Has anyone successfully roasted ultra-light, high-altitude Ethiopian coffee on the Aillio Bullet R1 V2, achieving cup clarity and structure comparable to those of roasters like ShoeBox or Aviary?
I’m especially curious about:
How ultralight are you talking @lupo ?
My favorite beans are Natural Ethiopians roasted very light. For a 775g batch size I usually charge around 260-265*C and dump around 5% / 30 sec development time. I’ve had success with finding some amazing fruit notes and clean, acidic cups
EDIT: I have never had ShoeBox or Aviary so some additional descriptors might be helpful
“Lighter than light,” as quoted by Pochetsciencecoffee, who wrote an insightful piece on the topic. The Problem With Ultralight Roasts (and other myths) – Pocket Science Coffee. The “ultralight” roasters typically drop the beans based on the weight loss/moisture of the beans, and maybe a knock below the moisture level of the beans. Of course, this means the beans are well developed inside. Roasts of this type are generally quick and often produced using air-based roasters that rely heavily on convection. This brings us back to the Bullet R1, where the effectiveness of convection heating is still a topic of debate. This highlights the dilemma of how to enhance convection in the Bullet.
EDIT: Your roasts sound like they are spot on and follow the same approach as my experiments, which involve a lot of heat at the beginning. I am currently at 500-600g per batch.
ShoeBox Coffee and Aviary are based in the US. ShoeBox is known for roasting very light using a 3.5 lb drum roaster. Aviary -C. Feran is using an SX8 air roaster/IR.
I used to roast on a DIY 500g Fluidbed Roaster that excelled at light roasts and seems to fit with the article you referenced. It was a good roaster but unable to roast multiple batches back to back as the roast chamber of fluidbeds retain heat and therefore conduct heat on the second, et al roasts changing the convection dynamics from the first roast. Unless, that is, they are allowed to cool completely between batches but that significantly diminishes efficiency.
The P settings in the roast profile for my Ethiopians typically looks like P8 > P9 > P8 > P7 > P6 for the last couple of minutes. I don’t adjust drum speed at all but use F settings to manage RoR
Here’s an amazing recipe I use for Fruit forward natural central/south americans that really keeps things light and fruit popping. It’s been fun to roast and my friends and clients really like it with no complaints about body or acidity.
Hi thewildcup, can you please share an actual roast profile from the roast recipe above ?
Thanks mate… 
@gabyritaseek.qiAO here are three different ones from my session this morning. The original is the recipe in action without any modifications. For fun, I messed with the timing and settings in V2 and V3 to see if I could smooth out the curve. It extended total roast time by about 30 seconds. We’ll see how that affects the cup.
The original recipe I shared is with a Yirgacheffe Banko Gotiti and the cups I’ve been getting are great. Yesterday some strawberry jam came through as the cup cooled slightly. It’s not the most wild bean for this profile but I have found that using this for light roasts on Natural Ethiopians really brings out the fruit and keeps the acidity at a solid level.
Looks great! I was wondering, how come you think that a lot of heat in the beginning is the way to go? Just curious to learn!
THANK YOU @thewildcup and apologies for my late reply. I will try your profiles when I get a chance. Thanks for sharing
@rasmuskockgard2.Q5B5 I’ve just found that it gives me the necessary energy to make it through the roast in without it stalling out or extending the total roast time too long to avoid flat, baked flavors in the cup.
@gabyritaseek.qiAO No worries, give em a shot and let me know what you think. I’m always trying to figure out how to improve my roasts so any feedback is always welcome and appreciated.
@rasmuskockgard2.Q5B5 so I’ve adapted the recipe slightly this morning to see how reduced heat at the beginning of the roast affects my final cup. In terms of the roast profile itself is definitely extended the total roast time by about +1min (11:30). The curve was pretty good for the most part. I’m roasting two batches at the reduced initial heat and two at my previous profile that I shared above. I’ll let you guys know what the difference in cup tastes like later this week after it’s had some time to rest.
EDIT UPDATE: So I have no idea what to do with this data 
I’ve blended the three trial roasts and will cup them later this week alongside the finished roast from the original recipe. I guess we’ll find out if there was much of a difference at all.
