Post by charlieangel on Feb 23, 2011 13:06:06 GMT -5
Finally decided to roast up some beans last night after my motorcycle refused to crank on me as a way to relieve a little stress. 8 oz of madagascar from John, in the Behmor on p3, but it only took about 7 or 8 minutes to start cracking (I'm assuming this is because there's only 8 oz in the batch, so heats up much faster). This morning, I got up, diagnosed my motorcycle problem (loose connector on the battery ate the negative post) and nothing to do until 10AM when the shop opens up to get a new battery, so I cleaned my kitchen, built my cracker, cracked the beans and then had to figure out how i was going to winnow them. First attempt was in the sink with the hairdryer. After blowing approximately a billion shards of shell across the kitchen, I went to my window, pulled off my screen, and tried to winnow out the window just to see if that would work. See, I live in an apartment building in the middle of Los Angeles. I don't have a yard. Although, I do have a roof and I'm on the top floor, the idea I originally had was to just toss an extension cord on the roof and winnow up there, then sweep up. Anyway, don't have the extension cord, right? Determined, I was toying with the idea of lining my shower (apartment is too small for a tub) stall with a garbage bag and winnowing in there, but the cord won't reach. The thinking is the stall will keep most of it inside the stall, once I'm done I can just step out, gather the edges of the bag and dump the shells outside on the small flower garden.
Anyway, I noticed I've got a couple largish plastic cutting boards. I erected two along the back and side of the sink, used the hair dryer on low and voila. 95% of the shells blown hit the boards and fell back into the sink, where I easily collected afterwards. it'll take some time, but I think it's worth the first effort.
PS. If you winnow in your sink, don't accidentally hit the faucet. I got my nibs a tad wet and put them back in the oven for a few minutes to heat them through to evap the water. Here's hoping I didn't ruin the batch.
Anyway, I noticed I've got a couple largish plastic cutting boards. I erected two along the back and side of the sink, used the hair dryer on low and voila. 95% of the shells blown hit the boards and fell back into the sink, where I easily collected afterwards. it'll take some time, but I think it's worth the first effort.
PS. If you winnow in your sink, don't accidentally hit the faucet. I got my nibs a tad wet and put them back in the oven for a few minutes to heat them through to evap the water. Here's hoping I didn't ruin the batch.