Venting question

[BikeNerd]

Hi All,

I am roasting on a 3kilo electric us corp roaster and wondering if anyone has had any successful ways to increase the airflow? I have talked with US Corp, and they assured me that the flow on this particular machine was relatively weak. I'm wondering if there was anyway to increase this flow, possibly adding a small fan halfway up the vent? I'm looking to try and increase the flow through the roaster as well as in the cooling tray. Has anyone had any successes like this on a small roaster like mine?

Thanks

 

[peterjschmidt]

For the cooling tray on my Ambex 2K, I added a separate Dayton blower. This roaster has two plates on the cooling tray to allow chaff clean-out, and I made an adapter to mount the blower. Much better cooling this way, and I can do what I want with the drum airflow as the previous batch cools.

The drum airflow on this roaster is also weak. Some users have gone from a 1750rpm exhaust blower motor to a 3450rpm motor. You may look into that as an option.

 

[soliloquy]

Peter,

Could you post a pic of the modification you did? I've been considering something similar on my victory 2.

 

[peterjschmidt]

The one pic is of the front clean-out door, just to show what they look like - the one on the back of the cooling tray, where the adapter mounts is the same. The adapter started life as an adapter that would be used in furnace ductwork, and I found it a Home Creepot.




Hope that helps!

 

[ellatas]

Increasing the airflow through the cooling tray (such as the efforts by Peter above) will cool the coffee faster and would be beneficial for faster cooling times. However, you should be careful increasing the air through your roaster drum as the temperature of the air will reduce and consequently may prevent you from achieving roasts under 18 minutes. To avoid this you may have to increase the size of the electric element to compensate for the higher airflow.
One way to see if you have the minimum airflow is to see check for chaff remaining in the drum or discharged in the cooling tray with the roasted coffee. If there is excessive chaff remaining in the drum or in the cooling tray, then more airflow would be beneficial to ensure the chaff is removed. If you have too much air in the drum, you risk pulling beans out during your roast and reducing your yield.