ira wrote:No clue if it worked or could be made to work.
Ira

I also stopped by and chatted with guys there. I don't think the model they were showing was working and I think that internals were not finished. Reason being is that they would not show me on the roaster itself how to empty the chaff, they did not want to take that part off at all, rather they would take that piece from under the counter and show where small chaff collector is.

I think its very, very interesting machine though. If they can deliver good roasts with it and actually ship this for $1500 I would be incredibly impressed. Personally I have doubts that they will start shipping in July. If that were the case, model they had at the show should have been fully functional.

I remain positive though since they showed up there with something resembling final product, albeit not finished. We'll see...

I talked with the guys too, and on paper this roaster sounds great for those who dont mind electric and want a large capacity. There WILL indeed be a trier hole drilled into every roaster, and as an upgrade you can purchase the trier(otherwise the hole will be plugged with a bolt or something). I asked what the shortest possible roast time with a kilo was and they said 11 mins, with an 8 min crack. So while thats not lighting fast, im sure it will suffice for most folks. Also there is two temps, one in the beans and the only other in the top left(reading drum temp apparently). It will be interesting to see how this pans out once people start testing it, but what was obvious to me was they were not the typical dinguses trying to make some money off coffee folks with a poorly thought out product. But rather folks that had spend a great deal of time sorting out the small details(they even put time into how the buttons feel when you push them).

How would one measure drum temperature? Can't really connect a thermocouple. IR?

Induction is a great technology and has fantastic energy efficiencies in heating up iron cores (up there at the 90%, way more than any electric heater, and even higher than gas/wood).

Furthermore, it is as fast as gas to heat up and cool down, with no heat inertion due to ceramic isolators or glass needed for wire based heater.

At 1500-1600W, you will easily heat up the drum to exceed the 300C top temp. Temp control at the drum would prevent that from happening but for a 1kg batch you do need the BTUs (just not solely expressed as drum temperature - but also as a mix of convective and radiant heat). so The question here is how to convert the conduction to convection (and some radiant) heat.

So:
1. Fast moving drum - fast enough to agitate the beans from staying too much in contact with the hot drum but not enough to create centripetal forces.
2. Fins fins and more fins. Get fins to dissipate heat into the air. At 1500W - the more fins the better. Drum rotation speed and fans also helps a lot to increase airflow, but the latter also introduces outside cold air, reducing the effective BTU (at 1kg batch we need those BTUs).
3. Black paint - radiate as much heat to the outside drum as well as to beans and air.

Optionally, I could think of placing a partial plate of iron between the drum and the induction heater. That plate would take some of the BTU and convert them to convection heat outside of the drum. Making that plate adjustable (covering more or less of the induction heater with an iron plate) would allow fine adjustment of conduction/convective heat ratios.

Lastly, If the heater is positioned right after the beans (in the direction of drum rotation), the drum would have a bit of time (~1/2 turn) to give off heat until it meets beans again.

Very interesting to see how this pans out.

I am about making my decision for pre-order. I have couple questions.

Do you know the release date is still July 2015?

Is there anybody here who placed pre-order?

Thanks

http://sprudge.com/is-this-the-cutest-l ... 75399.html

This Sprudge article says that Sweet Maria's will be testing this roaster at their facilities soon.

Talked with the guys again today, they are leaving San Francisco tomorrow to head back home and complete the 110 version. (The 220 is working fine apparently). They sorted out a smart way to read actual drum temp that involves an infrared thermometer covered by some special expensive metal(germanium). The metal protects the sensor but still lets the infrared waves through.

I cant wait to play on one, sense its like no other roasters out there.

I assumed it was IR. But - from the pictures - the drum isn't painted. If so and if it is stainless steel, the emissivity index of bright shiny metals is low (which makes for lousy accuracy). Furthermore it changes as they become dirty (which makes for lousy precision).

Since they are using IR I hope they will paint the spot measuring area black.

AssafL wrote:I assumed it was IR. But - from the pictures - the drum isn't painted.

The model that was at SCAA had painted black drum. I looked.

Great to know.

(BTW - their brochure http://aillio.com/?ddownload=2472 shows a very shiny unpainted drum - perhaps before they figured out the outside HAD to be painted or maybe a clueless marketing guy?)

Now it's a question on whether they figured out how to mobilize BTUs from conduction to convection. Assuming they get that right I may be tempted to replace my Quest M3.

There is no convective heat... well thats not true, obviously the drum will give off some heat as well as the beans. But the fans function is to slow the roast down, never to speed it up. How that all affects the development and flavor I have no idea, that why It will be really fun to play on initially. This roaster functions VERY differently from others on the market.