Wire brushes in cooling bins

NHcoffee

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Of all the work and modifications we have done to our Primo roasters through the years, there has been 1 part I have not been able to find. I am not a big fan of Dion at Primo and would rather not give him my business.

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Does anyone know where I can buy wire brushes for my cooling bins? I was told by someone somewhere (and I can't remember:oops:) that they are sold in lengths. You cut to your desired length and weld attachment bar on.

They are getting old and seem to be loosing bristles.

Thanks for any help!
 

topher

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NHcoffee..are you a fan of the brushes vs. straight metal? I personally do not like brushes..beans get stuck in them and then if your not careful when you are picking them out you get pricked. I have one more to convert to straight flat "rake" at any rate glad you found what you needed ;)
 

NHcoffee

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I agree that beans can get stuck in them. But flat straight metal does not empty the cooling bin. A simple sweep with a 1/2" wooden dowel and all beans come free of the brushes; less than 10 seconds.

When you are doing production work, it is nice to put a bin under and open the discharge shoot and walk away to let the machine work for you. If we were to be emptying the final beans of each roast by hand, I would loose more labor than picking beans out every once and a while. Unlike a cafe environment where the roastmaster stands around and watches each step of the roast as his/her only job, my roastmaster (16 years with NH Coffee) performs other production responsibilities while he is roasting; he might be blending, flavoring or staging a grind or even filling a small order during the roast process. Of course there are times when he only stands in front of the roaster, but once profiles are set it becomes production.

So I guess to answer your question, yes I prefer brushes verses straight metal.
 

NHcoffee

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60 kilo in 800 sf....where do you put greeen or finished product?

What make of roaster? Automated? Do you have a loader and destoner? If you have a destoner, wouldn't the brushes take some labor away? Would love to see some images.
 

topher

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The roastery is located next to our first bagel store. I store bags there and in the roastery. The roaster is not automated and is an Ambex. The afterburner sits directly behind the roaster and we have dunnage racks spread out to store green. We package what we roast and ship within 24 hours. We have 2 MPE grinders and a Prox Pack machine..its tight but it works. I like the fact that the bagel shop has windows for customers to watch us roast. I said the roastery was 800 sq ft. That is a bit of a white lie...it's actually 880 sq ft and 200 sq ft of that is a coffee shop.
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NHcoffee

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That is tight! IMO.

You roast mostly for retail shipments and your own cafe uses, right? Not for wholesale distribution. How many # per year do you roast, est?

The next time my guys complain about no space, I am going to pull these pictures up. Thanks for sharing
 

topher

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I roast for a bagel chain. I ship coffee to each location weekly. When I started a year and a half ago we had 4 bagel shops. We now are up to 15. In the couple of years we are going to have some serious growth. I am only roasting about 10,000 lbs a month right now. We figure on one shift we can knock out about 10,000 lbs a week. Once we out grow this location we will open another roastery out west. What are you roasting on?
 
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