Purchased a new to me Diedrich HR-1 and have put a few roasts on it. Would it be possible to get other HR-1 owners on here and get a discussion going on the workings of the machine (air flow, heat settings, profiles ). I am getting good roasts but would like to get great roasts. My other machine is the Hottop B which I have really enjoyed and that has a lot of people out there sharing information so the learning curve was easier. What I am looking for is a place I can come to and ask questions (and offer help some time down the line) and get my roasts to the next level by understanding the capabilities of the machine. Thanks

Good luck. They're sorta hens teeth. I can't swear to it, but I don't recall any other frequent contributing members who actually have one. A few IR-1's, though. I'd love to see a few pictures of it in action! Do you find the heat source sufficiently easy to manipulate?

There was someone who had one, and used to post here a few years ago, at about the same time the HotTop began making inroads.

He (the someone, not the HotTop) got into a fight with Ken Fox over whether or not the HR-1 was a real roaster and made the mistake of telling Ken that he (Ken) was jealous of the HR-1 because he (Ken) couldn't afford an HR-1. Ken could, hilarity ensued, and he (the someone) stopped contributing.

Pretty funny if you're the type of person who enjoys human suffering. I sure miss Ken.

I don't recall the someone saying much about the roaster itself other than that he and his wife liked it, but have the lingering impression that the HR-1 was not terribly responsive (typical of electrics as we all know now), and on the slow side. Wish I remembered more about the roaster.

BDL

Thanks guys for the posts. The machine is slow and slow to respond but I am trying to work around . The Hottop is slow to respond also but after a time learned to work with. The other day I forgot to put the chaff tray back in and did a whole roast before I noticed and the roast time was the shortest 1st c @ 12 min and first pops of second crack 15 min 30 sec. The heat was more responsive also not sure why and not sure if I should experiment further. There are 2 air control levers that I am trying to figure out but the instructions are not very clear. Has anyone run into any of these 2 situations? Below are a couple of pics of my set up:

No, she's sure got a pretty footprint!

Just guessing that one damper controls the air flow through the cooler, and the other controls the air flow out of the roast chamber(i.e., exhaust). But if guesses were horses there wouldn't be so many Type 1 Errors, so check with Diedrich.

If I'm right, you're going to have to experiment using dry runs to determine your greatest RoR settings; and then run some "average" loads of junk beans to determine the right setting for maximum RoR WITH negative air pressure in the roast chamber. Make sure you do this at regular intervals though the relevant temperature range, because -- depending on roaster design -- higher heats can require different damper setting than lower heats to maintain negative pressure.

But if I'm wrong, same same.

Learning to max RoR from EOD to onset of 1st C is very important with a slow roaster. It's quite likely that whatever damper setting is fastest will be your default through nearly all of your roast time, regardless of profile.

Do LOTS of dry runs.

To see if you've got negative air pressure, remove the trier and hold a candle or lighter flame near the opening. If the flame is pulled in towards the opening, you're good. If not, the beans will take on a lot of smoke. If you don't have enough heating power to run a fast enough roast with negative air pressure all the way, you're going to have to plan on doing several "smoke dumps" during the roast.

Think about experimenting with lower charge weights to see if you can't get your times down. But remember that lower doses usually mean lower charge temps to prevent tipping.

With a roast profile as slow as the one you reported, you're probably not going to want to extend the interval between onset of 1st C and drop -- beyond making sure that the roaster isn't holding a lot of smoke and chaff. But you may want to drag the drying period a little to maximize sweetness. At least that's been my experience with the Amazon. But there are contingencies, like type of bean, charging temp, and possibly on the idiosyncracies of the particular roaster as well.

You can do some very nice roasts with a slow roaster, as long as (a) it's not too slow; and (b) you're willing to trade acidy nuances in exchange for sweetness. At least that's been my experience.

BDL

boar_d_laze wrote:Just guessing that one damper controls the air flow through the cooler, and the other controls the air flow out of the roast chamber(i.e., exhaust).

I concur, I'm just wondering what the effect of the cooler control is?

With just the exhaust control of the IR-1 generally cool air is drawn through the drum in the drum position and through the cooling bin in that position. Simple. Through the drum to remove chaff and smoke, and to slow the roast down. Through the cooling bin to trap heat in the drum and to cool beans in the tray.

Now add in the cooling bin control. Ok, I think I got it, with this set up the dampers are fully independent and they don't split the air flow like the single control of the IR-1 does. So you can draw air through the cooling bin while you're also drawing air through the drum?

So I can understand drum closed/cooling bin open, drum open/cooling bin open, but I don't get having the cooling bin one closed unless it also helps retaining hot air in the drum?

- Cooling bin open, Cooling Bin Air -> 80/20 Cooling bin, through drum air
- Cooling bin closed, 50% Air -> 50% air through drum
- Cooling bin closed, Roasting Drum Air -> 100% air through drum

This is too shorthand for me to understand. Can you elucidate a bit? For instance:

• What do you mean by "Cooling bin open?"
• What does x% air through drum mean?
• Doesn't air going through the cooling bin, pass from the bin into the drum before exiting?
• How much air flow is required to maintain negative air flow in the drum?
• Are 80/20, 50/50 and 100% the only possibilities or is it possible to get more control?
• Are you an HR-1 owner?

BDL

boar_d_laze wrote:What does x% air through drum mean?
Doesn't air going through the cooling bin, pass from the bin into the drum before exiting?

I can answer these from the perspective of the IR-1 with a single control. On the IR-1 there is a duct under the machine running from the cooling bin to the back of the machine and up to a junction with the exit from the drum. At that junction is the single damper control.

The choices are Through the drum, 50/50, Through the cooling bin (through the cooling bin or drum are not really 100%, this is where the 80/20 comes in). It would probably be easy to mod to have it continuous rather than 3 settings but I have never felt the need to do so.

Through the drum: cool air is being sucked into the drum through hopper (with a little warm air being sucked in from the ends of the drum).

Through the cooling bin: very little air is being sucked through the drum, the cyclone is mostly pulling air through the cooling bin.

50/50: somewhere in between those two.

With the HR-1 I'm curious where the two air paths meet.