rama wrote:I had another thought that's Hottop specific: what about replacing the perforated drum with a solid one? Maybe the cheapest/easiest way being using wire and heavy duty aluminum foil.

Been there, done that and it's a no go. The element, protection, etc, are all designed for a perforated drum and you'll simply burn your roaster trying to convert it into a solid drum.

I have a few threads about the HT, give them a go.

Max,

I found this thread- which I'm guessing is the one you're referring to. Thanks.

Charging at a High ET without Tipping/Scorching/Charring?

I was also curious what happened with the idea of increasing the drum RPM to help avoid charring, and found the idea was thrown out by Ed here with nothing conclusive:

Bean agitation

I've posted follow-up questions to both threads to resurrect them...

As a quick follow up, I tried the Brazil Fazenda Vista Alegre Natural Dry again this morning, but decreased the batch size from 8oz to 6oz. The Hottop was certainly able to hold my desired roast profile, but even with a lower ET, I still had significant charring of the "silverskin" on this bean, and a small amount of tipping (although much much less).

A step in the right direction. Perhaps my profile is still too hot for these less dense beans.

The fan is underutilized on the HotTop. As wimpy as it may be, the fan increases convection, and can aid in reducing tipping. Because the fan is somewhat underpowered, it is another reason to decrease the load in the HotTop to 150-170g range.

Generally, I load the beans at the factory preset temperature of 167F. Turn on the fan for about one minute than off at the 3 min mark, and again at low from finish of drying to first crack, and finally full blast at first crack until roast completes.

Henry- thanks for the tip (no pun intended). I'll give it a shot.

I've taken all the advice given here and tried my hand at the Brazil Fazenda Vista Alegre Natural Dry three more times (at which point I've run out), each in 6 oz batches, each using the fan based on Henry's advice. Thing have definitely improved. There's still some tipping, although maybe 75% less, and there's still a lot of charred mucilage, although maybe 50% less. Even if I had more beans, I'm not sure how to prevent either at this point. But with some careful culling, I'm no longer embarrassed by the results.

Here's the roast profile and Hottop settings:



There is one mistake not accurately reflected in the Hottop adjustments here. Somewhere around minutes 5-7, the heat was really at 70 or 80%, and I didn't notice and correct it until minute 8. (The Hottop was following a previous program). Thus the dip you see in the graph.

Besides correcting that obvious error, is there anything else clearly wrong with this profile? During the roasting competition, it didn't sound like many others were seeing the charred mucilage problem that's specific to this particular bean.

TIA.