How long do you typically wait between roast?

Roast World
1

How long do you typically wait between roast?? When I wait the suggested time my PH flashes a-02.

2

A-02 is the dead-man switch. Tap any button on the Control panel to silence it (I use the upper left button) and that will keep the current mode alive.

That said I don’t recall that you should be seeing A-02 during Preheat. I may be forgetting something, but that sounds like an issue that ought to be talked over with Support via e-Mail. Start a Trouble Ticket and tell them the issue. They have access to the Logs data from the roaster as well as the roast profile and can sort it out given date & time of the event.

But to answer your question, I use a very long Preheat to stabilize temp of the roaster components. As I recall there’s a 60-min limit on Preheat- if you go longer it will shutdown the power board. So I keep it less than 60-min.

Typically I wait perhaps 30- to 45-min for the first Preheat to stabilize before I start the first roast. I usually do more than one so after I drop the beans I tap F1, adjust Preheat Temp if needed for the next roast, then tap PRS to start the BACk-to-back mode (pre-heat again). Cooling will continue while you Preheat but in back-to-back roasts C9 will be displayed above the F2 button, so when the beans are cooled you can cycle C9 to C0 which ends the Cooling mode.

Bruce

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3

A-02 should as Bruce said only happen in Roasting mode. Are you in the wrong mode?

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4

Thank you so much for the great advice!! Im still in learning mode, and get a bit concerned when I see that A02 flashing cause it was my first time roasting back to back. Also how many roast do you do before you do a thorough cleaning, I mean after every roast I vacuum, but at what point to you take the back off and clean the fan wheel and all the components. Thank u, Rini

5

Hi Rini-

I’ve done this before but it was months ago so I’ll try to describe what I do for scheduling cleaning and the steps.

Waiting a certain number of roasts till I clean is too vague in terms of need. So I keep track of temperature difference between IBTS and Bean Temp at a certain Bean Temp. I’ve found that the difference between the 2 readings grows smaller as the IR sensor gets dirty and for my purposes that is also a convenient time to clean the face plate, bean chute and exhaust port.

Here’s a screen shot showing the difference between the 2 values on the right hand data table. This roast says I’m very close to having to clean with my batch size and preheat temps-

Screenshot (55)
Screenshot (55)1290×932 148 KB

Here’s how I interpret the data-

  • move the cursor to about BT = 230°F
  • note the difference between IBTS & BT. In this case it’s IBTS - BT = 38F°
  • This is still in my arbitrary ‘safe zone’ of 41F° to 37F°… when it falls to 37F° or lower it will be time to clean.

These values work for me (YMMV!) and they are for a batch size of 550 gm. If you use a smaller batch size the difference of IBTS - BT will be greater; for a larger batch size the difference will be less. In both instances you’ll have to work out the values that work for you.

I’ll skip all the details about how errors in IBTS because of roasting snot affect final Preheat temp… that’s getting too detailed and misses your question.

Aillio has instructions for cleaning. Start there. When I hit my target for maintenance, I

  • remove the front plate (you may want to also remove the heavy handle from the door as it gets a little unwieldy; be careful reinstalling so the set screw doesn’t protrude toward the drum)
  • count and remove the washers; they’re used as shims to set the forward position of the drum and need to be restored properly.
  • prop the front plate on something secure to take the strain off the cabling
  • vacuum the easy stuff off the front plate, bean chute & rectangular exhaust duct
  • wipe the front plate with water + cleaner (e.g. SimpleGreen or ???), then wipe off with water
  • clean the glass door like the front plate
  • vacuum around the IBTS viewport, then use alcohol-wetted cotton swabs (e.g. Q-Tips) to clean the inside of the viewport. After the viewport is clean, then clean the sensor. Whatever accumulates on the sensor in sufficient quantity to affect IBTS readings won’t show up on the Q-Tip. But cleaning does make a difference on my roaster. Alcohol is not a great cleaning agent but till Aillio comes up with an alternate that’s safe for the sensor that’s what I’ll use. Several repetitions are needed
  • brush & clean the bean chute
  • brush & vacuum the rectangular exhaust transfer tube
  • clean the exhaust port & impeller- usually requires removing the impeller from the motor. If the impeller is really bad, a soak may be necessary (take care to not lose the set screw!!). Higher Preheat temps than the nominal 400F° I use will affect what’s needed for cleaning the exhaust fan/port.
  • put everything back together in reverse order and start a preheat to confirm I haven’t gotten anything wrong (!).

The chaff collector gets cleaned (sort of) after each session. I remove the filter basket and brush the screen with a wire brush… something from Home Depot for prep’ing copper plumbing before soldering. Occasionally I give the screen a soak before brushing the screen material. Reseating the filter in the rubber base is a little fussy but it’s important to get the metal lip into the tiny groove in the rubber. The removable chaff collector body gets a careful vacuuming after each session. If what I’m roasting has a lot of chaff I may have to vacuum the collector in place by going thru the rubber flap at the base of the removable collector case. That affects preheat a little but not bad.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been told it seems I need to clean the IBTS too often and that there may be some additional issue going on. But I keep on keeping on and the coffee is consistent so I haven’t tried to pursue it.

I reviewed this a few times but I may still have errors.

Bruce

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