Adjusting Coffee Brightness Levels in a Hottop

[peter]

The instructions were very lucid, but any failure will be my own from starting the day with 1000/500 BP from dealing with an Alzheimer spouse. But, we all have problems and I should not be sharing mine.

I am very grateful to all of the knowledgeable roasters who have responded to my questions.

First of all, you don't have to call Tex lucid, just to get on his good side; he doesn't have one. 

Secondly, over in Off Topic, there is a thread where we can post prayer requests.  If you feel it would help with your particular situation, which BTW I thank you for sharing and feel compassion for you, feel free to post over there.  We have plenty of kind souls here that would gladly intercede for your wife and you.

[Mlee]

The instructions were very lucid, but any failure will be my own from starting the day with 1000/500 BP from dealing with an Alzheimer spouse. But, we all have problems and I should not be sharing mine.

I am very grateful to all of the knowledgeable roasters who have responded to my questions.

First of all, you don't have to call Tex lucid, just to get on his good side; he doesn't have one. 

Secondly, over in Off Topic, there is a thread where we can post prayer requests.  If you feel it would help with your particular situation, which BTW I thank you for sharing and feel compassion for you, feel free to post over there.  We have plenty of kind souls here that would gladly intercede for your wife and you.

Sure would. A couple of first names would help me focus on who I am praying for. (God already knows, but it helps me)...

[BoldJava]

Sure would. A couple of first names would help me focus on who I am praying for. (God already knows, but it helps me)...

Ditto.  I keep a list by the armchair and names are helpful to me.

B|Java

[Tex]

First of all, you don't have to call Tex lucid, just to get on his good side; he doesn't have one. 

Lucidity is my specialty, thanks to large doses of absinthe when I was a young man. And I'll have you know I'm very genial around the right sort of people.

[Coffeefreak]

I apologize for mentioning any kind of personal misery when I was feeling agitated. We all have different kinds of troubles and I should  have kept my big mouth shut about anything except roast parameters and results on this forum.

Speaking of Absinthe though, isn't that what makes the heart grow fonder? 

[peter]

Don't feel bad.  That's why we have Off Topic, to keep non-coffee things out of coffee things.

You see GCBC for what we are, coffee nuts who operate as a community.  If we can lift your load, let us know.

[Coffeefreak]

Joy to the world!

This morning, We drank the Burundi Mwurire that I had roasted two days prior utilizing the parameters that Tex had suggested. It wasn't just better. It was an Order of Magnitude Better than the Default setting!

I plan upon trying out the other suggestion that was given in this thread for a future roast. The one point that I note that they have in common is putting the beans in quite LATER than the default time beeps.

My next roast will be of my dwindling supply of Malabar Gold. With the little air roaster, I always tried for "the first hint of oil" before going to the cool cycle. Perhaps I will lean toward using the visual indicator more than the clock for this one.

Again, thanks to all who have responded to my query.

[Coffeefreak]

Belated query to GC7 re: Hottop roasting profile
In your response to my question about achieving brighter roasts, you wrote:
"I drop my beans depending on profile desired at environmental temperature of 320-350 degrees.

Feel free to consider me dense, but I am not clear about what you are referring to by "environmental temperature"  or "drop my beans." Do you mean that you eject at a reading of 320 to 350 degrees? You are using a bean mass probe, which I don't yet have, but is that the source of the "environmental temperature" reading?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch -- I have been using Tex's profile for everything up to now, but still wish to expand my horizons further.

Thanks for tolerating my quirky questions.

[GC7]

coffeefreak

Please ask any questions if you are not clear about my profile. My writing communication leaves much to be desired – sorry. My profiling  is, however, dependent on using the bean temperature thermocouple which I highly recommend you add to your setup.
You wanted clarification of "I drop my beans depending on profile desired at environmental temperature of 320-350 degrees.”. 
I make the assumption that without beans added and with the unit heating, my bean thermocouple is measuring the air temperature in the drum (air temperature = environmental temperature = ET).  Using the method I outlined drop the beans at minute 21’ 30”. Droping the beans simply mean the time you add the green beans into the drum of the preheated hottop.
So – I set the unit to 25 minutes total roast (max time) and 428* (max temp. Preheat the unit as always – when the hottop display is 167* and it beeps for you to add beans – don’t do it. Instead reduce heat to 7 and keep the fan off. Allow it to continue to heat the drum and air for another 3 ½ minutes until the display is at 21 ½ minutes – ADD 175 grams of green beans of your choice. Also at this time raise the heat to 9.  Keep heat at nine and when you see the first signs of smoke it will be at about 300* bean temperature (about 5 minutes after you add the beans) – Put the fan on 1 at this time and leave it there. About 9 minutes after you drop the beans (about 12 ½ minutes on the hottop display) lower the heat to 5 and wait for first crack.  Now without bean temperature display you need to go by feel (possibly raising the heat to 6-7 at the end of first crack) to the end of the roast which should be about 13-14 minutes after you add the beans (about 7 1/2 – 7 minutes on the hottop display). EJECT THE BEANS at that time.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes and if you have any questions.

[Coffeefreak]

Thank you for your very detailed response to my slight "puzzlement" about your profile method.
One of the greatest things about GCBC is that people like yourself with far more skills and experience with advanced machines are so willing to share their knowledge with people like myself.  In spite of doing my own roasting for many years with air machines (i.e. Hearthware Precision and FreshRoast) using something like the Hottop is a whole new learning curve.

On my next roast, I shall carefully attempt to do as you detailed and shall post the roasting results.

[markh001]

I also recently started roasting with a Hottop.  I found a write-up about profiling on the Hottop site that I found useful.

http://www.hottopusa.com/profile.html

[Coffeefreak]

Attempting to use the new profile that I was given last here, I encountered some problems. Measuring out 175 grams of Uganda Bugisu was routine. Then, on the AUTO setting, I reset the time to 25 minutes total roast and 428 to max. temp. When it beeped to add beans, I did not do so, but I reduced the heat to 7 and kept the fan off. When the display reached 21-1/2 minutes, I added the beans and raised the heat to 9.
Waiting for 5 minutes after I added the beans was the first problem: It was already hitting first crack, so I lowered the heat to 5 (about one minute earlier than you described)

Then, in spite of my hitting one of the buttons when the next warning beep came, it Automatically ejected the beans when the display temperature got to 410 F! The result appears to be a nice even FC, but I feel that I must have done something incorrectly for it to not wait until I finished the given routine (with the intention of saving it as a Profile)

[GC7]

Wow - I've never seen things move along that quickly with my unit even after insulating.

1- What is your voltage and ambient temperature?
2- What was the hottop display temperature reading 5 minutes after you added the beans? It should have been 280-290 or so at 21 1/2 minutes and then drop for the next 60-90 seconds before rising.  First crack should be 385 or so give or take.

I have never come close to first crack in 5 minutes on a hottop.  Has anyone else?

[Coffeefreak]

Trying to post a reply for the third time - it keeps bouncing out:

My ambient room temperature is around 70F. My open circuit line voltage hovers around 125F, which is the reason that I was compelled to buy the machine direct from Hottop as none of the dealers had the new board that can handle that voltage. I failed to note the interim display reading other than what I reported.
My main puzzlement is why it ejected by itself when the display reached 410F

When attempting to run a new profile, do I have any other choice than to start from the auto Default?

[GC7]

OK - that answers some of my questions.

1- there are "safety" checks on the hottop that you can read about in the user manual. At 356* (I think) and 410* you get a beep and have 30 seconds to hit any button (except eject) to continue the roast.  It is their mechanism to make sure you are nearby the roaster and not leaving it unattended. I no longer for whatever reason get the 356* signal but the 410* one is reliable. About 1/2 or more of my roasts never get to 410* on teh hottop display (lighter roasts and I hope lower ET's).

2- 125V while running is HIGH voltage.  Mine on my screened in porch varies on my kill a watt from 116-119 depending on the time of day etc.  So, I think you need to adjust your power settings down to get to my profiles.  I notice a good bit of change even with a 3-4V change.

Without a bean temperature probe its hard to profile accurately but as a guide I would drop the beans into the drum about when the HT display reads 280-290. Keep it on a power of 7 until about a minute before first crack whcih you should shoot for in 9-10 minutes after you drop the beans.  Keep the heat lower maybe 3-4 tops to control the roast during and after first crack to the point where you want to eject the beans.  You are at a good advantage with your voltage to getting quicker controlled roasts and the brighter flavors you are after.  Keep at it.  You will succeed. Finally, I really recommend the bean temperature thermocouple.  It's worth every penny of the investment.

Edit- at the end of any roast you can save the profile used. Up to 3 profiles can be saved.  It is a useful thing to do. See your user manual. You then just select that profile to run after turning on the power to the unit.