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Permalink Reply by Jason Shipley on November 29, 2009 at 5:00pm

380 sounds too high to me. I'm not sure on an IR3 specifically but at that high of a temp I think you really risk tipping the beans. What do your roasts look like? Has this started to change recently? Did it change all at ounce or have roast times been creeping up for a long time?

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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on November 29, 2009 at 5:21pm

OTOH 380f charge temp sounds too low to me unless doing small batches (less than 4LB). While I roast with a USRC 3k not Diedrich, I have roasted with an IR3 before. Full capacity batches I charge at anywhere from 400 to 420f depending on the bean and profile.

Everything changes depending on bean type/batch size and desired roast result. Charge temps, burner rates, air flow rates. Roasting ain't one size (profile) fits all.

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Permalink Reply by Jono Le Feuvre on July 13, 2010 at 11:08am

Hey Jason,

I completely agree with you that 380F sounds a little high, and tipping is inevitable. The trouble with IR-3s seems to be that unless you charge that high, you'll struggle to get roast times under 17 minutes. And that's not even with capacity roasts. Currently I'm roasting 2.4kg roasts (in a 3kg drum), dropped at about 350F, and I really have to gun my little guy to get him to hit a 16min30 drop time. Not ideal. You don't happen to have any suggestions do you?
Would be keen to hear your thoughts.
Jason Shipley said:

380 sounds too high to me. I'm not sure on an IR3 specifically but at that high of a temp I think you really risk tipping the beans. What do your roasts look like? Has this started to change recently? Did it change all at ounce or have roast times been creeping up for a long time?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Belt on July 14, 2010 at 10:03pm

On my IR-3, I drop 5lb batches at 400 charge. I adjust air and heat to still maintain roughly 15 min batches, depending on bean type. I don't ever close air beyond 50/50.

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Permalink Reply by Jono Le Feuvre on July 15, 2010 at 12:06am

What do you do for softer beans? Surely dropping a nice moist indonesian bean at that charge temp would give some hectic tipping? I drop some SHB coffees at about 365, but even then, there are some fairly hard beans that tip at that temp. But I'll mess around with airflow. perhaps that's the trick. I usually have it on "through the cooling bin" for the first 2 minutes. I'll change that to 50/50. Thanks for the tip.

Steve Belt said:

On my IR-3, I drop 5lb batches at 400 charge. I adjust air and heat to still maintain roughly 15 min batches, depending on bean type. I don't ever close air beyond 50/50.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Belt on July 15, 2010 at 12:41pm

I use primarily hard beans. Here in AZ, we don't have much that can stay "moist", given our crazy dry air.

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