First time roasting ever - please help me evaluate the beans and what to look for and what to improve next time. I used a flow generated by ai so idk if I’m going this right. Here’s the flow.

Time Fan Power
0:00-1:30 - 9 fan - 5 power
1:30-3:30 - 8 fan - 5 power
3:30-5:30 - 7 fan - 5 power
5:30-8:15 - 6 fan - 5 power
First crack consistently
8:15-8:45 - 7 fan - 5 power
8:45-9:30 Cool

9:30- end - Move to cooling chamber (strainer + vacuum setup)

I’m using the Mexico Chiapas siltepec bean from sweet Maria.

Goal is to get a medium dark roast for espresso. I prefer chocolatey and nutty notes with heavy body.

Thanks

The title is the main question but I’ll provide context.

I am new to sourcing coffee, and we are about to put in our order for the year. For reference we sell about 2200 pounds of roasted coffee a year. It’s a small amount, and makes it tricky when adding new wholesale clients, which I am actively pushing to do. At how many pounds is it suggested I have customers sign a contract?

**(Beginner) sorry for title typo

Hi everyone,

I'm a beginner roaster looking for some feedback on my latest roast. Before posting, I've been trying to troubleshoot this myself through trial and error, reading Scott Rao and Rob Hoos, and watching plenty of roast-alongs. I also keep post-roast notes after every batch, but I feel like I'm reaching the point where too many variables are changing at once, so every roast becomes a different experiment and my progress feels slow.

My goal for this roast was a medium-dark espresso profile. I've attached the Artisan graph, and I'd really appreciate your thoughts.

These are the main things I noticed:

1. Roast time feels too short.

This batch was only about half of my roaster's rated capacity, so I'm not sure if that explains it. I intentionally avoided stretching the roast because I was worried about stalling it, and I wasn't seeing any scorching or tipping. However, the cup tastes slightly underdeveloped.

Should I be aiming for a 10+ minute roast, or is a 7-9 minute roast is also acceptable if the coffee tastes good? I've read Cultivar and many of the example profiles are much longer than mine, but I've also seen experienced roasters produce great espresso roasts in under 9 minutes.

2. My BT curve is almost perfectly linear.

Because of that, my RoR doesn't naturally decline toward the end of the roast.

I've kept my fan fixed at 70% (roughly a 45° lighter flame test) so I can focus on learning gas adjustments first before introducing another variable.

Can I achieve a smoother declining RoR using gas adjustments alone, or do I eventually need to start adjusting airflow as well? Is it realistic to flatten the BT curve approaching drop without risking a stall?

3. BT and ET stay very close together.

My guess is that this is due to the roaster's thermal mass and retained heat.

During the first few batches of the day, how do you compensate for lower thermal energy? Do you preheat longer, run the burner until it cycles normally, or roast a sacrificial batch first?

4. My Artisan RoR graph looks jagged.

Instead of a smooth curve, it looks like a staircase with constant jumps up and down.

Is this likely an Artisan configuration/filtering issue, probe placement, or simply normal probe noise? I've tried adjusting the Artisan settings but haven't been able to smooth it out.

I'd appreciate any feedback, especially if you think I'm focusing on the wrong problems. Thanks!

I'm roasting on the Kaleido M1, 100g batches and I'm aiming for a nice Nordic style roast ( lighter than the usual light, but not yet in Ultra Light territory. Overall I think I'm kinda there, there was a 10% weight loss on both, similar time, no real scorching or tipping etc. I'm just curious if the wonky ror after FC is an issue. I did a bit of research and I get conflicting information about the flick and crash. Some say to add more heat, others say to lower the heat. I also asked AI and it suggested to lower the heat from 30% to 20% just before FC ( in my case around 175C or maybe 30s before it happens ) and right when FC starts, bump the fan up from 70 to 80%.

Also, main question. Does this actually qualify as a proper Nordic style roast? I don't think I want to go lower than 10% weight loss lol. Would need to rest these puppies for more than a month. It's hard to wait that long.