I was wondering If anyone can recommend a good Hot air roasting machine for nuts, with a capacity of 60 - 120 KGS per batch. I checked SELMI but I am looking for a bigger machine.

Thanks,

O

updated by @omar-forastero: 04/09/15 11:11:06

You are looking for what's called a fluid bed roaster. Some people also call it a Sivetz roaster. They are not as common as drum roasters, except at the industrial level, and I know that in the artisanal coffee industry there is a lot of debate about whether or not they are as good as drum roasters. But that's coffee - for roasting nuts I haven't really heard anything either way. Someone else here may know.

Michael Sivetz passed away earlier this year, and I don't know if his company is still around. I think the son took over but I'm not sure. I did hear that one of the main engineers started his own company, called Heis or 428 Roasters. ( http://428roasters.com ) I think that the largest roaster they make at the moment is 35 kilos, but you can ask them and they might be able to ramp that up for you.

Omar - check out the roasters from Coffee-Tech (Israel). There are a number of roaster sizes available, up to 90kg , and they incorporate a variety of roasting technologies - and the machines are being used for cocoa roasting in Europe and other places. My contact there is Dan Urieli.

Keep in mind that coffee roasters, as is, are not really suitable for cocoa beans. You need to alter the drum speed (slow them down), and the capacity will be less (how much depends on the roaster design). Also keep in mind that hourly capacities for cocoa will be much lower than for coffee as the roasting times for cocoa are much longer, on average, than for coffee. While a 90kg roaster might be able to manage 4 or more coffee roasts an hour, it might only make one for cocoa.

There is a special offer on Coffee-Tech roasters for ChocolateLife members , so when you get in touch with Dan, let him know that you are a ChocolateLife member.

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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Michael thanks for the feedback, I checked the 428 roasters website, I will contact them for customized machines if I do not find any other alternative.

Clay thank you for the feedback, the thing is I am located in Dubai and I am pretty sure the relationship between israel and the UAE does not allow me to purchase anything from them. The machine I am looking for is for roasting hazelnuts and almonds. I found http://www.nutsroastingmachine.com/eng/index.php?urunler/71-94/

a turkish manufacturer, I will do some more research and let you guys know what I'll finally get.

cheers,

Omar

Omar - one other idea. The nut roasting machines you linked to look like drum roasters. If you are OK with using a drum roaster instead of a fluid bed you might want to also take a look at Toper. They are another Turkish company, and as far as I know they have a good reputation. I know that they also make nut roasters, and I think that they can even build whole plants if you have the need and the budget. ( http://www.toper.com/index.html )

Interesting discussin indeed! I bought a large fluid bed dryer 3 years ago with the intent of adding a heater to the airflow. It's in storage right now. Kinda cool to see others are trying the same type of technology.

Thank you Michael! TOPER looks amazing. exactly what I'm looking for. hope its not too expensive tho.I'm sending a quotation request today..

Omar -

I would ask the people at Coffee-Tech their experience with shipping to the UAE. You never know.

With respect to the other machines you are talking about. It is very important to be able to control the speed of the drum. Coffee and nut roasters almost certainly rotate too quickly. Cocoa beans, when roasted are very fragile and if they break in the roaster the small fragments can burn easily. You will need to slow the drum down.

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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Clay - Omar seems to be talking only about roasting nuts, so I think he'll be fine with either a fluid bed or a drum. But this brings up a point I was wondering about: if a drum roaster at typical speeds is too rough for cacao beans, wouldn't a fluid bed roaster be a disaster? It seems like it would make a complete mess of the beans, but you may have heard differently.

Hello Dear Omar, I can recomend my roasting machine to you. Actually you dont need rotary roaster beacuse rotary roaster will not help you to roast nuts beacuse of nuts being to fraigle and gentil. I can sugget you hot air roasting with belt layer roasters. Please see our web site www.sevvalmakine.com

We have roaster from 25-5000 tons per hours. Please chech this out to see our mini RoasterMini Easyroast Concept in Use

Thank you Rifat. Please message me your email address for me to contact you in person regarding quotes.

Thanks!

Rifat.tuzcuoglu@sevvalmakine.com