I haven't found any clear instructions for someone wanting to get started use Artisan who doesn't have any input devices or a roaster that connects to it. I'm putting this together for someone who, like myself, has a roaster that doesn't connect to Artisan but that does give some temp readout or who has some non-connected temp probe they can place somewhere in the machine. They can plot their temp readouts in Artisan and still get some helpful graphs of information.

This was my first roast graph, so I do think there is helpful information (not asking for feedback on the roast itself here, plenty of work to do there, including recognizing first crack, inputting some data correctly, and yes, my -26% was because I had shot some beans up into the chaff collector):

I manually inputted temps right from the Fresh Roast SR800's readout as I went along (really an ET but BT seemed easier especially since the manual temp entering has it...). I also input each fan and heat setting change. And I do think I can see some correlation between changes I made and the curve of the graph. I should have increased the heat more at the beginning, but not bad for a first roast.

I don't really know my way around Artisan... I have some gaps in my understanding and maybe there are better ways to do things. Please help! What am I missing? Again, I'm just talking about inputing external data to get useful information out of Artisan.

Here are the steps I did... please let me know where I could have done things better:

Setting up Artisan so you can manually enter your roaster readings and settings
Step 1: Install Download and install Artisan on your computer. There is ample info on how to do this.
Step 2 Which data to record Pull down the menu "Config" -> "Events..."
- Under "Event Types" there are 4 boxes you can change. Add here what your roaster allows you to change. For mine it's just the Fan and the Heat, so in box 1 I changed it from Air to Fan, and in box 2 I changed it from Drum to Heat. The other two boxes I unmarked.


- In this same window under "Default Buttons" check mark which items you'd like to mark as your roast progresses. I marked CHARGE, DRY END, FC START, FC END, SC START, DROP, and COOL END. Change each of these to Action Type: Artisan Command (the menu to the right of each), because instead of it getting this information from your roaster, you're going to be manually entering it. Each of these items will be a button you click during your roast to record that event.


Step 3 option 1: Define your buttons In the same window, click the button at the top called "Buttons" (or do these just as sliders in the next step)
This will add a button for you to click to specify what you have just done on your roaster. Again, for mine it's just Fan and Heat so I have a button for each Fan setting and each Heat setting. You have from 0 to 100 for these so it's better to divide your total number of settings evenly into that range. Since my heat and fan are both settings 1-9 I have made mine 10-90 - the higher numbers make the changes more easy to see on the Artisan graph. (I have 9 settings per thing so I have 9 buttons per row set). Again, set each of these for as an "Artisan Command"


Step 3 option 2: Define your Sliders. As an alternative to buttons for your heat or fan settings you can use sliders.
This seems easier to setup but I like clicking the buttons as I use it instead of finding the spot on the slider. I have set mine from 10-90 instead of 1-9 to give more visible space between the steps but then checked "coarse" because the slider will click into increments of 10. You could play with Offset and Factor instead.


Step 4: Curves
Go to "Config" -> Curves. There is probably a lot that could be done in this area, but for now I just went to "Filters" and switched my BT to ET since I'm entering it as a BT (Bean Temp) but it's really an ET (Environmental Temp). If I had two ETs (perhaps in my case by sticking a thermapen in the chaff collector, I would just enter one as ET and one as BT



Using it
From here everything should be fairly normal... except for each event button you click (like a Heat setting or the button to signify CHARGE, Artisan will ask you to manually enter the temp. I find it helpful to look at the temp on my machine, then make the change on the machine, then enter the info into Artisan. It's great to enter your "Roast" -> Properties for each roast.

Adjusting your data
After your roast is finished you can make adjustments to your data for things you missed. Go to "Roast" -> "Properties" and click on the "Events" button. You can add a missed item or make a change.



If you are on an air roaster, like I am, you'll notice some differences between our graphs and temps and others, but that's ok. A key feature still remains: the Rate of Rise (RoR). However, to get a good RoR graph you really need to enter a lot of data... find a good rhythm for it and enter often.
So some hints (though I haven't used this much!):
- Enter a lot of data
- Keep a pen and paper handy in case you missed something. You can fix it later.
- I think my first graph above had a crazy RoR in the beginning in part because my first data entries were 0 degrees. At the very least this should be room temp but maybe even delaying a few seconds and getting a reading from the roaster would be better.

Well, that's all I know. Hopefully someone will find it useful. And even more... hopefully I haven't led anyone astray! If I get any comments, I'll try to make changes to the above.