Hot Top Auto Profile and moving on

[Nucer]

An OBTW, after 8 years with my hottop I had to replace the heater element.  First parts are easy to get. Second the instructions to do the job are great and easy to follow. Third, the job is simple even if it does take a bit of time.  So to say I am happy with my hottop is an under estimation.  So enjoy your new toy and may It give you years of good service as mine has done.

( happy hottop owner in Benbrook, Texas)

[rgrosz78]

I never used the auto profile. Instead I tried to follow the recommendations on the Hottop web site:
http://www.hottopusa.com/profile.html
http://www.hottopusa.com/profile2.html

My first roast was one of the fastest times to 1st crack I ever achieved, even with a 250g load.

[SJM]

Very cool.  I hadn't seen those before.
Now....another question.

Since that Profile #2 is going to take some juggling to get entered correctly, do you think I could run the HT without any beans and get the profile entered before throwing beans in?  All of the adjustments (except for adding the beans) seem to be based on time rather than temp, so it should be easy enough to simply watch the stopwatch and make entries;  however, if my hand-eye-stopwatch coordination isn't great, I'd rather not sacrifice beans each time I try to get it "in".

??

[GC7]

I don't believe it would work well without the beans.

Why not keep roasting and playing with the settings. Only save one at the end of a roast that you believe went well. Keep it if the coffee tastes good and you are satisfied and if not save another roast later on. You have three profiles you can save.

[SJM]

I don't believe it would work well without the beans.

Why not keep roasting and playing with the settings. Only save one at the end of a roast that you believe went well. Keep it if the coffee tastes good and you are satisfied and if not save another roast later on. You have three profiles you can save.

Hmmmmph....
I'll just try to program it in as I go.
I like having a plan, and there is no way to know if I am going to like the roast until I've tasted it on days 3 4 5 etc... I don't think adjusting temp or fan on the fly sounds like fun at this point for me.

But....I'll keep you posted (just try to stop me....)

Susan

[rgrosz78]

The problem is that EVERY bean roasts differently - meaning they take a different amount of time to get to a given temperature (like 350F). And some coffees require a very different profile to get good results - slower roasts versus faster ones.

There is only one reason that I DID save a profile on the Hottop. That is to override changes in heat and fan made by the automatic Hottop profile.

[GC7]

The problem is that EVERY bean roasts differently - meaning they take a different amount of time to get to a given temperature (like 350F). And some coffees require a very different profile to get good results - slower roasts versus faster ones.

There is only one reason that I DID save a profile on the Hottop. That is to override changes in heat and fan made by the automatic Hottop profile.

Exactly. I sit there for every roast and monitor the controls manually using a saved profile template that approximates what I want. It will vary with voltage, ambient temperature and desired benchmarks.

[SJM]

The problem is that EVERY bean roasts differently - meaning they take a different amount of time to get to a given temperature (like 350F). And some coffees require a very different profile to get good results - slower roasts versus faster ones.

There is only one reason that I DID save a profile on the Hottop. That is to override changes in heat and fan made by the automatic Hottop profile.

Exactly. I sit there for every roast and monitor the controls manually using a saved profile template that approximates what I want. It will vary with voltage, ambient temperature and desired benchmarks.

And the only thing I am suggesting/asking is if I can create a "saved profile template" prior to running it with beans.  I am not suggesting ever roasting without being attentive and being willing to make changes, but I want a frame to hang the changes on. 

And, although I didn't mention this, I've got 5# of a lovely Brazil that I'm planning on using until I find a profile for it that I like.  Until then I'm not planning on changing beans. 

                 

[smico]

Susan,
Shortly, with version B, no, you can not save profile prior to the actual roasting.
After the roast is finished, you san save the profile in one of the three user defined profiles.

[GC7]

Susan

You can without beans set the roast time to 25 minutes, start a run and immediately turn the fan on and off to inactivate auto changes, put heat to 10, wait 5 1/2 minutes (19 1/2 on clock) to turn fan on to 1 or 2 to approximate when bean will be 300* and drying done, move heat down slightly for run to first crack, wait 2-4 more minutes to turn down heat more for finishing. end roast after 15 minutes or so and save that profile.

My only suggestion would be to at some time experiment with dropping the beans to begin a roast only after at least a couple of minutes of further preheating the roaster past the hot top suggested temperature of 167*.

[SJM]

See.....I knew if I waited long enough I'd get the answer I wanted   

Now I'm happy.

Susan

[rgrosz78]

Geoffrey, I originally did what you described. But then I kept having to override those later changes in fan and heat, which are NEVER at the right time. And sometimes I forgot, and things got changed when I did not want them to 

After a month or so, I decided to save a very minimal profile of ONLY the initial steps. This is what I did:

1. I set the time to maximum and auto-eject temp to the highest value.
2. After the beeps, I set the power to 90% and count to 5.
3. Then I set the fan to 25% and count to 5.
4. Then I set the power to 100% and set the fan to 0%.
5. Then I let it run to completion and saved the profile in P1.

[rgrosz78]

Susan

My only suggestion would be to at some time experiment with dropping the beans to begin a roast only after at least a couple of minutes of further preheating the roaster past the hot top suggested temperature of 167*.

This is very good advice. By loading the beans at higher temps, you shorten the time to first crack. In general, this is a very good thing. I currently use temps from 275F up to 350F for all my roasts.

[GC7]

Geoffrey, I originally did what you described. But then I kept having to override those later changes in fan and heat, which are NEVER at the right time. And sometimes I forgot, and things got changed when I did not want them to 

After a month or so, I decided to save a very minimal profile of ONLY the initial steps. This is what I did:

1. I set the time to maximum and auto-eject temp to the highest value.
2. After the beeps, I set the power to 90% and count to 5.
3. Then I set the fan to 25% and count to 5.
4. Then I set the power to 100% and set the fan to 0%.
5. Then I let it run to completion and saved the profile in P1.

That's a good idea Rick. I'm never really using the profile as saved so your idea really makes sense as the ultimate generic manual roasting solution.

Thanks

I'm looking for a nice 15 or 20A American made variac these days that may simplify things a bit.

[rgrosz78]

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.

If any of you have done this, please note - you MUST recreate the dummy profile with different settings (100% fan and 100% heat) for use with Jim Gallt's TC4C controller. This is clearly noted in the documentation by both Barry and Jim.