Aillio R1 Bullet

[kbc]

I watched a roast from start to finish at MICE. I have to say - very impressive. Amazing roaster for the $

[marcism]

Any pictures, K?

[melbuurn]

I watched a roast from start to finish at MICE. I have to say - very impressive. Amazing roaster for the $

What is the price? Way too many people standing around it at MICE to get a $ figure

[TC]

Yet to be set by the importer but probably somewhere around $4k.

We have one preorder cancellation available- one client has moved overseas.

Aillio Bullet R1 preorder deposit | Talk Coffee

[melbuurn]

Yet to be set by the importer but probably somewhere around $4k.

We have one preorder cancellation available- one client has moved overseas.

Aillio Bullet R1 preorder deposit | Talk Coffee

Wow - but then a Hottop pushes over $2k these days....

Are you still dealing in has garanti Chris?

[evro50]

We have one preorder cancellation available- one client has moved overseas.

Not anymore

I was going to wait to see the reviews on the initial batch, but hey this coffee obsession crossed the reasonable thought process a while ago!

[melbuurn]

Not anymore

I was going to wait to see the reviews on the initial batch, but hey this coffee obsession crossed the reasonable thought process a while ago!

Nice work. Would be good to see this side by side against a Sola 1kg, Proaster 1kg and a Probat sample roaster and see how it stacks up

[TC]

Nice work. Would be good to see this side by side against a Sola 1kg, Proaster 1kg and a Probat sample roaster and see how it stacks up

I guess to keep it fair, the comparison would involve 3 to 5 Aillios v any of the above- given we're talking $14.5k to $20+k domestic/sample v full commercial?

[melbuurn]

I guess to keep it fair, the comparison would involve 3 to 5 Aillios v any of the above- given we're talking $14.5k to $20+k domestic/sample v full commercial?

True...OK then up against a HotTop and (maybe) a Gene?

[TC]

Alrighty,

I ran 5 or 6 batches yesterday (sans software- back to first principles ) and I feel I have a pretty good handle on it...

I'll get some warts and all thoughts together and update this thread once I catch up on the backlog of a day on a plane...

Thanks as always to the ECA crew- Charles, Sal, Nadine and staff for their incredible service, support and hospitality. It's unique in this industry and hugely appreciated.

[marcism]

Ohhhhh very exciting! Very keen for a rundown. Been following this for so long, nice to see some action.

[TC]

Ok, having had a play, some thoughts. This will be rough and ready, but will hopefully provide some more info for those looking for it....

• The first surprise with the roaster was that the software which was operational at MICE when Jacob and Jonas were in Melbourne appears not to be in the field yet. Also the software will initially be PC only. No Mac yet . I understand that there are some tweaks being written into the software. So all roasting was by the "seat of my pants" so to speak. This meant biro, paper, timing and all the usual stuff that many of us do.
• The roaster had been used by another roaster on Tuesday and he ran a variety of loads from 200g to a full kilo and all within 15 minutes- so no problem roasting to full load. I decided to run a number of 500g batches to see how close I could get to the profile I use when I roast our Shed Shandy blend which goes to just prior to 2C. Ultimately this led to roast times between 14.5 min (quicker than my usual) and close to 18 min (longer) with 1C varying from about 10 min to closer to 13 min (I won't disclose what I usually use ). All roasts looked terrific- even, no tipping nor divots and looked like "commercial quality". Whilst the finishing colour was pretty much identical, all as expected were different- with the longer roasts chewing slightly baked. So, different profiles, same finishing colour, different results and no doubt drinking. ECA will play with them to see how they come up.
• Yet to try the results as espresso, but a chew of the results leads me to believe that the sweet spot with the blend I was using was no more than 15 min roast duration inc 4-5 min development time.
• 1st Crack (with the supplied blend Brazil/Indo/Ethiopian of unknown proportion and quality) was tricky to pick in the gentler roasts but was discernable on the final more aggressive let's redline this mother to see what it can do roast. 2nd crack? Forget it- at least with my hearing. I have no problem hearing it with my Has Garanti, Gene Cafe nor Behmor. The presence of a of a tryer would make it a whole heap easier.
• Compared to CS software, 1C and 2C appear to be offset by approx. 10 deg. I felt that an indicated 185/205 deg C bean temp was pretty much right.
• Variable fan and drum speed as well as temperature- but all on a 1-9 scale. I hadn't really thought about this, but I'd assumed these would be true variable- so that was a surprise.
• Drum speed >5 looked super quick (I settled on 5) and fan speed >5 was capable of stalling a roast and certainly needed to be used with care. The behaviour and influence of fan speed when compared to my commercial was way more aggressive- so much so that in my last couple of roasts, I experimented and successfully managed RoR primarily with fan speed and then later with temp.
• Irritation- every new roast defaulted to a drum speed of 9- super quick
• Irritation- RoR fluctuates significantly (heating/not heating?) and an algorithm to smooth would aid panic free roasting. I eventually learned only to touch settings after thinking I should have at least a few times when viewing RoR.
• Pro- interface really good and easy to switch between drum temp and RoR and Drum speed/Fan speed which are separately displayed

So- do I like it?

Yes I do. It's not the same as a commercial roaster but I feel that it will be a nifty little small batch roaster and will be able to provide useful data to assist with commercial espresso profile development. It's definitely a next level roaster for the serious home hobby roaster. I have no doubt it will find its way into commercial operations as well small cafes which want to experiment with small batch stuff and learn the art/science.

Would I buy one?

No question. If I didn't have the commercial and had continued home roasting, I am sure that I'd be in the queue as I was already in the "need 2 roasters" weekly volume. Compared to all other 1kg options, it's value for money.

Jonas and Jacob have produced a terrific product which they feel is comprehensively overengineered and should be hugely reliable and long lived when looked after/cleaned etc.

They reckon we should have our demo roaster in 2-3 weeks. I am also thrilled that the Aillio will be imported by ECA. It guarantees 110% support and parts so that we can ensure that purchasers have the best possible ownership experience.

Like all other roasters, it has its quirks and like all other roasters, the learning curve begins again. That's also part of the fun!

A very early draft of the operation manual is in the wild, so I guess it's ok to link to it, for those who are yet to see it.

Chris

[readeral]

Oh to have a spare $4000! *sadface*

[readeral]

So the roaster only has a drum temp and a bean temp probe (Manual, Pg 18) - and the manual says that no modifications can be done (Pg 1). Does this mean than getting an Environment Temp* or exhaust reading is out of the question? OR is this something that might be possible within warranty by the supplier, given a sampler option is coming for retrofitting?

Great to see they at least intend to get Mac software up and running (pg. 18), and it's also cool that they have a requirement of collecting roasting data in order to improve their software. I wonder what the extent of that data collection is..

[kwantfm]

I may be totally wrong, but I thought that system heating was accomplished by drum induction. If so I think that drum temp is more useful than exhaust temp as heating will be largely conductive rather than convective.