Aillio Bullet Coffee Roaster First Impressions & Roast

[@3rd-Wave_Rebel]

Finally being the first person to view your impressions on the bullet. I have it for a year and roasting once a month.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I really enjoyed roasting on the Bullet. It is a great roaster. Thanks for watching and subscribing!

[@beakerkell]

I've been using my bullet for about half a year now. Absolutely love it so far! I have all the same little grievances as you, but the pros outweigh the cons

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

agreed. every roaster has its strengths and weaknesses. I love roastime and roastworld. very nice roaster. thanks for sharing, and being a subscriber.

[@luigicollins3954]

Great review Mike. Seeing RoasTime run an actual roast is highly prompting me to get it going with my Bullet! Yes, two filter pads are included with the Bullet. The pads are easily cleaned with a vacuum, but as another post here mentions, they sort of wear a little after a while and need to be replaced. Since my actual machine was used here, you can probably see that the pad doesn’t fit as snugly in place as it should. Although I agree with most of the things you disliked on the Bullet, I really do like the cooling tray a lot. I find that the beans cool quickly and quite evenly. When cooling is finished and the bowl is lifted out, all the chaff is collected on the filter pad and totally removed from the cooling holes on the bottom. I do think that roasts with extreme chaff do tend to somewhat bunch up in a small area between the side of the bowl and the filter pad, but even that did not seem to negatively affect cooling that I could tell. Thanks for the review Mike. I think many have been looking forward to your thoughts on the Bullet. It’s so interesting to see several roasters compared in actual usage. It really helps us so much!

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thank you very much for letting me use your bullet Lou. I really really like the bullet and think it would be a great choice for most home roasting people looking into a 400 gram - 1 Kilo size roaster. I was being really picky and honestly the Mill City and the Kaleido have their weaknesses as well. No roaster is perfect. I really enjoy the simple interface, sleek look, and intuitive software. I hope to have a comparison video in the near future.

[@TheCyclingConquistador]

Happiest day if my life 😂 so happy to see you have an Aillio now I have someone to look at videos. I have an Aillio but I'm still new and learning and I enjoy your content.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I'm glad I made your day. I try and have most of the content I make include basic roasting concepts. So, even though I might be using a roaster you don't have, the concepts and theory are still relatable for you roaster. Don't focus on recipes and temperatures as much as event times, broader concepts for roasting and experiment with your roaster so you can apply to your circumstances. The Bullet will be back

[@CoffeeBeancollective]

I'm new to roasting and had a Gene Cafe for a week and decided to get an Aillio Bullet instead. I have had this roaster for about a month now and i love this this thing. I love the community and the shared recipes. I have learned so much by using recipes and then seeing exactly the rate of rise and the temp changes. I have since created my own recipes and have shared it with the community. This Roaster and the roastime software is the best!!

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks for sharing that. It is definitely a benefit that doesn’t always get talked about in reviews. I’m glad you are having a great experience!

[@andreamunari5800]

TY

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

You're welcome! Thanks for subscribing.

[@viccez]

Another great video!!! Any thoughts of the Bullet vs a comparable Kaleido? I'm planning to eventually sell coffee at local craft fairs.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks. I’m working on featuring the bullet with several videos. Hopefully the newer version.

[@sunwukong8069]

Thanks bro you are so kind to sharing the knowledge of roasting with aillio bulle, God bless you brother

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I’m glad they are helpful

[@davidsargentcoffee]

Hey Mike - great coverage for a first look from you. As you know I’ve put in a lot of time on the bullet - I believe I have just over 1000 roasts logged on it so I just wanted to confirm a few things. Yes, Aillio provides both the plug-in USB light and filter for the cooling tray/fan. In fact, they provide multiple lights and I believe I received two filters. I did go ahead and buy multiple other filters for my long days roasting so I could easily swap them as they got dirty. About your chaff falling into the cooling tray - this happened to me more when I had my exhaust adapter hooked directly into the back port like you had it. I believe that there was some sort of negative pressure created by this that didn’t optimally pull chaff. Once I disconnected and just hung the exhaust a couple inches above the port I had fewer issues with chaff falling on the front. Another note - both the roast time software and the firmware for the bullet have to updated frequently (well, they should be but they don’t have to be) but if they fall out of sync too far, this could be the reason for your occasional mysterious errors. I also want to say that the IBTS itself does need occasional cleaning (every 20lbs or so) or else you’ll see its accuracy begin to dip. It’s easy to clean with a Q-tip with the faceplate of the roaster off and takes just seconds when you get access. Finally, I get asked often about support. I can say that after 900 roasts or so, the fan that cools the IBTS started having issues and needed to be replaced. Sweet Maria’s being my supplier also supplied me with replacement parts. Aillio themselves roped in SM in an email chain, diagnosed my issue via error code after a quick and productive email conversation and inside of a week I went from problem to receiving my replacement part. Aillio provided me with two very concise instructional videos for that replacement part and I was in and out in just about an hour. Suffice to say, customer service was top notch - especially for being out of warranty! Great video Mike. Glad to see you got to play with the bullet.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks for sharing Roastmaster David. Great info to fill in some of what I asked or experienced. The chaff thing was happening to Lou without the vent tube. I know I have good ventilation because no smell or smoke came into the roasting environment. The outside exhaust was protected in a box to prevent wind affecting the pressure. The roast never stalled because of cool air coming into the system either. I think some chaff simply makes its way to the front of the drum when airflow is minimal (like 2-3) and slips out the crack under the door. My mill city had chaff come out the front of the drum. It isn’t a huge deal, just an annoyance. I did do some updates while using the bullet (at least 2) and I’m sure you are right about the errors. Lou has been cleaning the IBTS and cleaned it just before he loaned me his roaster. I’m glad to hear about the good support David. That is another consideration people don’t talk about when comparing roasters. Thanks for watching and sharing!

[@davidsargentcoffee]

@@VirtualCoffeeLab one final thought about that falling chaff - sometimes that impeller fan on the back needs to be adjusted. It has a tendency to sit too far away from the base and can rub against the rubber gasket slowing its performance. I use the tip of a chopstick as a control for the distance between the impeller fan and the base to install that in the same position each time. It took me a good while to realize what was going on with that too.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks David. I am copying Lou @luigicollins3954 so he can look at this. Thanks for the Tip.

[@abiggs]

I’ve had the bullet for about three years after upgrading from a Behmor. I absolutely love it! Pretty much everything you said is accurate. There are some minor annoyances, but the positives definitely outweigh them. The service from Aillio is also top notch. For the stray beans on drop, I 3D printed two side blockers that attach to the cooling tray. Works perfect. 😊

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hi Aaron, that’s a great idea to keep the beans from flying out the sides. Yea, the bullet is a great roaster. What is your typical batch size when you roast?

[@spookylovin]

Just started roasting on the bullet so this is great information for me! Would be cool to see an entire series with the bullet doing various roasts (there aren't really many options) and profiles. As an aside, the link to your profiles on Roastworld no longer work or may have been taken down. Thanks for the great video and roasting profiles series. Super informative, easy to understand, and exactly what us homeroasters are looking for when it comes to profile creations.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Congratulations on your new Bullet! Thanks for watching and your comments. I hope to do more videos on the bullet when I have the opportunity to borrow it from my roasting buddy Lou. See if this link works to the roast I did in the video. roast.world/virtualcoffeelab/roasts/2MCUc1Hs7FhE3VvdSFZ-7

[@spookylovin]

@@VirtualCoffeeLab Link is up and working! Thanks!

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I'm glad you can see my roast. Let me know if you roast that profile

[@ChrisWilson-zs2og]

I am new to using the bullet and I bought Guatemala huehue to learn with. Will give your roast settings a go. the recipe and copy roast features are nice. I haveclots of learning still to do.

[@ChrisWilson-zs2og]

also agree drum speed seems slow. think everyone has similar thoughts on the niceties and not so great features of the bullet.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Chris, the recipe thing with any roaster is not perfect. I would pay attention to the event times like dry, first crack and development and try to use those along with the Rate of Rise to replicate my roast. Were you able to find my roast on Roast world?

[@ChrisWilson-zs2og]

@VirtualCoffeeLab not looked yet. hopefully get to try before the weekend.

[@shanewilson2152]

Hi Mike, great tutorial of the use Bullet.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks for watching and commenting Shane. The Bullet was fun to roast with. Roastime was easy to use and I really liked how my input changes displayed on the bottom.

[@ko6ghy]

Excellent review, I agree with all the faults that were mentioned. ;TLDR; The bullet is a great roaster when it works, but there is a lot to go wrong and it requires frequent maintenance. I have owned an Aillio Bullet since December 2022, before that I had been roasting on a Freshroast 500 and 850. Although I have been very happy with the Freshroast, I wanted a roaster with a bigger capacity, the ability to monitor the roast and have more control over the roasting process. I considered the Huky 500 and the Hottop but after a lot of research the bullet seemed like it was worth the extra because it provided everything needed to just plug in and go. After seasoning the drum as prescribed in the getting started guide, I proceeded to do my first roast, a Brazilian bean that was supplied as part of the package when I purchased the bullet. I followed the example roast profiles on their web site and I have to say, after a couple of days the coffee tasted amazing. During the next roast however, with a full pound of beans, the drum stopped rotating and the beans started to burn. I canceled the roast and proceeded to extract the smoldering mess from within. It turned out that the pulley had not been tightened to the motor shaft causing it to slip. There is a reason why the Bullet comes with a set of tools, you are expected to be able to dismantle the machine and deal with this kind of issue. In fact I had to sign a waiver stating I was capable of maintaining the machine and that I was an experience coffee roaster before I was allowed to purchase it from the supplier. Sadly the first roast was the only memorable roast I have been able to perform. I have since done 46 more roasts and most have been unpleasant, for whatever reason I could never repeat my first success. The coffee either has a metallic taste or a burned tasting finish. Recently during roasting my machine has started throwing out error codes, including code 32 which indicates that the electronics are overheating. Aillio support told me to put an external fan pointing at the holes in the electronics module that sits under the drum. The bullet will happily ruin your roast by cutting out half way through. I can’t really recommend it.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks for sharing your Bullet experiences @pzftw. I have owned several drum roasting machines and each one came with a tool set. That element of Drum Roasting seems to be normal. On my Mill City 500 gram, I have had to replace bearings regularly because of excess heat on the front bearing. On the Kaleido M2, the roaster comes with a tool to dismantle the drum so the inside of the roasting chamber can be cleaned. On the Kaleido M10 I had to adjust the drum shaft "clutch spring" with the help of Kaleido support. These are all mechanical things that need adjustments, cleaning and eventual repair. I'm sorry you had the problems you did with your Bullet. I wish i could include a long term report for the roaster (bullet) but unfortunately it was loaned to me by a friend.

[@luigicollins3954]

Wow, sorry to hear you have had so many problems with the Bullet. I have been using mine for over a year now and really like it! The tool kit they include is mostly used to take the front plate and rear fan blade off when doing a “deep clean”, which I have only done once. Hope things go better for you on future roasts!

[@3rd-Wave_Rebel]

Sorry to hear that... Have you contact Ailio customer service? They are excellent in this type of thing. They will arrange a Google meeting with you. Expect to meet them at 10-12pm, because of the time-zone in Taiwan. Fortunately for me, I had some minor issues: the wire to the fan was damaged, trier and the screw to the door handle was snapped off when I over twisted it. Luckily, SM sent me the replacement parts free of charge.

[@snipes10272]

Curious as to your thoughts on the bullet vs the Kaleido for the home roaster.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I hope to do a comparison video in the near future. Reliability and Longevity are two areas I won't be able to compare unfortunately. These are really important for us home roasters. I would have to rely on the community to share. The only problem with that is there is no way to take a fair sample unless I poll random individuals on their experience. It's kind of like product reviews. many times they are used to voice complaints or problems while the satisfied customers usually don't speak up so the overall response is unbalanced. At least that's my perspective on that. I think each person will have to look at the features and compare based on their needs. There are some very clear differences between the two roasters. I will try and share what they are and how that might impact someone who is trying to make a decision.

[@snipes10272]

@@VirtualCoffeeLab totally agree the comparisons are never perfect, and of course you wouldn't be able to speak to the longevity on firsthand experience yourself. Just the features discussion and the best fit for purpose I still think is valuable.

[@robertorodriguez4144]

Thanks for another great video, if you have to choose between the bullet, the M2 or the Link for a home roaster to produce about 2lbs of per month of great coffee with little effort, very consistent and replicable roasting results and no budget limit wich on would you choose?

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hello Robert. Not knowing what you mean by "little effort", it is hard to say. The keywords you used were "consistent and replicable"". The LINK would win hands down. If you are using 1 profile over and over, you literally dump in the beans, push a could of buttons and you are done. You said 2 lbs per month, but I'm assuming this would not be at one time. If you were to roast 2 lbs on the link, it would take 10 roasts. But, if you were spreading this throughout the month, it would be about 3 roasts per week. That is about an hour with cooling and then setting up for 3 roasts. You don't need to worry about venting and it takes up very little space. The only thing I don't know about is roasting dark. All of my experience with the LINK has been in the light - medium roast levels.

[@robertorodriguez4144]

@@VirtualCoffeeLab thanks for the answer Mike, when I said little effort I meant very little roasting knoladge, setup time, before and after roast. I kind of figure the link would be right one for me but I wanted to take your opinion in consideration. Now I was thinking I could roast every 2 weeks so that means I will need to do 5 roast every time but I thought I heard it takes about 10mins for a full roast and that you can do them back to back so 5 roast @ 10 mins would be 50mins only isn't that right?

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

The roast might take 8 minutes but there is also the cool down, which takes 3 or 4 minutes. Then there is the cleaning between roasts (takes just a minutes. So, when it is all said and done, with no glitches, an hour and 15 minutes would be the quickest.

[@sunwukong8069]

Please do more videos like this..

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I’ll try

[@doubleeadg3d]

As a professional roaster going home roaster, I want to complement you on your roast curve. < 2 minutes post crack and easing into FC is a great way to create even development and big juicy coffee. Also I love how you go into the various adjustments.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thank you for the compliments Jeremy. Do you have a bullet? I really enjoyed roasting on the Bullet and the roastime software is really intuitive. I’m glad you liked my roasting Profile. It was delicious. Did you roast for a cafe?

[@doubleeadg3d]

@@VirtualCoffeeLab I roasted for a company with many wholesale accounts and 3 cafes. I have a Bullet now and have done about 20 roasts so far. I'm still profiling my coffees and learn how dark the coffee gets at different end temps, but overall, it was easy to pick up and love the automation of certain things. What I've tasted so far meets my expectations even though I was reluctant to go electric from my experience with gas.

[@jlantz3691]

Wow! Really sorry you had to go through such an expensive mistake. Thank you so much for passing on your experience to potentially save others of us from repeating it. I too have a FR, and keep looking at upgrading it. Far from being a "professional coffee taster", other than possibly needing to do larger batches, I just can't justify the expense. My roasts are predictable and taste great to me and the folks I share them with. Thanks again for sharing.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

@jlantz3691 , which mistake are you referring?

[@jlantz3691]

​@@VirtualCoffeeLabYeah, sorry about that. This was supposed to be a reply to @pzftw comment below. I know that the Bullet is a really highly rated roaster, butj ust seems a $3500 roaster should not have things that one wishes were done differently, if not better.

[@AndreMirck]

Evening, I'm using the ibts. Not connected with Roastime. I roasted so much in the meantime that I know depending on the beans where I must be in temperature at what time. Like I said I had problems that the roaster completely stopped heating without any warning. It is the temperature sensor under the roaster that got overheated. I'm roasting in south Africa and the room in summer is easy 30°. I turned the outlet of the cooling tray 90° and the hot air is not going under the roaster anymore. Kind regards, André Mirck

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks for sharing Andre. The digital display on the control panel is what my roasting buddy, Lou, uses to roast his coffee on the bullet too!

[@nightowl19696]

Hi, is it possible to use artisan with the aillio or you have to use the proprietary software? thanks!

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I've heard of people doing this but have never seen it actually be used. This next response is directly copied from the Aillio FAQ: Can I use the R1 with Cropster or Artisan? RoasTime 3’s USB drivers do not work with Artisan, which means you can only use Artisan by installing the legacy drivers from RoasTime 1. Be aware this software is no longer supported by Aillio and you will not be able to use Roast.World without RoasTime 3. And while we’re planning to integrate with Cropster soon, it may still be a little ways down the line before you can use Cropster with the Bullet.

[@nightowl19696]

@@VirtualCoffeeLab Thanks! much appreciated.

[@LivingTheLifeRetired]

It’s a great friend who will loan you a bullet. I suppose however, Lou knew it would be in good hands. Thanks for making a video about the Bullet. I really had thought about getting the Bullet as my first drum roaster and maybe one day I’ll consider it - in the meantime I’m super happy with my Kaleido M1 as it makes more than enough coffee for me. Would you say that you can achieve comparable roasts in terms of flavor development between the Bullet and your M10? I won’t ask you if you’d trade machines.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I haven't processed a compare the M10 and the Bullet on paper yet BUT I will. I have roasted the same coffee and same batch size using a similar profile for both machines. I am able to achieve comparable roasts in terms of flavor development but these machines do behave differently. The bullet has two different probes measuring bean temperature, providing two different sets of data. I would need more time to understand exactly how they differ and how i can use that to my advantage while roasting. I focused mostly on the IBTS probe data rather than the traditional BT probe. Thanks for not asking if I would trade machines Edward.... hehehe. I hope to do a comparison video between these two machines sometime in the near future.

[@vandenabeele1998]

Great video! Do you think the machine is capable of roasting at full capacity?

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

That is a great question. "Capable of roasting"... yes. What i experienced with any drum roaster is "capacity" is a crock. Most manufacturers of large roasters will say their roaster performs best below 80% capacity. My experience with the Bullet with an 800 gram roast was interesting. I was able to roast a really good roast but I had to use a very high charge temperature to maintain the times I wanted. This is normal for most roasters. A friend of mine owns a coffee shop and the half batch capacity will take about 8-9 minutes to roast. The full capacity roast takes about 12 minutes. More power is required to roast more coffee as well. So, this fits with my experience on the Bullet, Mill City 500 Gram, and the Kaleido M10. I hope to do a comparison video in the near future comparing the M10 to the Bullet. They are similar capacity. One more thing. At the full capacity, you are pretty much stuck with a profile on these two machines. It would be challenging to roast a light fruity coffee with 1 kilo of beans in the Kaleido M10 or Bullet BUT I have not tried to do it either so i might be eating my words. I just don't see it happening. Lots of people are using these machines for cottage industry/farmers market type selling. They fill the roaster to the hilt and roast at full power, batch after batch. The coffee might taste good BUT it will be smokey and more than likely a darker version of medium or darker. That is my opinion. I've seen it happen with the Bullet. Those are my thoughts. It isn't a criticism of either roaster. It is simply pushing the limits of the roasters capabilities. Are you wanting to roast 1 kilo batches with the Bullet? What type of coffee, roast level, and total roast time are you thinking?

[@vandenabeele1998]

@@VirtualCoffeeLab thank you for your reply! I read online the Bullet was actually capable of roasting at full capacity without having too much trouble (roasting defects). I would only use full capacity for a full city or full city + roast for espresso. The bean would be a Brazilian capricornio (farmer's blend). I was aiming for a total roast time of around 11-12 minutes

[@waterkop8612]

I've the Aillio now for a few year and roasted about 1750 kg. The problems I had was with the IBTS, had to replace the fan. The other problem was that it overheated caused by the cooling tray outlet, I turned it 90°. I 'm roasting in south africa and my environment temperature can be high. What I missed in the video was that you can "mark" the first crack by touching the F1 button at the first Crack. The times switches between time after first crack and total roast time.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Great tip on the F1 button. I don’t spend any time digging into the control panel because I planned to use Artisan to log all the roasts I did. That’s a little of coffee you’ve roasted. Are you using BT or IBTS for your reference ror?

[@scotthep]

Curious if you've tried starting with a higher power and a slower drum speed? I've been very happy with the roasts using a much higher charge temp, slower starting drum speed, and higher power to start. I always switch from IBTS to bean temp probes closer to FC. Is your vent pipe passive or do you use a powered inline fan?

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hi Scott. Thanks for sharing your experience using the Bullet. How long are your roasts? What type of coffee are you roasting? What is the batch size and charge temperature you are using? Lastly, what is your desired roast level, drop temperature, AND, if you know, moisture loss after the roast? I would be really interested to hear your response please. I did not choose a lower drum speed for any of my roasts. In my opinion, because of the heating method (induction) directly onto the drum metal, I felt I had plenty of conductive heat transfer from the drum to the bean. I wanted to have more bean movement to reduce scorching while promote convective heat transfer without increasing my fan setting and blowing heat out the vent. Can you share why you use a higher charge temp and lower drum speed? Is is because you are trying to promote more conductive heat? Just curious. I have read that people switch from IBTS to BT but didn't know why. Could you share? I think Aillio says they do this but I never heard why. My vent pipe is passive. There is no powered inline fan. The vent pipe is vertical and there are no restrictions. I am not sucking air out of the machine. Thanks again for sharing. I look forward to your response Scott. :-)

[@MikeM-kv2yi]

Similar to the last question of Allio vs Kaleido - I'm curious on your experience with these. I'm also really interested in thise platforms vs your Mill City. Does the Mill City have greater roasting potential? Is it worth the 2-3x cost over the other roasters? I'm still a novice roaster, but I'm looking to upgrade from a Fresh Roast SR500. My upgrade goal is to find a cost effective roaster that has the rhe potential to create professional/artisinal quality roasts at home. Practically, I'm looking to be able to roast 1lb for home use; desire is to have greater capacity to roast larger batches on the chance I want to sell at farmer markets in the future. I'm starting to become stuck in research paralysis - especially with the goal of some future proofing. (Buy smart once, even at a higher price vs buy/upgrade cycle .). It seems like the Bullet and Kaleido can create similar roast qualities. What I haven't seen clearly articilated is it they can create "pro quality" roasts and what the benefit might be to make the next price jump beyond those units being closer in roasting workflow/dynamics to big prob systems (for those folka that know they want to make the jump to a business).

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hi Mike. The short answer is you can roast better than many coffee shops with the Kaleido, bullet or mill city because many of these shops that roast aren’t doing a great job roasting. Don’t spend the money on a mill city yet. Start with a Kaleido or bullet. Make sure you really stick with the gig. Learn how to roast and sell, then grow into a larger roaster.

[@zenASDF]

Great small roaster, the only downside being the level of noise on the graph makes it tricky to detect flicks and crashes.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I see what you mean. Trends are easy to see. I didn’t see any way to smooth the ROR in Roastime.

[@opaitaon5230]

Can this be used for a micro Roastery? I know it can roast up tô 1kg per batch, but how many batches could it roast per Day ? Im interested in buying one, I own a Brunch shop in Europe and want to start roasting with a small roaster like the allio bullet r1 v2

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hello Anselmo. This roaster is used by many micro roastery cafe and others who sell at farmers markets. At full capacity, the roaster will take a little longer to complete a roast. At best, you could complete about 4 roasts per hour which would be about 4 kilos of green coffee / 3.5 kilos of roasted coffee. If you are doing light roasts then it would be more like 2.5 kilos per hour because you will need to use smaller batch size for light roast. I would reach out to Ingo at Roast Rebels. He is an Aillio distributor in Europe. His youtube channel is www.youtube.com/@CoffeeRoasting

[@jerryhubbard4461]

Mike, is it possible for you to roast beans without a computer hooked up. I am not sure but I would say most of us do not have programs to roast our beans and would love to see a machine like this manually operated.

[@luigicollins3954]

Hi Jerry. I use the Bullet and so far have only done front-panel controlled roasts. Front-panel control is easy and has worked well for me so far. The biggest drawback I see to doing things that way is having to manually record temperatures. Even though I record them using an audio recorded, it still takes attention away from thinking about the roast. I have always had in mind to roast with a laptop, but now seeing Mike use RoasTime, I want to do it very soon!

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

The very first time I roasted on Lou's Bullet was at his house. No computer used. I used the data from the front panel to guide me through my roast and it was successful. The ROR (Rate of Rise) display number was super helpful for me because i had a number I wanted to be at for first crack and I was able to manage my heat to gently descend the ROR number down to my target number when first crack hit. So, YES, you can absolutely roast without a computer on the Bullet.

[@GeorgeGoosen]

Did you find that you followed the bean temp or the IBTS more with this roaster?

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hi George. I found myself using the BT from charge until just before color change and then focused on the IBTS. I don't know if that is right or wrong but it felt natural for me to do this? The IBTS seemed to be a little smoother. I did reference the BT graph along the way and noticed trends like the flick and crash a little more clearly but all in all i always seemed to go back to the IBTS.

[@jerryhubbard4461]

This will be my second time watching this video. I still use the SR800 with extension but I want a Bullet really bad. My wife does not understand the passion of roasting coffee and when I mention getting one, I get the look. NO, she does not tell me what to do. We even have our own money accounts for the past 40 years. lol. She thinks I am crazy. I might be. I actually do something many don't do. I drink coffee in the mornings and after dinner every night. I just love coffee. lol

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hmm

[@3rd-Wave_Rebel]

Yes, that spongy looking thingy is disposable accessory that is required after number of roasts is made. Users need to order them after the one they had is done!

[@luigicollins3954]

Yes, I agree. Mine (shown in the video) have been in use for about a year now and they are starting to not fit as snugly as they did when new. I have to get some more!

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks for sharing. It is a nice feature to help keep the chaff from blowing out the back.

[@3rd-Wave_Rebel]

Btw, how do you achieve steadily declining slope on ROASTIME? Mine always looking like an arch shaped curve. I noticed after first crack, I will quickly lower the temperature and increase the fan, and then spike will appear on the curve… Is that normal?

[@luigicollins3954]

Quickly lowering temperatures will cause a sharp drop in ROR. I have found I need to be very careful when using fan speeds above F4.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Other than what Lou has already shared, changing both the fan and the power setting at the same time can cause more noticeable spikes. I would suggest you try and stagger your adjustments. Adjust the power, wait and watch what happens, then, if desired, adjust the air and do the same.

[@darylfortney8081]

That's a pretty old machine... have they changed it any since then? Things I would personally like is about half to a third of that capacity and so a much smaller footprint for my limited space, bluetooth connection to an iPad app for all control and feedback and thus no manual front panel for lower cost and a more refined look at around half the price. Something that essentially requires the app to operate and has no UI of it's own. Also some form of smoke catalyst to allow small (

[@luigicollins3954]

I definitely would not like to see the front panel go away, but I second your desire for an interface to an iPad! 👍

[@darylfortney8081]

@@luigicollins3954 I’m talking about a different much cheaper machine for people who don’t need a front panel.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

The Kaleido M2 might fit that description pretty close. 200 gram capacity, runs bluetooth to Artisan. Not sure about the ipad BUT it does have it's own tablet you can use if you get either the standard or dual version. It should be vented but a simple flexible dryer type vent might work or roast in an open space. You might want to take a closer look at the product.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Sorry, I meant Kaleido M1 , not the M2

[@makaw2006]

I have been using mine for past 2 years. The major drawback is i can only use it once a month. I usually roast in 300 gram batches and roast around a kilo in total. Upgraded from gene cafe, its night and day in terms of repeatability , smoke suppression, noise, back to yo to back roasting etc.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

That is a great point. Time operating the roaster was a huge challenge for me. The breakthrough was when i began sharing my coffee. It cost me a little BUT I got twice as much roaster time and feedback from those I shared with. I found a local coffee shop that roasted coffee and started to purchase greens from them. That got me a lower cost than some of the online places.

[@MartiKurs]

Its the Best for me

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I'm glad you are enjoying your Aillio Bullet Martin!

[@bluebirdski]

This seems like the logical step up from the Behmore. Seems like the marketing department is telling everyone to get this for farmers market coffee sales...ha. Well, if I use the Behmore to the max this will be my next purchase.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

The Bullet is a popular choice. Other roasters in that class include the Kaleido M10. They are different in the technology and design but are. Capable of roasting great coffee

[@AllGroundsCoffee]

Kaleido vs Aillio ? Comment?

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

That seems to be a common question. Each roaster has its strengths and weaknesses. I hope to do a comparison video in the near future. Are you trying to decide? I'm curious what the most important factors are in deciding what roaster would be best for you. Would you mind sharing? I would really appreciate it. There are some clear differences between these two machines.