Fan speed issue with Ikawa profiles?

#1

Hello all, I just recently purchased a couple of the World Selection Packs and have been roasting the Ikawa-provided profiles (by scanning the QR codes on the bags).

I’ve noticed that a common theme on several of the different origins is that the fan speed appears to be inadequate to really move the beans. This is most especially pronounced at the beginning of the roast (right after warm-up, when the profile actually begins). With the Brazil coffee for instance, even at four minutes into the (filter) roast when the beans were (unevenly) transitioning from yellow to tan the beans weren’t even moving, so much so that I had to physically shake/jostle the roaster. Likewise I roasted a batch of the Colombia today, and the beans stopped moving during the cool-down phase (I had to jostle the roaster again). Just to clarify, the fan is operating, but I’m unsure if it’s degraded or not.

Looking at the Brazil filter profile, the fan speed very quickly dives to 15% and stays there for much of the duration of the profile. During the roast itself (prior to investigating the profile) I was concerned that the fan in my unit was dying, as the output was much weaker than what I’ve come to expect from previous operation.

I’m assuming lack of movement, or sluggish movement during any phase of the roast is undesirable. Is it possible that a conversion issue happened with these profiles when the app transitioned to version 2.0? Or is it possible that the fan in my unit is defective?

Just for reference, I am running the latest version of the app from the Android app store, and although I believe my firmware is up-to-date, I ran the updater again after the Brazil incident above. Two roasts later, the Colombia beans stopped moving during cooldown.

Thanks all.

#2

I noticed this as well on the Brazil filter profile. The fan speed does reduce too much in my opinion. The beans barely move during the browning phase. I attributed this to a) the profile was designed for 50g and not 60g or b) the reduced fan speed is intentional to make the heat transfer conduction rather than convection. I’ve actually run the profile both ways to see if I could taste the difference. There is a difference, but I couldn’t say which one was better. It’s easy to delete the 2nd fan point setting so that the fan speed is decreasing throughout. I don’t think there is anything wrong with your fan. I don’t have any history on prior versions so I can’t comment on that part.

#3

So far if I see a fan profile too low, too early, I’ll adjust it. I just don’t feel comfortable shaking my baby.

#4

I think it would be relevant to establish if you use a scale to measure 50 grams? If you do that, and if you use IKAWA sourced beans with the corresponding profile when you experience this issue, I think you need to contact IKAWA.

#5

Yes, I weigh my beans at 50 grams before every roast.

#6

15% really! Or it falls by 15%?
Can you post a pic of the profile?

It can’t be the Brazil Sitio Bela Vista? It starts at 80% and finishes at 60%. What bean is it?

#7

15%.

After some further troubleshooting I think I’ve figured it out, and it’s not just subject to the Ikawa profiles. When the “Use Fahrenheit” option is checked, it decreases fan speeds in all profiles–at least on my phone it does. See the attached photos–the first is without the Fahrenheit option checked, the other is with it enabled.

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Screenshot_2019-11-10-12-37-07
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Is this happening on anyone else’s device? If so, are you using Apple or Android? I am using an LG V30 with Android 8.0.0 installed.

If your app exhibits this same behavior I highly advise you disable the “Use Fahrenheit” feature as I’m unsure if it’s safe to run the unit with the fan this low.

#8

image
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iphone 6 reporting in. My Fahrenheit’s lowest setting is 60% but as you can see it’s blocked by the buttons so when editing fan setting I switch to Celsius.

#9

Same happens to me on Android.
I’ve never used Farenheit so I’ve never noticed this before.

Obviously a bug in the software. Well spotted! Not good that it’s ruined your roasts though.

#10

hey guys, @Kvangels thanks for sharing this information with our support team.
As you’ve identified, the issue is specifically related to using Fahrenheit on certain android devices.

The short term fix is to only use degrees Celsius on android.

We’ve been working with the app developers to quickly fix this, and expect to release a new version for android users very soon.

#11

Is the Apple Fahrenheit version getting fixed too?

#12

hey @deven.patel411 - the lowest fan speed allowed should be 60%. Below this the beans generally are not agitated sufficiently, so we’ve prevented it going below 60%.

Bit of IKAWA trivia - but when you get to the cooling mode, the fan speed is more powerful - so 60% in cooling is higher than 60% during the roast.

#13

Slight misunderstanding, when I edit the fan in Fahrenheit the fan button is blocked by the “save” and “cancel” buttons. So I have to go to settings and switch to Celsius to edit the fan and then switch back to Fahrenheit when I want to roast.

Good to know about the cooling fan, I never noticed this before.

#14

Quick update to all on this conversation - we’ve got a new android version of the app ready to release on Monday which will fix this glitch. Thanks for your patience on this.

In the meantime, please continue to use the Celcius only, rather than Fahrenheit.

I’ll update you here when new version is live on Google Play Store.

Have a great weekend, I’m going to be roasting our new season Honduran coffee that we’ll be releasing very soon, just finalising the roast recipe at the moment :slight_smile:

#15

Update to let you know a new Android version of the Home App is live with fix for the Fahrenheit issue now. It can be accessed here :raised_hands:

#16

Hi,
I think there is still something wrong with the profile for the Brazil filter. The fan speed goes down to 60% too fast. For me the beans stopped moving so I had to shake the roaster until the beans had loosed enough in weight. Next time I use this profile I will edit to a more gradual lowering of the fan speed from the 1½ min point and see if it works better. I did not have the Fahrenheit option checked!

#17

I too have noticed that even after the update that the fan speed on several Ikawa profiles still seems inadequate to move the beans. The Brazil filter profile is the most prominent example, but there are others too (Andino Especial Colombia for example). When I was trouble shooting this issue originally I think I stumbled upon the glitch above by accident, but because it was discovered in tandem it appeared (at the time) to be related. Since then I’ve roasted more Ikawa beans with the stock profiles and continue to run into the same issue. Ultimately I have just experimented with increasing the fan speed to a satisfactory value.

What’s disheartening about this is that I purchased the Ikawa beans hoping to use the stock profiles purely for the education–I’ve learned so much since first receiving the roaster and the first World Selection pack years ago. Having a few years of roasting under my belt I was hoping to benefit from the unique roasting education provided by beans & stock profiles provided by the OEM. Having to modify the profiles in order for these to work together ultimately re-inserts the one variable I was hoping to remove from this learning process–me.

I would be curious to know if anyone else is having movement issues with this profile (preferably with Ikawa’s Brazil beans, or at least with other beans weighed to 50 grams). Likewise I’d also be interested to know if someone on the Ikawa team could confirm that when roasting their Brazil beans with this profile that the beans spin the whole time–I’m told that environmental conditions are the culprit here, but having confirmation from the OEM would be reassuring.

#18

Fwiw: I’ve had no problems with oem beans and profiles. Specifically not the Brazilian Sitio Bela Vista or the Columbian, which I roasted a few days ago with the std profile. I roast outdoors when the temperature is above 10C, otherwise indoors at 22C. Indoor (where the bean are kept) the humidity is around 45-60% RH.
I use the latest App on an iPad with Celcius setting, and have the latest firmware on the roaster.
The only time I have experienced lack of bean movement is on profiles I have made from scratch.

#19

I notice I have 3 official Brazilian Sitio profiles in my app. Maybe it would be beneficial to share exactly which profile is causing problems.

#20

Can it perhaps be that the altitude affects the air mass flow and causes the beans to stop moving for some people? High altitude means less air mass flow at the same RPM.