keno wrote:Just a quick update that I finally got around to testing a larger batch size on the BC-600. I've been meaning to see if it can handle a 1kg batch size. I had a few bags of greens with a little leftover in each bag. Some Ethiopian, Guatemalan, and Brazilian - not enough for a full 700g batch of any one but enough if I blended them to get me a 1kg batch.

So I loaded up the roaster with the 1kg batch. The hopper had plenty of room to handle the 1kg charge. I pushed the gas up to a little over 2 Kpa instead of my usual 1.5 Kpa for a 700g batch and increased the airflow somewhat. The roast went very smoothly and I hit my time points within a decent range. The roaster didn't seem to struggle at all with a 1kg batch. The good thing about this is that even with a standard 1/2 psi regulator (which will go up to around 2.5 Kpa) this roaster will handle a 1kg batch - the higher pressure Marshall 1912/197 regulator is just not necessary. The cooling tray had plenty of room for the beans when I dropped the batch.

Next time I'd probably make a few tweaks as first crack really took off and I probably should have dialed back the heat a little more aggressively. Capacity wise I'd say that this roaster handles 1kg way better than the Huky handles 500 g. Right now I'm more comfortable with a 700g batch as that's mainly what I've been doing, but for those times when I want to be able to roast three 10 oz bags of coffee at a time it's nice to know that this roaster can handle it.

Here is the roast profile:
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The profile looks great, would you mind sharing your smoothness settings as your ROR looks so smooth?

Bump.

Ken, yeah I'd like to see that too, if you wouldn't mind. There's an update interval setting, which I've played with, as 3 seconds seems a little long, but anything below 2.5 gets 'choppy' as Randy says. Then there's a smoothness setting I've not tried, but I'm wondering if smoothing combined with a lower RoR update interval might be useful.

I sometimes think about turning the ΔBT graph off (as trying to keep it "just right" causes me no end of anxiety) and just roast by the main curve, the sights, smells, and sounds. Having it appear smoother might help keep me calmer.

M88farrow wrote:This review has been a big help. I've pretty much decided to go with a BC roaster. I'm contemplating the Phoenix oro 2.5.

Did you end up buying the Oro 2.5? I just placed an order for the new Oro 4 and would like any feedback I can get from Oro owners.

Although I've seen the roasters, I don't think I've even seen an Oro thread. MAybe you guys should start one. REally like those double walled drums. Are those custom burners linear?

The roaster will be ready for pickup in a couple of weeks. I'll start a new thread for the Oro machines once I get it set up.

Sounds great! Pickup will be worth it. I'd bet you are looking forward to it.

Resurrecting an old thread to share a long-term-ish review of this roaster, in case anyone is looking for additional information/perspective. I purchased a BC-2 in October of 2017 and have run about 270 batches of various charge sizes. For the sake of brevity, I'm just going to list what I think is pertinent and important information for anyone considering this roaster. These are just personal observations!

1. Batch size: I've had good success between 400g and 1000g. I consider the ideal batch size to be 800g.
2. Thermocouples: I replaced the stock 6mm BT and ET thermocouples with the 2mm offerings from Mill City Roasters. I use Artisan and have my sampling interval set at 1 second, no oversampling, 0 smooth curves, no smooth spikes, 0 smooth deltas, 30s delta span, and optimal smoothing post roast. This was a worthwhile upgrade. I've put a couple recent roast curves at the bottom of this post for reference.
3. Repeatability: The longest roast session I've done is 6 hours, charging a new batch every 15 minutes. With careful attention and very small gas tweaks, I was able to consistently hit my roast milestones (dry, FC, drop) within +/-15 seconds between all 24 batches.
4. Fancy airflow damper: I don't use it.
5. Chaff collector/cyclone: Having it integrated with the roaster makes for a very convenient (small) roaster footprint. The collection chamber at the bottom is quite small, I empty it after every roast.
6. Size/Footprint: I bought a Harbor Freight rolling tool cart and put a couple 2x4s under the lid to support the weight of the roaster. It's perfect, highly recommended. Get the optional fold-out tray. See pictures below for my setup.
7. Cooling: Beans reach ambient temperature (I've roasted in my garage as low as 26 and as high as 101 degrees F) between 2 and 3 minutes.
8. Drum speed: I run my drum at nearly max RPMs, which is 83.

Roast Curves
Wet, Dry, Decaf, with 400/600/800 gram charges for variety. The first and second roasts are of a washed El Salvadoran bourbon. The roasts were on two different dates and at two very different times in a roast session (204 was the second roast of the day, 194 was the 14th roast of the day) so as to demonstrate the repeatability and control of the BC-2. The third roast (205) is of an extremely crashy Kenyan. I am no expert in managing crashy beans, but I included it to show that handling crashy beans is somewhat possible on the BC-2 in the hands of an amateur. Fourth roast (164) is a dry process Ethiopian. Fifth roast (154) is an Ethiopian Decaf.

If you have any questions, let me know, I'd be happy to answer as best I can!

mojoit wrote:Resurrecting an old thread to share a long-term-ish review of this roaster, in case anyone is looking for additional information/perspective.

Nice setup!

What's your warm up time?

For your airflow, are you saying you don't use the dial/damper going to the cyclone?

40 minutes. I can get away with less, but it makes the first batch unnecessarily difficult to predict/manage.

Correct, I have my airflow set at 4. I've found greater consistency only managing gas settings. Haven't found an airflow theory that I've been able to successfully implement to make my coffee taste noticeably better, so I've left it alone.