What @blacklabs said. Itās a challenge to hear without a notch filter and even then itās probably going to include distracting roasting sounds as well.
What follows are a few things I have done in an effort to be consistent as an operator and to get roasts to replicate. Youāll create your own set of guidelines but Iāll share these as a starter set to discard when you get more familiar with the Bulletā¦
I dutifully record the 1Ce event but itās a WAG when to click the mouse with the beans Iāve been roasting for the last year- seems to drag on and on with ājust one more crackā nearly into 2Cs. Makes no sense so I blame variety & processing as culprits. Using a consistent temp without benefit of sound confirmation seems like cheating but thatās what I do.
And I wonder if I even care about 1Ce: it is what it is. 1Cs & 2Cs, however, seem to be a legitimate milestone events which flag flavor changes when not replicated accurately. So thatās where I put the effort to get it right.
Similarly YP is way too subjective for my taste. If I could put everything on hold while I studied comparative photos with precise light control I might feel a little better about marking the event. Thatās not going to happen. So my alternate is to always use the same temp to mark YP (IBTS = 330°F). Variations in shop ambient probably make a fixed temp reading a flawed approach but it works better than āis that yellow point? maybe a little more!ā. And as always, YMMV.
And Iāll share something I got from @stuartmcknight about marking 1Cs- donāt anxiously pounce on the first pop you hear as being 1Cs as there can be a few outliers. He suggested I wait till Iāve heard maybe 3. That has turned out to be a great suggestion. And I can confirm better consistency in time/temp when I look at several roasts stacked in the R.W Roast Analyzer.
Bruce
Edit-
Full City = FC = 1st Crack. That ambiguity feels like an annoying bump in the road. So for my purposes-
FC = Full City
1C = 1st crack
2C = 2nd crack