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Hi Guys,
I've been lurking on here and a few other forums for a few months now, and figured it was time to show off what I've been up to!
I just started coffee roasting in the last year, and I primarily roast for espresso brewing, however I do make a pot of coffee every once in a while or when I have guests over.

I started out with a bone stock poppery 2, finishing my roasts in under 10 minutes. I was happy, but obviously I could do better. After a few trips to the hardware store and radioshack, I built controls for the fan speed, and an on/off for the heating elements. I threw a soup can on for a chimney and said I was done. Not for long though...

Last week I found a Bake-A-Round at my local thrift shop for 3 bucks... My fiancee thought I was crazy for getting so excited over a piece of glass. Brought it home, and in a few days I had it mounted up as the chimney. The roaster looked good, but I was tired of my hand stinking of coffee/smoke after roasting (I was using a IR temp gun to track BT)

One trip to walmart later, and an hour with a drill and many drawings, I mounted the probe for the oven themometer through the RC wall, smack in the center of the bean mass. I'm sure this is really more of an environment temp, but its as close as I can hope to get using a probe vs IR.

After a test roast yesterday, I'm very pleased. My roast lasted about 16 minutes, with first crack coming right about 400*@ ~12:00. I cut the heat around 460* with second crack just getting going. I think I rushed first crack, as it didn't last long at all, but I'll continue to get the feel for the roaster with each roast I do.

And now for some pictures! EDIT: Seems I can img tag pictures from my blog, so here are a few links instead. Sorry!
http://livingcoff...amp;h=1144
The probe in its permanent location.

http://livingcoff...amp;h=1144
Whole Roaster "done"

http://livingcoff...amp;h=1144
Prior to mounting the probe permanently

http://livingcoff...&h=363

http://livingcoff...000&h=
And a my best rosetta yet just for fun

What do you all think? any suggestions?
Someday I hope to ditch the poppery 2 base, and do a totally custom build, but cash is limited these days..

Matt