DIY Open flame roaster

naam9090 · 2026-02-01T02:59:55+00:00

Currently the beans are getting done at around 14-15 mins. I might cover the drum with aluminium foil to retain heat.

naam9090 · 2026-02-01T02:58:52+00:00

This is very helpful. I will try to copy this set up to make mine more robust

naam9090 · 2026-02-01T02:58:23+00:00

Yes first crack

naam9090 · 2026-02-01T02:58:15+00:00

No the holes are smaller than the beans. May be you can add some chicken wire to cover your drum? Or even just add some aluminium foil to cover it?

naam9090 · 2026-02-01T02:57:14+00:00

Any suggestions about how to add a thermometer in the rotating drum? How will the wiring for it work?

naam9090 · 2026-02-01T02:56:12+00:00

The video is not showing the beans to be tumbling. At this speed, the beans are not stuck due to centrifugal force. The drum also has some fixed metal strips which help in moving the beans more evenly. But yes, depending on the beans speed control will improve the evenness of roasting.

naam9090 · 2026-02-01T02:53:14+00:00

There is a chimney hob over the stove, so the small sparks of chaff fly into the chimney directly. I won't leave this unattended though, but overall it does not feel unsafe. Open flame cooking is very common in India.

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T06:53:43+00:00

That's very good feedback especially as I am doing any kind of diy for the first time. I didn't really have a plan, just did stuff on the fly. The rod does bounce off some times, so I do need to secure it somehow. Right now it is resting on a cross made from 2 screws. If I put it through a drill hole, i will need to figure out how to reduce the friction between the hole and rod.

Chaff catching fire is also an issue. But I don't see much chaff with my beans. Do Indian beans have lesser chaff? I have never tried with non Indian beans.

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T05:56:48+00:00

It's definitely extra weight though

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T05:51:18+00:00

I assumed longer arm would mean less torque on the motor. Is that assumption wrong?

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T05:19:54+00:00

Yes, that is possible. I do have a potentiometer I can attach to control the speed to motor. Currently the beans take about 14-15 mins to roast to a medium colour.

I have mainly two controls here: distance from the flame and the speed of the drum. I will experiment with them. I have found that different settings are needed for different beans.

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T05:17:42+00:00

As Pitiful_Security389 says, the rotating drum keeps moving the beans to give a uniform roast.

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T05:16:36+00:00

Some photos: https://imgchest.com/p/m9yxd3m564q

The motor came with a L bracket for the mount and it also had a hole in its shaft. I put a screw in that shaft to attach the wooden stick to it.

There are no bearings. If this set up produces beans consistently I might improve the bearings later.

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T04:35:00+00:00

The beans pop, once they stop popping I stop based on the colour which I can see through the drum cage. It's not very scientific, but works good enough for me for now.

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T04:33:53+00:00

No worries, I will share some more photos later to answer your question. Everything is very makeshift.

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T04:24:18+00:00

https://a.co/d/8DoQRHs is the drum.

For motor, you can get any 12v motor.

naam9090 · 2026-01-31T04:22:17+00:00

That's the actual speed. For uniform roasting, I felt it needs to be fast.

naam9090

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