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Hardware Hacking Toys

Popcorn-Popper -> Coffee Roaster Mod 169

Posted by timothy from the late-night-home-theater dept.
the-few writes "Tom Gramilas (Toms-roaster@columbus.rr.com) created a computer-controlled coffee roaster using an old West Bend Poppery I popcorn-popper (popular among home roasters with a modding mindset), a few thermocouples, and an old DOS computer. The code he wrote to control it is available from his site on request, and uses a flexible control algorithm to control roasting segments. Pictures and roasting profiles included."
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Popcorn-Popper -> Coffee Roaster Mod More

Popcorn-Popper -> Coffee Roaster Mod

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  • Java? (Score:5, Funny)

    by ParadoxicalPostulate ( 729766 ) <saapad.gmail@com> on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:28PM (#11723742) Journal
    The code better be Java.
    • Judging from the article title, I think they're using C++. (Apparently they don't have the popcorn-popper themselves but they know how to find it.)
    • Why Java?
      Why not Coffee?
      Coffee was a programming language too. Seriously. I havs some code on punch cards along with a printout to prove it, from a quick glance, it seems sorta like PASCAL. I think it was used on Burroughs Mainframes, although it could have been on IBMs.

  • i don't get it (Score:1, Funny)

    by hjf ( 703092 )
    who would want a coffee roaster which runs DOS?

    if it ran Linux (or BSD) I'll take it...

    btw fitrs tsop

  • Website Caches Please? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by AbbyNormal ( 216235 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:29PM (#11723752) Homepage
    Dear Slasdot Editors,

    Please setup caches before posting stories running off of home cable modem website spaces.

    The story is irrelevant/pointless in most cases, if TFA cannot be read to begin with.

    Thanks,

    Slashdot Reader
    • Dear Slasdot Reader,

      Please use spell checker and "Preview" next time before quickly posting.

      Thanks,

      Slashdot Editor
      • HAHAHA! Irony is SO ironic sometime!

        This "TROLL" is a reply to my own comment! I realized that I misspelled my post horribly, and was going for amusing. Oh well, tis the moderation system in all of its glory!

    • MirrorDot mirror [mirrordot.org] (just in case)
    • don't know what your moaning about this time... I came upon it shortly after you and had no problems at all... even the two large images came in fast...

      anyway, I'm gonna refresh the page a few times and watch the counter soar... it was at 5751 when I loaded it first... it's now 6183 merely a few short minutes later... holding up fine... now 6282... still holding fine... this guy's worked wonders proofing his home site... hmm 6324

    • It seems to be working quite well, actually - it's just a plain HTML page with two small images. It might actually stand the Slashdot effect... but here [nyud.net] is the Coral cache copy if anyone needs it.
    • Coral Cache [nyud.net] version (although it's not dead *yet*).

      Just like the home brwer temp control setuptaht was submitted not long ago, it's not that hard to do things like that (for anybody with any kind of basic eletronisc skills). The setup is usually quite ugly and sometimes can get fairly expensive and time consuming for a "hobby" project or simple task.

      I never tried roasting my own coffee, but I can buy some half decent stuff without having to bother with all this, and it's not really expensive either. B
    • Too bad the site isn't ran off of a home cable modem. It's ran off of Road Runenr's webspace for it's home users.

  • Was I the only one... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tamerlan ( 817217 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:30PM (#11723753) Homepage
    to read it "porn-popcorn"? Another freudiam slip. Nevermind.

  • Now that's a first.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by PresidentKang ( 846333 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:31PM (#11723763)
    I've heard of Irish Cream, Hazelnut and Vanilla flavoured coffee, but I must say when Starbucks starts offering their butter/"topping" flavoured coffees I'm leaving the country.
    • Who cares what crappy flavor Starbucks offers? No matter what they call it, it's still going to be burnt, bitter and over-roasted crap. More proof, it it were needed, that you can fool the average person into buying crap if you tell them often enough how great it is.

      • Re:Now that's a first.. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by dfn_deux ( 535506 ) <datsun510&gmail,com> on Saturday February 19, 2005 @05:28PM (#11724459) Homepage
        It never ceases to amaze me how people bag on Starbuck's coffee so much. I find that most of the competitors' coffee is over roasted and either brewed watery to compensate or just served up syruppy think like roof tar. Starbucks employs some of the most highly trained buyers and roasters in the coffee industry and consistantly brings a greater variety of quality beans to the public than was previously available without living in a major metropolitan and having a good sense of where to look. My only problem with starbucks is the number of wierd nutmeg/eggnog/carmel/fudge "latte" creations they serve means that many times the barrista serving you is not going to be accustomed to making proper espresso beverages such as a plain ol' macchiato or cappucino. But, then again they are just meeting a demand. If the American palate increasingly demands sweater richer flavours to satisfy an unhealthy desire to get fat, bloated, and lazy it's just business providing products which meet that demand.
        • Starbucks employs some of the most highly trained buyers and roasters in the coffee industry and consistantly brings a greater variety of quality beans to the public than was previously available without living in a major metropolitan and having a good sense of where to look

          That they do, but they over-roast the coffee to the point that it's burnt and bitter. I've never had a Starbucks that was drinkable without adding at least one more sugar for the size than I normally use, and I like strong coffee. I'

        • ... many times the barrista serving you is not going to be accustomed to making proper espresso beverages such as a plain ol' macchiato or cappucino.

          If you order cappuccino at starbucks, you're gonna get a "starbucks style cappuccino" anyway, a single shot of espresso with 2,682 gallons of foam/milk. You can barely taste the coffee.

          This particular little detail drives me nuts, because I often want something a little more foamy than a macchiato, but I don't want a glass of milk. Other large cafe chains,

          • I don't know WTF is wrong with all these people complaining that "starbucks coffee is burnt" either -- it's not the best there is, but it's decent, and of course about 5 billion times better than traditional American coffee.

            Many of the fiercest arguments I've heard revolve around 'which is better.' Of course, coffee is a matter of taste, so different people will like different brews. Likewise, different coffee beverages are appropriate at different times; breakfast and after dinner are two different occ

          • Starbucks espresso roast is burnt. Espresso roast should have the natural sugars carmalized, not burnt. If straight espresso tastes of burnt sugar it is burnt. A properly done espresso should be sweet, not bitter; bitter espresso is burnt, run too long, or both. Also a properly done cappuccino should be equal parts milk, espresso, and foam, in layers, served in a clear glass mug. A macciato is espresso with one espresso spoon of foam dropped on top (not stirred in)

            Yes, I did work in a really snobby coffee
            • Hmm.. I'm not sure that your contention that a cappucino should be served in a clear glass mug, that it should contain equal parts espresso, foam and milk, nor that your proportions for a macchiatto are correct.
              Not only, from my personal research done while writing a paper concerning many aspects of coffee from growing, proccessing, and roasting to drink preperation and social aspects of "coffee culture", as well as my personal experience as a barrista for 2 years. But, in my travels in Italy I never once
        • Most of the coffee shops here will make an Americano (run it VERY long... to fill the cup) if you order an espresso. The annoying thing is if you make it long the bitterness comes out.
          • Yeah, that's one of my peeves. I always have to make sure I order my espresso as short pulls otherwise less informed barristas are always trying to "be nice" by giving me a longer shot. Luckily, most of the high volume Starbucks are switching to automated espresso machines which always pull a regular shot as long as they are correctly calibrated regularly.
    • Hmm, let's see... Strangely flavoured coffees.... Mmmm jelly donut, or mmmmm beer? I wonder if either of those would be remotely passable? Ha. Of course, I've heard of mixing beer with coke before. Maybe there is a palatable beer/coffee combination?
  • Yes. This is exactly what one needs.

    100 MHZ + Coffee + Anyone = World domination

    This guy's a genius!


    But seriously, that's a good idea if you've got the time to show the world exactly how bored you are.

  • All things aside... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by RU_Areo ( 804621 )
    Do you really need a computer to pop popcorn? The technology and innovation is appreciated but come on...it's popcorn. We're hardly going to solve the worlds problems if the main focus of computing in engineering is a popcorn machine.
    • Suppose some terrorist regime threatens to nuke us if we don't give them popcorn. The very fabric of our lives may well depend on whether or not we can efficiently make popcorn! /me imagines a RAID of popcorn poppers
    • It's a popcorn popper thats been modified to be a computerized coffee bean roaster.

    • Re:All things aside... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Chasuk ( 62477 )
      No, but this article is about the construction of a computer-controlled COFFEE ROASTER.

      Notice:

      created a computer-controlled coffee roaster...

    • Re:All things aside... (Score:5, Funny)

      by ettlz ( 639203 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:57PM (#11723919) Journal
      If the ends justify the beans, yes.
    • You must be in possession of that mythical toaster that actually produces consistently browned slices, whether or not it's already warmed up. And has presets for bagels, brown, and white bread. Personally I can easily see applications for computers in cooking things. Haven't you ever burned something, or baked something that came out doughy in the middle?
    • Not reading TFA is one thing, but if you miss the *title* you could really use a cup of coffee.
    • Modded Interesting...Yes...Veerrry iinnteresting...but shtupid! In other words can the lecture, all right? We'll solve the world's problems tomorrow. I'll fire up my "Solvetheworldsproblems@home... when I'm done making some popcorn..er..coffee. Sheeesh. What a downer. So you think that this guy represents the entire computer engineering population? Should we all quit our jobs to devote all our time "solving the world's problems"? Besides, you got it wrong. He's using to roast coffee. Big difference. Maybe t
    • While popcorn is easy, roasting coffee is what this one is for, and that is a bit more complicated. You can make the same variety of coffee taste many different ways if you control the roasting process carefully enough.

      The hardest part about this setup is finding a working original West Bend Poppery. You will probably only find the Poppery II, which has only 1200 watts, not 1500 and no on/off switch. I use those with only one mod: A hole drilled in the lid to accomodate a thermometer. Monitoring temperatur

      • most air poppers will do [sweetmarias.com], provided the air is blown sideways, and not vertically through the bottom.

        my air popper is rather simple and I don't think it's possible to wire it to a computer, so I rely on my brain, my eyes and my nose to see when the coffee beans are ready...

        if I screw up, no problem, because the amount of beans can safely I roast at a time is just about the same amount I can grind and put in my stovetop espresso maker.

        And since I like my coffee roasted Full City [sweetmarias.com], it's pretty easy to tell w
    • How many older DOS boxes end up landfilled? There's some pretty environmentally unfriendly chemicals, such as lead in monitors, Poly-Chlorinated Bi-Phenyls or related compounds in power supply capacitors, and so on. Just about anything that gets a few more years use out of an old box for just the cost in electricity is a likely to be a good idea in that sense. It might even give the local society time enough to implement recycling or incineration for on all those old PC type hazardous materials.
      Yes, de

    • Re:All things aside... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dbIII ( 701233 )

      Do you really need a computer to pop popcorn?

      Once you've worked out how to do it with a general purpose machine a cheap PIC controller or similar could be used to do it the same way.

      We're hardly going to solve the worlds problems if the main focus of computing in engineering is a popcorn machine.

      Funny thing is about all I can remember from a 1986 open day at a university chemical engineering department was the hot air popcorn popper they had rigged up as a demonstration of a fluidised bed heating system.

  • If you're going to the bother of building an automated coffee roaster. It should be runnning Apache2 on Linux (or OpenBSD) and have a fully-fledged CGI interface to control it. WDNNS DOS and Borland C programs.

  • Home appliances future (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Fox_1 ( 128616 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:41PM (#11723827)
    Kinda neat, kinda bizarrely geeky, however the fact is that many kitchen appliances are getting wired. Microsoft is spending tons on the automated home (i've seen one of their model homes). There is that crazy fridge now with the tv built in, and for a long time now there have been appliances with various levels of programability - microwaves that read cooking instructions from the UPC, fridges with inventory lists, etc. Just as we hack other netpliances - phones, pda's... - we will be hacking these wired wonders of the kitchen.
    • There is that crazy fridge now with the tv built in
      I thought it was crazy until I was told the target market - people in truly tiny apartments where you can see the fridge from anywhere.
  • Where can you buy unroasted beans?
    If it is possible to actually sell unroasted beans to people, have them roast and grind the beans themselves-- this guy could make some money off this.
    Starbucks could be selling people unroasted beans+the roaster+the grinder+the coffee maker. --Control freaks and Coffee aficionados beware!

    • Re:Roast your own (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Fox_1 ( 128616 )
      There is a local organic coffee co-operative near where I live. They actually do the roasting just outside town so when you come off the highway all you can smell is coffee. I imagine they would have unroasted beans there for sale with the right conversation. And no I don't live in columbia, but canada of all places - though I think the beans are shipped from south america - some sort of ethical trade thing.
    • Lots of people roast their own coffee. I have been for a couple years.
      Here's one of the better sources for unroasted coffee beans: Sweet Maria's [sweetmarias.com]
      • Sweet Maria's has been my source of green beans for about a year now. Great beans, and great people who run it.

        Roasting your own beans is simple and can be inexpensive.

    • Re:Roast your own (Score:4, Informative)

      by Nerftoe ( 74385 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:54PM (#11723900)
      I'm glad you asked:

      Sweet Marias [sweetmarias.com].

      I have ordered from them on three occasions. They have a review on everything they sell which describes in great detail on what each tastes like.

      I use the Heat Gun/Dog Bowl [homeroaster.com] method of roasting myself. Works every time.

    • Sweet Marias Coffee [sweetmarias.com] is the best place to look for green beans.

      Google and you'll find more. But if you're really interested in coffee, alt.coffee is the best source of information and conversation.

      -- Mike

    • Re:Roast your own (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Been buying green beans from http://www.sweetmarias.com/ [sweetmarias.com] for years. And years. And, roasted coffee with a West Bend Poppery II for years. Use an Alpenrost now - but plan on a BBQ setup using an RK Drum. Yeah - do a google for green coffee and you'll come up with a few sites. The difference between this and the sludge from stores is nothing short of remarkable - no bitterness, tastes kinda like it smells - what coffee should be like.
      • "The difference between this and the sludge from stores is nothing short of remarkable - no bitterness, tastes kinda like it smells - what coffee should be like"

        While I'll buy that the self-roasted beans make better coffee than Folger's, is it really better than the coffee that you go down and buy from Peet's or whatever? Any idea why?

        I mean, I can honestly say I'm in better shape than say, Louie Anderson, but what exactly does that tell you? (other than that I'm too old to know any young fat guys to re
    • I but mine from http://www.coffeewholesalers.com/
      They ship real quick and have good cutomer service.
    • Everyone that replied- you've been really helpful... I love coffee- and I think I am ready to plunge into the world of roasting my own.
    • I get mine from Merchants of Green Coffee [merchantso...coffee.com] in Toronto. I don't need fancy stuff to roast it, either -- 15 minutes in a 230degC oven on a baking tray does it for me.

      There's also Birds and Beans [birdsandbeans.ca], too. I've never bought their wares, but they seem a little less expensive.

  • Mokneuys1! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Leffe ( 686621 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:41PM (#11723832)
    and uses a flexible control algorithm to control roasting segments.

    Eh, I want a genetic algorithm that generates the ultimate taste by feeding roasted beans to monkeys and having them rate it by bashing buttons.
  • This is a nice start, but seeing as the page was created two years ago, I wonder if hes updated it to actually brew the coffee too? Then all I'd need to do is have it add my cup of sugar, and a bit of creamer, and I'd be good.

  • Did it with a simple microcontroller (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Works great!

    http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/homeroast/ 69336#69336 [coffeegeek.com]

  • Last Updated (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Nosferatu Alucard ( 713350 )
    I have a feeling nobody cared much about this when he first developed it. It says updated 8/29/03.

    Or maybe he didn't care, since he said in the code part that he would try to figure out how to post his code when he figures out how.

    It's still kind of cool nonetheless.

    • Updated 8/29/03, but the dates on the pictures are from 1998. Pretty darn old. (That keyboard doesn't even have Windows keys on it!)

      It is a bit of a disappointment, though. I'd like to know if this got developed further.

  • TC hookup is non-standard (Score:5, Interesting)

    by deacon ( 40533 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:55PM (#11723903) Journal
    From TFA:

    I actually have four thermocouple in the rig: each of the TC's in the roaster has a reverse connected TC attached to it, This helps to eliminate stray thermoelectric voltages, and is, I'm told, the most accurate way to use a thermocouple. Because of the reverse junction thermocouples, the voltmeters sense the difference between room temperature and the temperature of the sensor. The use of high quality voltmeters here, with low DC offsets, is important since the TC's generate only 22uV or so of signal per degree F.

    That's an unusual way to hook up TCs, unless you put the extra TC in an ice bath (for the ice point). All TC meters (as opposed to generic voltmeters) have an artificial ice point voltage generator inside.

    In the design of this roaster, the extra TCs shold be in an distilled ice/water bath, otherwise the roaster temp depends on room temp, which is not what you would want. The roaster temp should be independant of the room temp variations (that is the whole point of a control system.)

    The other choice would be to use a surplus ISA based TC meter board (which has it's own ice point) in the PC, then you would only need 2 TCs and these would read the temp directly.

    Still, I think I speak for all of /. when I say that this project deserves praise and admiration for not only its pointless complexity, (really, a requierment of any GOOD project) but also for the use of very expensive and obscure (GPIB voltemeters and an A_D converter? WTF?) components.

    Sort of reminds me, in spirit anyway, of the weed burner I made out of an oil burner for a house furnace, and the snowblower made from the front half of a subaru station wagon...

    • When I looked into coffee roasting a couple years ago, I found that very little technical equipment was needed. Indeed, the principal reason that an ordinary oven was considered unacceptable is it would leave your house uninhabitable for several hours afterwards.

      Back then, the use of popcorn machines was fairly common, but all the instructions I read just used unmodified machines with quite precise timing controls.

      It looks like this guy has managed to take a simple project and make it extremely complicat
  • We did a couple of SNMP controlled toasters back in 1988. (A lot of folks think they are apocryphal but I can assure you that they were real and made real toast. I've got photos somewhere.)

    In one of the episodes of Ruby (the Gallactic Gumshoe) she's in a room with appliances that talk about what they are doing.

  • Anyone interested in roasting coffee or coffee (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If you are interested in roasting coffee, or in making high quality coffee, here are some sources for information:

    http://coffeegeek.com/
    http://www.sweetmarias.c om/
    http://www.greencoffee.coop/index.php

    and alt.coffee on news.

  • Doesn't this guy know about I2C ADC's? (Score:3, Informative)

    by jlseagull ( 106472 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @03:57PM (#11723920) Homepage
    He's an engineer, not an embedded systems guy. Two HP power supplies with GPIB and an internal NI GPIB card are about $1500 worth of hardware. I2C ADC's and a Coldfire would have cost him about $30.

    Classic system though.
    • He's an engineer, not an embedded systems guy. Two HP power supplies with GPIB and an internal NI GPIB card are about $1500 worth of hardware. I2C ADC's and a Coldfire would have cost him about $30.

      Sounds like he's a engineering manager actually...
    • The hard part isn't the hardware, its the control algorithm.

      The overall project was a "proof of principle" effort and made use of gear that was "on hand", to try to get to the algorithm tweaking stage as quickly as possible.

      While the hardware has stayed more or less unchanged, the control approach has changed alot to get repeatability "in the cup", even while the ambient temperature varies from 95F to as low as 20F (roasting is done outside)......

  • Pictures below show the computer and roaster set up on my back porch.

    Um.....rain?

  • Standards compliant? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Nuskrad ( 740518 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @04:13PM (#11724002)
    Does it use HyperText Coffee Pot Control Protocol, as defined in RFC 2324 [faqs.org]

  • Intriguing but... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by kilodelta ( 843627 )
    Who wants to blow 3Kw in electricity to roast coffee? What would be cooler is if he did some robotic manipulation, ie. take the output of the roaster and dump into a grinder.

    But it's cool just the same.
  • Coffee roasting at home using one of these popcorn poppers is a great idea, and anyone serious about having access to good coffee should look into it.
    Personally, I got completely sick of the taste of Starbucks, so I started looking online for some better beans. Coming accross some newsgroups, I found that many people would buy unroasted beans online, then simply roast them at home with a crude device, such as a popcorn popper. People were reporting tremendous results, and I just had to give it a shot
    Tr
  • I always went by sound of the beans (first and second crack), and look. I have something similar to an air popper, an IRoast [sweetmarias.com]

    I find that for each batch of beans, the ambient conditions, exactly how much I put into the roaster, and any number of random factors contribute to how well the roast comes out. No matter how much control I have over the interior of the roaster (and my roaster lets me set up to 3 different temperature points to achieve during the roast), I always wind up programming the last sta
  • We use a Poppery II to roast our coffee, and do it all manually. There are so many variables in each batch that I'd be hard-pressed to even try to measure them. First crack? In most cases, easy to tell when, but in the Costa Rican Terrazu La Minita, was so subtle it was hard to tell when it happened. The Nicaraguan Maragogype, tho, has a very robust first crack. The Ethiopian Yergacheffe is rather subtle, too.

    Then it's second crack time, and general "doneness" of the beans. The Yergacheffe is really

  • Tom Gramila (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    His actual hane is Tom Gramila (no "s") and
    he is professor of Physics at Ohio State.

  • I use a corn popper to roast my coffee as well. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Mr. Flibble ( 12943 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @05:14PM (#11724397) Homepage
    While I do not use the computer setup, I do use a $10.00 corn popper, and high-quality green coffee beans.

    If you are looking around for green coffee beans, just ask at coffee shops that are not like Starbucks. You will eventually find one that roasts their own beans.

    When you buy green beans, they will usually be less expensive than the pre-roasted variety. Also, remember that during roasting the beans double in size.

    Note: the popcorn popper should be of the "swirl" type. That is, the vents at the bottom of the roasting container should cause the beans or popcorn to "spin" while roasting. Do not use one that channels the air straight through.

    Fill the "butter warmer" so that it is level with green beans, then pour these beans into the popper.

    Plug the popper in.

    Now - one warning - roasting coffee beans produce LARGE volumes of smoke, and most of the smoke occurs during the end of the roasting process. You cannot put the roaster outside unless it is a very warm day (the air will not be warm enough to roast the beans properly if the incoming air is cold). So, you need to keep the roaster at room tempurature. What I do is open a window, and stick the output part of the popper out the window, while keeping the rest inside. You can also use the fume hood of your stove.

    Once you turn the popper on, the beans will begin to spin. After a min or so, the "chaff" (bean covering) will begin to fly out of the popper. Collect this in a bowl to prevent a mess, or do as I do and point it outside.

    At 3-4 min, the beans will have gone from green to red or yellow, and from there they begin to progress to brown.

    During this process you will start to hear the beans cracking and popping. This is called "First crack" and is entirely normal. Finally, as the beans get darker, monitor them so that you can stop the popper when the beans are the roasting color you desire. (For me, this is about 8-10 min total). Finally, near the end of the roasting process, the beans will begin to pop and crack again, (known as second crack) and small round discs will flake off the beans. (Due to escaping moisture I belive). This is around the time that most people consider them well roasted.

    Now - unplug the popper (IT IS VERY HOT NOW! BE CAREFUL!!!) and dump the beans into a container. I use a glass jar. They will still be smoking. I cover the container with saran-wrap and let it sit 24 hours. I have read that the CO2 "gassing out" from the beans can break mason jars that are sealed in with hot roasted beans in them. (It could be myth, I dont know, never saw it myself).

    You can use the beans right away, but I reccomend that you wait a few hours to grind them. About 24 is best. (Freshly roasted beans don't yet have a full flavour - they are very "flat" waiting 24 hours greatly improves the experience.) The beans will keep their excellent flavour for about a week - after that, the oils will start to evaporate, and you will end up with basic storebought beans.

    This sounds complex, but it is pretty simple. And in the end you have incredible coffee - and it costs less!

    • Good overview, thanks! (Score:4, Informative)

      by MsWillow ( 17812 ) on Saturday February 19, 2005 @06:39PM (#11724902) Homepage Journal
      Just a few things to add - try your local thrift stores for hot-air popcorn poppers. We got ours for generally under $3 each. We use a measured half-cup of beans per batch - more tends to spit beans out, and less goe slowly as the beans do far more spinning than roasting. Cover the "butter" holder - we used some old circuit board :) With this open, most of the air vents through it, and roasting takes longer. Use a burr-style grinder, instead of a blade grinder like the Krupps. Burr grinders produce a far more controllable and uniform size of ground coffee. Oh, and you just might want to throw away your creamer and sugar once you get into roasting. Real coffee doesn't need "enhancement."

      A few good sites to check out:

      Sweet Marias [sweetmarias.com] has beans, equipment and instructions. Very good.

      Coffee Bean Corral [coffeebeancorral.com] has equipment, beans, and some software they call the coffee matrix, to help you choose the perfect bean for your needs.

      Coffee Wholesalers [coffeewholesalers.com] has beans and equipment. A good place to start buying beans online.

      Hope you have fun! And you'll never tolerate stale, bitter, lifeless coffee again.
  • I buy mine at Peets [peets.com].
  • I used to use a corn popper when I started home roasting my coffee beans (I also get my green coffee beans at sweetmarias.com [sweetmarias.com]) until last Christmas, when I got the i-roast [sweetmarias.com] I recommend it for somebody interested in home roasting, but not handy with a soldering iron.

    However, I'm getting ready to hack my i-roast to make it talk with my laptop. Much easier to store and retrieve roast profiles, keep notes, etc. Plus I just can't ignore how cool it would be to use my laptop to roast coffee :-)
  • I had the same idea, but I couldnt find any thermistors or other temperature sensing bits that were rated for high enough temperatures (at least 500F) without being crazy expensive.

    I was excited to see this article to see what they used, but of course they dont mention what specific temperature sensor they're using. Initial Googling for "thermocouple" brought up a couple solutions that cost more than a whole automatic coffee roaster.

    But I dont know a lot about electronics anyways, so I'm probably better
  • What drives people to do cool things like this, and then run the damn thing under DOS? Is it actually easier to hack on that old OS than Linux or INSERT FAVORITE OS HERE?
    • For the same reasons that DOS is still used in so many embedded applications. Such as it's much easier to hack hardware when you can bang on the bare metal without dealing with hardware abstraction layers and the like. The right tool for the job and all that.
  • Popcorn-Popper -> Coffee Roaster Mod
    [~BorgCopyeditor]$ gcc Roast.m
    Roast.m:82: warning: `Popcorn-Popper' may not respond to `-CoffeeRoasterMod:'
  • What do you need the popcorn popper for if you have a Pentium?

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