Sonofresco / Q&A / Tip & Tricks

[yorel23]

Any of you mods care to move this info to the Sonofresco / Q&A / Tip & Tricks section?

[yorel23]

Has anyone tried smaller (i.e. 1/2#) batches in their Sonofresco?  I know it's probably not recommended, and with good reason, but has anyone tried it?

[milowebailey]

Has anyone tried smaller (i.e. 1/2#) batches in their Sonofresco?  I know it's probably not recommended, and with good reason, but has anyone tried it?

Yep, the problem is if you get too small a batch it never gets done before the temp sensor thinks it's too hot.  Because the heat exchange with the beans and the temp is measure at the exhaust and not in the bean mass, the computer will shut it down way early.  I've trued 1/2 lb on level 9 and it never got to 1st crack...

[Tex]

Has anyone tried smaller (i.e. 1/2#) batches in their Sonofresco? 

I'll go down to 1# batches (1.4# is what the manual recommends), but smaller amounts seem to confuse the brain box.

I'm going to be playing with swapping out the OEM chaff collector for one farther away from the roast chamber (it's impossible to remove the stock one without spilling chaff back into the beans). Because the temp measurement takes into account all that paraphernalia slowing down the air movement before the temp is measured, I'm expecting to have to play around with the programs a bit.

This is not the easiest roaster to get creative with!

[yankeeNH]

How about restricting the airflow coming into the chamber (essentially smaller holes on the bottom perforated plate) to simulate the resistance/weight of more beans? Or would the restriction point be better before exiting the chamber?

[milowebailey]

How about restricting the airflow coming into the chamber (essentially smaller holes on the bottom perforated plate) to simulate the resistance/weight of more beans? Or would the restriction point be better before exiting the chamber?

Know that in the software if the temp drops at all the roaster thinks you are out of gas and shuts down.... you could try to do all kinds of things to fool the software, but my conclusion is it needs a Milowidget

[Tex]

How about restricting the airflow coming into the chamber (essentially smaller holes on the bottom perforated plate) to simulate the resistance/weight of more beans? Or would the restriction point be better before exiting the chamber?

Know that in the software if the temp drops at all the roaster thinks you are out of gas and shuts down.... you could try to do all kinds of things to fool the software, but my conclusion is it needs a Milowidget

Yeah, I figure I'll need 10 - 20# of crap beans to play around with until I get the air flow at the sensor to be the same. It's doable, but is it worth it? Only if you've got the time to play around with it like I do.

I haven't given it a lot of thought yet; would it be better to use a pressure sensor or a simple wind vane to compare changes?

[yankeeNH]

I'm sure you're right, Milo... How's the widgetizing going? Enquiring minds and all that...  

[milowebailey]

I haven't given it a lot of thought yet; would it be better to use a pressure sensor or a simple wind vane to compare changes?

Use a thermocouple with one of your PID's as a monitor... hook it up to your PC and log the temp.  The sono could care less about exhaust air speed... it temperature my good man!!

[ophie99]

hey- this is only semi relevant: but I've talked to the guys at Sonofresco, as well as Coffee tec (super nice) and they were both willing to help me with airflow adjustments for the machine. I'm in Denver (mile high) so they said it was on the precipice for upping the airflow but the 2.8 I roast at is fine. I've gone down to as little as 2 lbs but any less in mine doesn't work as mentioned above. It's a thing I have to live with. Not a bad problem to have really.

[yorel23]

Ok Sono guys.  Whenever I do back to back roasts, I get an E-2 error about 20 seconds into the second roast.  E-2 is "Temp sensor has not detected a sufficient increase in temperature".  This has happened since I got the machine and happens every time.  All I do is cycle the power off/on and start the roast and it works just fine.  I've cleaned the screen and temp sensor and it still does it.  The odd thing is that cycling the power fixes the problem.  Also, it never happens on the first roast of the day.  Anyone else experienced this?  Not a huge problem, but annoying.

[milowebailey]

Ok Sono guys.  Whenever I do back to back roasts, I get an E-2 error about 20 seconds into the second roast.  E-2 is "Temp sensor has not detected a sufficient increase in temperature".  This has happened since I got the machine and happens every time.  All I do is cycle the power off/on and start the roast and it works just fine.  I've cleaned the screen and temp sensor and it still does it.  The odd thing is that cycling the power fixes the problem.  Also, it never happens on the first roast of the day.  Anyone else experienced this?  Not a huge problem, but annoying.

I used to get that error once in a while... certainly not every time... Contact Sonofresco or cycle power before you start each roast... they are not known for their software

[Tex]

Ok Sono guys.  Whenever I do back to back roasts, I get an E-2 error about 20 seconds into the second roast.  E-2 is "Temp sensor has not detected a sufficient increase in temperature".  This has happened since I got the machine and happens every time.  All I do is cycle the power off/on and start the roast and it works just fine.  I've cleaned the screen and temp sensor and it still does it.  The odd thing is that cycling the power fixes the problem.  Also, it never happens on the first roast of the day.  Anyone else experienced this?  Not a huge problem, but annoying.

I used to get that error once in a while... certainly not every time... Contact Sonofresco or cycle power before you start each roast... they are not known for their software

That's true, but I've heard rumors that someone is putting together a widget that'll solve all our problems.

[yorel23]

Ok Sono guys.  Whenever I do back to back roasts, I get an E-2 error about 20 seconds into the second roast.  E-2 is "Temp sensor has not detected a sufficient increase in temperature".  This has happened since I got the machine and happens every time.  All I do is cycle the power off/on and start the roast and it works just fine.  I've cleaned the screen and temp sensor and it still does it.  The odd thing is that cycling the power fixes the problem.  Also, it never happens on the first roast of the day.  Anyone else experienced this?  Not a huge problem, but annoying.

I used to get that error once in a while... certainly not every time... Contact Sonofresco or cycle power before you start each roast... they are not known for their software

Funny thing is, if I cycle before the roast I still get it.  It's almost like it has to get to the error first in order to reset it .  I'll try giveing Sonofresco a call.  Once that widget is done, I won't have to worry about it anyway!

[Joe]

single edge razor blade works best, I've tried many other things but the razor works best and no chemicals.... Joe taught me that trick.

Sorry late to the party.

yep some phosphoric acid cleaner soaked, and a straight edge razor is magic on this. Also make sure to soak your screens in the phosphoric acid or other cleaning solution. The screens do close up with coffee resin, and it isn't that noticeable. If you use the wire brush it still doesn't get all the resin off. I soak my screens about every 3 months. I almost had a roaster fire before I realized this could happen.

Batch size I weigh my beans with a scale to 1 lb 3oz every time. 1 lb 4 oz for decaff

Settings I always start coffee at level 3 especially DP ethiopians like IMV Amaro Gayo, Harrar etc.. And then adjust from there.