How it Works
The basic principal to the smoke incineration of the Hive Roaster design:
Hot air from the open flame rises up through the incineration tower in the center of the roaster. The hot air combines with the smoke from the beans. The resulting mixture is hot enough that the carbon in the smoke burns up as it exits the roaster.
The advantage of this is that the amount of smoke produced by the unit is greatly reduced to the point where it is no longer offensive. Aroma from the beans and the smell of caramelizing sugar from the malliard process will fill your home. No more acrid smoke. Your home will smell like fresh baked cookies!
Some of the hot air does not exit the roaster right away and this is the key to how well this unit roasts beans. Your coffee is provided with both conductive heat and convection heat so the beans roast more evenly, faster and with exquisite flavor.
The roaster only burns off smoke when it is directly over the flame.In order to roast the coffee you will need to agitate the roaster during roasting and at times the roaster may be offset from the flame which may result in some smoke. Also, if you decide to roast light roasted coffee with long development, you will want to reduce the heat at the end of the roast. The lower the heat input, the less smoke is incinerated, so when roasting very low end temp, light roasts - more smoke may be produced, but it still is within acceptable levels, especially because the smoke that comes out during the light roast development process has a very delicious smell.
See the spec sheet below:
