roaster control widget

[YasBean]

Just curious, does Michael at Hottop USA know about this project?  Would HT be interested in supporting you in any way?  I should think this has the possibility of a new Super-HT!!!  Very exciting.

[mp]

Looks good Milo ... can't wait to hear your test runs with this.

 

[milowebailey]

Tinkering some more.... here is a profile with:

5 minute - 150 degree pre-heat
9 minute ramp to 350
5 more to 400
7 more to 440

The red line is bean temp (which is my current control point)
   Note: - I think I may have a flaky thermocouple... note the jagged line.... I'm shopping for new type of thermocouples.

The Green line is the environment temp near the heat coil (I plan to use this later)

This plot is with no beans in the roaster, just controlling heat.


So far, so good.

[Tex]

Milo, do you have any profiles graphed for the different programs in the Sonofresco? I usually use #3 or #4, but I'm just guessing - I'd like something that lets me stretch the time between 1st & 2nd crack.

[milowebailey]

Milo, do you have any profiles graphed for the different programs in the Sonofresco? I usually use #3 or #4, but I'm just guessing - I'd like something that lets me stretch the time between 1st & 2nd crack.

I think the profiles are pretty much the same it's just the finish temperature that changes...I don't think they stretch anything. I plan to measure all of them before I mess with programming the sono.

[milowebailey]

fire in the hole......

man, something is amiss in my thermocouples.... not only is one of them reading erratic, I don't believe the temp measurements.

I put 250 grams of green in at 230 pre-heat and hit 1st crack at 328???  2nd at 360.... It almost seems as if these thermocouples are off by ~80 degrees??  But at room temp they seem to be on the money.  They are bead type and I'm wondering if I should be using something different...

They are supposed to be K type... I wonder if they are something else?

Any ideas?

[milowebailey]

fire in the hole......

man, something is amiss in my thermocouples.... not only is one of them reading erratic, I don't believe the temp measurements.

I put 250 grams of green in at 230 pre-heat and hit 1st crack at 328???  2nd at 360.... It almost seems as if these thermocouples are off by ~80 degrees??  But at room temp they seem to be on the money.  They are bead type and I'm wondering if I should be using something different...

They are supposed to be K type... I wonder if they are something else?

Any ideas?

doh!

Just figured it out... it's my thermocouple amps.... I bought 2 for some J type thermocouple I had laying around.... I'll have to either change the thermocouples or see if I have any more k type amps around...

I knew there was a simple answer...

[cfsheridan]

Larry,

You'll want more preheat.  In my manual control mode for the HT, I charge between 325-400°F Environment Temp, depending on the bean and intended profile.

I'll do a little digging, I know some folks have put a PID on the heater element--I cannot recall whether they use ET or BT for the control.

From the HT profiling work I've seen, focus points have been--drying time (bright yellow beans by 300 °F), ramp to 1st crack, and post 1st crack.  Lots of discussion on the ET (or Max ET) difference with BT as these ramps evolve--thought being keep the differential minimized while keeping good timing on the progression of the roast.

Then you can add the thought of a "pause" in the ramp to 1st to maximize the time from 350-370°F as BW recommends and performs with his Turbocrazy.  You may want to do more experimenting with BT vs. ET as the control input.

[Tex]

Milo, do you have any profiles graphed for the different programs in the Sonofresco? I usually use #3 or #4, but I'm just guessing - I'd like something that lets me stretch the time between 1st & 2nd crack.

I think the profiles are pretty much the same it's just the finish temperature that changes...I don't think they stretch anything. I plan to measure all of them before I mess with programming the sono.

Dammit, don't tell me that!

I tried shutting down the gas for my last roast when it hit 1st crack and turned it back on as it coasted through it. But of course, shutting off the gas seems to have interrupted the program. It wouldn't restart the program where it left off, so I ended up with some very lightly roasted beans!

[milowebailey]

Milo, do you have any profiles graphed for the different programs in the Sonofresco? I usually use #3 or #4, but I'm just guessing - I'd like something that lets me stretch the time between 1st & 2nd crack.

I think the profiles are pretty much the same it's just the finish temperature that changes...I don't think they stretch anything. I plan to measure all of them before I mess with programming the sono.

Dammit, don't tell me that!

I tried shutting down the gas for my last roast when it hit 1st crack and turned it back on as it coasted through it. But of course, shutting off the gas seems to have interrupted the program. It wouldn't restart the program where it left off, so I ended up with some very lightly roasted beans!

The problem with the sono controller is if the temp doesn't stay up with the pre-programmed profile it will assume that you just ran out of gas and kick into the cooling cycle..... that's why you NEED a milowidget   or you can always just send me MY sonofresco

I'll try and measure/plot all the profiles over the next few weeks using one of my milowidgets...  then we'll all know the secret.

[Tex]

fire in the hole......

man, something is amiss in my thermocouples.... not only is one of them reading erratic, I don't believe the temp measurements.

I put 250 grams of green in at 230 pre-heat and hit 1st crack at 328???  2nd at 360.... It almost seems as if these thermocouples are off by ~80 degrees??  But at room temp they seem to be on the money.  They are bead type and I'm wondering if I should be using something different...

They are supposed to be K type... I wonder if they are something else?

Any ideas?

Did you use a pot of boiling distilled water to calibrate your equipment or some other method? Someone told me that different controllers had different scaling as temps increased. The CAL Controls has a near-linear scale whereas the Watlow controllers had a curved scale.

I wonder how your controller handles a climb from 32° to 212°?

Where's you get the t/c's? I buy all of mine from Omega.

[milowebailey]

Larry,

You'll want more preheat.  In my manual control mode for the HT, I charge between 325-400°F Environment Temp, depending on the bean and intended profile.

I'll do a little digging, I know some folks have put a PID on the heater element--I cannot recall whether they use ET or BT for the control.

From the HT profiling work I've seen, focus points have been--drying time (bright yellow beans by 300 °F), ramp to 1st crack, and post 1st crack.  Lots of discussion on the ET (or Max ET) difference with BT as these ramps evolve--thought being keep the differential minimized while keeping good timing on the progression of the roast.

Then you can add the thought of a "pause" in the ramp to 1st to maximize the time from 350-370°F as BW recommends and performs with his Turbocrazy.  You may want to do more experimenting with BT vs. ET as the control input.

Chad

That's my plan. from what I saw before as you reach exothermic heat, the bean temp may run away or overshoot.  I want to see what the norm is.

Easy with milowidget to streach the roast from 350 - 370, just program the time... then I'll figure when and how fast to turn on the fan

All that once I get the right thermocouple amps in there.... geeze... I must have been napping or bidding on a logo when I put those chips in.... but the wise Milowebailey uses sockets... so changing the chips will take me... 30 seconds  

Time to quit for tonight though... Mrs. Milowbailey is calling the Milowidget "the other woman".... yikes.

[milowebailey]

Did you use a pot of boiling distilled water to calibrate your equipment or some other method? Someone told me that different controllers had different scaling as temps increased. The CAL Controls has a near-linear scale whereas the Watlow controllers had a curved scale.

I wonder how your controller handles a climb from 32° to 212°?

Where's you get the t/c's? I buy all of mine from Omega.

Nope the thermocouple amps compensate for the type of thermocouple used.... I was using K type thermocouple with J type amps....

I bought the thermocouples off ebay... 10 for $25.... for the development I didn't want to spend big bucks on them.

The J type I have are really nice ones, but I may move away from a bead to a thread-in grounded type.... can't decide yet.  I may play with both to see which is better.

[Tex]

Milo, do you have any profiles graphed for the different programs in the Sonofresco? I usually use #3 or #4, but I'm just guessing - I'd like something that lets me stretch the time between 1st & 2nd crack.

I think the profiles are pretty much the same it's just the finish temperature that changes...I don't think they stretch anything. I plan to measure all of them before I mess with programming the sono.

Dammit, don't tell me that!

I tried shutting down the gas for my last roast when it hit 1st crack and turned it back on as it coasted through it. But of course, shutting off the gas seems to have interrupted the program. It wouldn't restart the program where it left off, so I ended up with some very lightly roasted beans!

The problem with the sono controller is if the temp doesn't stay up with the pre-programmed profile it will assume that you just ran out of gas and kick into the cooling cycle..... that's why you NEED a milowidget   or you can always just send me MY sonofresco

I'll try and measure/plot all the profiles over the next few weeks using one of my milowidgets...  then we'll all know the secret.

I figured that out as my beans were cooling down from a very light City roast. The Sonofresco is basically a more expensive version of the Behmor - no control over the roast profiles at all.

I even thought of adding some ceramic beads that are ~the size of beans - hoping than they'd cool the bean mass down enough to let them coast for a while. But there's no easy way to get into the roast chamber during a roast without the chaff flying about everywhere!

It's a poor trade off between ease of use and ease of tailoring the roast. The UFO/CO is looking pretty good right now!

[milowebailey]

Milo, do you have any profiles graphed for the different programs in the Sonofresco? I usually use #3 or #4, but I'm just guessing - I'd like something that lets me stretch the time between 1st & 2nd crack.

I think the profiles are pretty much the same it's just the finish temperature that changes...I don't think they stretch anything. I plan to measure all of them before I mess with programming the sono.

Dammit, don't tell me that!

I tried shutting down the gas for my last roast when it hit 1st crack and turned it back on as it coasted through it. But of course, shutting off the gas seems to have interrupted the program. It wouldn't restart the program where it left off, so I ended up with some very lightly roasted beans!

The problem with the sono controller is if the temp doesn't stay up with the pre-programmed profile it will assume that you just ran out of gas and kick into the cooling cycle..... that's why you NEED a milowidget   or you can always just send me MY sonofresco

I'll try and measure/plot all the profiles over the next few weeks using one of my milowidgets...  then we'll all know the secret.

I figured that out as my beans were cooling down from a very light City roast. The Sonofresco is basically a more expensive version of the Behmor - no control over the roast profiles at all.

I even thought of adding some ceramic beads that are ~the size of beans - hoping than they'd cool the bean mass down enough to let them coast for a while. But there's no easy way to get into the roast chamber during a roast without the chaff flying about everywhere!

It's a poor trade off between ease of use and ease of tailoring the roast. The UFO/CO is looking pretty good right now!

You still have my shipping address for the sono?