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A project log for Automated Coffee Bean Roaster

Roasting coffee beans at the push of a button

ben-brooksBen Brooks 09/03/2022 at 14:270 Comments

The enclosure finally finished printing yesterday afternoon, and the day before the PCB arrived in the mail! While printing the lids, I was able to install and wire everything up last night too.

Soldered up the PCB last night while the enclosure finished printing

While my initial test runs with no beans were less than great (I had to drop the fan speed to 4% to even be able to hit roasting temps), I decided to add some beans anyway this morning and give it a go even at the low fan speed. As expected, it didn't mix the beans very well at such a low speed and I actually ended up burning some before I even got to my 'pre-heat' temperature. I ended up bumping the fan speed to 65% and got much better mixing and went ahead and tried ramping it up to roasting temp; to my surprise, it didn't have any problems hitting it! Obviously having the beans in the chamber slowed the airflow down enough to allow it to hit temp, I just didn't expect it to make such a significant difference. Ended up getting a pretty decent/even first-roast and while waiting a day is 'how it's done' I couldn't resist brewing up a cup this morning. While it's not at the level of my favorite local roaster, it's WAY better than Folger's! I'll be curious how it tastes tomorrow.

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