Roasting in a garage??

[xelacoffee]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here, I'm excited to be a part of this community. Scanning the forums leads me to believe that there are some here who have loads of experience and knowledge about coffee and all its intricacies.

I am looking to start a roasting business very soon but am literally starting from the ground up. My business partner and I have worked as roasters and baristas before and we do have knowledge about coffee, but when you actually setup shop yourself it turns out to be a big challenge. There are many factors to consider/learn about in the process, obviously.

My plan is to move into a place where I can live and experiment with roasting before actually finding a separate location to do business out of. I am looking at a loft in the city now (among other living options) that has a garage on the first floor.

My question to you is whether you have ever roasted out of a garage, and whether you think this would be a suitable place to do some experimental roasting.

The roasters I've been considering are around 10-12kg models (i.e. Ambex YM10, Diedrich IR12). I realize that I would probably have to get an oxidizer and set up an intricate venting system due to the residential location, but I am not sure if it would be worth the financial/time investment if the garage would only be a temporary roasting location. I'm learning as I go, and at this point I feel rather oblivious as to what goes into this type of setup, so any info would help.

 

[PinkRose]

Hello xelacoffee,

Welcome to the Coffee Forums website.

We have several forum members who have started their roasting business in their garage.

I recall reading some topic discussions about it in the past. I don't have a lot of time right now to explore the Forum, but I typed the word garage in the search box (top right corner of your screen) and it found several discussions about roasting in a garage. It searched for posts with the word garage in them, and if you explore them further, you may find some answers to your questions while you wait for a response from other people.

Rose

 

[expat]

I roast in a garage, I've got friends that roast in a garage, and I'm sure several members do or did roast in a garage. I guess the main question is where is this garage located? You mention a loft in a city so I'd suspect that means dense population. If that's the case then you may well be shelling out a lot of money for the exhaust abatement equipment. More than what the roaster cost it looks like from reading various forums (I'm in the country, no exhaust abatement equipment needed so no first hand experience).

You're probably right that setting up proper exhaust would be a lot of wasted expense if you're moving soon. But then again we often think we're moving soon and then it is years later that we actually do.

Can you roast in a more rural area--without EPA exhaust regs to comply with--and just truck the finished product in to your location/customers?

 

[LBBeans]

My roaster (Ambex YM15) is set up on the ground floor of my building with our living quarters above. You could call it a garage if we parked cars in it. We are located in a rural area and are permitted to have light-medium industrial and commercial operations on our property. This allowed the venting system to be fairly simple with out an afterburner. Even so it was a significant financial investment to set up the chimney.

If you were roasting on something small (1kg) that you could vent out a kitchen range hood maybe that might be more suitable for the space you are describing. I don't have any experience with them but from what I've read there are small roasters like the Quest that you can develop roast profiles with and hone your technique on so that what you've learned could be applicable to roasting on the 10-12kg models.

Just off the top of my head here is some stuff to consider for your roastery

1. Fire and building code
2. Zoning
3. Trades: electrical for wiring your roaster, plumbing for gas, water, fire suppression, maybe you need some carpentry done too
4. Health Authority approval
5. You will want a sink
6. Bean storage, is the garage dry? heated?
7. Is there adequate lighting?
8. Is the roastery accessible for a freight truck to drop off pallets of green coffee?
9. What is the floor like? Can it support the weight of the roaster?
10. What will your neighbors think of the smoke? Most people even non-coffee drinkers seem to love the smell of coffee roasting in my experience.

There are probably many other things to consider.

I would be looking for a place that you could actually do business out of rather than moving your setup from your experimental roastery. To me that sounds like a lot of extra work and time.

 

[CoffeeLovers]

You might need to check out first the zoning regulation of the place and talk to a zoning officer.
It would not be wise to invest in an expensive venting system if you're planning to move out just after using it for a few months.

 

[xelacoffee]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and info guys. After considering what all goes into setting up a roaster in a garage, I'm not sure I want to have a mixed work/live environment. At this point, it seems like renting a house/apartment for living and finding a cheap little industrial space or storefront for roasting would be my best option. I'm thinking that I might get away with testing out the machine that I buy in a garage if I move to a place that has one, and then moving the roaster to a work space to get started on the serious roasting. At the very least, I could store the roaster in a garage before I find a workspace for it.