Probat L12

Posted by Jason Benford on August 29, 2011 0 Comments

Among the many things we needed to consider in transitioning from a wholesale only business located in the back of a shared warehouse to a roaster-retailer in a coffee + espresso bar was not only our fundamental operations but also the ambience of our operations.  In specific, our 25lb San Franciscan roaster, manufactured by Coffee Per seemed entirely too loud for a bar setting.  In addition to a quieter roaster the drum composition in the L12 is much more complex, which helps distribute the coffee throughout the drum far greater- ultimately producing batches roasted as even as possible.  With a little luck and a little looking in the right place we found a Probat L12 that showed potential but needed quite a bit of work.  After about a month we had the L12 stripped, cleaned, painted, tuned-up, and nickel plated the metal hardware.  In the end, it was a lot of work for a roaster which does not make our production any more efficient than it previously was, though it certainly has increased the quality and consistency of our roasts which was reason enough.