Hello, I'm a new member and user of the Kaffelogic nano 7e.
Today I just roasted 5 batches of 120g green coffee, and well it kind of went well and also kind of not.
I don't know how to attach image files but ill describe the issue.
first issue I noticed, and I think I can solve myself, is that some beans lacked sufficient movement/agitation in the first few minutes of the roast. I actually had to tap the sides for a little bit to get them moving. Obviously, this a fan/air flow issue, and I haven't got enough of it, could it also be power related?
and my second issue has to do with the logs. Basically, in the first beginning minutes of the roast its wavy, and not very linear or pretty looking. My bean temperature line follows the profile almost exactly, but the actual RoR line is wobbly, especially at the beginning.
I tried looking up if anyone else has had similar looking roast profiles, and I found one post from ages ago that said it might be a PID calibration issue. I was roasting back-to-back, so maybe the stored latent energy/heat is messing with it? Next time I'll make sure to wait 5-10 mins and see if that helps, but if it doesn't what else could I do?
Also, I've heard you can manually test the airflow/speed; how do I do that?
Also, maybe this is too hard to explain, or maybe too complicated, but does anyone know how to use the KP and KD multipliers for each zone?
So far, all my roasts are based of the RAOST ones by Benjaminfleon, I used them as a template and modified it so that I can roast lighter, faster, slower, based on what Im roasting.
The roasts aren't actually that bad, and I'll be cupping them tomorrow, then on the 5th day, then the 10th, and finally on the 14th.
but I'm just concerned about the accuracy, presentation, and need a bit more education in regard to some particular settings and what they do, and how to use them.
Theoretically I'm there, but I'm coming from drum roasting coffee to this new fluid bed like way of roasting.
Thanks.
Can someone help me with calibrating some settings?
Re: Can someone help me with calibrating some settings?
Hey Lorrie, Sean here.
With fluid bed roasting, fan speed is essential to achieving a good roast and avoiding a bunch of issues. If you have the boost kit, then using the Fan Preview tool (load your profile and then press menu, then start) will help you greatly. This gets the fan running with no heat so that you can evaluate your circulation. If you do not have the boost kit, then you will need to adjust your dose to ensure that you have enough bean movement, or increase your fan speed on your profile using the transform profile tool found in Tools > Transform profile (Ctrl + T).
Being a naked thermocouple, we tend to get a lot more of a responsive feedback from the probe. This will pick up any fluctuation in the roast, which sometimes is not avoidable and other probes that are shielded and some recording softwares that take averages over time will blend together. Remember that with the beans getting thrown around with all different sizes and slightly different densities they will all be reading slightly differently, and when those different beans come into contact with a very responsive probe it will show slight fluctuations. Its nothing to be concerned about unless it is quite substantial. Its can also be from the start of the roast when we are trying to force more energy into the coffee from starting at room temperature, this can sometimes take a few sways from the temperature over and undershooting from the preheat power settings before the PID takes full control and stabilises.
Coming from drum to fluid bed is going to be a bit of an adjustment and it sounds like you are well equipped to hit the ground running. I would definitely try and line up your times on roasts when going from machine to machine and adjust your temperture accordingly to achieve it. This has been a bit of the workflow that has worked in our experience.
I hope this helps and if I missed anything or you have any more questions, please reach out!
Cheers
With fluid bed roasting, fan speed is essential to achieving a good roast and avoiding a bunch of issues. If you have the boost kit, then using the Fan Preview tool (load your profile and then press menu, then start) will help you greatly. This gets the fan running with no heat so that you can evaluate your circulation. If you do not have the boost kit, then you will need to adjust your dose to ensure that you have enough bean movement, or increase your fan speed on your profile using the transform profile tool found in Tools > Transform profile (Ctrl + T).
Being a naked thermocouple, we tend to get a lot more of a responsive feedback from the probe. This will pick up any fluctuation in the roast, which sometimes is not avoidable and other probes that are shielded and some recording softwares that take averages over time will blend together. Remember that with the beans getting thrown around with all different sizes and slightly different densities they will all be reading slightly differently, and when those different beans come into contact with a very responsive probe it will show slight fluctuations. Its nothing to be concerned about unless it is quite substantial. Its can also be from the start of the roast when we are trying to force more energy into the coffee from starting at room temperature, this can sometimes take a few sways from the temperature over and undershooting from the preheat power settings before the PID takes full control and stabilises.
Coming from drum to fluid bed is going to be a bit of an adjustment and it sounds like you are well equipped to hit the ground running. I would definitely try and line up your times on roasts when going from machine to machine and adjust your temperture accordingly to achieve it. This has been a bit of the workflow that has worked in our experience.
I hope this helps and if I missed anything or you have any more questions, please reach out!
Cheers
Re: Can someone help me with calibrating some settings?
Thanks for the feedback!
I tasted the coffees today, and they werent bad per say, but I definitely need to work on the air flow and getting proper agitation.
Also roast lighter.
Ill adjust the fan settings for my next attempt.
Also, that's a little bit relieving to hear that last part about the PID.
I might buy the boost kit as well if my issue still isn't solved.
but thanks for the quick and helpful response.
Also, I'm enjoying the process of relearning how to roast, although the theoretical fundamentals are still relatively the same, the actual method is different and that's what I enjoy about coffee roasting the most, learning new things, a sense of adventure.
I tasted the coffees today, and they werent bad per say, but I definitely need to work on the air flow and getting proper agitation.
Also roast lighter.
Ill adjust the fan settings for my next attempt.
Also, that's a little bit relieving to hear that last part about the PID.
I might buy the boost kit as well if my issue still isn't solved.
but thanks for the quick and helpful response.
Also, I'm enjoying the process of relearning how to roast, although the theoretical fundamentals are still relatively the same, the actual method is different and that's what I enjoy about coffee roasting the most, learning new things, a sense of adventure.