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Popcorn-Popper -> Coffee Roaster Mod
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."
The code better be Java.
who would want a coffee roaster which runs DOS?
if it ran Linux (or BSD) I'll take it...
btw fitrs tsop
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Sig it.
to read it "porn-popcorn"? Another freudiam slip. Nevermind.
my sstream of consciousness
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sigs. We don't need no steenking sigs.
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.
The rock, the vulture, and the chain
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!
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.
Soap box, Ballot box, Jury box, Ammo box. Use in that order.
Works great!
/ 69336#69336
http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/homeroast
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.
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...
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.
If you are interested in roasting coffee, or in making high quality coffee, here are some sources for information:
c om/
http://coffeegeek.com/
http://www.sweetmarias.
http://www.greencoffee.coop/index.php
and alt.coffee on news.
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.
'Be always mindful, even when ditch-digging.' --D. T. Suzuki
Yes.
Code:
I plan to make the code that I use available here, once I learn how make a link for this. -- In the meantime, send email if you want a copy.
He did all that and he can not release the code???
Taco?
From a completely anal importer who only buys the best:
http://www.sweetmarias.com/
This guy cups every lot he's interested in. If he doesn't like it, he doesn't buy it. And after 5 years, he's never let me down.
Coral Cache 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. Besides, this won't make me espresso pods, which is most of what I'm drinking lately
///<sig
Pictures below show the computer and roaster set up on my back porch.
Um.....rain?
WASTE - The Secure P2P
Does it use HyperText Coffee Pot Control Protocol, as defined in RFC 2324
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
Truth be told, the worst tasting coffee that I have ever roasted by myself tasted leaps and bounds better than what I could get at my local startbucks. Not to mention that its the absolute cheapest way to get coffee.
I always went by sound of the beans (first and second crack), and look. I have something similar to an air popper, an IRoast
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 stage of roast to go longer than I need to. I do this because the roasts are easier to measure by eye/ear for 'doneness'. I can guestimate approximately when it will be done by time, but it never seems to come out the same.
I wonder if all the TC's, etc, really get you a better roast, or if it's just cool to say "Look what I did!"
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 bad here, because it varies widely in size. It's very hard to get an even roast with it - you'll have some dark-roasted beans along with the lightly-roasted ones.
What I'd add in the way of controls in the popper would be something to shut off the heating elemnt, and just pump lots of air through the batch to cool it (and help remove the chaff, too, which is a real problem with Ethiopian Horse beans). Hmm, and if I wanted a computer-controlled unit, I might try hacking an old digital camera, and measure the average degree of roast. Now there's an idea
I'll have to discuss this with Vikki. She has a real old camera, and lots of Atmel AVR chips. With her litterbox gadget working fine, she might enjoy a new challenge
Lemon curry?
But think how this kind of techno-chique will make your coffee-lounge look!
lol...imagine a cluster of popcorn-poppers!!!
brutal popcorn horsepower!!
I hope he adjusted the salt proportion...
We report it last.
(updated 8/29/03)
Is it just me or does his setup look like it is in a holodeck?
[blue] - The Ministry of Information approved this message...
His actual hane is Tom Gramila (no "s") and
he is professor of Physics at Ohio State.
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!
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
I've been roasting at home for a year now. When I first tried it, I thought I was a "creamer" kinda guy. It turns out that it was just the coffee I'd been drinking. I'd been using the creamer to cover the god-awful taste of Starbucks coffee. I *never* use creamer with my home-roasted coffee and I love the taste. And the last time I had Starbucks I gagged: it was that bad.
I buy mine at Peets.
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) until last Christmas, when I got the i-roast 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
Suncoast Linux - Sarasota, FL
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 off.
Just a few things to add - try your local thrift stores for hot-air popcorn poppers. We got ours for generally under $3 each. We use a measured half-cup of beans per batch - more tends to spit beans out, and less goe slowly as the beans do far more spinning than roasting. Cover the "butter" holder - we used some old circuit board :) With this open, most of the air vents through it, and roasting takes longer. Use a burr-style grinder, instead of a blade grinder like the Krupps. Burr grinders produce a far more controllable and uniform size of ground coffee. Oh, and you just might want to throw away your creamer and sugar once you get into roasting. Real coffee doesn't need "enhancement."
A few good sites to check out:
Sweet Marias has beans, equipment and instructions. Very good.
Coffee Bean Corral has equipment, beans, and some software they call the coffee matrix, to help you choose the perfect bean for your needs.
Coffee Wholesalers has beans and equipment. A good place to start buying beans online.
Hope you have fun! And you'll never tolerate stale, bitter, lifeless coffee again.
Lemon curry?
site last updated: 8/29/03
Any attempt to brew coffee with a teapot should result in the error code "418 I'm a teapot". The resulting entity body MAY be short and stout.
There's also Birds and Beans, too. I've never bought their wares, but they seem a little less expensive.
What drives people to do cool things like this, and then run the damn thing under DOS? Is it actually easier to hack on that old OS than Linux or INSERT FAVORITE OS HERE?
Popcorn-Popper -> Coffee Roaster Mod
[~BorgCopyeditor]$ gcc Roast.m
Roast.m:82: warning: `Popcorn-Popper' may not respond to `-CoffeeRoasterMod:'
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
According to the site it was last updated on 8/29/03 so how is it news? or better yet why does it matter?
rule 1 is "Friends don't let Friends go to starbucks"
Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. Will Rogers
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.
I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but I just watched the chocolate episodes of Good Eats. Does anyone here roast their own chocolate beans? Would a popcorn popper be good for that?
(PIC programming is fun...)
Sorry, I forgot to say where to find them. I ordered one from a dump/scrapyard place in Northern California for about $85. (I was just installing a backup thermometer in an existing roaster) The two therms have always been off by about 2 degrees, which is good because one is at the top of the barrel, the other is toward the bottom.
Don't you mean.. BIZZARO!
What do you need the popcorn popper for if you have a Pentium?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"