Infrared Temperature Gun - For Roasting.

Divey

Okay, I'm just thinking that I may try measuring the temperature of the roasting beans with an infrared temperature gun.

I've googled a little about this form of temperature control and there seems to be a fair few naysayers concerning the use of an infrared temperature gun stating that they are inconsistent and and give varying temperatures.

I have one thing to say regarding this, if Formula 1 teams use these devices to record/read tyre temperatures, I'm pretty sure they would be capable of measuring the temperatures of roasting coffee beans.

In my case, it will be straight down the chimney of the popper.

What do you folks think :question:

I'm going to give it a whirl later when the evening cools off a bit and I shall report back.

Divey

As I said, I would report back.  Very interesting to read your post A.M. and then carry out my little experiment with my very expensive infrared temperature gun that I bought off ebay for tad under seventeen dollars delivered.  :D I was using the gun on scan mode so it was changing temps very quickly as the beans moved around. I placed the beam directly into the centre off the mass. I roasted three different beans that I bought off Ministry Grounds. #1. Guatamala Finca Liquidambar, FC at 217

Divey

I have to report something I found rather interesting. As the weather has been so shitty and cold in Sydney of late, popper roasting temperatures at night have been excellent. I have found that roasting at around 18

JamesM

I used an IR temp gun for my first few coretto roasts before I got my hands on a propper data logger. It was rough, as AM said, but it provided at least some guidelines around a profile I could use for my next roast. IR temp gun, pen, paper, timer allowed repeatable results, but it was a pain to work with. I've demoted the temp gun to measuring boiling water for tea and manual coffee brewing