I am a new Bullet user after 5 years roasting on a Gene Cafe. Only 3 post-seasoning roasts. So, far its been great, and I’m becoming familiar with the operation.
When it was ordered I reviewed venting options. I just completed a solution for roasting in my kitchen. I have no dedicated area, and wanted consistency of the environment. I will continue with this setup and report back on anything that needs to change. I have only one roast completed with all of these components in place.
Thanks all for the ideas. Feedback, suggestions on this one welcomed.
Nice job! I roast under my hood vent directly and have a 4” duct to direct the exhaust from the cooling tray closer to hood - passive. However I put a MERV air filter where the hood vent is to catch the particles. Amazing how dirty it got but I protect my hood vent fan that way. So if you also turn on your hood vent fan you might want to consider a filter of some sort as well.
Thanks for the feedback. I had planned to add a filter to protect the fan on the cart but had not considered that the stove hood fan also needs protection. Will review solutions.
I have been able to prove that the 6” version of this fan is more than adequate to vent from the Bullet and the cooling tray, and shortens cooling time even more than that already outstanding stock cooling.
If set correctly, it also stops those early roast chaff from escaping the front of the roaster. However, this also seems like an indication of some affect on the Bullets internal airflow. I’m watching this as well for any affect in the roast, keeping the early ducted fan use on the low settings.
As I am adding the inline filter I plan to also add duct elbows to help with airflow. The many reverses in this design are a concern generally, but more so when using only the duct hose to make the reverses. The smooth interior of elbows should help with that.
This little cart is already crowded. The elbows may help provide the room needed for the pre-fan filter.
Your vent hose at the top has no air gap so it will likely affect the air flow and possibly the temp in the drum if you are pulling too much air with the S6. You could also mitigate that with a gap between the hose and the top, but that means you need something for the vent hose to rest on.
What I did was just put a piece of 1/2" board on top of my stove and put my Bullet on it so it all sits directly under the hood vent. I have no vent hose from the top, just from the cooling tray. The MERV filter I then put behind the baffle filter of my range hood vent - the 14x25x1 fit perfectly for me. When I’m not roasting I move the Bullet to another area of my kitchen that is less used, parked against the wall on the counter.
Thanks for that. I forgot to include that I am also using an exhaust adapter which does allow air to enter all around the 4" opening. I’m just not convinced that this is enough additional space and so I’m watching for any negative affect on the roast. Depending on what I experience I may end up with a solution closer to what you described.
The first photo you can see I have at least a 6" gap between the top of the roaster and the bottom of the range hood. What you can’t see is the MERV filter that is tucked behind the range hood’s baffle filters.
In the second photo there I was using a 7" semi rigid at the time. Since then I had bought the cooler tray adapter and using a 4" semi rigid (still running the hose to the right as I put a small fan pointing at the belly to get more air flowing under the board to prevent over heating since I predominantly roast 1kg batches).
BTW, that entire thread is a good collection (and one of the more comprehensive threads) of various other ppl sharing their venting setup
I suspended the new filter from the underside of the top of the two-shelf cart. It all fit and it’s very functional. When done roasting I just roll it all into the pantry.
I roasted today going 45 seconds beyond 2nd crack with this latest configuration and I’m very happy with the results.
Thanks again everyone for posting your ideas. Definitely helped!
Sweet! That Infinity filter box should trap the particles and keeps your range hood pretty free from the particles. What are you using to hold up the vent hose up in your range hood?
I found an “S” hook, looped some zip ties around the hose end to hook on to. I hooked one side of the S around the zip tie, and then I found a place to attach the other hook side up inside the range hood pipe.
Roaster venting is a common question and challenge with the Bullet. I’m back for an update on this and to also pass on some other options for a more permanent setup.
In the earlier discussion I showed a complete venting solution for setting up on a cart, with an adequate venting solution which took advantage of our kitchen stove venting. That worked pretty well but invariable with each roasting session some fumes were released into our living space.
We had a porch in the rear of our house and due to the close proximity to our neighbors that area was not really usable and ended up being the collection space for clutter. So, by adding a wall and window I was able to convert that space into useful inside space, repurposing the 6’ x 13’ area for use with my roasting hobby.
Most of the cart-based components that I had previously setup were recently moved into this new room. I have since processed 5 back-to-back roasts in this new space and with this updated venting solution I am really liking the result.
If there is an interest I will post links to the major components but I think forum users will already recognize them.
A couple of items to call out.
The Bullet is actually on a “Lazy Susan” that I added to allow for easy access to the chaff chamber and to charge a roast (the hood is otherwise in the way).
Note the picture showing the Bullet rotated to expose the loading hole and funnel mounted in the space between the hoods, just enough space there to swivel around, mount the funnel and charge the roaster and then swivel back into its normal position.
I fabricated the dual hoods using two woodworking dust hoods and some 1/2" aluminum angle ‘iron’ positioning the hoods upside down!
Hopefully this will give y 'all some other ideas of how to vent your Bullet. This is working out very well.
Hi I know this is an old sting but thought I’d add my venting set up for information. I have a basement window that I installed plastic corrugated board where the screen goes (it’s reversable so I can close the window of course). I have a variable speed 6 inch inline fan and misc ductwork to above the rear vent so as not to attach. The cooling tray vent is passive but a short path to out the window using flex ductwork and a transition at the rear of the tray. It seems to work well. Be sure to open a window a crack somewhere so it’s easier to exhaust the air.
The Infinity filter boxes are of excellent quality. I have never checked outside to see how much smoke is showing, but then of late I have been roasting lighter. I’ll check on next roast.
This past week I added a 2nd 4" fan inline with the other, as the 6 and 4" fans were competing downstream at the junction, and so much so that the cooling tray was pushing air backwards! The 2nd fan fixed that.
