Roaster automation

[Jason Shipley]

I have a Primo PRI-21 roaster. The control panel has gone out on it and I am exploring options for automation. The roaster runs IR burners and a 2 stage gas valve. My though is that I should be able to find a 2 stage controller with an input for the bean probe and a usb or serial output. Any ideas for a source?

[Jason Shipley]

With the help of Omega Engineering I have put a new PID Control panel in my roaster. It has given us much greater control of our roast profiling and what we learned while roasting completely by hand for the last month is invaluable. We are very excited and really feel this is a big step up in quality and consistency. The best part is I did it for less than $400 in parts.

Omega

[Stephen Curtis]

Hey Jason,
Did you explore being able to log your data (temp/time)? Perhaps you are not set up for this. I am also curious about adding this after-the-fact. I am assuming that you have to manually set the temp on the control box (thus not able to 'save' a temp profile)?

Jason Shipley said:

With the help of Omega Engineering I have put a new PID Control panel in my roaster. It has given us much greater control of our roast profiling and what we learned while roasting completely by hand for the last month is invaluable. We are very excited and really feel this is a big step up in quality and consistency. The best part is I did it for less than $400 in parts.

Omega

[Jason Shipley]

I will be installing a data logger from omega they have a few different ways to go, I will run the data logger off a second thermal probe and it will just be a secondary system. It should be about $600 in parts and they have a logger that you can access via wifi.

[Stephen Curtis]

Awesome, thank you for the info! Let me know how you like it!

Jason Shipley said:

I will be installing a data logger from omega they have a few different ways to go, I will run the data logger off a second thermal probe and it will just be a secondary system. It should be about $600 in parts and they have a logger that you can access via wifi.

[Zech]

I'm interested in as detailed a breakdown of this system as you're willing to provide, Jason.

Jason Shipley said:

With the help of Omega Engineering I have put a new PID Control panel in my roaster. It has given us much greater control of our roast profiling and what we learned while roasting completely by hand for the last month is invaluable. We are very excited and really feel this is a big step up in quality and consistency. The best part is I did it for less than $400 in parts.

Omega