Roastime for R2 Pro: what are some of the best roast config settings to start while getting to know the bullet and software?
Hey all! I just picked up an R2 Pro as well and am excited to dive into roasting with it. I’m still in the early stages and would love to know what recipes or roast profiles you all recommend to try while learning the ins and outs of the roaster and software.
I’d prefer to start with a bean I can source from Sweet Maria’s, since they’re practically in my backyard, but I’m open to any suggestions you have! Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, and also big thanks to whoever started this post—super helpful for us newbies!
What type of bean are you roasting?
What are you roasting for?
@jimmybulletroaster Thanks for asking! I’m actually completely new to coffee roasting. I’ve spent the months reading up on the basics, watching videos, and attempting to get familiar with the Aillio R2 Pro. I’ve done a few roasts just to season the roaster, but other than that, I’m still very early in my roasting journey. I’m eager to learn, so any advice or suggestions from more experienced roasters would be really helpful! Thank you -Jason
Have you done a few power tests for the batch sizes you want to be roasting at?
For example, have you just hit full power with a full batch and seen what happens once it hits your target temp?
What a lot of people don’t realize is that the “power” test batches are still generally drinkable, so it isn’t going to waste, especially if you supply neighbors, friends, or family.
Things you won’t need to mess with when you start is Drum speed. Get to that later.
Fan and charge temp are generally batch size dependent. So you can either choose a charge temp and fan speed for each batch size, or just start with F4 and 400F for all of your power test batches regardless of size. Small batches will go fast and larger batches will go slow, but it will give you a sense of how batch size affects the roast too. But that is up to you. For different batch sizes there are different preferences for charge temp. Your preheat is far more important if you are doing faster roast profiles. don’t get too into the weeds on charge temp in the beginning when testing. The induction heating directly heats the drum so you can speed things up super easy with an R2. R1 users tend to need to preheat on larger batches. My old induction board pulled too much power and I never had to worry as much about the preheat as the average R1 user. That being said, preheat is still very influential, but within a context. So I wouldn’t worry too much about the specifics of the preheat for testing Power settings. Reduce you variables in the beginning to some extent.
But after you do maybe 10 batches of power testing, you should have a lot more confidence
Check out this thread about Merton’s course that is free to Bullet users: Coffee Mind eLearning from Aillio - #46 by jimsnyder.WA8I
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