Popper Deconstruction: Inside an Air Coffee Roaster

deconstructed popper coffee roasters

A very basic video about making and testing Popper, the air coffee roaster.

Here’s a video to show a few early versions of the machine, and some aspects I had to deal with in getting this project completed.

I don’t think this is a video of general interest so please don’t expect much, and the quality isn’t great. I was trying to move the camera phone around to show details and didn’t always do a great job. Ugh.

Also I need to make it clear that you shouldn’t do what I do here, because opening up the machine voids the warranty against manufacturer defect. I made the video to provide some background details only, and show how I test temperatures.

  • Some things I go over here are
  • A look at an early prototype
  • Location of the thermal cutout switch that protects Popper from overheating
  • When I have a unit that turns off before reaching dark roasts, how i move the thermal cutout switch upward to solve the issue.
  • How I use a thermometer to probe the bean mass
  • Show a bare version with probe locations for input air and bean temperatures
  • Deconstruct (partially) a Popper to show how it’s put together
  • Talk about the unit that easily roasted 140 grams, and why I couldn’t get it built that way 😢

PS – this is in my workshop space where I store the pallets of Popper, hence the motorbikes and cars and such.

Inside Popper Coffee Roaster