I’d like to be able to start the cooling function independent of the standard after roast/during BtB stage. I just messed up a BTB and had to restart but lost the ability to run the cooling tray. Can we have the ability to start the colling tray and manage the speed independently?
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YES!!!
being able to start cooling at any time would be critically useful.
You might want to read this thread and create it yourselves, or wait for a software solution when and if it becomes available.
What to use as a fan? - Taking Care of the Bullet R1 - Roast World Community
That is true.
I have been considering just making my own cooling solution. The Aillio one is good up to 1lbs, but is a bit slow and tedious above 600g. I spill a god amount stiring anything more than 1lbs.
But just being able to do some BAC roasting without accidentally shutting off the cooling tray and then needing to cycle back through frantically. Haha
True, it is difficult to stir without spilling once you up the batch size. Also true, but not really that much, that it is slower. Maybe just dump the beans 1% DT earlier, so you get the desired colour with slow stiring to avoid the spilling. 
As for the cooling tray, it is relatively easy to make one yourself. Get a large colander, however many fans you want, be sure to mount them in the proper direction, ie sucking the air out and not blowing on beans, and connect all that to an adapter that you will plug into the wall. Naturally, put a similar filter as the one on the Bullet between the coffee and fans, so it can hold on to the chaff and maybe add a larger plastic bowl to hold everything in cutting a hole where the fan(s) are. Yeah, it’s still the Bullet cooler, but bigger. If not, you can find a lot of cooling trays being sold online.
Oh, good to know, I’ve always seen cooling trays pulling air through the beans, and not blowing air at them, but never knew the specifics of why. What is your understanding of the method?
The only thing that comes to mind is that you’d make a mess and have chaff everywhere. I have tried blowing cold air with a blow dryer when I got my Gene, nobody knows how long ago. I’ve come to realise that bying a sieve and agitating it vigorously made the chaff fall through the holes in just one direction. Blowing air on it took every direction available and added some on top.
That’s perfect logic right there! Haha
Another factor that will reduce the cooling capacity and increase the amount of time it takes to cool your beans is if you are roasting a large batch of high chaff beans (Natural or Dry Process usually have the most chaff).
The filter in front of the cooling fan will get clogged with chaff and effectively reduce the ari flow to almost nothing. No airflow=no cooling.
I run my Bullet without the filter before the fan in the cooling bowl
I have a 300 thread per inch nut milk bag that I have attached to a printed adapter that catches the chaff.
I can go for weeks without worrying about the chaff filter or even emptying the “sock”.
I also have an electric stirrer that does a good job of mixing the beans without making a mess.
With this setup it typically only takes a couple of minutes to cool the beans after roasting. (2 minutes for 600g and maybe 3 or 4 minutes for 1000g roasted dark)
Another advantage of the Eletric stirrer is that it gets rid of most of the chaff. It seems to dislodge the chaff from the beans and the fan sends the chaff to the “sock”.
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This is amazing Bill. You are an innovator!
Can you provide a link to where can purchase the stirrer and bag? I love the ideas.
The Stirmate, I got from Amazon:
You will aslo need the wire stirrers, sold separately from Amazon
I used a standard hacksaw to shorten the shaft for the wire stirrers and bought a split collar from Amazon to keep the stirrer slightly off the floor so it didn’t rub.
I also got the nut-milk bag from Amazon
I had to modify it to fit the 3d printed fan adapter. I didn’t have a sewing machine, so I just stapled it with a stapler.
I bought the adapter from someone here but I will have to dig deeper to find their info.
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