poison
New member
Yeah, I've been roasting for 8 years on the BBQ drum, at LEAST 20k lbs, 2 lbs at a time. I've roasted at all hours, in all weather. My coffee has been in the gift bags at the Oscars, imbibed by celebrities (perks of my day job, I have access to them), and in general gets great feedback. But as you guys know, consistency is difficult. Every gust of wind, temp change, etc, affects the roast. I've lost 2 wholesale accounts because of it.
So finally, I'm about a week away from taking posession of a spanky new San Franciscan 6lb roaster. It's coming with all the bells and whistles: ability to log with Artisan or similar, air flow damper (which is new), bigger fan, and ability to add an additional fan for separate cooling needs (making it a continuous roaster). It's matt black, with hammered brass. It's gorgeous.
I drove up to Reno last Fri to train in on the 6. Mine wasn't quite ready, so I used someone elses that was sitting there. I spent 4-5 hours learning about the machine, maintenance, cleaning, and of course roasting. I got the handle on the basics of different profiles, and the general idea about what to do when. I apprenticed for 2 years on a Diedrich IR12, but that was 10 years ago, I haven't touched a commercial roaster since, and of course the SF is not a Diedrich. It was incredible to have a trier handy, to have two accurate sources of temp, to have accurate gas control, to have a mufuggin chaff cyclone (no more 'pthew, ugh, ahh, chaff in my eye!')....Ah, man.
Someone important recently asked me "what's your 'why'?", when asking questions about what I do. The question kind of took me aback, and I just looked at him and said: 'Remember, 20k lbs 2lbs at a time. What good reason would anyone have for doing that? I can promise you it wasn't for the money, because it's not there. There's only one good explaination. What is it?'.
"Because you love it."
Yeah, man. I've come so close to taking a sledgehammer to the BBQ so many times, you know, when I already worked a full day at my day job, it's 1am, I have to get up at 6am, it just started raining, and I blew a roast. I've thought of quitting. But I stuck in there, the new roaster is coming, and I'm ready to knock it the hell out of the park.
So finally, I'm about a week away from taking posession of a spanky new San Franciscan 6lb roaster. It's coming with all the bells and whistles: ability to log with Artisan or similar, air flow damper (which is new), bigger fan, and ability to add an additional fan for separate cooling needs (making it a continuous roaster). It's matt black, with hammered brass. It's gorgeous.
I drove up to Reno last Fri to train in on the 6. Mine wasn't quite ready, so I used someone elses that was sitting there. I spent 4-5 hours learning about the machine, maintenance, cleaning, and of course roasting. I got the handle on the basics of different profiles, and the general idea about what to do when. I apprenticed for 2 years on a Diedrich IR12, but that was 10 years ago, I haven't touched a commercial roaster since, and of course the SF is not a Diedrich. It was incredible to have a trier handy, to have two accurate sources of temp, to have accurate gas control, to have a mufuggin chaff cyclone (no more 'pthew, ugh, ahh, chaff in my eye!')....Ah, man.
Someone important recently asked me "what's your 'why'?", when asking questions about what I do. The question kind of took me aback, and I just looked at him and said: 'Remember, 20k lbs 2lbs at a time. What good reason would anyone have for doing that? I can promise you it wasn't for the money, because it's not there. There's only one good explaination. What is it?'.
"Because you love it."
Yeah, man. I've come so close to taking a sledgehammer to the BBQ so many times, you know, when I already worked a full day at my day job, it's 1am, I have to get up at 6am, it just started raining, and I blew a roast. I've thought of quitting. But I stuck in there, the new roaster is coming, and I'm ready to knock it the hell out of the park.
. Insulated the housing of the roaster, and lights at night. Hated the dechaffing. Did well over a 1000 roasts that way and learned a lot about coffee. Best results roasting 2lb. 10 ounces of green. Tried to keep the roasts under 20 min. I do miss the bees hovering around in the summer months(yellow jackets & bumblebees), the spice in the Aceh Sumatra at about 11- 12 minutes brought those creatures around. Seems they got intoxicated with the coffee aromas! Ha! Ha! I do love my 10k propane roaster now! Do not miss the smoke whirling around at times on those darker roasts or dumping the drum and having it ascend straight up into my face, certainly do not miss the chaff all over me. My wife would laugh at times, when I came in with it on my hat and hair etc. But for me, there is one thing that I really miss.
