Profile vs Program

[Kor Kiley]

I've been using RoastMaster since mid 2013 and am really loving it. Unfortunately I've never really taken the time to learn to use it in a way that I can utilize all of its functionality. My roaster has been a homemade roaster until last week when I purchased a Hottop KN-8828B-2K. Having a roaster with si much more control over the roast has galvanized me to learn RoastMaster better.

I think I'm going to have a lot of questions, stupid ones judging from what I've been able to find on these pages in the way of answers. What I want to know first is, what is the difference between a Program and a Profile. I've searched everywhere examined both in RoastMaster and fail to find a difference.

[Danny Hall]

Hi Kor!

I heard about the new roaster - congrats!!

There's absolutely no difference. Behmor users need to record both Profile and Program, and some other roasters use the vernacular "Program". Those are the main reasons they both exist, instead of just Profiles.

In a nutshell, the main objectives of Profiles are:

• Let you build a library of your best roast "recipes"
• Let you instantly call up one of these "recipes" without having to troll through your past roast data trying to find it.
• Provide a record of what roaster setting(s) you used:
  
  • In the case of automatic roasters, this is a reference to the machine's profile you used
  • In the case of manual or hybrid roasters, this would probably be a collection of the roasting control curves you apply to the machine as you roast as well as the reading curves you tried to target in the roast
  In either scenario, you'll have a record of what you did without having to actually enter any data yourself, unless you're also logging throughout the roast.
• Creates new curves for recording data in new roasts (if you use a Profile's Curve Templates feature) so you don't have to manually define the same curves over and over again each time you roast

I think the next screencast I do will be about the Anatomy of a Profile. I designed them to be flexible so that hopefully everyone can benefit from them - whether you have a WhirleyPop or a Diedrich, so there's many different ways they can function in practice. I also want to cover some of the more advanced topics of Profiles/Programs like snapshots, etc.

If you haven't watched them yet, have a look at Roasting in the Analyzer and Creating a Profile From a Roast

They don't go into any detail about different case scenarios, but you may be able to get a better picture of how Profiles work until I get the next screencast finished.

[Kor Kiley]

Hi Danny,

Yes, I'm very happy about the new roaster and my wife's support for quite an expensive purchase!

Thanks so much for answering my question about programs vs profiles! I'm actually in the middle of watching your video of roating in the analyzer (something I always do but now I'm getting curious about the gauges on the main screen and their purpose!) I AM learning a lot from the video. So far I've used RoastMaster mainly to keep a record of my roasts, and while I've manually recorded bean temperature with a cheap thermocouple embeded in the shallow layer of beans in my homemade TurboCrazy, I've yet to really use it as a means of targeting past roasts and using them as a guide for reproducing or tweaking the current roast. Part of the reason I haven't really pursued this is because of my primitive and unreliable temperature recording methods.

In the future, I plan to upgrade the roaster with first a bean temperature probe through the bean chute cover, and later use the autolog feature of RoastMaster preferably using a BlueTherm Duo or possibly an iCelsius BBQ. But for now, although it won't tell me absolute bean temperature, the K type temperature probe and display built into the Hottop is a tremendous improvement on my home made job. Right now my aim is to properly set up a profile with curves and curve templates for the Hottop LCD, fan and power.

Thanks for the great software and support!

[Kor Kiley]

I just finished the video on roasting in the analyzer. It's an excellent video and really helps me get a clearer picture of how to use RM effectively! I will watch it again.

And yes, a video on the anatomy of a profile sounds very helpful! And I'm looking forward to watching "Creating a Profile from a Roat"

[Danny Hall]

If she's a coffee drinker, she won't regret giving consent. You'll be able to roast some great coffee on it.

You'll have a lot of fun once you get the probe up and running. In the mean time, though, you can concentrate on building profiles with control curves. I rely heavily on both together when I roast. I roast at the full capacity of my Quest, so the bean mass is sluggish to respond to the changes I make in heat and fan. As a result, I record my control settings and stick to them closely throughout the roast.

Any questions you have just let me know. It helps to know what screencasts will help people, and also helps others find answers when they come looking.

Thanks for the kind words!