Hi Wayne,
Are you talking about the end of the roast? I was definitely scrambling to try to keep enough ROR to hit my 227 goal. Id love this recipe if I dropped my beans at 215, it worked really well. The last 12 degrees are killing me.
Wayne,
Not sure if this was yours but this was going to be my next attempt. Coffee was dropped at 216 but it looked like their was still some juice. would you delay P5 and F5 changes to try to push the roast to 227?
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I’ve invited a professional roaster over to use my machine a few times. She KILLS it every time, and I’m never able to duplicate. I noticed her preheat temps were a LOT lower than discussed here. (383f for a 350g roast) she uses the power setting a LOT more than the fan settings to adjust heat. (smoother transition) I find that nothing kills the ROR faster than a bump in fan speed. Anticipating FC temps and stepping the power down one level a minute prior and then maybe another level at FC seems to generate some incredible roasts for her. I like a bit darker roast and so I don’t do the power reduction as early/much, and they seem to roll in to 2C pretty smoothly. She’s not afraid of flattening out the line at the end of the roast either. She knows what her drop temp is before beginning and will let it linger there to develop and I’ve NEVER gotten a baked coffee from her roasts. Just an additional “huh…” for me. I feel like when she roasts, everything is in slow motion and when I roast, I’m trying to drive a sinking Russian submarine at the controls. Its hilarious. 200 more roasts and I’ll start getting it…
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Several months ago I started using lower Preheat and have been pleased with the results. Like you I prefer a darker roast plus I prefer to have the heat less in the front end of the roast. I wish I had the talent/experience you describe!
Bruce
Don’t forget that some of the high preheats mentioned are people who have the IBTS which reads differently…
I have a V2 w IBTS
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LMAO!!! 
Inspiring story! Any clues what she bases her decisions on? Is she in the tryer all the time, and really knows what smells to look for? Maybe looking for a particular smell at the very end?
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I’ll ask her next time. She’s not in the tryer excessively. Less than I am for sure… She knows what temp she’s going to finish the roast with, before she starts. Seems like how fast or slow or how long she lingers at that temp at the end for development, is the key. She looks at bean shape a bit. The wrinkles smoothing… I saw her looking more than smelling. I put all my green coffee on my garage floor. Had about 20 to choose from. I said I wanted to do a blend. Turned out at a cupping, it scored better than the rest. So did 2 of 3 standing on their own. I’ll say this. Her profiles aren’t Rao. haha. I don’t think that works on this machine as much as larger. The biggest thing I learned was patience. Go slow and don’t be afraid to go long.
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That fits with what I’ve been experiencing. Wish I could be a fly on the wall while you’re hosting this session!
Bruce
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BRO can you please send the curves? im doing mine as car going down from a cliff, taste like ****
i dont know what i miss actually
I’m happy to share the 3 we blended that were good, or whatever you want. I just don’t know how to post or share the actual roast? They are all on Roast World @SMALLBATCHr
I understand they are working on a search function to see specific peoples roasts. That will certainly help! I know that by her knowing what temp shes finishing at, she develops/ stalls it a bit at that temp and its always been fantastic. ALL of her roasts are 14% weight loss! ITs freakish. Thats just by smell and look and temp. If nothing else, its got me thinking differently. I’ve spent the last 2 nights making a chart of all the roasts of the different beans so I can see FC temps, 2C temps, my end temps and my tasting notes, and its been super revealing. I’m compiling a profile of temps that trigger tastes. I’m super stoked. I also learned that 1/2 copper pipe and more importantly 1/2 copper unions, have the same diameter as the tryer, so I’m going to build a mechanics stethoscope tryer port gizmo so I can be spot on with my FC markers.
Funny to see them all here. I think I’m going to toss the ROR line out the window for a while. and just focus on the beans. And… I’m pretty sure the FC markers are off unfortunately. We were talking a lot and forgot to hit the buttons
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@PapasCup thanks for the insight to your technique. Appreciate it. Can you share your curves with us? Would like to know what a good curve looks like - one that made a good cup of coffee!
IBTS (Drum Temp) is used by the Bullet to measure Preheat temp before the Bullet announces “Charge”. The f/w controls power to the drum to first reach then maintain the chosen preheat temp. When it reaches the target you’ll see Drum Temp/IBTS cycle around the chosen temp. Bean Temp is also involved in that it has to be stable at the chosen preheat temp.
Don’t look for the chosen Preheat setting to be perfect. I most often use 392°F for Preheat. IBTS usually ranges between 393°F ↔ 399°F at that set point when the Bullet decides it’s ready to roast.
Also I let the preheat cycle run very long as Bean Temp tends to continue to creep up for awhile- something on the order of 25-45 min depending on room ambient temp.
When doing back-to-back roasts, there’s a significant difference between Bean Temp readings at Charge for the initial preheat cycle compared to subsequent preheat cycles. One user here recommended doing a throw-away roast to properly stabilize the internal temp of the Bullet, then roast the good stuff in roasts #2 and up. (He had access to low quality beans from a commercial roaster for $1-$1.50/lb so it cost him $1-$2 to do that stabilization roast).
Bruce
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@bab Thanks for your informative reply. I like the idea of a stabilization roast. Makes sense to get the drum heat uniform. As well, I’m in UK and I roast in my workshop, which gets cold - I roasted three batches recently at 7degC ambient and 74% humidity, so that’ll certainly work against the drum temperature. I thought my roasts were a bit cold and will drive the heat up next time.
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Scott,
looks like Bab beat me to the response.
7C is a bit cooler than I would prefer to roast in my garage. That said, if forced to I would raise my pre-heat temps help compensate.
I, too, pay attention to what gets roasted first. I.E. the high-end stuff gets roasted last because the drum is plenty warmed up and it’s temperature is pretty solid.
I, myself have been known to ignore the ‘CHARGE’ for several minutes just to let the drum sack up more heat. Living in northern Florida, my normal pre-heats are usually around 30 minutes unless it’s very warm.
John
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@scott_anut Heating the drum is pretty easy compared to getting the other parts that need to be warmed up- the drum is the direct target of the inductive heater. It’s things like the face plate, door and even the insulated surround of the roaster that take time to stabilize. I’m with @johndupee - save the high-end stuff for a later roast.
Bruce
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