Old Manual Roaster - Inquiry

[wwcove]

Interesting you mention Guatemala. I just met a nice gentleman in his 70's here today in the Phoenix area that grew up in the coffee growing mountains and grew his own coffee as well as roasting it for decades. He has a nice solid 10 lb. roaster that he had custom made in Guatemala that is pretty much a manual system. The thing looks like a tank and he has offered to sell it for a few grand. Seems like a great deal if I can just find a safe place to use it. Looks to be almost 100% cast iron... Do you all think its worth the effort? It appears to be made by an actual company in that country. It had a company name tag on it but if forgot to write it down. Built about 2006/7 and used about 10-15 days.

 

[JumpinJakJava]

View attachment 1968Interesting you mention Guatemala. I just met a nice gentleman in his 70's here today in the Phoenix area that grew up in the coffee growing mountains and grew his own coffee as well as roasting it for decades. He has a nice solid 10 lb. roaster that he had custom made in Guatemala that is pretty much a manual system. The thing looks like a tank and he has offered to sell it for a few grand. Seems like a great deal if I can just find a safe place to use it. Looks to be almost 100% cast iron... Do you all think its worth the effort? It appears to be made by an actual company in that country. It had a company name tag on it but if forgot to write it down. Built about 2006/7 and used about 10-15 days.

By the pics- I would say it does not appear to be cast iron. More of steel construction. Not that that is a bad thing.
Questions: I would ask about chaff collection, is there a collection box underneath the machine with easy access?
Is there a cooling fan and stirring arm in the cooling tray?(cannot tell by the pics).
Also, access to the burner(cannot tell by pics). It looks to be propane by the hookup in one photo.
Is the burner cast iron?

Looks new, may be worth the pursuit. Also, could you see it operate? Just a few thoughts.

 

[topher]

I am going to assume that it doesn't have stirring arms. The cooling bin is square if it had an agitator it wouldn't cool evenly. I do not see a way to adjust the airflow. If you can not adjust the airflow it would be a deal breaker for me.

 

[slurp]

For a few grand it might be worth it. You will not see the best results out of it but it is a starting point.

 

[wwcove]

It does not have a fan or arm in cooling tray. Cooling is done manual in tray with wood paddle . The chaff container is under drum and easy to get to plus owner is offering a steel cyclone with it that has many steel pipes not shown in pics. There is 5-6 burner valves that attach under drum and can be viewed while roasting. I did not see any air flow controls. Not sure where to look for these. Only openings I can see into drum are where beans are loader through hopper and door to let beans out... This thing is a tank! I'm not sure I could use it in just any building???

did not see operate because in residents garage. The only real control I can see is temp. Guage and control for flow of propane to burners to adjust heat manually...
the company that made it is:

Logos Mechanicos Industrial
13 Av. 3-23, Zona 11
Tel.:440-9039
Colonia Roosevelt Hecho en Guatemala centro America (only found one other on the web that cooked 25 lb at a time. This one does 10. Owner said only used about 10 times to roast about 100 lb)
the picture above of large roaster is the 25lb. One that sold for $15,000 used a couple years ago.

 

[wwcove]

Just an update: as can be seen in one of the photos: a flame adjuster of sorts was added to connector of propane tank that allows adjustment of heat... But I still don't see any controls of air flow. I have heard some roasters open hopper while roasting to adjust heat and provide some air flow but I don't understand much about air flow other than helping with temp. Control... Maybe someone could share their wisdom with a new guy about air flow in coffee roasting

 

[topher]

I would pass on that roaster. If you can't control your roast what's the point.

 

[wwcove]

The owner just sent me info on air flow. Please see pictures of the manual control for air flow. Do you think that between the heat control valve & air flow regulator that this might be worth $3000???
thanks for all your help

 

[JumpinJakJava]

I agree with Topher. Would pass on it. Why? It would take a while to truly master the roaster.
the additional chaff collector is a plus, but what would you do with the problem of large batch
cooling? Wooden paddles? I suppose it could be fabricated to remove the present tray and add a circular
tray with stirring arm. You would need to add another motor with bearing and additional assembly shaft etc.
to attach to stirring arm. I would guestimate an additional $1500.-$2000 parts and labor.(conservative estimate).
If you are able yourself to fabricate, could save $.You would want to use stainless steel. I suppose you could
hookup high speed fans over present tray, but you still have to move the beans somehow.

 

[wwcove]

Is your main issue then just with the bean cooling? Because several cooling machines can be purchase that cool from 5-10 lbs at a time for as little as $200-500. (These cool up to 10 pounds in 2-3 minutes)
What do you think about the manual roasting process using machine? Does it provide enough control?

 

[BFRoasters]

I would get it for 3 grand. a nice BBQ setup is almost 2 grand. Even if it isn't super pro quality you can learn and do a lot on it. I would buy it if I could.

 

[wwcove]

Thanks for the encouragement. I just found the Guatemalan Company on Facebook. It appears they still make & sell these machines. I'm uploading a couple of their current units which look similar and mostly manual. (This is a much larger unit 25lb. But has some of the same features this 10lb. Unit has.)

 

[JitteryMonkey]

Is your main issue then just with the bean cooling? Because several cooling machines can be purchase that cool from 5-10 lbs at a time for as little as $200-500. (These cool up to 10 pounds in 2-3 minutes)

Can you share where one can purchase one of these cooling machines for that kind of money? I'm in the market for a cooling tray.

Also wondering if you bought the roaster listed. Kind of looks like your avatar.