Need some Turbo Crazy Help

[southernroaster]

Hey guys. I roasted my first batch on my turbo crazy modified roaster. It's your basic setup. Stir Crazy bottom, all stock, with the heating element disabled and capped. I have an aluminum spacer held together with two bolts. I left a space in the overlap of the spacer to allow for chaff extraction. I'm using a $14 Taylor Oven Thermometer with a probe to check the temp. And a Sunpentown SO-2000 for the heat source. My issues are as followed:

The temperature was very unpredictable. The Turbo Oven setting nob is way off when it comes to setting temp. I set it to 300 degrees for the preheat and my thermometer read upwards of 400 degrees and climbing. This I believe led to a stalling of the roast because I kept having to ramp up the temp to get to the temp I needed for my profile and then quickly lift up the turbo oven to dispel heat. Is there anyway you've combated this problem? Or is this just the hand your dealt with this machine?

Also the turbo oven kept sliding around which disturbed my spacer which is not secured to the stir crazy. I didnt have enough room on the stir crazy to drill even a small screw to secure the spacer.

The total time for the roast was 17:38 . Is this an average time? This was a Full City Roast. Not what I was aiming for but since I stalled first crack I had to ramp up the heat to save my beans from completely stalling. Though they taste good this morning. (ANY fresh roasted coffee is better than store bought)

Overall I was excited to have the experience but I know there are some kinks to work out.

 

[peterjschmidt]

You weren't really expecting your first roast with this to be perfect, were you?

You'll learn to ignore the numbers on the dial, and trust the thermometer. The t-stat in the TO is just an on-off switch anyway.

There is room to secure the spacer, if your screws are small enough. Or, you can run a screw through from the inside, and have a nut and washer that overlaps the rim of the SC, sandwiching the rim between the spacer and the washer.

You'll get the hang of it. These are the best roasters for the money, and very controllable; all it takes is learning how long the heating element takes to get hot, and knowing how much heat the bean mass retains so you know when to turn the heat off for a bit.

This is my setup several years ago, still going strong.

https://sites.google.com/site/peter4jc/