Origin: Guat Huehuetenango Tono Sanchez from sm
Roaster: Behmor 1600 (2 years old)
Setting: P1-B (20 minutes)
Preheat: 2mins (roast beans 2 minutes then start the roast over from 0; adds two minutes, and the main roast starts off about 265 degrees F.
Total roast time: 22mins. I know. I think my roaster is getting tired.
Weight: 8.25 oz
Weight after: 6.75 oz
18% weight loss.
FC+
Beers consumed during roast: 1, Corona Extra.

I think my roaster, on its hottest setting is taking entirely too long to get to 1st crack. This roast, 1st occurred at 16.25. First lasted around 2 minutes. 2nd occurred with less than 20 seconds remaining. The timer ran all the way out, with a rolling 2nd under way.

The bean appearance going into the home stretch was darker than I was expecting, considering 2nd hadn't occurred yet. I thought I had some French on my hands. But upon inspection, the bean texture and appearance is squarely in the FC+ range, with a tiny bit of silverskin still in the center. Thankfully, the beans do not have a baked smell, which sometimes happens with my long road to first crack.

The behmor P1 is supposed to be a fairly flat profile, full power. But I'm finding the curve to be more like several minutes in the range of 450F, then it drops and stays in the range of 360F. see image. That's why I sometimes have trouble with baking, although this time around, they beans have a sweet smell, not baked.

lewis_ph wrote: I know, it's still October. Getting a jump.

I think my roaster, on its hottest setting is taking entirely too long to get to 1st crack. This roast, 1st occurred at 16.25. First lasted around 2 minutes. 2nd occurred with less than 20 seconds remaining. The timer ran all the way out, with a rolling 2nd under way.

Lewis, I think the Corona Extra is the problem, I usually drink an IPA.

But seriously, it looks like your temps are dropping after the afterburner and fan kicks on (at about your peak temp). Where are you monitoring your temperatures? I monitor mine just below the lower heating element (about 1/4" away) and also have a second probe in the exhaust vent that gets closer to BT, I think. I usually see a peak at about 400 - 450 and then it settles down to around 400 and tries to creep up to 420 or higher. I use a variac to keep the temps up during the drying phase but usually have to dial it back down to around 116 V on the approach to first to keep from going in too hot. My Behmor is a refurb from 2007, so there's hope for old roasters. Your voltage may be dropping too low after the fan and afterburner kicks on, a variac could help as could relocating your roaster to a better outlet or eliminating any extension cords. Contacting Behmor is another good move too.

Something is going on with the roaster after the heat peaks. This, for me, is normally the end of the drying phase for 1/2# profiles with 1/2# load in it, and it's also when the fan and the afterburner kick on to reduce any smoke. This draws more current which can result in a drop in voltage if you're on a long run, on an extension cord, etc.

I have my primary thermocouple positioned about 1/4" below the bottom heating element and I normally peak out at around 400°F and the temp will drop when the fan kicks on and then slowly rise. I like to try and keep the temps around 400 for the approach to first crack by cracking the door a bit and I also adjust my variac so that the Behmor sees about 116 V instead of 118 - 120 V for the drying phase. Even running at 116 V, the temps tend to rise for me and I'm running a refurbished Behmor from 2007.

Behmor technical support is excellent and should be your first step, but you might have a broken afterburner (which does contribute some heat) or other issue with your roaster. If you suspect low voltage, you could try relocating to an outlet with a shorter copper run. I use the 120 V outlet for my washer / dryer hook up. You could also try to eliminate any extension cords if your using them.

Here's a recent roast profile for a Guatemala Acatenango Gesha that I stopped right at the end of first crack, 227 grams (1/2#) load. Failing all else, lowering your bean load will help you get to first quicker. The green bar at the bottom indicates when I'm cracking the door open to help lower the temps and the lower of the two temperature graphs is a thermocouple stuck into the exhaust vent which I think is closer to a BT than the primary thermocouple, but only reads valid temps once the exhaust fan kicks on after the drying phase is complete.

Are you tracking your voltage readings? I know that I was getting simlar results before I started using a Variac to keep the voltage steady when the afterburner kicked on. I don't have temp probes, but I've found that maintaining a steady 118v throughout the roast and keeping up with my cleaning schedule has kept the roasts within an appropriate window.

Yakster,
Thanks for the detailed response and info, pretty roast!

I usually prefer an IPA too!

My voltage is good...maybe my thermostat area could be cleaner. I'm going to give the whole thing a going over tomorrow.

I heard back from behmor already, kind response, encouraging me to do all the things already suggested. But also, asked for the number of cycles in a 1/2 dry run, so I'll do that after a cleaning.

regards,

Phil

I have a kill-a-watt and a thermocouple, which I run up the left side, like so:


I will look into the idea of a variac, but I need to rehab my roaster, too. I wonder if the thermostat is a user serviceable item?

Do any of you behmor users use the p2- b settings with +++? Its a long roast but get jujust into 2nd crack at around 22 mins. Or is the extended dry time considered baking? I've just been on my own with this since about when they came out!