Ron,
Wow, thanks for the amazing drum. It's so strange to
me to go from an inconsistent 1/2 pound of dog-bowl
roasted beans to 2 lbs of a consistent roast!
Since I manage a BBQ store, I was thinking I'd serve
free coffee samples on the weekends. I'm just gonna
brew a pot or 2 and put out some 4/6oz cups. I would
really like to show people that I roasted on a BBQ, so
how do you feel about supplying me with either
business cards or flyers if you have them? Or if you
just sent me a p.o.p. 4x6 or 8x11 I'll just put it in
a plexi stand!
Let me know if you need parts/supplies
traegergrills.com makes a great thermometer for people
to mount in the center of grill hood!
Brian
Brian Bircher
I've been meaning to write but I've been too busy roasting! The drum is working great and you were right, once it gets seasoned and "settled in" it just keeps getting better. I've also become more adept at controlling the heat and of course the movements of getting the drum in and out
quickly become more second nature as you go along. I've been turning out some excellent roasts and have been able to hit the roasts just where I want them whether it's for a dark roast or a beautiful City+ or Full City on an island coffee.
Taking the ceramic briquettes out madeall the difference in the world as far as being able to reach roast temps faster, bring my roast times down to where they should be and to better control temps during the roast. It's funny since I had thought it would be easier to do all that with the briquettes. I haven't gotten the steel plate made yet and am still using the cookie sheet. It's working fine so I may just leave it.
Shane-- drum is working great, developing a very nice patina, if you will. 7 roastings so far, fantastic flavor which to me is fuller than the fluid air bed roasts. I am getting to 2nd crack at about 12 minutes. I'd like to slow it down slightly but that's a good time in my book.
The coffee roasting is going good and really I've been selling quite a bit. A little tribute to how good a job that roaster can do is that when I had a friend from Ethiopia taste my Ethiopian coffee {he owns about a half acre of Mich Harrar in Ethiopia and currently runs an African cafe here in London, Ontario, were he roasts a variety of East African coffee every morning with an electric TOPER to serve fresh to customers} he told me that my coffee was done perfect. He asked me what type of a roaster I was using and when I told him about my drum setup he became pretty excited about the concept. -Jason
I've only done a couple of roasts, and none more than about 3 pounds, But so far I've been getting good reviews from folks and I certainly like the coffee myself. The squeak has been minimized, the wobble in the spit largely goes away when it's loaded up and hot, and the clasp/door has not really caused me any problems. In short, I'm loving my new roaster. It has made my life a lot easier. And so far, without any modifications I'm roasting (albeit with smaller loads) at near "low" on the the three burners.