Too Much Coffee

Thanks for the information, Bruce. I am disappointed that the problem still seems to persist but it is good to know that you have downloaded/installed the latest version without problems despite the warning. Anyone who is even slightly concerned is advised to virus check the contents of RoastLogger.zip before running RoastLogger to satisfy themselves that it is indeed malware free.

I have just tried downloading again with Google Chrome on Windows. The first two times I got the malware warning again. I then cleared the Chrome downloads history list, deleted the previous download attempts, rebooted and downloaded it several times without any warnings! There does not seem to be any sense in what Chrome is doing at the moment.

So, sadly, the issue does not seem to be resolved yet. For my current thoughts on this issue I can only refer people to the points I made in my original post (above) dated Aug 26, 2014 - 10:01 AM.

It appears that the Google Chrome on Windows malware warning issue has resolved itself today as no malware warnings have been issued by Chrome in several downloads by myself and Bruce. I have made no changes whatsoever to RoastLogger.zip since I posted the version 2.1.5 update on 25/8/2014 so it looks as though this really is a Google Chrome on Windows false positive issue as suspected.

In an attempt to avoid this issue on future updates to RoastLogger I have just switched the download of RoastLogger.zip to Google Drive. Hopefully Google will be happier with the security on their site and will not issue spurious malware warnings on future updates. In testing by myself and Bruce this seems, so far, to work well with no spurious warnings. If anyone does have a problem downloading RoastLogger.zip please let me know.

Many thanks to Bruce for independently testing this issue and filling his computer with multiple downloads of RoastLogger.

Hi GB. First of all, thank you very much for making RoastLogger and make it accessible to everyone. I have made some calculations and estimare that I made 2000 roast in the last three years using RoastLogger software. Every time you upload a new version I'm sure something good will come. Since you have included the graph of the temperature gradient my roasts have improved markedly. It's amazing the effect to preserve a temperature by time gradiente on the roasting Quality and therefore on the cup. Without this graph I could not understand why sometimes not very similar roasts were producing the same type of cup.
I have enrolled in TMC today, so I do not know if you have received this kind of feedback before, but again thanks for this addition to the software.
Incidentally, I'm using a 15kg Has Garanti coffee roaster with manual temperature control, and have become RoastLogger dependen, I do not think I can get the same results without using RoastLogger.
By the way Iam a coffee grower from Honduras and and I roast part of my production.

Hi Laporra, welcome to TMC

Laporra wrote:Hi GB. First of all, thank you very much for making RoastLogger and make it accessible to everyone. I have made some calculations and estimare that I made 2000 roast in the last three years using RoastLogger software. Every time you upload a new version I'm sure something good will come. Since you have included the graph of the temperature gradient my roasts have improved markedly. It's amazing the effect to preserve a temperature by time gradiente on the roasting Quality and therefore on the cup. Without this graph I could not understand why sometimes not very similar roasts were producing the same type of cup.

Thank you very much for taking the time to post regarding your experience with RoastLogger. I am delighted that you believe it has markedly improved your roasts and you find it so useful

Laporra wrote:I have enrolled in TMC today, so I do not know if you have received this kind of feedback before, but again thanks for this addition to the software.

I can not get too much feedback like yours. Your post has made my weekend I get quite a lot of emails thanking me for the program. The vast majority of RoastLogger users do not post on any coffee forums so potential new RoastLogger users do not see their views on the program.

Laporra wrote:Incidentally, I'm using a 15kg Has Garanti coffee roaster with manual temperature control, and have become RoastLogger dependen, I do not think I can get the same results without using RoastLogger.
By the way Iam a coffee grower from Honduras and and I roast part of my production.

It is good to have a coffee grower and roaster join TMC. Your lifestyle in Honduras sound idyllic and rewarding to me though I am sure it is a lot of hard work

Thank you again for taking the time to post on your experience with RoastLogger.

It's always great to have a coffee professional among us. I just received a couple of kilos of beans from the Comayagua Region and am very pleased with the taste. Anything you might be able to share with us about Honduran coffee, growing or roasting would be very welcome.

A big welcome Laporra

Apologies to anyone who has been unable to download RoastLogger recently. It seems that a Google Drive limit on the number of downloads has been exceeded resulting in a message such as:

Quote:
Sorry, you can't download this file at this time.
Too many users have downloaded this file recently. Please try accessing the file again later…
Unquote.

It is recommended that anyone who already has a version of RoastLogger installed updates using the built in updater. This avoids all of the recent problems with downloading RoastLogger.

Those downloading and installing RoastLogger for the first time have to download via the link on the downloads page. I have now changed that link back to the original server (avoiding Google Drive). Google Chrome on Windows now seems to download the file without problems. If anyone still has a problem downloading the file please contact me via the contact details on the feedback page of the RoastLogger website.

If you have recently viewed the RoastLogger downloads page in your browser you may still be viewing a cached version of the page with the old link to Goggle Drive. The new page, with the updated link, states “This page last updated 24/09/2014” at the bottom of the page. If you do not see this you may need to refresh the page in your browser or delete your browsers cache.

Update 6/1/2015:

I now have confirmation from a number of users that the new version of the 86B is compatible with RoastLogger. I have no information related to the Victor 86C but it is probable that it has also been changed in the same way and should still be compatible with RoastLogger.

Update 5/1/2015:

Since the original post on this subject (see below) another RoastLogger user has purchased a new version of the 86B and has advised that his works fine with RoastLogger.  It is probable, therefore, that the previous user had purchased a faulty multimeter.

I currently only have these two reports regarding the new version. Anyone considering purchasing these multimeters should take this into account.  If anyone else does purchase one of the new versions please email me to confirm that it works or otherwise so that I can advise other prospective purchasers. My email address is provided in the feedback section of the RoastLogger website.

Original post:

A RoastLogger user has recently purchased a Victor 86B multimeter and advises that the manufacturer has recently changed the specification. Previously these devices communicated via USB HID and were optically isolated from the computer. The new device is still designated as 86B but is no longer optically isolated from the computer and now communicates by RS232 serial not USB HID. The new devices will, therefore, NOT work with RoastLogger.

I have no information related to the Victor 86C but it may be prudent to assume that it has also been changed.

Anyone considering purchasing either of these multimeters for use with RoastLogger should ensure that they purchase the old USB HID version. The following photos show the difference in the cable and the connector:

Old USB HID version using optical isolation. Note the large plastic connector housing the optical isolation and HID communication chip (these versions have always had RS232 stamped into the casing although they communicate by USB HID ):



The new version which will not work with RoastLogger. Note this uses a standard USB cable:

A further update to the RoastLogger to version 2.2 22/11/2014 is now available. This update adds a menu option to display the Scott Rao development ratio as the roast progresses. The action on pressing the Controller reset button has been changed to make it more secure. It now warns the user and refuses to reset until the roaster T1 temperature is below your set drop in temperature. The update includes a few other minor changes to fix minor issues.

The Windows version of Google Chrome is again providing a warning on downloading RoastLogger.zip as the file has obviously been updated. A link to information for users of Google Chrome on Windows is provided on the RoastLogger downloads page.

For further information on the changes in this update please see the following version information and the RoastLogger website.

Version 2.2 22/11/2014

1. Changed the Controller reset button action. It has always been necessary to cool the roaster until the T1 temperature was below your set drop in temperature before clicking the reset button. Now the action is to warn the user and refuse to reset if the roaster T1 temperature is above the current set drop in temperature.

2. Added a new menu option “Show Scott Rao development ratio in the status area”. When this item is selected the Rao ratio (development time / total roast time) is show as a percentage after the roast elapsed time in the status area at the bottom of the main window and in the banner. Scott recommends development time should be 20% to 25% of total roast time. By checking or unchecking this menu item and the “Show time after FCs in status area” menu item it is possible to show the elapsed roast time together with the time after first crack start and/or the Rao development ratio.

3. Previously the status message area was cleared at the end of a roast when using the Controller. This information is now cleared when the roast log is cleared. This allows the information to remain visible at the end of a roast for reference.

4. Removed a tooltip that was erroneously attached to the top level options menu.

5. Fixed minor issue with the elapsed time label on the logger tab.

6. Changed the IDE used to build RoastLogger and the minimum version of Java used for the build and other associated changes. These are significant changes but should have no consequence for users.

A minor update to the RoastLoggerTC4 sketch is available to download from the RoastLogger website or JimG’s TC4 Google code website. The update provides “bumpless” transfer of temperature units from Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice versa.

This resolves a minor issue which only affects users who have different temperature units selected in the user.h file of the sketch and the RoastLogger chart. These users may have noticed that the RoR values would jump on each start of the Controller as the temperature units change from those set in the user.h file to those set in the RoastLogger chart. The RoR values would then take several seconds to settle down to the normal values as the “bump” in temperature values worked its way through the RoR filters.

I would like to make it clear to all RoastLogger users that the ONLY official downloads of RoastLogger are provided by the link on the downloads page of the RoastLogger website or the automatic updater built into RoastLogger. ANY other download link will be to an unauthorised and probably modified version of the software.

If you have been provided with any other link to download RoastLogger or have been supplied directly with any copy of RoastLogger please let me know by email. I will do my best to help anyone who does contact me to continue to use RoastLogger with their roaster. My email address is provided in the RoastLogger Help About Box and on the Feedback page of the RoastLogger website.

A further update to the RoastLogger to version 2.3 2/1/2015 is now available. This update provides logging and charting of heater and fan settings for those controlling their roaster via the RoastLogger Controller. Tooltips have also been added to all curves in the chart indicating the precise elapsed time and value of all data points.

I have expressed my views on the usefulness of logging and charting heater and fan settings in previous posts but it is such a popular request that I have finally capitulated to the pressure to add this functionality. One of my concerns with doing this was that it requires changes to the format of the roast logs which would normally make them incompatible with previous versions or RoastLogger. This would have introduced complications for the majority of RoastLogger users who do not use the Controller. I have, however, found a way to do this which has no affect on these users. They will continue to use the original logs without needing to take any action. I have also been able to make the new logs compatible with previous versions of RoastLogger. Either log format can be read with any version of RoastLogger although versions prior to 2.3 will ignore the additional heater and fan information included in the new format log.

Reduced size image showing a recent test roast. The heater and fan setting curves are shown in the lower fifth of the chart and the RoR curve above this. Two tooltips are shown as examples. In reality only one tooltip can be shown at a time:


For further information on the changes in this update please see the following version information and the RoastLogger website.

Version 2.3 2/1/2015

Added logging and charting of heater and fan settings for those controlling their heater and fan via the RoastLoggers Controller. When the controller is running the heater and fan settings are logged. A new Options Menu item “Show heat and fan settings in chart” is provided. This can be checked and unchecked at any time. When this item is checked the heater and fan settings are displayed in the chart as the roast progresses. When unchecked the chart is the same as the previous version of RoastLogger. Anyone who is not controlling their roast via the Controller should uncheck this option.

Logging the heater and fan settings requires changing the format of the roast logs. In future two formats of logs will be used, the original one and a new one including the heater and fan settings. If the controller is running the new format log is created otherwise the original format log is created. Either log can be read with any version of RoastLogger although versions prior to 2.3 will ignore the additional heater and fan information included in the new format log.

The heater and fan settings are displayed in the lower fifth of the chart to keep them away from the roast and RoR curves. If you are using RoastLogger version 2.3 or above, with the above menu item selected, and you load a log which includes heater and fan data then the data will be displayed in the chart as either the current roast (exactly as displayed during the roast) or as a template (shown as dotted lines).

I have chosen not to add additional axis labels for this data as this would take up more space that is better used by the chart. The heater and fan area is banded in 10% steps alternately white and green to indicate the setting. Precise data is provided by hovering the mouse over a curve to display a tooltip (see below for details).

Tooltips have been added to all curves in the chart. Hovering the mouse over any curve will display a tooltip indicating the name of the curve, the elapsed time in Mins:secs and the value (for example “Fan: 3:25, 30”).

Fixed a minor issue which could result in the RoR curve not being cleared properly if a previous roast was not saved and not cleared before loading a different previous roast log as the current roast.

Changed the default chart properties for a new installation to a temperature axis minimum of 40 and a time axis maximum to 17 minutes. Users can, as with all previous versions of RoastLogger, change these to whatever values they wish via the menu option “Set chart axes”.

I will personally find this useful/informative so thanks for that, keep up the excellent work

Not meaning to be rude or insulting, just celebratory, when I say:
FINALLY! YEAHHH!"

Proud to say I have been one who had recommended this a few years ago iirc, and continued to be a outspoken representative of this needed inclusion. It always seemd an obvious omission to me in that it would be a great learning tool to see how heat and airflow changes affect the roast's progress and how long it takes for those changes to take effect.

THANK YOU, Greenbean!

You are very welcome guys Many people have requested this but I am happy to confirm that it was the guilt I felt after rejecting the last of the many requests from Randy that finally tipped the balance Well that and finding a way to implement it that did not cause problems for the majority of RoastLogger users who are not using the Controller to control their roasts.