Coffee Crafters Artisan 6 fluid bed roaster

[compaddict]

Will do! At the same time that Coffee Crafters did my sample, the kind folks at Aillio did a two pound sample as well. Again, it had slightly more complex flavors than my Behmor.. But the Artisan really brought out much more. The bullet and the Behmor were so close!
Vince

[peter]

It'll be more similar to your Behmor than a gas drum roaster would be, which operates in an opposite manner. 

That strikes me as a curious statement.  Care to indulge me with your thinking behind it?  I've never used or watched a Behmor in action...   This has me thinking in terms of conduction vs. convection; am I close?



Edit: oh yea, sorry for the hijack.

[Ascholten]

I have the Artisan 6.  You will love how simple it really is and no huge learning curve to it to be honest.  A lot more control over the coffee roast.

The Behmore was kind of a plug and pray, you prayed it didn't screw you on your roast, the Artisan if it's going too slow, too fast, whatever, you can just do a slight tweak and it's where you need it and it's very responsive too.

Aaron
P.S.  I cant remember where it is not but I have a thread here with a video of me roasting on the A6.  Yours will be the same just smaller really.

[compaddict]

Yeah seven years with the Behmor and I have it down to a science with manual roasts and all. And of course a bean cooling system!
Thanks for the encouragement!
I have been thinking about the Artisan software but it looks like bad stereo instructions...
Vince

[Ascholten]

I don't do the software.  I play it by ear and smell mostly.  Id say sight but these old eyes don't see well much anymore and looking down into a roasting chute is not always optimum either.

Aaron

[compaddict]

Yeah I'm the same way. Use what I learned should be enough. Thank for that.
Vince

[Benjamin]

Heh, interesting, I'm on a Behmor now and the Artisan 3E (or its successor) is the machine I will treat myself to for an upgrade once I can figure out how to start reliably selling ~20# of roasted coffee/month......or I get a spanking big bonus from work 

[Ascholten]

Benjamin, if you mention you bought it from me, I git a bit of a bonus

20 Lbs a month..  hmm.   How about the people at work,  I am sure some of them enjoy your coffee?  If not, bring in some fresh roast share it, then mention that you sell it.  I  bet you get some sales then.   Relatives might buy it.  Not sure what your lifestyle is but, flea markets, farmers markets are another possibility.  If you don't go yourself, if you have a friend who sells there, maybe put some on their table?  Are you a vet?   there's possibly VFW's, American Legion, your colleagues there who would possibly be interested in good coffee.

Aaron

[brianmch]

It'll be more similar to your Behmor than a gas drum roaster would be, which operates in an opposite manner. 

That strikes me as a curious statement.  Care to indulge me with your thinking behind it?  I've never used or watched a Behmor in action...   This has me thinking in terms of conduction vs. convection; am I close?



Edit: oh yea, sorry for the hijack.

Hijack away Peter. I was being encouraging to the OP. 

IIRC a fluid bed roast stays on heat more like a Behmor with heat cut during the roast on a gas drum.

I wasn't touching convection vs conduction heat transfer methodology.

[Ascholten]

Well, the Behmor cycles it's heat on and off.  I especially hated this when you'd be right at the onset of crack and it'd turn the heating element off for a minute.  then on for a bit then off.  I always felt that messed with the roast a bit, stalling it like that.  It's not like that thing really had a thermal mass to hold heat to transfer to the beans when the source went off.

Aaron

[compaddict]

hated that on the older Behmor Aaron! They fixed that with later model with manual mode though.
Vince

[Benjamin]

Benjamin, if you mention you bought it from me, I git a bit of a bonus

20 Lbs a month..  hmm.   How about the people at work,  I am sure some of them enjoy your coffee?  If not, bring in some fresh roast share it, then mention that you sell it.  I  bet you get some sales then.   Relatives might buy it.  Not sure what your lifestyle is but, flea markets, farmers markets are another possibility.  If you don't go yourself, if you have a friend who sells there, maybe put some on their table?  Are you a vet?   there's possibly VFW's, American Legion, your colleagues there who would possibly be interested in good coffee.

Aaron

I remember your PM to that effect. If, or when, I pull the plug, I will mention your name. Hopefully I can get them to knock some money off when I tell them I don't want a membership to their green coffee coop...

Thanks for the brainstorming, I'm still working on integrating into a community group that would provide a platform for roasted coffee sales.

[compaddict]

I am up and roasting!
Well that was easy. One degree f per second, watch the loft and when the bean temp hits 440 degrees and cool.
Two pounds done with no drama.
The first thing I noticed is that FC really is nice and loud. And rolling FC really is rolling!
This thing roasts with authority!

[Ascholten]

You can stop your bean temp a lot sooner than that if you want too.  I stop mine about 420 ish but then again I don't push into second crack much either.  But either way, as you see the temp is very controllable.    I always aim for about 1.5 degrees / sec or so,  i find it brings out a bit more in the beans.  Granted the first hundred degree or so goes kind of fast but that's my target ramp.   You can also slowly up the watts too.  sometimes Ill start at say 3500 watts for 100 degrees or so, then kick it to say 5000  for maybe another hundred then 6500 or whatever I am going to use for my final wattage depending on how much I am roasting.

one thing, if you do decide to do a full 5 lb or more in there.  It doesn't always need you to crank the knob to it's stopping pegs.  I routinely do 5 to 6 lbs on 7500 to 8500 watts.  use the temp ramp to gauge that.  Yes you CAN go full bore but sometimes that can push you into second crack a bit fast, especially when you consider you have a much larger bean mass you need to make sure is fully roasted first before turning heat off.

Aaron

[compaddict]

Very interesting! At 440 I am a bit away from 2C.. Rolling 1C ramping down and getting a nice light to medium roast.
1.5 degrees per second seems so fast! I am so used to my Behmor and it's profiles it is hard to wrap my head around such a steap rise.
I haven't really educated myself (even after seven years of roasting) because of the limitations of the Behmor. I didn't want to know what I couldn't do!
I really appreciate your suggestions! I guess it's time to go down the rabbit hole.
Vince