Hottop Profiles / Q&A / Tips & Tricks

[smico]

I think that goal for back to back roasts should be to keep temperature of the drum as high as possible (next batch of beans is about to be added to cool it down) , and that we need to cool drum motor and electronics back to safe temperatures to start the next roast.


I have extra thermoprobes on drum motor and electronics area, and my cooling routine for back to back roasts is below, picked up from my post on another forum:


I installed manual fan switch, with slight modification: in manual mode fan is connected to external power source. This adds more wires, but it gives me more room for play as it's completely independent circuit.

I changed my roasting routine:
1. Roast
2. Eject
3. Fan on manual, take the filter out
4. Take the beans to external cooler
(At this point temperatures of both drum motor and electronics are shooting up as selenoid keeps the bean eject door on the back wall open, and heat easily leaks behind the backwall).
4. Press POWER on HT display as soon as it shows up - power the HT off.
(Temperature of the motor now changes at rate of -4C per minute, which allows for 7 minutes cool down to bring the motor under 60C)
5. Prepare the HT for the next session: vacuum the chaff, save log, load template for the next roast
6. 7 minutes after end of previous roast, set fan to auto and start new roast.

13 minutes roasting and 7 minutes cooling allow almost 3 roasts per hour.
My goal is close to 4 roasts per hour.

Miroslav

[rgrosz78]

I do not have a fancy computer controlled Hottop. I can't even get my installed thermocouples to work properly, after three attempts. Don't ask ... I am a software guy, NOT a hardware guy. If I had a Twitter account, all my posts would be #TC_FAIL. 

Every time I roast, I run a "dummy roast" to warm up the Hottop before actually roasting beans. I simply press start, and let it run hands off. This makes it easier to reproduce prior roast results, regardless of whether this bean is the 1st, 2nd or 3rd roast of the day.

I also run a stored profile on my Hottop B that overrides most of the automatic changes that otherwise occur. Those are when it kicks the fan up to 75% after a few minutes and later when it drops the heat to 80%. The idea of saving a profile is from this post by Randy Glass on coffeegeek.

[RobertL]

I saw this comment by Randy G. on HB about a larger capacity hottop and I thought I would share it here for the members who don't visit HB.

"It is very close. 1KG capacity. Hardware done. I was told molds for production of hardware are ready. Final programming for control and GUI being completed as we speak. I helped design the user interface, or at least went over the design and improved it where it needed to be. Difficult with the time constraints I was given (could have spent a month in it- had a few days). We shall see how much of my input gets used. Wanted simple thiongs like keeping the "STOP/EJECT" button away from all other inputs, etc. Has a lot of great stuff, but a few minor features I wanted not included, but that is life. Probably not ready for the show (ARGHHHH, he screams once again), but from what I know, at this point it seems weeks (and not months or years) away... We shall see."

[rgrosz78]

Hard to believe this may finally be available:
http://www.home-barista.com/home-roasting/hottop-b-vs-rk-drum-and-grill-t25286.html

[Tex]

I wonder if the new machine will have the "fail safe" automatic eject points? They're the only reason I got rid of my Hottops - I felt insulted that they saw the need to make them idiot-proof!

[kboom1]

looks like it's going to be expensive, so I still havent figured out which way to go yet. how long do the elements last on your hottops?

[rgrosz78]

looks like it's going to be expensive, so I still havent figured out which way to go yet.

I would vote for you to stand in line to pick up a used Hottop at a good price. I'm thinking of getting a second Hottop that way.

[Tex]

looks like it's going to be expensive, so I still havent figured out which way to go yet.

I would vote for you to stand in line to pick up a used Hottop at a good price. I'm thinking of getting a second Hottop that way.

Or one could email Hottop USA and ask if any returns or demo units are available.

[kboom1]

looks like it's going to be expensive, so I still havent figured out which way to go yet.

I would vote for you to stand in line to pick up a used Hottop at a good price. I'm thinking of getting a second Hottop that way.

Or one could email Hottop USA and ask if any returns or demo units are available.

I was refering to the price of the larger Hottop when it's released,but good ideas about asking for returns or demos. Theres probably a long line. I think I'll call tomorrow. I'm using 2 behmors back to back now but elements seem to go bad after 200lb of coffee(recently replaced). I know the HT will give me better control but wasnt sure about the lontivity,should be longer than the behmor, looks like a reg.element.

[rgrosz78]

looks like it's going to be expensive, so I still havent figured out which way to go yet. how long do the elements last on your hottops?

I have seen people mention hundreds of roasts with no problems. Here is a post from someone with over 1000 roasts.

I wasn't clear in my earlier post - I think the new Hottop will be WAY too expensive. I do not need to roast a larger quantity. It makes more sense for me to have two of the current Hottop B-2K models.

[rgrosz78]

I saw this comment by Randy G. on HB about a larger capacity hottop and I thought I would share it here for the members who don't visit HB.

Question for the moderators - doesn't this deserve its own thread? Seems misplaced in Tips & Tricks.

[rgrosz78]

When I purchased my Hottop, I bought two spare filters for the rear, and the one for the top. One of my top filters has shrunk to half-size, so I need to buy a replacement. I have been rotating my rear filter every six roasts, and the top filter every 24 roasts. So far I have 132 roasts on the Hottop.

Based on some extended roast times, I probably messed up one of the rear filters during my routine "rinse and repeat" cleaning procedure, so I tossed it out:

Filters- I have three that I rotate for about 20 roasts each at whcih time I put the dirty one in a hot calfeza espresso detergent solution for about 15 minutes.  Wash well with clean water and dry.  They last through quite a few washings.

I went back and re-re-re-read the earlier messages, but I'm still confused. Different ideas have been mentioned for replacing each filter. Has anyone else been happy with the replacement of the rear fan filter material? Which green scrubby pads can withstand 400º F?

What worked well for others did not work well for me and what works well for me unfor may not work well for you neither.  Also, I've replaced the rear filter's white element w/ 2 computer fan metal filters (per Randy G), keeping the black element, best I can tell, it flows more than the white element.

I am positive the fan without filters would last longer than three stock filters.  I used green scrubby pads

I did not see any discussion about replacement for the top filter ($11). That seems far less important to the roast. I assume the top filter only limits the particulates in the smoke coming from the Hottop's hot top.

[rgrosz78]

I did not see any discussion about replacement for the top filter ($11). That seems far less important to the roast. I assume the top filter only limits the particulates in the smoke coming from the Hottop's hot top.

Randy G responded to a post about the top filter at Home-Barista:
"The material in the top filter, particularly used ones, is quite fragile. Unless it is damaged or particularly filthy, leave it. You can inspect it by removing the two little screws and taking it out as a unit. Look underneath as the filter material is exposed there. You can replace it with a cut piece of the black stuff from a used rear filter if need be."

Luckily I saved my defective rear filter, which I have now cut up, and discarded the paper part. I plan to use the black material the next time I need to replace my top filter.

[GC7]

The top filter IMO serves no purpose other than to remove smoke. I insulated my unit about three years ago and I have that area covered with a removable piece of insulation. There are pictures and discussion here on GCBC somewhere if you can find it. If anything that configuration helps roast times by preventing some heat loss out the top.

I'm happy to send you a piece of my insulation material covered on one side with high temperature foil tape if you want to try it.

[rgrosz78]

Thanks for the offer. I have enough of the black material from the old rear filter to last me  several years!