Between Batch Protocol Statistics

 

Managing a coffee roasting machine's thermal energy to insure every roast batch begins with the same thermal state is key to achieving consistency and expected results.  Roast operators employ a Between Batch Protocol (BBP) to achieve this.  Artisan supports Between Batch Protocols in multiple ways.  This article explores the metrics Artisan captures to help the roast operator observe and manage their BBP.  

Artisan v3.4

Another significant update for Artisan in terms of features and technical advances.

Button Layouts and Hidden Buttons

 

Configurable event buttons have been a feature of Artisan since version 0.5.0 way back in 2011.  Button configurations defined in 2011 still work in the latest Artisan versions in 2025. 

This article discusses button layouts and how hidden buttons can be used as spacers and for performing actions. A best practice for configuring hidden action buttons is described. Information is provided about how a recent change might, under certain conditions, affect the visual appearance of pre-existing button layouts and how to correct them. 

Artisan v3.1.2

 

Initially planned as a minor release to address a few specific issues that has been reported, things took an unexpected turn. In the end, we added several useful features to our so-called "free-but-limited approach."

Enjoy Artisan v3.1.2!

Using an Energy Meter to Measure Roast Machine Energy Consumption with Artisan

 

Artisan version 3.1.2 allows connecting energy meters to log precise measurements of energy consumption.  Artisan can connect to one or two meters simultaneously allowing measurement of gas energy consumption and/or electricity energy consumption.  This allows the roasting operation to accurately monitor and report on its energy use and carbon footprint. 

Artisan v3.1

Artisan v3.1 comes with renewed Bluetooth and MODBUS infrastructure and adds quite some additional device and machine support.

Artisan v3.0.0

 Artisan 3.0 adds roast scheduling support and advanced summary statistics.

Artisan v2.10.2

We have again updated the best roasting software you cannot buy! To ease the path for Mill-City-Roaster owners to Artisan we added support for all of their machines. This version also extends the support for IKAWA roasters supporting their latest addition, the PRO 100 X, and simplifies the connection to Aillio Bullet R1 machines on Windows removing the requirement of an alternative USB driver installation. For further news see below.

Artisan v2.10.0

 

Artisan 2.10 runs native on Apple Silicon and adds support for Bühler und Joper roasting machines. There are some more news (see below).

Artisan v2.8.4

 

We introduce Artisan 2.8.4 which adds a few features and improves stability while staying full compatible with any previous version.

Buttons – Appearance, State, and Action

A custom button in Artisan is specified by a name, an event type and value, an action as well as button and text colors (see Events, Buttons Palettes). There can be as many buttons as you like. Additionally, each button has an appearance (normal/pressed) and a state. State and appearance are disconnected by default, but can be connected via button actions.

Understanding Roast Color

Taking the color of a roast is quite simple nowadays. Just prepare a sample and point your roast color meter at it. The device will display the roast color as a number. This may raise some questions.

• Why do different devices report different results on the same roast?
• What does the reported number mean and how does it compare?
• Why does the same device report different numbers for the same roast?

This post resembles our report On Idle Noise, where we identified the sources of temperature measuring noise and quantified their impact. This post shares our observations from over 1000 color measurements taken with Tonino and Lighttells CM100+ roast color meters. Our results can help answer the above questions and may lead to better color measurements.

Artisan v2.8.2

This is a maintenance release which fixes some regressions discovered in v2.8.0 and gives the Designer some love.

Artisan v2.8.0

Time for an update! With added support for the between batch protocol and the addition of a phases widget to the Comparator this release focus on repeatability and consistency in roasting. It also comes with many smaller improvements and updated translations.

Artisan v2.6.0

 

We dedicate this release to the constructive ones, the creatives, the makers, the innovators, the open ones, the integrators, the ones that lead us forward to make this a better planet for all of us and put the destructive ones, the duplicators and obstructors to shame.

Probat POP UP

Marko got invited by Probat to join their POP UP series on YouTube. This one is on NORM ROAST, a protocol for determining emission levels and energy consumption of roasting machines.

In this live session, Marko reports why he initiated this project and what the outcomes so far are. Together with you and Probat he puts this theory into practice.

Find more details on this and other events under News on the Artisan homepage.

Navigating Artisan

We’ve got invited by Royal Coffee to hold an online workshop on Artisan. In this webinar Dave will show you how to access the wealth of information available in Artisan graphs. Whether during an active roast or reviewing a completed roast, Artisan has features to speed your work.

Find more details on this and other events under News on the Artisan homepage.

Probe Arrays

There are a number of reasons why using an array of probes to measure temperatures inside a roasting machine, instead of using single probes, seems to be a good idea. The intrinsic redundancy of probe arrays allows a machine to handle probe failures silently and to report them early on to the operator, avoiding down time. Another advantage is using averages of all readings per sampling time. This increases the stability compared to single probes. Averaging of readings gathered in parallel avoids also the main disadvantage of common software based smoothing, the introduction of delays caused by averaging readings gathered sequentially. Are probe arrays worth it?

10 degrees above FCs

Michael just asked me to extend the alarm system of Artisan to allow him to add an alarm that would speak to him once his bean temperature increased by 10 degrees after first crack start.

Artisan v2.4.6

 

Artisan v2.4.6 adds structures to calculate energy consumption and CO₂ production per roast.