Thanks I learned a very valuable lesson today seeing your above profile. All I've had previously are youtube vids (sans profile graphs) and Royal Coffee's Crown Jewels profiles which don't include Rates of Rise, just BTs. So I had no good idea what to do with the heat before.

I think my gas on that roast started at 1.5 coming up out of the TP to 30°F/min. and then down to 1.2 or 1.1, air 2-3. Charge was 20 oz.

Thanks for your suggestions; I shall work on them.

What kind of pipe did you use for exhaust, galvanized steel or stainless steel? Based on the visual appearance it looks like it is galvanized steel.

YDandA wrote:Thanks I learned a very valuable lesson today seeing your above profile. All I've had previously are youtube vids (sans profile graphs) and Royal Coffee's Crown Jewels profiles which don't include Rates of Rise, just BTs. So I had no good idea what to do with the heat before.

I think my gas on that roast started at 1.5 coming up out of the TP to 30°F/min. and then down to 1.2 or 1.1, air 2-3. Charge was 20 oz.

Thanks for your suggestions; I shall work on them.

You can calculate the RoR based on the temperature and time from the Royal Coffee's Crown Jewels profiles, just take the temperature difference between two points and divide by time difference. That should give a pretty good idea what the RoR is.

Wow, I got my BC-5MD up and running last night, except for the Artisan software. I'm still troubleshooting the issue with BC's help and hopefully it will be resolved soon (there are couple of flashing red LEDs on the USB logger, I don't know if that is normal or not)
My first impression is similar to when I went from riding a bike (Hottop) to driving a car (BC-5MD). I tried 600g (minimum for BC-5MD) and the roast was done in about 10 minutes and brought the Brazil coffee to 414 degrees. I think I could go little darker as I felt it was a little underdeveloped (drying time was a little too fast, about 4 minutes).
Looks like it will take a few roasts to figure out charge temperatures and coffee quantity, however, as Keno mentioned. the drop after the charge is about 100 degrees and that appears to be consistent. Granted, I'm currently roasting 600g (1.3 LB) on a 5 lb. roaster and I'll stay with 600g and same coffee until I figure out the roaster.
On second batch of 600g I was able to stretch the roast to 13 minutes (Brazilian coffee) and the coffee tasted much better.
The machine is well built and really good for mass production, once it warms up, the sky is the limit, as it retains the air temperature very well.

I finally got Artisan to work on my laptop, but not without a fight. I spent all last week roasting coffee without Artisan and I got to the point where I have a handle on the roaster, however, I could not get Artisan to work, it was reading -1 for temperature. I reached out Randy and we learned that a newer USB module was installed (this will work with Bluetooth). He sent me another USB module to install but the error stayed. I finally borrowed a Windows based computer and tried Artisan with the CP2102 driver and voila, everything worked fine.
Based on this little experiment it appears that MacOS on my MacBook Air does not interface properly with this USB module, nor with the CP2102 driver. The same OS system worked on Hottop, but not on the BC roaster.
I ended up installing windows on the MacBook air partition and ran Artisan from there (with the correct driver) and had not issues. I will run a couple of roasts tonight and see where I am as I was flying blind until now, so to speak.

Glad to hear you got it working. I found it was just a matter of installing the correct driver on my computer and then Artisan worked great. Look forward to hearing more about your experience with the roaster. Would love to see some pictures.

Intro - BC -5MD

I've been roasting on a Hottop for more than a year, but due to demand from friends and family, I decided to look into alternatives. After much research, I looked at Probat, Diedrich, Mill City, I decided to go with the BC Roaster. Probat and Diedrich were a little out of my budget, while Mill City roasters appeared a little too big for my taste (Just a personal preference). Emailed back and forth with Randy at BC Roasters and landed on a BC-3MD (the 2018 version of the BC-3). This seemed to fulfill my needs, as I was doing sample roasts and possible 3-4 lb roasts every couple of days. Placed the order and waited. That was the hardest part. Randy at BC was very courteous and kept me up to date on the progress. I waited about a month, then, Randy emailed me that he has a BC-5MD coming in shortly. After much debate I decided to switch to the BC-5MD, figuring that I could always go down to 3lb or maybe 6 lb per roast (little did I know that I could also do sample roasts, see discussion below).



Unpacking and LPG conversion
On a Monday afternoon I received a big container, weighing about 350 lb. Proceeded to unpack it and voila, the much anticipated roaster. Now, how in the world was I going to put it on the stainless steel table I had bought. My dad came to my rescue and we used a little ramp and slowly moved the roaster up the ramp until it was on the table ( table is about 24 in height).
I initially ordered the roaster in NG, however, the roaster arrived earlier than I expected and the gas line was not ready, thus I switched the unit to LPG (I also ordered the LPG orifices and the regulator when I initially placed the order). It took me about 30-45 minutes to do the conversion to LPG, very easy, by removing the middle panel and having access to the burners. One note, in his videos Randy suggests removing the manifold entirely, I didn't, I removed each burner, cleaned the area and using the high heat sealant Randy provided, made the conversion to LPG.

Testing
I had to wait 24 hours before I could roast, thus I wanted to test the Artisan software. I followed the instructions provided and it did not work. I tried everything I could, but was always getting a reading of -1. I emailed tech support and after some troubleshooting, they decided to send me another USB data logger unit. I received the new USB data logger and replaced, however, the error did not go away. I was very puzzled as the tech department at BC had tested the unit. I was able to borrow a Windows based system, installed Artisan and the necessary USB driver, and voila, everything worked. I was ecstatic, finally, I could see my roasting profiles, after a week of roasting based on feel, touch, smell. I proceeded to install windows 7 on my MacBook Air partition and used it to read the USB data logger. The initial issue could be the conflict between the driver I used for the Hottop and the new CP2102 driver used for the BC-5MD, it does not matter to me anymore as I use the windows OS. someday, when I have time I will play some more with the mac version of Artisan (it worked flawlessly with Hottop). Randy at BC is saying that the new USB data logger installed on my machine is Bluetooth ready and that functionally will be coming soon. I will post an update when that happens.

Roasting
I have been playing with the machine for over a week, but only had Artisan working for a couple of days. Last night I ran a few batches, some Brazil and Sumatra, 1.25lb all the way to 5.5lb. Below are some of the profiles for the different roasts.





Final thoughts
I'm still playing with different roasts and have my wife taste the coffee first (that's important given the $$$ paid for the roaster). I'm still waiting for the HVAC contractor to come and install the exhaust to the outside (my little exhaust project I put together it's not working as I expected as I have smoke coming out of the cooling tray even though I had backdraft damper installed, maybe it is due to the exhaust siting horizontal as it exists my garage). All in all, this is a solid machine and I really enjoy roasting on it.

Why the window in the bean chute? What purpose does this serve?
I read or listened to the company's explanation. It didn't make sense to me.

The little door/latch is very useful to check airflow. You could stick a cigarette/candle lighter and increase and decrease the opening for the manual damper to see if you have any blockage. It's there for troubleshooting purposes and has no functionally during normal operation.

Good news on my BC roaster, over the weekend I was able to configure my MacBook Air to connect to the roaster via Bluetooth, not more cable connections. The roaster is the 2018 version with the updated interface board. Thank you, Randy at BC.