Odd thing I've run into when heating my machine, and when charging a roast:

• My BT probe will read around 400º
• My ET probe will read around 400º
• Yet the PID on the machine will read around 300º-310º

Is this normal, or is there some kind of discrepancy here that needs to be corrected? I found this issue when looking at roast logs from the roast-along videos. The BT at the beginning of those roasts reflects a temperature that's around 400º. I typically charge my roasts at around 390-400 PID, which in turn reflects 480º-515º BT on roast path. My roasts are, on average, between 7:30 and 9:30. Any thoughts?

This past year, I've found myself using a few different fan settings during soak (1kg). What I've seen from other roasters online is that some will use their low air setting, some will begin with an even lower air setting, and a few will kill the fan entirely during soak. Recently, I find myself leaning toward a low to no air approach during the soak. When cupping, I find less astringency and a higher quality acidity in these coffees. Anyone else experience this?

My thinking is that leaving the fan on during soak could bring cooler air into the drum which:

1. Cools the drum quicker than it otherwise would without added airflow and

2. Makes it more difficult for the seeds to take on heat from the drum, stunting early momentum in the roast

On the flip, I realize that some airflow during soak could pull residual heat through the drum and, subsequently, the beans, creating early momentum. And so I suppose my question is how much air is too much air during soak? Or would it be beneficial to cut airflow altogether at this time?

If you perform a soak, what are your airflow settings?

This would be helpful not only for roasting, but accounting for loss as well.

Thanks for the info, Steve

Thanks, Cole!