Popcorn machine made into a high class coffee roaster

I found an old Pavino espresso machine and got an old coffee bean grinder. Suddenly I was making better coffee than I ever tasted before. I bought beans from a small fair trade Ethiopian shop not far from where I live.

One day they were out of roasted beans....but they still had unroasted, green beans. The shop owner told me that no Ethiopian would buy roasted coffee as they all did it at home themselves, in a pan on the fire.

I though to give it a try....


07NOV09
Update: Click here for an improvement of this coffee roaster.

Step 1 Basic on coffee roasting

Two things:
-Roasting in a pan is not optimal; it is tiring and gives a lot of mess.
-Massive amounts of information on DIY coffee roasting can be found online, including many different devices.

The most popular DIY coffee roaster is based on a popcorn machine. When I came across one in a shop for 10 euro's I decided to try to make a coffee roaster myself. I got all information online, but didn't come across a full plan explaining how to make one that really works, so here is my contribution.

(While writing this, I just crossed page with an unbelievable selection of DIY coffee roasters, many fully controlled. Just have a look here yourself.)

Comments

[Foaly7]

Is it possible to make a popcorn popper coffee roaster that is still in the same shape as the popcorn machine?

[n0ukf]

Letting the beans sit...
My sis-in-law and brother only let them sit overnight before using them.

[lukethedog]

I have been home roasting for years. Glad to see you have come to relize you can do it yourself and have better coffee.

Okay, here is the 411 on thge roasting that I do. The beans crack during the roasting process. I am sure you heard it while roasting. Get yourself a new paint stiring stick and sand the edges on the corners until they are round (stops from getting caught in the mesh on the poper) Turn on the poper and drop in the beans. Using the stick you will be able to move the heavy green beans around in a circular motion so they don't burn on the bottom. After a few mins they will begin to float around and you can stop stirring. As the temp rises within the beans you will hear a cracking. This is called the first crack. The mositure is heating up inside the bean. About 5mins later the second crack will happen. At this time some people refer to this as a 'Full City Roast' I dump out the beans at this time into a wire collander and swirl them around until cool. Then I  let them sit for 72 hours to allow the co2 gas to bleed off. The beans taste better after sitting for three days but, as with all things you do yourself, personal taste is what you are after. If you get yourself a coffee press you will get loats of foam an find that you need very little sugar if any at all.

Try to find Costa Rican Beans they are harder and take the heat better as you learn the process of what you like.

[ferrix]

You could use a variac and a "Killawatt" meter on the heating coil input, to vary the voltage and thus control the temperature without switch flipping. I did this for my pizza oven because it had the same problem. My line voltage is about 130v and it was burning everything if I plugged it in and left it on full power. You need a variac that can handle the substantial wattage of your heating coil, and that gets pricey unless you can find a deal at a ham-fest or flea market. Since you .. ahem.. "modified" your machine, you should probably figure out what you're drawing before spec'ing the variac. Come to think of it, I should really make an 'ible about my pizza oven hack :)

[thijsatteiltje]

A good story of a nice project! You surely are a man on a mission when it comes to caffeine. I appreciate that and I salute you.