and longevity of the equipment. Many are opting for drum roasting in a gas barbeque. That’s a reasonable commitment in dollar and space terms for me. Cost for an RK Drum is probably over $500 (USD350 plus freight for the drum and motor) plus the cost of the barbeque. And there’s the issue of the space for an additional barbeque… Batch capacity of the RK Drum is 4 pounds which is around 1.8 kg; but batches of over 1 kg seem to create some unevenness in the roast.

As an alternative (ie. cheaper, easier to hide in the garage, good roast control and ease of use) is the SC/TO - Stir Crazy/Turbo Oven - which is a turbo convection oven on top of a Stir Crazy popcorn popper base. The problem? There aren’t any Stir Crazy distributors in Aus.

[To be continued]