We have to keep in mind that Rao is consulting for commercial roasters using substantially different machines turning out batch sizes that dwarf what the Bullet does.
That said I applaud your focus on fundamentals. With that down to routine, tackling more complex variations will be much easier.
Bruce
Thanks for posting🤘
I reserved and payed my spot for a live roasting class in Copenhagen at Coffee-mind this summer 
d:
I am becoming a Morton disciple, the science makes sense. I am low on the Bullet learning curve so still have a lot to learn. Like you, the verdict is still out.
Just signed up for the June virtual course.
Gil
Bit of a drag up from the past here, but I’m a raw beginner to roasting and have a new-to-me Bullet.
I’ve just mostly completed Morten’s e learning course, and am about to have a go at the first of the standard roast profile development roasts (the full flame to second crack).
I wondered whether anybody had some insights into Bullet settings for this? Obviously P9 (for full flame), and I’m assuming D9 (to reduce risk of scorching), but I’d be interested in thoughts on fan speed and charge temp. Morten doesn’t allude to these in the hands-on video. I’ve emailed him, but given the weekend and time difference (I’m in Australia), I’m not expecting a quick response.
Tagging @krame for your question. He also did a lot of trying to follow Morten’s framework at the start of his journey on the Bullet. Maybe he has some tips.
Heyo,
When I get a chance tonight I’ll look back at my notes.
I’ve created a few recipes based on my (v 1.5) Bullet.
I use this one for lighter roasts, and fragile beans
Of course, your machine is probably different, and your tastes are probably different as well. But these may be a place to start
Keep in mind I am NOT a professional roaster, though I sometimes play one for friends.
Thank you for your response. As per Morten’s course, this initial roast is less about the end product, and more about gaining an understanding of how the roaster performs ‘at full throttle’, so I can then glean an understanding of how to adjust parameters intelligently to achieve specific changes in subsequent roasts (that are more targeting specific FC times, Dev. times etc.).
Obviously I could trawl roast.world and get a pretty good idea of this, but I definitely see value in performing the exercise myself (especially as I have a fair stock of green that came with the roaster).
Very helpful to have your 1kg charge temp as a ballpark to begin with, though. Thanks!
Basically all of what you said is correct.
I followed his framework and I only have 2 or 3 temperature changes in my recipes.
Thanks Krame. I’m a little confused though, as I just did the 2nd crack, full flame roast, and with a 280c preheat, I didn’t get first crack until 10 mins (1kg beans, P9 D9 F4). Morton made it seem like it would be considerably faster than this. I made sure the Bullet had about a 35 minute preheat. Was my fan speed too high?
Yes. An F4 will take out your heat more than you think. (disclaimer I don’t roast using Morten’s framework). Try an F2 or F3 and see how fast that gets you to FC - just keep an eye on it though.
Thanks. That’s good to know.
Could also be a 120v vs 220v thing too
We’re 220v here, so I’d assume that’d be the faster/more powerful of the two?
You could also be losing power due to the controller board over heating.
I did a butt load of trouble shooting and posted my results somewhere here, but the cliff notes version is unless you have a fan blowing across the electronics, the bullet will throttle the power. I think it started happening around the 7 or 8 minute mark of the full burn where you’re just sitting on P9.
I had also emailed him about the exact same issue, but found the above to be the issue rather than the voltage difference.
Edit: It will not throttle at all power levels, just when it overheats the electronics, which for me was when the power level was held p9 for an extended period of time.
Edit edit: 900g Full Flame test
Here’s were I started getting into the wattage drop.
And it only took 4 minutes to start overheating and throttling
Interesting/concerning. And no indications were given by the Bullet that it was throttling (warning light, indication in roasttime etc.)?
I understand a roast of this style isn’t something that the Bullet is intended to be used for, but a variable such as throttling being brought into the equation (without clear alerts to the user) makes it tricky to establish the playing field, if it is indeed happening.
If you go into the information bubble during the roast, the top most number is the sensor temperature. It’ll turn yellow, then red as it gets hotter, and eventually throw an error code and abort if it gets too hot. Although that might be fixed depending on your firmware.
There is no outward indication of throttling.
Aillio is aware and they were the ones who provided the fan solution. I do believe the issue is the components were designed for 220v, so lower amps would normally be used. Again, that’s what I thought I saw but don’t take it as gospel.
Now all that being said, I’ve been roasting probably 3kg weekly, occasionally more for almost two years straight and I’m happy with the outcome.
I’ve done Mortensens’ course too. I learned a lot. It’s interresting how much you can control a roast just by moving the first and second reduction points a little.
Something else I came across that I found very helpful is a YouTube with Anne Cooper about her approach to roasting and what she uses as checkpoints along the way. Her approach to managing gas doesn’t work with the Bullet, but the checkpoints seem very useful.
I’d be interrested in hearing how other peoples’ best roasts compare to her checkpoints. There is a slide about 28:16 that shows her parameters.
I’m keeping a spreadsheet of these parameters for my own roasts to see how well they work for me.