# Popcorn maker ?



## Soll

Hi guy's, was wondering if any of you roasters out there have ever used a popcorn maker to roast coffee beans ? Seems like an inexpensive way to get starting. Also a couple of reviewers on Amazon have bought it for that purpose, I'm intrigued enough to give it a try....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Severin-117803-Popcorn-Maker-White/dp/B00008WV6Z/ref=pd_rhf_cr_p_t_2_35VT


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## The Systemic Kid

It's a cheap way to have a go and I guess fun too. Problem with poppers is consistency and control of roast.


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## ronsil

I think a lot of us started with 'poppers'. If you are that way inclined there are masses of mods you can do to improve control.

They are a cheap, simple way to try out roasting.

Be careful though they can get hot.


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## Soll

Ronsil, hi

What sort of mods do you mean ? Is it to get more consistent colouring, and where to start, I suppose YouTube has a few videos on the subject


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## ronsil

Try a search on Home Barista & you will see what people have tried over the years. For example splitting the motor from the heater & control both separately.

You can then do a roast that can be repeated. I never went there as I am no electronics wizard. I did purchase a compromise machine called iroast that worked better than the simple popper. I sold mine sometime ago to a member on here who used it & then graduated to a Gene.

As I said poppers are very cheap & would give you some idea of what roasting is about


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## Soll

I'm no electronic wiz kid either but for £20 it's worth to tinker around with a few green beans in the Summer, outdoors in particular as I hear because of the smoke alarm will get set off rather quickly. I did see on EBay a copper made one that rotates on a cooker hob flame ! Don't know if that would be successful ?


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## emin-j

I have the same popcorn maker as the one in your link , Ive had excellent results from it just a bit time consuming but satisfying roasting to your own spec









http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?4724-Startup-Kit&p=25895#post25895


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## bronc

You need a popcorn maker that has vents on the sides of the inside chamber and not the bottom so that the beans could spin while they roast. It's not an easy task.. At least in my attempts, all roasts were way too fast. Installing a dimmer for the heating coils would help but I was too lazy..


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## fatboyslim

I have this one










I've tried a few modifications but in the end I just end up stirring the roasting coffee with a chop stick. Roasts are ok, using free commodity grade green beans anyway so it was never going to be really tasty.

I did get one very tasty roast of Bolivia Machacamarca 2012 crop that was delicious. Probably luck though


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## DRAXXMENVONE

Resurrecting this thread, I've modded my £15 popcorn machine insofar as I've resited the thermostat but I'm keen to add the dimmer. Has anyone seen any utterly foolproof instructions that someone with no electrical know how could follow?


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## eslord

Its very easy but you have to spend some more money on that. High voltage dimmer , dc power supply 24v , thermocouple thermometer + sensor rod,empty tomatoes can to keep things as simple as possible. I've bought all on amazon.

except caned tomatoes ofc


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## DRAXXMENVONE

eslord said:


> Its very easy but you have to spend some more money on that. High voltage dimmer , dc power supply 24v , thermocouple thermometer + sensor rod,empty tomatoes can to keep things as simple as possible. I've bought all on amazon.
> 
> except caned tomatoes ofc


Were there any instructions online anywhere you found useful? You don't have any links to the parts you bought do you? Thanks for any help.


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## ajohn

I tried it briefly and concluded much the same - needs temperature control and can only do a rather low weight of beans. Too many and the beans don't stir up enough to obtain an even roast.

It's possible to buy energy controllers with a 3 pin socket on them so using a dimmer of the type mentioned isn't essential. It's also possible to buy various things that can measure temperature via a thermocouple.

I was going down the chinese dimmer board route along with a thermocouple plugged into a digital voltmeter that has an input for one. Also fit a switch so that I could switch heating off and leave the fan on for cooling. I decided to not waste my time and bought a used Gene Cafe instead. I am pretty confident that these can roast well but they do need certain other things as well - main one as I see it a method of hearing the cracks.







I've not used it enough yet so can't be 100% sure that it will match bought good fresh roasted beans but it's certainly a better item to try modifications on.

There is a feedback showing roasted beans on Amazon using one of the large diameter popcorn roasters - flying saucer type. Tried that too and quickly decided to send it back. Even more problems than the hot air type. It would need a mod to make sure that all beans turn over regularly.

John

-


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## eslord

Iam sure if you google it you will find some instructions.What I did to my popper is very simple. Fan in my popper was taking power from heating element, so if I wanted to use dimmer switch had to separate fan from heating element.

When I get home can take some photos of my popper and write little step by step if you want.


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## DRAXXMENVONE

eslord said:


> Iam sure if you google it you will find some instructions.What I did to my popper is very simple. Fan in my popper was taking power from heating element, so if I wanted to use dimmer switch had to separate fan from heating element.
> 
> When I get home can take some photos of my popper and write little step by step if you want.


That would be amazing. Many thanks! I'm not too confident with the wiring so any explanation of that would be great.


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## eslord

DRAXXMENVONE said:


> That would be amazing. Many thanks! I'm not too confident with the wiring so any explanation of that would be great.











On the last picture I've marked old fan power wire comming from heating element.

Other two wires are going from heating element to dimmer switch and main power to dimmer switch. I've drilled small hole 45 degrees angle going into popper for thermocouple sonde.









Heating element insite fan wire which must be disconnected.










My last roast session 12min. Columbia Excelso


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## DRAXXMENVONE

eslord said:


> View attachment 37226
> View attachment 37228
> View attachment 37229
> 
> 
> On the last picture I've marked old fan power wire comming from heating element.
> 
> Other two wires are going from heating element to dimmer switch and main power to dimmer switch. I've drilled small hole 45 degrees angle going into popper for thermocouple sonde.
> 
> View attachment 37230
> 
> 
> Heating element insite fan wire which must be disconnected.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My last roast session 12min. Columbia Excelso


This is amazingly helpful. I'll absorb all of this and then probably come back to you with a load of annoying questions. Were you fairly electrically savvy before attempting this?


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## eslord

( phase, neutral , zero ) you don't need more knowledge. Mods in my popper are absolutely simple, basic things you can do in 20 minutes if you prepare everything ( soldering iron, wire cutter or scissors, screwdriver )

Need to take off thermal sensor, cut off almost all wires, you can reuse them after and themp resistant wire sleeves.

My popper looks awful but done that just for test.

Have some ideas how I could improve few things but need to wait when I gonna have some more time.


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## DRAXXMENVONE

eslord said:


> ( phase, neutral , zero ) you don't need more knowledge. Mods in my popper are absolutely simple, basic things you can do in 20 minutes if you prepare everything ( soldering iron, wire cutter or scissors, screwdriver )
> 
> Need to take off thermal sensor, cut off almost all wires, you can reuse them after and themp resistant wire sleeves.
> 
> My popper looks awful but done that just for test.
> 
> Have some ideas how I could improve few things but need to wait when I gonna have some more time.


I think I need to do my homework. I don't even know what phase, neutral, zero means! I think I need to find a diagram of wiring online that requires no prior electrical knowledge. I'm handy enough with a soldering iron and have already shifted the thermostat.


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## ThinkJunket

Any suggestions what I could use to prevent my beans from flying out? Can only roast about 50g of greens at a time because any more and it would fly out. Am using a severin 1200w popper which has side vents!


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## Hasi

Haha awesome!

Now that I think of it, I need to move my old popper to the roastery... good memories!



ThinkJunket said:


> Any suggestions what I could use to prevent my beans from flying out? Can only roast about 50g of greens at a time because any more and it would fly out. Am using a severin 1200w popper which has side vents!


Put some means of extention in the chamber. A piece of metal pipe, flex hose, glass tube or other heat resistant material that is not coated.

I wouldn't use a tin can as they have paint-coated interiors and stuff isn't meant to bear much more than pasteurisation heat (some 70°).


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## kingdean

FYI anyone wondering about temperature stability on popcorn poppers, here is a graph from mine from a while back.

Y is Degrees Celsius and X is seconds

Sensor was inside of the beans during the run hence the thermal inertia (targeting bean temperature rather than output air temperature), end of the run is force cooldown to arrest further roasting and remove chaff.









Flume is something like this https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/25cm-Glass-bulge-chimney-for-traditional-oil-lamp-with-66-mm-diameter-base-/361310025894?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l10137.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

Arranged something like this. You can wire the temperature probe from the bottom though I find that it is hard to avoid it impeding the movement of the beans and I didn't want to compromise the evenness of the roast.


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## Hasi

Does it still taste of weed?


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## kingdean

Hasi said:


> Does it still taste of weed?


Do you mean because the chimney looks like a bong or because it's covered in coffee oil? or both?

I guess the temperature range is right too, maybe someone should market these as a two in one coffee roaster and Storz & Bickel Volcano


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