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Well after I posted a shout about this I have recieved a good number of PM's asking questions so why not just post about it.

I have been roasting for myself about a year and a half now on air poppers, often also roasting for friends. The roasting for friends is what convinced me to build a BBQ roaster. Poppers are a hassle when trying to roast more than about a pound total. So I built the grill. I have been working as a barrista for about ten years now so I have built a pretty good name for myself in the area coffee scene (or what passes for one here in Helena). The idea to roast and sell at the market just naturally flowed from these two things.

When I was planning it all out I had wanted to roast the coffee on the spot or at least have the roaster there for if I ran out. But then I realized that most people aren't going to want to wait around for 30ish minutes to get their coffee. Plus I would only be roasting about a pound or two at a time that way. Not a very efficient usage of fuel. Instead I roast the day before the market and package it up then as well.

For the total hours of work put into getting ready it varies somewhat but I can say that Fridays are a very long day. Total roast time for 30-40 lbs of coffee at 2.5-5lbs per roast is around eight to twelve hours including cooling of the beans. Packaging and labeling is around three (unless I can get someone to help).

Before I could start I had to have a home based business permit. This cost me $5 and about twenty minutes worth of paper work (your area may differ significantly, local and state laws vary wildly). Next I had to have the state health department come to inspect my roast facility (the outdoors). They came out watched me roasting, told me what I could and couldn't do and gave me a nice little document saying "go for it."

I was on the way. Or so I thought. I then had to convince the owner of the farmers market to let me set up a booth. This turned out to be the hard part, with more than a few misunderstandings. He apparently thought I was going to be running an espresso cart, which I had thought about but decided against, at least this year. Once I explained that I built the roaster myself and a few other details I convinced him it would be beneficial to his market.

Now I am at it. I bring my French press, a turkish hand mill, and a coleman stove to make coffee for samples. Today was my sixth week at the market and I sold out an hour before the market ended. This has been happening every week since the third. I am resisiting roasting much more than 50 lbs though since I am very busy with school during the week and time to roast is limited.

Well that about wraps up the first bit. I probably have a lot more to write here, but I figure I will let the questions fly and answer as I can.