FotonDrv

Pequod, what you really need to figure out is how large a batch of roasted coffee you want per roasting cycle. That will tell you what roaster will be in your ballpark. The Gene Cafe' is a fluid bed roaster that tumbles the beans as it roasts. The Sonofresco is a fluid bed that just uses air pressure and volume of air to tumble the beans. The 500g North will easily roast a pound of green which is more like 12 oz. of roasted but there is no capability to roast more at one time AND it has more things to dismantle to clean it and there is no drum speed control AND no stirring arms if that means anything to you. There are other ways to spend $$ in the espresso game and from someone who has tried a lot of gear I must say that the grinder is the key to good espresso provided you have some sort of temperature management in the espresso machine. Here is my current setup, and a couple of previous ones. You will note the grinders changed along the way too. The wood cooking stoves are when I was using a Chemex, a Spong for grinding and buying store roasted beans... I should have roasted my own then. The woodstoves were when I lived without grid power for 20 years so there were not many espresso options except the Moka Pot and a Chemex for drip.

I started roasting on a Quest a few years ago, tried a Behmor at the time before I bought Quest and decided that the heat management and the Chaff management was not optimal. The Quest is controllable for time and temperature and once I upgrade to a North 1K Gas roaster I will happily be using the Quest. I modified it a bit (blackened drum, cut out the louvers in the back so the fan works better, insulated the drum with 2 layers in insulation and then put good temp probes in it and last but certainly not least is a new drum that is now standard issue for Quest with perforations in the rear. I am getting a North Gas 1K later this year since I want to roast a pound of green beans easily. You probably know that running a roaster at 75% of stated capacity is optimal roast size to be able to control the roast effectively. The chaff management and and roast control is much better on the North 1K with variable drum speed, air flow control and easy to disassemble.

We have ticks too.... and ticks are hitchhikers.

I have a Dennis Cabinet coming in my direction now and it should hold anything I want to put in it for the function of the KK. An outside sink would be handy.

The espresso machine is always on so there is no waiting at Sweeney's Public House the KK takes more warmup time so I would need some notice of visitors, but you KK Owners are all welcome.

Thanks for sharing that info!

Finally getting into a rhythm with the KK and getting to kick back to enjoy my surroundings. Hired a gardener.....

I had the KK going to pass the time And of course I used coffee wood chunks for the smoke!!

And it happened again, although this time it was intentional. The guy was cleaning his hull. He waited to do his little sailboat until this big boy was pushed into its slip.

That's interesting, the way he was slamming the lid/dome down to close it gives one the impression that he never figured out how the KK works. If Dennis is continually sending him new KK's I would think it certainly would be nice to give more positive press to he KK's. Yes, I know his show is not dedicated to ceramic cookers, but hey, we all know how good these cookers and I would think he should give more Kudos to Dennis and his team.

You are right! I wonder how dedicated he is to the KK since most of the episodes I have seen show a virtually new (inside) cooker with no soot.

He just needs to quit slamming the dome lid down so hard. Some videos he does and some not. He must be used to the other Kamados and not the KK.

Good press for KK, congratulations Dennis!

Tee time , or is it tea time??

Aussie, you are right about cats killing things for sure. Pound for pound they are the largest killers of things on the planet. I have seen my cat drag back a rabbit almost twice her size just to show me; if it moves they try to attack it, AND they will double team a target when necessary. Were they ships cats from square rigger era that went feral that are decimating the Australian critters??

I had a Siamese cat that liked riding in the VW Bus and would go on long trips and get out at Rest Stops to potty and come back when called. I taught him Spanish for all his commands and I taught him to swim. He would follow me into the pools alongside a river but was smart enough to avoid the swift current. Fred was a good cat.

So Dennis, how the the Retreat?? Is the mind filled with calm thoughts and new ideas??

The entire show was less dramatic than the show that played out a couple of days ago for the Friday Afternoon Regatta. A big wind suddenly came up with sideways rain and 1/4" hail where we got of 1/2" of rain in 15 minutes. A 33ft sailboat was caught with its spinnaker up (he apparently was not paying attention to the weather) and in the process of them trying to frantically strike the sails they left lines dragging over the transom. Then these geniuses started the auxiliary engine and must have backed over the lines thus fouling the rudder and the prop. So, there they were in an outgoing 12 ft tide and the wind trying to push them in the same direction, all the while drifting diagonally toward the U.S. Navy active ship facility. The Navy Patrol boats were not amused and must have told those guys to put up a sail and sail away from them, which they did but it took them hours to get the 1-1/2 mile back to the marina for a rather bumpy landing. I never could figure out why they did not call 911 On The Water to get their boat towed back so they could get a diver under it. It was pretty entertaining while I had the KK going on the covered patio in this torrential downpour sipping a good Grey Goose VX...

Had not thought of that aspect!! It must have worked because I saw him with the beer headed back to the boat.

Just when you thought all was right with the world you realized you forgot something, a marine navigation chart and a tide table in the last 20 years I have seen many people run aground here but this guy was the smartest. He waited until the boat was in knee deep water and then walked ashore to the nearest pub for a case of beer and carried it back to wait for the next high tide! It was the first thing he did right all day Normally it looks like this and it was the view when he sailed into it.

Those Datsun's were little incognito rockets that handles fairly well. You must have had a good reason to sell it, like your wife having triplets Your Ducati Super Bike is in a league of its own. The only thing that can catch you is Motorola and a Lear jet, or maybe another super bike. After Vietnam a friend of mine decided he wanted to go faster than what he could buy off the shelf and started this business making bikes. They are ridiculously fast which puts big smiles on the faces of those who have purchased them. http://www.barebones.net/machines.htm His bikes took 1st and 2nd in 1999 at Daytona Speedway.

Thanks Tony

Did you use the crane for the KK delivery?

Vinegar had me curious, but the sweet sauce lost me. I will give it a try this summer when I get the open pit BBQ going again now that I have these nice KK grills to use on it and now I even have two heights! Amazing stuff that Dennis makes for the KK. Thanks for taking the time to write down that recipe

OK, "vinegar mop", I will have to read about that since I have zero experience with it.