Just want to clarify here that the replacement Bullet is directly shipped from Taiwan by air, because it will still take a while before Sweet Maria’s new batch arrives in the US via sea freight.
The decision was made to get the Bullet in questions back to our lab for further testing and inspection as fast as possible, while making sure ibnabouna getting the replacement with minimal downtime in between.
Normally the replacement should go through the local retailers which the unit is purchased from, but we take the health concerns regarding the Bullet very seriously, so we are treating this case as a special one.
For the people still waiting for their orders to be fulfilled by Sweet Maria’s, please understand that the Bullets are still in the container on the ocean. They should arrive in the US early next month. Thank you for your patience.
I also read this whole thread and found it very interesting. When I first began roasting, I almost certainly was exposing myself to harmful levels of what-have-you.
Now I roast under a commercial venthood and not even my clothes smell like I’ve been roasting coffee.
From one of his posts in March 2025, @ibnabouna stated that the air quality was normal while the roaster was in the garage. So, what is the biggest difference between the garage and the room he built for the roaster? For one thing, the garage is likely larger. I would like to say there is a lot more ventilation in the garage, but with a door and window wide open in that room I’m not sure that is the case. If I were to suggest anything it would be to relocate the R2 Pro back to the garage where it is not making the air unhealthy until a thorough examination of the new room can be made. Air changes per hour for the garage and for the new room could be calculated, and then a calculation done to determine how many air changes per hour are required to keep the air quality in that room in the healthy range before moving the roaster back. It may be that a separate fan circulating air through the room independent of the roaster could be the answer to providing enough fresh air to get rid of whatever emissions are occurring. That would, of course, affect heat and cooling in the room. If air quality is this big an issue, it may be a job for an air quality contractor.
Very interesting topic and thread. ibnabouna, I appreciate your detailed info and continued updates.
I see you already tried something similar but I was going to share that I noticed some odor from the cooling fan underneath. Since the vents direct the air at an angle towards the back, I setup a section of rigid duct which I spread open to capture the exhaust and direct up into my main exhaust “hood” above the rear exhaust. Helped with the smell but I don’t have a meter as of yet.
i got to use a commercial venting smoke hood from a commercial kitchen recently and wow, so good!
it did change my recipes though. same approach yielded different results.
however, i did not get the bullet for permanent installation, so needing a more simple duct work / tubing option. and just venting the rear exhaust and cooling tray is not fully sufficient. will be testing a new concept this afternoon.
As I am expecting to get my Bullet in a few weeks (I am going to name my R2: “D2”), I am currently planning my venting arrangement.
I still cannot get over the fact that the Aillio Bullet roasters are so “Blade Runner” (induction heating, Y-Flux capacitor, etc), while almost all vent systems are “Metropolis”…
DiFluid’s catalyst technology is perhaps a step in the right direction, but at this stage, the solution seems far less than compelling, especially at current prices.
My biggest decision is whether to go with a 6" filter & fan solution or keep it down to 4".
The 4" solution with an inline fan such as a Cloudline is sufficient, given you’re venting the roasters exhaust and the cooling tray to the outside. As stated in several posts, preventing bends and downward routing of the venting tubes makes a huge difference in effectiveness. The only little thing i do encounter with a full 1,2kg batch size is the “roasters burp” when dumping the beans into the cooling tray. A small amount of fumes escape and you can smell that. During the roast itself, with the venting tube placed a few centimeters above the exhaust, nothing escapes.
By way of update, I no longer own the Aillio Bullet R2 Pro. Apart from the difficulty I had in ventilation, our roastery simply outgrew the 1 kg maximum.
I will say that Aillio support was beyond excellent throughout the process. I purchased the machine from Sweet Maria’s, but their support was lacking. Aillio stepped in and did the right thing in swapping my initial Bullet for a new one, which actually helped somewhat with the fumes. They never updated me on what happened after I sent it back to Taiwan, but I suspect it had a leak somewhere or was an older design than the replacement. Either way, the support was great, and for that reason, I would consider buying another Aillio in the future.
Best wishes to all of you in your roasting journey!
