follow-up
I have changed my approach and have been liking the results. Lower and slower ramp to 300f BT. Ending up with a lower ET at 300f BT. At about 285f BT I'm increasing my heat input much more making a steeper ramp 2nd leg but still ending up with about the same ET at 1st crack. I did a city+ roast of Ethiopian Bonko DP and pulled a shot yesterday with the Cremina. Sweet and totally fruit jammy, the lemoniness was just right. By far the cleanest, most balanced, lighter DP roast I've pulled.
cheers,
farm

Good follow-up, Ed. Good reminder for another roasting exercise. I just roasted a Harrar at three levels--City+, Full City and Full City+. I managed the City+ by slowing the ramp just after 300°F bean mass, which gave me a longer ramp to 1st crack (but still right around 18°F/min).

Next exercise I'll try two different drying times for the City+ roast, with similar approaches in the second leg. Also reminded me that my cupping needs to include SO shot comparison. Thanks for the update.

Here's a question: when extending or shortening the drying time, do you adjust the remainder of the roast to keep first crack about the same time? Or do your roasts get longer with a longer drying time, and vice versa? Or is it some mixture of both? I haven't really done enough roasts yet to narrow it down, but right now i'm going with "some mixture of both." If i lengthen the drying time, my roasts get slightly longer.

Using the loose logic we use and the 3 phases the drying phase should not really effect the chemical reactions later in the roast so adjusting them should not be needed. The goal being having the right amount of moisture needed during the rest of the roast while keeping the proper ET at the start of the next phase chemical reactions.