I ended up wasting about 4 pounds of Papua New Guinea the other day on my third BBQ roast. Flat and sour once again, just like the first roast. I'd ordered a digital thermocouple from Sweet Maria's to better track my temperatures and boy was I off before.

 

I'd cranked the grill up to max each time before, and had barely reached first crack. Thanks to my thermocouple, now know that I was getting up to damn near 800 degrees F - almost twice as hot as I needed to be. How I had a successful second roast is beyond me. Maybe due to the lower bean load.

I am convinced now that the primary problem with my design is lack of air circulation within the drum - there aren't enough air holes, and it will be impossible for me to drill enough. Well, not impossible, but extremely time consuming and difficult due to the flimsy structure.

But all is not lost.

I was running out of roasted beans late in the week, and I had some leftover Columbian greens (about 1.5 lbs) so I decided to give the BBQ drum another whirl. If this roast failed like my first one, no major loss.

So Friday night I drilled a few more airholes in the drum, lined the bed of the grill with some ceramic tile chunks I had left over from redoing my kitchen this summer and fired it up. I let it burn on high for about 30 minutes (drum not installed) as a test, paying attention to the odors from the tiles, just in case they'd been treated with anything.

UPDATE:  Underroasted coffee tastes like ass.  I don't think I ever got to first crack on this load.
Well, I got the final materials together finished assembly Saturday. The grill is a gently used Kenmore 24,000 BTU unit from Value Village. I replaced the (missing) regulator and supply hose, hooked up the tank, checked for leaks and fired it up.

 

It started on the first push of the igniter, no muss, no fuss.

The rotisserie is the Charbroil Premium unit, which bolted right up with no drilling. I lost my eBay auction for perforated stainless steel, so the drum is cobbled together from a Walmart mini step-to-open trash can and an 8-inch aluminum cake pan. The hatch is on the end, like a RK drum, but the hinge is spring-loaded to keep it shut while in use.

read more for pics and details.

What few regular readers there may be may remember that I roast my own coffee. I recently ordered 15 pounds of Ethiopian Harrar Grade 5 green beans from the Green Coffee Co-op. Well, this morning, while home sick with a lung affliction, I had what has to be the most exciting cup of coffee I've ever had.

Well, I've decided to keep this going for awhile, even if I'm just talking to myself. Much has happened in the last month, so here's an update. . .


After my joyous discovery of Intelligentsia Coffee and my reimmersion into home-ground coffee, I did some more research and decided to give homeroasting a try as well.

Why homeroast? Well, think about the difference between what is considered a good cup of Starbucks coffee and that cheap cup of old, burnt, stale carbon remover you might buy out of desperation from the local KWIK-E-MART on your way to work. Now reverse the cost and the quality and you've got the difference between good homeroasted coffee and Starbucks.

Yes, Starbucks comes off worse in this comparison.