How to make a coffee roaster

I've been roasting coffee at home for years using a homemade roasting drum on my gas grill using a rotisserie to spin it.  Unfortunately the last drum I built started rusting and was badly in need of replacement.  I built the previous roaster at home using a pair of mesh pencil cups, a hasp, hinge, and some aluminum angle that I bought at a home improvement store.  I built this at techshop so I could make more of the pieces myself.

Here's the parts you'll need if you want to make your own:

2 large mesh pencil cups
~12"x6" 16 gauge (0.050" thick) aluminum sheet
3" of 3/32" stainless steel filler rod (or any other thin & strong metal rod)
~6"x1"x3/8" aluminum bar stock
a few nuts and bolts
some rivets

Alternatively, you could do the smart thing and buy a hinge and hasp and skip most of the work.  Either way, here's what I did:

Step 1: Prep your material

You'll need a three inch long hinge, an inch and a half long hasp, and a two inch lever for the hasp.  Cut the three lengths from your aluminum bar stock (I used a horizontal bandsaw - a cold saw would work just as well).  Then square each piece using a large end mill.

Comments

[Kozz]

I've spoken to people who roast their own beans and they say there's nothing like it. I like the rig you made! I'm curious about the pencil cups, however. They're probably coated in some kind of plastic or paint, aren't they? How do they hold up to the heat?

[FoodGeek]

The cups are powder coated. I'd say they hold up poorly. Roasting a pound a week they last about two years.

Now that I'm goofing off at techshop regularly I'll probably make the next one entirely out of aluminum or stainless steel, I just need to figure out a good way to perforate it. I already had two spare pencil cups sitting around so I didn't bother making the drum from scratch this time around.

[Toastalicious]

how about some stainless utensil cups from IKEA? the holes are a bit big, so some aluminum marsh might be in order..

[FoodGeek]

Sounds like something worth checking out. Thanks!

[Toastalicious]

heres the link to the item!
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30131716/

and for huge batches, you can use the colanders lol

[Toastalicious]

mesh*

[frugalguy]

If you bend 'em a little past 90 degrees on the brake, they'll spring back to 90 and stay.

[FoodGeek]

This is true but there's some trial and error in figuring out how much past 90 you need to go for them to spring back the right amount and whacking them with a mallet is more fun :)

[HarveyH44]

Nothing beats fresh roasted coffee. Been roasting about 6 years now. Started with a hot-air popcorn popper, but needed a larger capacity. Think home roasting mostly appeals to people who don't put a lot of sugar and stuff in their cup. Roasting is kind of an adventure. Think there is a specific roast for each variety of bean, and when you get it just right, it's simply an amazing cup of coffee, almost has a natural sweetness. Unfortunately, that special roast, only lasts a few days, before fading in to pretty much normal home roasted. Still better than store bought for a week or so. Green coffee stays good for a long time, 25 pounds last several months here.