Tag: Update

Roastmaster for iOS 9 is available for download from the app store!

You had ideas and we set to work…we had ideas and we kept going! What emerged is a brand new Roastmaster, with a host of new features aimed at streamlining any workflow, but especially geared toward serious specialty coffee roasters and anyone who has a serious passion for nothing but the best possible coffee.

The job of software is to make your life easier. Nobody likes extra work, and the new features in Roastmaster are designed to eliminate as much of that as possible. We want to help free your attention–letting you be more focused on your coffee, not on software details.

With automatic bean lot tracking, curve events, advanced reporting, inline calculators, inventory reminders and a host of other features, this version is geared toward speed, efficiency, and most of all, to unlocking the hidden information of your beans, vendors, roasts, cuppings. Quality is key…and we want to help you achieve it!

New Features

• Spanish, French, Simplified Chinese and Korean Languages.
• 64-bit native on compatible devices.
• Roast and Curve Events: Add time-stamped markers to any roast or curve to signify a point of interest. Or, define a custom temperature trigger in a curve event, and Roastmaster will alert you when it’s been reached, annotating the curve to match.
• Advanced Reporting Capabilities: View and compare detailed information about virtually any detail of your library, as well as many new calculated metrics. See side-by-side metric comparisons, groupings and tallies, or view this information in interactive line and bar charts with overlaid cupping information.
• Smarter, Faster and Easier Numerical Data Entry: All of Roastmaster’s numerical data entry screens have been redesigned with better layout, form-based navigation, and custom keyboard and measurement units pickers, allowing for faster and easier data entry.
• Easier Node Entry: Redesigned curve entry panel with selectable text and custom decimal keyboard make entering node data a breeze.
• Bean Lot Tracking: Track and audit information about individual beans lots, such as lot number, cost, moisture, density, Q Score, screen size and more. Roastmaster creates bean lots automatically as you received inventory, providing an audit trail for changing attributes.
• Inventory Warning Threshold for Beans: Roastmaster will alert you when that bean’s stock needs to be replenished.
• Full Control of Auxiliary Entities: Caffeine, processing, market, size, growing, density and roaster temperature types can be created, deleted and edited at will.
• Custom Roast Names: Easily distinguish among roasts by entering custom names.
• Roast Yield Prediction: See what the expected yield is for any roast and roast style, based on recent roasts in your library.
• Estimated Green Weight from Yields: Use past yield information to predict the required green weight based on recent roasts in your library.
• Expanded Roast Attributes: Pre and post moisture, density and weight values, along with many calculated metrics via Curve Events, such as turnaround, drying and ramp times.
• Expanded Cupping Protocols: Choose from a number of different protocols aimed at tracking roast efficiency and/or green attributes, or choose the manual style to enter a quick score.
• Interactive Cupping Spider Graphs: Edit attribute scores graphically by tapping and dragging on the spider graph itself, or via an enhanced numeric keypad.
• Cupping Flights: Select multiple roasts to create a batch of cuppings, then perform a flight cupping in-line with spider graphs.
• Expanded Cupping Attributes: See the brew ratio of your cuppings, and store many new attributes, like water temperature, TDS, grind settings, and extraction time.
• Manual Roast Sorting: Roastmaster now provides the ability to reorder roasts by dragging, making it easy to define the order in which a day’s roasts should be performed.
• Default Roaster. Set any roaster as the default and it will be automatically tagged in new roasts.
• Analyzer Graph Shift: Drag the Y axis downward to quickly pull taller reading curves into view.
• In-Line Calculator: Access a custom calculator complete with “paper tape” style readout anywhere numeric values are entered. Perform any computation, and apply the results.
• Create nodes without typing by dragging curve labels in the analyzer.
• Roastmaster will now prevent iOS from sleeping when in the analyzer or console with a bound data logging probe, allowing you to monitor the roaster as it warms up.
• Non-metric volume and density measurements now translate correctly between US common units and UK Imperial units, and can be entered in either system.
• Analyzer composite notes now shows the roasted weight and roaster.
• Agtron fields now allow decimals
• Fixes a bug that would result in a crash when adding a bean when the bean sort mode is set to region.

The new version of Roastmaster is ready for download from the App Store! We’ve been hard at work since early spring–retooling Roastmaster to be faster, smarter, more robust and to leverage the capabilities of iOS 8 and Apple’s new line of iPhones.

We’ve taken a long, hard look at the areas of the app that could be improved – from subtle adjustments in views and navigation that have big impacts on your user experience, to core function and speed enhancements to help you get your work done faster. Naturally, there are a number of brand new features as well – all geared, as usual, to help make your roasts the best they can be. You’ve given us many ideas, and great insights since the last update, and we’ve been listening and busy implementing!

Following are some of the noteworthy improvements that will be available in the coming update.

iOS 8 and iPhone 6/6 Plus

The Latest and Greatest
Roastmaster 8.0 offers full, native iOS 8 support

Expand Your Horizons
Native support for the larger iPhone and iPhone 6 screen sizes and resolutions.

Help

Get the Help You Need – Fast!
Roastmaster’s knowledge base has been rewritten and redesigned from the ground up. Browse clearly-written articles, grouped by subjects and topics. Peruse by related links, or quickly search for a specific keyword to easily find help fast when you need it.

Workflow Speed

Integrated AirDrop
Instantly send a profile, program, roaster, curve, report or an entire database directly to a nearby iOS device – no need to shuffle them via email or Dropbox.

Better iOS Services Integration
Roastmaster is more tightly integrated with common iOS activities. Quickly text a summary of a roast to a friend or colleague, or instantly open a report directly in any iOS application that supports tab delimited text.

More Precise Roast Graph
The home screen roasted graph now performs deep queries to traverse down to Roasts of Blends of Roasts of Beans.

Custom List Sorting
Easily sort your beans, roasts, blends, cuppings, profiles and programs by tapping the new sort button in the header of these lists. You can choose from many different attributes, and arrange them in ascending or descending order.

Explore Profile Alternatives
Easily duplicate a profile or program by long-tapping its icon in any list.

Effortless Snapshots
Roastmaster can now create automatic snapshots in the analyzer, as well as the console. If you attempt to edit the curve of any shared profile or program, a snapshot will be automatically created for you, and the edits applied to it instead, keeping your original data intact.

Easier Graphical Curve Editing
All unshared curves are now editable in the console or analyzer–whether they belong to the roast, or a profile or program. You can also edit a curve before a roast starts – making it easy to build profiles or plot a roast before dropping the beans.

Extended Roast Editing
The post-roast editing period has been extended from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, allowing curve and crack data entry as the beans cool.

Unrestricted Detail Editing
Profile, program and curve details can now be freely edited from any location in Roastmaster. If an item’s data is shared among multiple roasts, or belongs to a completed roast, Roastmaster will simply warn you with a count of the elements that will be affected.

Advanced Snapshot Management
Easily promote a profile, program or blend snapshot to the master position, or demote an existing master – while keeping all the past references intact. This makes it easy organize your library, keeping your most desirable data up front where it’s easy to access.

Miscellaneous Enhancements
From window titles, to button placement, Roastmaster seeks to provide a smooth and streamlined workflow.

Roast Analyzer

Super Speed and Reimagined Function
The analyzer has been rewritten, quite literally, from the ground up, proving an interface that is lightning fast, as well as more intuitive and informative. Better layout, typography, consistent curve ordering and improved tapping gestures smooth your workflow, while subtle animations draw your attention to functions and key events.

Delta Curves
Learn even more from your roast data by graphically comparing the rate of rise of reading curves overlayed on the actual curve data.

Consolidated Notes
The analyzer can now display notes from every item of interest in your roast. Simply tap the new notes button to see an arranged list of every item associated with the current roast: the roast itself, beans and blends, roaster, profile, program, curves and cuppings. Roastmaster will also show notes of the same items from the target roast. To edit the notes of any item, just tap its header and type notes you roast – all without ever leaving the analyzer!

Dynamic Layout
Drag handles in the y axis to quickly change how your curves plot. You can choose to overlay or juxtapose control curves, and place them anywhere on the screen – all with a tap and drag.

Complete Curve Control
The analyzer already provides targeting modes, but now also gives exact control over how each curve is displayed. Just two-finger tap to bring up the curve selector. Tap a row to select or deselect that curve, or tap the display button in that row to toggle the curve and label style among three modes: primary (solid), target (dotted) or off (hidden).

Easier Curve Selection
When tapping a curve to select it, Roastmaster is now smarter about its selections, and you’ll also be able to select curves by tapping directly on their label.

Colored Banner Alerts That Don’t Interrupt Your Work
Alerts are now displayed as unobtrusive, queued banners–color coded to match their source curve, and can be dismissed immediately or left on screen as a reminder if you want to temporarily delay that action. Navigation buttons allow you to navigate among multiple alerts, dismissing any individual alert as you apply that particular setpoint to your roaster.

Customizable Alerts
There is now a preference setting for determining which control curves produce alerts in the analyzer, as well as visual feedback within the analyzer for which curves have upcoming alerts.

See Cupping Details
Tap on the cupping icon in the analyzer to see a list of individual cupping dates, scores and notes for each cupping being reported. Tap the header of any item in this list to edit those notes right in the analyzer.

Easier Targeting
New targeting button (iPad) allows you to easily switch targeting modes without opening the controls dock. It displays the current targeting mode, and informs you if you have overridden the default curve styles.

High Contrast Viewing
New white color scheme for the analyzer provides higher-contrast viewing for outdoor roasters.

Many Other Enhancements

• The analyzer past roast target mode will now show the past roast’s profile curves by default
• Improved analyzer typography
• Long tap a node in the analyzer to delete it
• Smoother differential temperature projection markers
• The roast graph and analyzer now clip negative values at 0, preventing unwanted display below the baseline
• Node editor “x” buttons are easier to tap

Roast Console

See the Cost of an Individual Roast
The green bean ingredients list in roasts now includes the total cost of the roasted items.

Less Clutter
The roast console now provides large, easy to read text feedback in the graph area when selecting matching criteria–replacing the small, cluttered text descriptions beneath the buttons.

Data Logging Option

Range Probe Support
Introduces support for the Range probes from Supermechanical. These economical probes plug directly into the headphone jack, and provide reliable temperature readings.

Smarter, More Informative Crosshairs
Analyzer crosshairs have been redesigned to give a better view of underlying target data, and now contain new graphical delta pointers that change as the probe’s linear delta changes, showing you the direction and intensity of rise. Combine this with the existing differential projection markers, and you’ll have more data than ever before to keep your roasts on target.

Manual Sampling
Tap the digital temperature readout to quickly record a sample: before, during and after a roast to supplement the automatic temperature logging.

Miscellaneous

Behmor Plus Friendly
Behmor curves are now editable to support the Behmor Plus panel upgrade. Start off with an “automatic” Roastmaster Behmor curve like always. If you switch to manual mode on your roaster, just edit your Roastmaster curve as needed, and it will switch to manual mode as well. If you want to switch back to automatic, just tap the new “Convert to Automatic” activity button, and Roastmaster will reset the future portion of the curve to the last Behmor defaults–retaining all of your prior edits and time-shifts.

Crisp Label Type…and More Of It
Roastmaster’s label engine has been redesigned with smarter layout capabilities, and the ability to render character spacing and true typographer’s leading fashioned for high readability at the printed size. Crisp type, and better layout mean that Roastmaster can fit nearly double the notes on a label as before.

Smarter Inventory Management
Whenever you delete a roast that is not tagged as complete (e.g. using the console/analyzer to perform the roast, or manually setting its duration), the items of that roast will be automatically credited back to inventory before deleting.

Smarter Profile Creation
When creating a profile from a roast, you’ll be able to select the individual curves you want to include in the profile. You’ll then be able to designate which of these curves should be included as curve templates, providing automatic configuration of future roasts to record comparative data.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the “bouncing balls” issue on the home screen introduced in iOS 8
• Fixed an issue where the probe store could become unresponsive, and unable to connect to iTunes
• Fixed a bug that could cause “Export Database” to fail in rare circumstances
• Fixed bug that may cause a crash when browsing the green bean library, particularly if using the find filter
• Fixed report bug where the range may not honor the input range if the keyboard is dismissed before running the report
• Exports now properly handle names containing forward slash characters

If you have any questions, please let us know, and keep an eye out for the update!

 

Version 7 for iOS 7 is here! Version 7, you might say… but where did the other versions go? Well, from here on out I plan to align the app version with the iOS version it’s targeted for, so we’re jumping ahead here to catch up. Apple has recently begun to allow downloads of older versions, and I think this type of versioning scheme will be the easiest to understand as iOS moves forward.

I want to take a moment to offer a very heartfelt thanks to everyone I’ve worked so closely with over the past few months while implementing and refining features, as well as the beta testers who offered invaluable input. This update, code-wise, was probably the biggest one to date. iOS 7 is very different than iOS 6 and earlier with respect to how screens are drawn and displayed – something Roastmaster draws a lot of. When the GM seeds of iOS 7 were released, I realized development time was going to run long. Since I also wanted to hold out for testing on the new iPad, I took the chance to concentrate heavily on both form and function – a very big undertaking to say the least, but one that was definitely due.

Form

I’ve overhauled the UI – in part to help Roastmaster blend with iOS 7’s minimalistic design theme, and integrate seamlessly with its new features. More importantly, though, I felt the new version of Roastmaster should have an interface that is familiar, but much more content-oriented – one that takes a back seat to your data – complementing it, and eschewing unnecessary elements that compete with it.

In line with this, I’ve paid very close attention to typography, colors and iconography in this update. In an app as comprehensive as Roastmaster, running on a platform that is limited to one visible screen at a time, these items are critical in helping you to navigate your data, and also in serving as mnemonic cues – helping you mentally retain your place in the app as you browse. I really hope you enjoy the new look, and find the UI enahncements helpful in presenting and navigating your data.

Function

My ever-present goal is to equip Roastmaster with the tools to help you put your data to work for you. I strive to help you easily and intuitively build on past successes – either by direct comparison of current roasts to past roasts and their cupping data, or by using this data in tandem with your ever-evolving custom profiles. This is the means to the end goal of the best tasting cup of coffee possible. In addition to this, it’s important to be able to perform tasks in Roastmaster easily – with minimal effort and thought on your part. Most of the new features are geared toward one of these two goals.

So many amazing folks have come forward with ideas and suggestions – some I’d already planned, some I’d never even thought of. Thanks to you all! Believe me, I listen to and evaluate every single suggestion. As always, majority rules – so if you see your suggestion on this list, you’re in good company.

New Features

User Interface

• Full iOS 7 compatibility
• A more simple, open and content-oriented design
• Improved typography and iconography
• Support for iOS 7 dynamic text sizing
• Easily recognizable activity icons now replace the old text-based activity choices
• All buttons are easier to tap

Support for two new probes for Data Logging Users

• Support for the BlueTherm Duo Probe – a wireless Bluetooth probe that supports 2 K Style thermocouples
• Support for the iCelsius BBQ Probe – a wired probe that attaches to the dock connector, or to a Lightning port via a Dock to Lightning adapter.

Productivity

• New inventory report type
• Analyze recent roasts to quickly view your most recent roast activity
• Easily turn a completed roast into a profile or program
• Notes for all items are now edited via a spacious full-screen editor
• Dedicated numeric keypad for editing node values and times
• Faster database operations
• Copying a roast now includes the profile and program, and applies the appropriate curve templates
• Roast alarms can now be set by tapping on the alarm marker and entering a specific time in addition to dragging on the gauge or graph
• Several of the past-roast matching algorithms have been shifted to the database side, speeding up queries and greatly reducing memory consumption
• Roaster setup assistant. Behmor users will find this particularly helpful, as it will automatically configure a Behmor roaster for using and displaying Behmor curves.
• Better curve comparison for past roast matching
• Rested age since roasting in days and hours for cuppings
• Ability to condense or expand an existing curve by intervals of 15 seconds
• Roasts, blends and cuppings now show the countries of their items in the header
• Roasts, blends and cuppings can now be filtered by country in the main list views
• Ability to two-finger tap on the main roast console graph to select a curve from a list of all curves
• Ability to have roast timers display inverted Behmor time when a Behmor curve is selected
• Ability to enter cracks for 30 seconds after the roast has ended

Roast Analyzer

• Faster scrolling and more responsive navigation
• Curve targeting mode enables you choose which curves are displayed for targeting:

1. 1. Profile/Program Mode: Current roast curves are displayed as solid, profile/program curves are displayed as dotted, all other curves hidden
   2. Past Roast Mode: Current roast curves are displayed as solid, past roast curves are displayed as dotted, all other curves hidden
   3. All (The legacy mode): Current roast and current profile/program curves are displayed as solid, other past roast curves displayed as dotted
   4. None: Current roast and current profile/program curves are displayed as solid, all other curves are hidden

• Live differential temperature projection markers. Select a curve, and create a draggable target with the predicted temperature based on the recent differential energy of the curve.
• Floating labels for curve levels, crack times and duration milestones
• Define up to three separate custom deltas to report for the selected curve or node
• Ability to plot control curves with a reduced height at the bottom of the screen – leaving the top area free for reading curve analysis
• More intuitive crack buttons: tap once to set the begin time – subsequent taps extend the duration. To clear times, tap and hold.
• Analyzer now remembers the selected curve, focus past roast and projection markers between views
• Customizable opacities for graph elements, like current curves, target curves and background
• More accurate delta times for data logging users (deltas are calculated from recent probe readings – accurate to 1/2 second)
• Easier curve selection by tapping directly on a curve, or two-finger tapping to invoke a chooser list
• Preference for alerts to remind you to enter temperature nodes at a customizable interval while in the Analyzer
• Ability to show a margin around the graph for easier selection of nodes that lie at 0 on the X or Y axis
• Preference settings to independently set the opacity for X or Y axis grid line markers.
• Selected curve remains selected when swiping through past roasts
• Analyzer display is calibrated to minutes, and remembers the last used setting between views

Looking Ahead

I’m going to be concentrating heavily on a series of screencast “shorts” – videos geared toward educating users on some of the features and how to perform standard and more complex workflow operations in Roastmaster. Please let me know if you have any suggestions on things you’d like to see showcased, or if you have any specific questions or comments on using Roastmaster.

I really hope you enjoy the new features in this update, and find them helpful in your roasting workflow. For folks celebrating Thanksgiving – enjoy your turkey, your time off and all we have to be thankful for. For those, and everyone else… as always, Happy Roasting!

Danny

Last night, Roastmaster 4.1 went live. If you haven’t installed it already, head over to the app store, grab the update and check out what’s new:

• Reporting
• Tab delimited exporting of report data
• J Type thermocouple support for Data Logging users
• Smoother temperature display for Data Logging users
• The Roast Analyzer now displays crack and duration averages from past roasts as gradient bars in the bottom x-axis legend, removing some of the clutter that could present in complex roast comparisons, and giving a clear way to see how the milestones of your current roast are occurring compared to the past roasts your are targeting.
• Selected curves in Analyzer now display as gradients, making it easier to discern between multiple current and past curves
• Tap-and-hold to clone a Bean
• Many under-the-hood and small usability tweaks
• Fixed a bug that would result in a crash when attempting to delete a curve from a profile or program, if that curve was copied from a roast in which it was instantiated from a curve template.
• Fixed a bug that would prevent deletion of a curve template from a Profile or Program

For Data Logging Users: Roastmaster 4.1 uses the latest Phidgets software – build 2.1.8.20130618. For users with a PC or Mac host, please download the appropriate software and install the Preference Pane (Mac) or Control Panel (Windows). For those with an SBC host, please open the PhidgetSBC Administration Console by double clicking the SBC in the Preference Pane/Control Panel of your desktop computer, navigating to the “System” main tab, then the “Packages” subtab, and clicking the update all packages button. Once your Phidgets software is updated, Roastmaster 4.1 will be able to link to your probes.

About the Update

As the app gradually matures with each release, I find my greatest ambition is to enhance the ways in which the data you record is made available to you as you use Roastmaster, not only in the area in which it resides, but in other areas – areas where you need to see it, and where it will be the most beneficial. Alongside of this, an ever-present ambition is to enhance the user experience – making the app as fun and easy to use as possible.

In the previous update, the Roast Analyzer screen was given a much-needed facelift. This included, among other things, the capability to display multiple roasts, and scroll through each one, seeing the current roast data compared to past roast and cupping data, to help you make informed decisions as you roast. After all, what good is dutifully recording data if you have to hunt and peck to retrieve it? That information should be easily accessible when and where you need it, in a way that makes it easy to understand and recognize patterns.

This update continues that focus with one of the most requested features this year – reporting. Whether you make your livelihood from roasting coffee, or are a coffee enthusiast who, like me, spends more than your fair share on green coffee beans, it’s important to be able to see how much you roast, blend or cup. Even if you don’t faithfully cup all of your roasts, seeing exactly what you roast is a good indicator of your own personal preferences, and is a great way to see what you like, as well a good means to bring attention to beans, countries or regions you’ve been neglecting.

What is Reporting?

Whereas the roasting mode of the home screen graph only displays totals from top-level beans in your roasts, Roastmaster’s reporting engine scours your database, descending through as many levels of encapsulation as your roasts contain to extract the exact weights of the green beans you’re using. So, for instance, if you like to roast blends that are comprised of roasts – the reporting engine will track that bean usage all the way to the beans themselves, reporting the exact weights and cost involved. Pairing this with cost analysis paints a pretty comprehensive picture of not only your roasting habits, but your spending habits as well.

Version 4.1 introduces 3 report types:

• Bean Usage of Roasts: An exhaustive actual bean use and cost analysis of your roasts.
• Bean Usage of Cuppings: An exhaustive actual bean use and cost analysis of your cuppings.
• Bean Components of Blends: An exhaustive report of bean percentages and projected cost averages of beans per lb or kg of blend.

Roastmaster’s reporting engine is equipped with flexible features:

• Advanced automatic and customizable time ranges
• Ability to group by Region, Country or Vendor, or lump everything together
• Sorting by Amount, Cost or Name
• Export to a tab delimited text file, including all of the bean details, amounts and costs, for sending to dropbox, iTunes file sharing or as an email attachment. Special attention has been paid to the data contained in the export – values are normalized and label free to allow easy sorting in your spreadsheet application.

I encourage you to experiment with the reporting feature, and, if you aren’t in the habit of recording the cost of your beans, to start recording this as you receive bean shipments. The existing bean cost feature is very easy to use, just enter the amount paid, and the weight you received. For instance, you can enter $24.57 per 5 lb – Roastmaster handles all of the math when needed. This information is very helpful when using the reporting feature – especially if you’re on a budget.

This is just the beginning of Reporting. I have ideas for more reports I plan to introduce in subsequent updates. If you have suggestions for other report types that would be beneficial to you, please let me know.

Moving Forward

Lots of things are planned for coming updates. I’ve done a lot of work under-the-hood with this release to prepare for the future. In the data logging arena, I’m in the process of securing test units and the SDKs for two interesting probes: the iCelsius BBQ and the Bluetherm Duo. Both units look promising, and both have their own individual strengths. Now that this update is released, I’ll be diving headfirst into coding and testing for hopeful support for Data Logging users in an update soon.

Lots of other general features have been suggested by users. International localization, temperature-based alarms and events and iCloud syncing are among the most popular – all things I want to tackle. I’ve even got my own personal favorite ideas that are starting to get some requests – like integrating the coffee roasting taste wheel into cuppings, bean inventory lots/batches/skids to track changing costs and bean aging, and many others. Please let me know what you’d like to see in future updates – I gauge development by popularity – so the most votes win!

As alway – Happy Roasting!

It is with great excitement that I can finally announce that Roastmaster 4.0 for iOS is live on the App Store! It’s been a long wait for many folks itching for the update – 10 months to be exact. For me, it’s been 9 months of development – lots of fun, and lots of hurdles. For the folks patiently waiting – thank you for your patience. I knew going into this update, based on the features I wanted to tackle, that it would mean a dry spell for updates, but I couldn’t be happier with the end product.

Some of the great new features in this update:

• Data Logging Add-On
• Roast Analyzer
• Curve Templates in Profiles and Programs
• Better Handling of Numbers in International Locales
• Auto Behmor Curves
• Clone Roast
• Hide Beans with Zero Inventory
• Decimal Numbers in Cupping Scores
• Show Automated Bean Tally for Roasts
• iPad Retina
• iPhone 5 Retina
• Miscellaneous Bug Fixes
• Internal Speed Improvements

Data Logging add-on

Far and away, the most requested feature over the past year has been data logging – a means to automatically record roast temperatures during a roast, instead of having to enter each and every node manually. I was more than happy to oblige, because data logging has long been something I wanted to tackle as well. In fact, some of the code hooks for data logging have been there since I wrote the first lines of code dealing with curves themselves.

The first question you may be asking right now is “What probes are supported?” Well, unfortunately, there is no prebuilt commercial thermocouple I’m aware of that is compatible with iOS (at least for the temperature range required for roasting coffee). The majority of probes on the market are USB, which – as far as iOS is concerned, is utterly useless, as there is no formal USB support on iOS devices. Apple does offer a USB camera adapter, but that is not the same thing as a programatic USB stack built to handle communication with devices using the standard USB protocol. In fact – devices attached over this adapter have to emulate a keyboard in order for information to be passed to iOS apps – something no probe is built to do. Any attempts to bypass this would get an app rejected in an instant.

So, the solution? Phidgets! Phidgets are amazing little pieces of hardware, designed primarily for prototyping, or environmental sensing or control projects. Where they really shine for us coffee roasters, is that they can be accessed over a standard ethernet network, like is used in common WiFi network environments – something Apple does not regulate. Roastmaster now has the ability to, with the Data Loggin option, link to Phidgets Temperature Sensors via a network host and report, and automatically log, temperatures throughout a roast from one or more K type thermocouples.

Check back often for more information on Data Logging in Roastmaster. There are also detailed help files in the app that can be accessed from the Data Logging store in the Probe section of Utilities. For now, though, see the Data Logging Guide for an introduction to how Phidgets can be implemented in your workflow, as well as a parts list for the hardware you’d need to get started.

Roast Analyzer

Roastmaster has always let you record lots of details about your roasts. Though it’s easy to manually browse through that data, there’s not been an easy way to graphically see details about all of the roasts of specific beans and blends, and the associated cupping data. Also lacking was a way to graphically browse roasts that relate to a current roast – a way to not only see more details of a range of past curve data, but also the cupping data tied to those past roasts. Having this data at your fingertips, in an format that is easily browsable during a roast, is indispensable for putting that data to good use in shaping the current roast.

Well, I’ve given the full screen graph a big and much-needed facelift – turning it into the Roast Analyzer. The Analyzer can be accessed from several areas of the app: the home screen, bean and blend details screens, and of course, the roasting console. When accessed via the roasting console, the analyzer will be populated with the same past roasts that are being displayed in the graph, as well, of course, as the current roast. When accessed from a bean or blend details screen, it will contain all of the roasts of that particular item.

You can flip through the roasts displayed in the analyzer with the arrow buttons on the left and right side of the graph, or swipe along the bottom horizontal axis to pan through them quickly. Cupping data for the roast currently being viewed will be displayed on the left side of the graph as an average of all the cuppings of that roast.

There are lots of UI improvements as well: clear markers with icons for durations, crack times and alarm time (both current and the focus past roast), sharper text, better rendering at higher zoom resolution, basic roast controls, the ability to set a roast alarm as well as a host of other small improvements.

Curve templates in Profiles and Programs

This one should be a big time-saver for a lot of folks. Profiles and Programs have always allowed you to store curves. These curves are designed to be instructional curves (in the case of “Control Curves”), or target curves (in the case of “Reading Curves”)–basically recipes for a roast. Version 4.0 introduces the concept of “Curve Templates”. Designed to speed workflow, Curve Templates function as placeholder curves, allowing you to set the name, color, curve type, probe binding for Data Logging users–all of the important curve details, and have new, identical curves automatically generated in a roast whenever you use that profile or program.

Better handling of numbers in international locales

Before this update, Roastmaster did not address the numbering formats of users in locales that do not use the “.” (period) decimal separator. Users in France and Germany, for instance, use “,” (comma) as the decimal separator. These users were forced to enter and read numbers and dates in the US format, rather than their native formate. To make matters worse, one of the main areas of data entry would not honor decimals in any regard for users whose locale was not set to US. These issues have been resolved – international users should notice that number entry now occurs correctly, based on their native locale. My sincere apologies to these users – and thanks for your patience.

Auto Behmor Curves

Lots of folks have been asking for a way to make Behmor curves automatically populate a roast, instead of having to manually define one for every roast. I drug my heels a bit on that one, because, as popular as the Behmor is, only a percentage of Roastmaster users are roasting with a Behmor – lots are shop roasters with Probat or Diedrich machines, or home roasters with one of the other home appliances on the market. To avoid cluttering the interface, I have, and will continue, to avoid anything roaster-specific in the UI design of the app. That, coupled with the international language barrier, made it a bit troublesome as to how to give Roastmaster the “smarts” it needs to be able to tell what profile, program and weight setting to use, in a database model that I designed to be flexible with organization, data use and naming schemes.

I finally settled on a solution that was non-intrusive for folks who do not use the Behmor, and effective for those that do – simple string matching. Following is a list of conditions. If the “Auto Behmor Curves” preference is enabled, and the following conditions are met in a roast, Roastmaster will oblige by automatically creating a Behmor curve for you in that roast. Note: for any of the string patterns listed, the name must either match that string, or begin with that string followed by a space – e.g. a Profile titled either P1″ or “P1 Behmor Profile” would both be considered a positive match.

1. Your are roasting with a roaster whose manufacturer field is “Behmor”, and whose model field is “1600”
2. You are roasting with a profile named “P1”, “P2”, “P3”, “P4” or “P5”
3. You are roasting with a program named “A”, “B”, “C”, or “D”
4. You are roasting with a Custom Weight Setting named “.25” (or “1/4”), “.5” (or “1/2”) or “1” AND that Weight Setting belongs to a Weight Setting Type named “Weight”

Naturally, those Profiles, Programs and Weight settings should represent the corresponding settings on the Behmor machine itself. Following these rules, you’ll find that roasting with a Behmor is a lot faster and more intuitive. I use auto Behmor curves every time I roast with my Behmor – hopefully you’ll love it like I do.

Duplicate roast

If you often roast the same bean, especially back-to-back in batches, you’ll appreciate this one. In the main roast list, tap and hold on any roast to duplicate it as a new roast, with the roasted items and roaster already filled in–ready to roast.

Hide beans with zero inventory

This was probably the third most requested feature. In any of the bean list views or bean choosers, you can pinch zoom to hide and show beans that have 0 inventory. Pinch-swipe apart to hide out of stock beans, pinch-swipe together to show all.

Decimal numbers in cupping scores

Prior to this update, cupping scores were limited to integers. You’ll now be able to enter cupping scores as decimals for each category, as well as the cupping correction.

Show automated tally of roast ingredients

If you like to roast blends, this one will come in handy. You’ll notice a blue button with a scale in the “Roasted Items” section of a roast. Once you’ve tagged the item(s) you’re about to roast, tap this button to show a list of the green beans you need. Roastmaster will tally up every bean, recursing through blends, and present a list with weights.

iPad Retina support

iPhone 5 Retina support

Bug fixes

Finally squashed the elusive “Inconsistency” error that would occur if you closed a database, and tried to navigate the app without opening another database first. Hopefully, only a few folks encountered this, but it’s been bothering me for some time.

I really hope you enjoy the new update, and find the new features helpful. If you have any questions, just let me know.