Fresh Roast Plus 8 Fan Speed Adjustment

Fresh Roast Plus 8 Fan Speed Adjustment

We've had a few reports of some Fresh Roast Plus 8 roasters not getting the coffee dark enough. If your FRP8 isn't getting your coffee to a nice medium dark brown Full City in the 6-7 minute range, chances are your fan speed is set too high. It's blowing too much air through too fast and your roaster simply isn't getting hot enough to roast the beans properly.

Like all fluid bed (air) roasters, your FRP8 is sensitive to batch size, bean weight and size, chaff content, ambient air temperature and voltage supply. Although your roaster was tested before it left the factory, household voltages around the US actually vary considerably. If yours is on the high side, your roaster fan will run too fast. To compensate for the variances in voltages around the country, your FRP8 is equipped with a variable resistor to regulate the fan speed. If it's not set properly, then your roaster may not get hot enough.

Some roasters might have the opposite problem--the fan speed is set too low, and the coffee is roasting too quickly. The same adjustment procedure can be used to increase your fan speed.

The good news is that it's a very easy fix. All you need is a Phillips screwdriver and about 5 minutes. Here's the drill:

1. Flip the roaster base upside down and remove the 2 screws that hold the base cap to the base housing.
2. Remove the base housing.
3. You'll see a green tube about 2 inches long and about 3/4" in diameter. That's the variable resistor. You'll see a metal strap with a wire attached to it around the resistor. The placement of that strap determines your fan speed.
4. Note the position of the strap. It's probably closer to one end of the resistor than the other. The goal is to move it toward the far end.
5. Loosen the set screw on the strap and slide the strap about half way from its original position toward the farthest end of the resistor. You don't want to slow the fan down more than necessary in order to insure good bean agitation and even roasting.
6. Now tighten the set screw. Just snug is fine. Don't over do it.
7. Make sure the wire is still attached and nothing else has come loose.
8. Now replace the base housing onto the base cap, reinsert the screws and tighten. Again, just snug—those screws are sunk into plastic and you could strip them out if you try to tighten them too much.
9. Now roast a batch of coffee. In 6-7 minutes your coffee should be a nice medium dark brown with just a little sheen. Did you hear the first and second cracks? Then that's all there is to it. It takes longer to read this than it does to adjust your roaster. If your coffee is still not dark enough, then repeat this procedure and move the strap a little farther and try again.
10. If this still doesn't allow your roaster to get the beans dark enough, you may have other issues. Give Tim Skaling at Fresh Beans a call, toll free at 1-805-501-7731. Tim designed the roaster and he can tell you if it needs to be serviced or replaced.