Gene cafe - does anyone use the extra large chaff box?

[Sarion]

Hi guys,

Just got my Gene yesterday and did my first roast last night (couldn`t help myself! ). I put the machine under the kitchen hood, but the kitchen was very smokey at the end of the roast. It had just about reached second crack.

My hood is not very powerful, and I would like to use the Gene indoor. I found this extra large chaff box for the Gene, which has a hose attachment:

http://www.coffeeproject.com/images/gen ... gChaff.jpg

Does anyone have one of these? I would love to hear some experiences.

Or has anyone built their own solution to extract smoke from the Gene?

Thanks!

[motoman]

I have a Gene with the large chaff collector,I think it would be a fairly easy job to fit an extractor hose if you remove the chaff emptying whatsit as long as you close up the exhaust panel.

I tend to do my roasting in the cave at the back of my house, works fine and all the spiders are caffein addicts.

Better explain, my house is built on the side of a hill and the cave is an ancient natural (but brick lined) extension reached from the kitchen. This means my garden is level with the second floor as the cave is under it.

Pass the wode.

[GreenBean]

I have the large chaff collector which is made to allow the fitting of an exhaust duct to its outlet. I have not used it with a significant exhaust duct as I do not find it necessary. I always roast indoors and have no problem with smoke. I have two smoke alarms that go off when I grill meat or make toast but have never gone off whilst roasting coffee.

I simply site the Gene under my cooker hood and direct the exhaust towards the extractor fan. With the fan on it’s lowest speed it easily removes the smoke. I list below some notes on my setup in the hope that some of this may apply and help in your case:-

1. I have a fairly standard domestic cooker hood with two stage filtration, a grease filter and a charcoal odour filter. As my cooker hood expels exhaust outside the property I have removed and thrown away the charcoal filter. This significantly increases the air flow rate for a given fan speed. Whilst roasting I lower the bottom plate of the cooker hood with the fitted grease filter. This further increases the air flow rate.

2. When using the small chaff collector I stand two baking sheets on end to make two sides of a chimney and stand them in front of the chaff collector exhaust to turn the exhaust into a vertical direction and direct it towards the fan inlet. When using the large chaff collector I stand a 100mm dia. 200mm long duct (an old tin with the end cut out) over the exhaust to direct the exhaust towards the fan inlet. The cooker hood is at least 300mm above the top of any of this ducting, the duct simply directs the exhaust in the right direction to avoid smoke being directed under adjacent kitchen cabinets and escaping from the influence of the exhaust fan.

[bruceb]

So it looks like Sarion is going to have to dig a cave behind his kitchen. If this improves the coffee it's well worth the effort, of course.

[Sarion]

Hmm, wonder if I can use the bottomless pit I have in my back yard... that's where I chuck all the upgraded stuff, no end in sight yet!

Good point about converting the current exchaust thingy, Motoman. I might go that route. But I`ll inform about the price of the extra large one too.

I`ll keep you posted!

[toast21]

hey sarion, apparantly the large chaff collector works quite well. Just whack on a big pipe over it, lead it out the window and your'e sorted

[Sarion]

Thanks, guys! I think I'm going to get one. Today I did a roast, and even though it was standing next to the open window, the smell and some smoke was quite apparent. I quite like the idea of a hose! Probably I can get a metal one, similar to one you would use for your washing machine. I'll see if the local DIY store has one...