IMAWriter Senior Member Joined: 4 Jul 2002 Posts: 5,475 Location: Brentwood, TN Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Nothing at the moment Grinder: Vario-W,Preciso-Esatto/KyM... Vac Pot: Adcraft SS, Yama 8 cup Drip: Brazen.Chemex, Hario, Clever... Roaster: Behmor 1600, CO/UFO combo
Posted Sun Jan 13, 2013, 8:44pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
Gundy Said:
Hi Everyone,
Currently considering upgrading a Behmor to a HotTop B. Reason is because I want more control. More specifically shorter roast times (in the 14-16 minute range).
I roast 8 oz batches and like them just short of second crack which which tends to be 2 to 2 1/2 minutes from start of first crack for me.
On a Behmor @ P1, roast curve goes straight up and I usually get ~14 minute roast times on 8 oz. Great but I don't want a rocket for my roast curve. Using P3/P4, better curve but roast times for what I'm trying to achieve on 8 oz tend to be in the 19 to 22 minute range. That seams too long (baked).
- What are the average roast times on a HotTop? - Is anyone using a Behmor and getting shorter roast times than 19-22 minutes with P3/P4 - For those that have had Behmor and HotTop, did you find one to produce better roasts over the other?
Matt, welcome to CG. With all due respect, you must have less than 120v coming from your outlet of choice. With exactly 8oz by weight, (1/2#P1/A) I get to 1st crack around 7-7:30 depending on the varietal. I open the door toward the end of 1st, and get a 2:30 stretch to cusp of 2nd crack...total roast timeless than 11 minutes...almost too short. (+ cooling cycle.) At 1/2#/ P3/A I get to 1st crack at 10 minutes, 2nd crack 3 minutes later...I just add 1 minute to the roast time.
I normally roast a 13-14 oz charge at 1#setting...normally my first pops of 1st crack occur around 11 minutes.
Again, I believe you may have an issue with voltage. Anything less than 118v with any roaster is not optimal. If you own a Kil-a-wat I suggest checking the outlet. I also roast at less busy times of electrical usage.
Gundy Senior Member Joined: 13 Jan 2013 Posts: 2 Location: San Francisco, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Jan 16, 2013, 6:16am Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
Just want to say thanks. Yes it was voltage. After you guys said that I read some other voltage threads. Now on a 20 amp circuit, voltage holding 117-120 and things are much better.
Posted Wed Jan 16, 2013, 11:13am Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
One nit with the Hottop B is that while it isn't programmable like the P, it does allow you to save the heater and fan changes that you made during the roast so that you can use them as the basis for the next roast you do. That's a nice feature; once you've figured out when you want to adjust settings and do a roast that way you can save it and use those same changes the next time.
The difficulty arises because the B model doesn't have a "no changes" profile or any way to clear changes that were made. So when you start with the out of the box setting it will automatically turn the fan on at a certain point near the beginning of the roast and it will turn the heater down a bit later in the roast. That means that you not only have to decide when you want to alter settings by observing the beans and listening for cracks, you also have to pay attention to the front panel so that you can quickly undo unwanted heater and fan changes. With the fan that's not too difficult because you can hear the change, but with the heater you just have to continually watch the heater display ramp and notice when it changes. There's no beep to alert you. This takes attention away from the beans where it ought to be. If Hottop supported a "fan off, heater 100%" profile with no built in changes for the duration of the roast then you would have a blank slate on which to craft the profile appropriate to your beans. It's a minor nit to pick but completely unnecessary from the point of view of the design of the model B. Roy
Posted Wed Jan 16, 2013, 12:41pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
Yes, one of my few gripes with the Hottop B. As a matter of habit when the buzzer goes off during pre-heat and the timer starts counting I always turn the fan on and then off and then cycle down to heat and turn the heat down a couple stops and then back up to 10. The overrides any programmed changes and I never get into trouble with the roast progress.
I am not sure if it works for all versions (ages) of the "B" but try this: Start the roaster with no beans. Once it beeps to add beans, be sure that the heat is 100% and the fan is 0%. Let it run for a few minutes manually changing the heat and fan if necessary (I am not sure how much time is necessary), then hit eject. When the cooling cycle ends, save the profile to one of the memory locations. Now you have a "no changes" profile to work from. This does not override the safety points.
Posted Wed Jan 16, 2013, 1:05pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
Ah! So you're saying that when you make a heater change on the B model it clears all future heater changes from the current profile? And likewise for the fan? That's very useful to know. It should be in the manual. I've also presumed that the saved changes are stored by time into the roast when they should be applied, but it would be nice to see that in writing as well. And surely there's a maximum number of changes per roast that it can store. All of that should really be documented....
gregpullman Senior Member Joined: 4 Jul 2002 Posts: 57 Location: Adelaide, Australia Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Expobar Minore III Grinder: Mazzer Super Jolly Roaster: Hottop B&P, redundant Gene...
Posted Wed Jan 16, 2013, 6:36pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
Yep I did what Randy suggested when I first got my B. I think I had to let it get past the 8 minute mark (which is the normal minimum time), if you don't let it go long enough you don't get the prompt to save the program, but it's been so long now it could be something different. I do know that preheating and then ejecting within a minute or two wasn't long enough. I'd keep an eye on the heater and fan speed and if you see either of them change turn them back straight away. From observation, I think the Hottop scans the control panel every second to see if something's changed so if say the heater power drops and you turn it straight back up it doesn't register as a change when you save the program.
Yes once you make a change to a parameter that clears any future changes to that parameter. So if you have a temperature drop at 3 minutes and restore it at 5 minutes, if you decide to introduce a 30 second drop between 2:00 and 2:30, your changes at 3 and 5 minutes won't occur.
I might flag this post with Hottop, I agree it would be good to have this info in the manual, and provide a way to delete a program.
Posted Sat Mar 9, 2013, 3:24pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
This idea simply works great - now I use the stored profile (#1) every time I roast.
I have one minor change to suggest. I have a Hottop B-2K, so mine may behave slightly different than other models. At the end of the roast, the Hottop wants to automatically save the profile reflecting any changes I just made for the last roast. I set a timer during the cooling cycle to remind me to store the modified profile in a different location. That way my stored profile does not get changed "randomly".
Sorry, but I was mistaken - the Hottop does NOT "automagically" save changes to a stored profile.
Life is too short to drink bad wine (or bad coffee)
Really? All versions of the "B" I have seen do ask if you want to save to profile, but I have not seen where it will save it automatically. I have sent a message to Michael (Hottop USA) about that as the factory does occasionally make changes without notifying Hottop USA.
Posted Sat Mar 9, 2013, 7:51pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
frcn Said:
Really? All versions of the "B" I have seen do ask if you want to save to profile, but I have not seen where it will save it automatically. I have sent a message to Michael (Hottop USA) about that as the factory does occasionally make changes without notifying Hottop USA.
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