CONTROLLING A HOTTOP ROASTER

WITH ARTISAN: The Basics v. 6

Barrie Fairley 14-09-12

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1
REQUIREMENTS .......................................................................................... 1
SETTING UP THE HOTTOP B-2K TO INTERACT WITH ARTISAN ..................... 2
SETTINGS IN ARTISAN TO MAKE IT ALL WORK ............................................ 2
USING ARTISAN TO RUN A ROAST .............................................................. 9
SETTINGS TO CUSTOMIZE THE DISPLAY (PRIOR TO ROAST?)..................... 11
BACK-TO-BACK ROASTS ............................................................................ 13
A FOLDER STRATEGY SUGGESTION ........................................................... 13

Introduction
This document is intended for the subset of Artisan users who have a Hottop modified
with additional thermocouple probes and with an HTRI electronic control system
(HTC+TC4C combo boards for example). It is a supplement to the Artisan
documentation, and brings together information contained in a variety of internet
resources that are cited in footnotes.1 Those new to Artisan are advised to follow the
whole document, rather than referring to selected portions.

Requirements
 Hottop roaster (Model B-2K assumed, but can be used with other models).
 Computer with Microsoft Windows, Mac, or Linux OS.2
 Thermocouples installed to measure bean temperature (essential) and
environment temperature (highly recommended).3
 HTC+TC4C combo boards with red LED indicating “power going to heater.”4
 USB cable to connect TC4C to computer.3,5
 Instructions for installation of Artisan sketch; (includes links for downloading
Arduino software).6,7
 Latest version of Artisan;8 (Artisan Version 0.8.x was used here)
 Artisan documentation.9
 What follows assumes the above requirements have been installed, including the
red LED connected to the HTC board (see Figure12), and the aArtisan sketch (the

1 In many instances, this is not the way to do it, just one way.
2 These guidelines are said to apply to all three OSs, but the author has only verified Windows 7.
3 http://www.mlgp-llc.com/htri/pdf/HTRI-UserGuide-v100.pdf
4 http://www.mlgp-llc.com/arduino/public/arduino-pcb.html§
5 http://yourduino.com/sunshop2/index.php?l=product_detail&p=166
6 http://www.homeroasters.org/php/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=23
7 https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4HTX5wS3NB2ZFdWd0NFdG1qUFk&usp=sharing. (select

‘doc.‘)
8 https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4HTX5wS3NB2ZFdWd0NFdG1qUFk&usp=sharing
9 http://coffeetroupe.com/artisandocs/
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firmware for the TC4C board). Note the important April 2014 update of the
sketch to avoid unintended mid-roast reset.10,11

Setting up the Hottop B-2K to interact with Artisan

The HT Control Panel settings recommended in the Roast Logger software manual12
and the HTRI Users Guide (footnote 3 on previous page) work just as well with
Artisan.13 Essentially, this involves setting up one of the three user-
customizable Auto profiles on the HT with the time and temperature set to the
maximum, and Heater and Fan set to 100% from the start (and for at least the
first five minutes). That is then what the display shows as soon as pre-heating is
completed, and it stays that way throughout the roast. It represents what is available
should Artisan wish to use it.
Artisan communicates with the Hottop (HT) through an intermediary, the Arduino or
TC4C board that has been programmed to work with Artisan. To do this the
appropriate sketch or firmware (aArtisan.ino) must be installed on the TC4C.
Subsequent to the installation of the sketch, it is ‘invisible’ to the user during an
Artisan-controlled roast. Once the Hottop and Artisan are in communication the
latter is in control of heater and fan functions. Artisan is controlling the roast
and displaying Power and Fan settings on the computer as a fraction of whatever
values show in the HT Control Panel. The HT Control Panel display should
continue to show Heater and Fan at 100% regardless of the real values (this does not
change and can be ignored). Caveat: The only way to confirm from moment to moment
that power is going to the heater is by whether the LED attached to the HTC is on or off
(Figure 12)!! Watch this carefully during your first few roasts, to check that all is well.

Settings in Artisan to make it all work14

Artisan only controls Heater and Fan settings. It responds to events entered manually
during a roast, and to events that it can be set to observe (e.g. charge beans, BT
turning point, cracks, drop, etc.)
Config and Tools are the important Main Menu items in Artisan that need settings
entered in their various tabs in order to communicate with your HT and customize a
roast. These settings are numerous, but fortunately Artisan saves them in the Windows
Registry once entered, and they will be there for subsequent roasts – even after an
uninstall/reinstall as long as you left the registry alone at that time.15  The objective of

10 http://tc4-shield.googlecode.com/svn/applications/Artisan/aArtisan/tags/REL-300/aArtisan-
V300.zip
11 Only one firmware program can be installed on the TC4 at a time, and any new installation just writes

over what was there before.

12 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/green_bean/coffee/roastlogger/download.html
13 P model owners will also find relevant material there.
14 Artisan is not written solely for Hottop users and so many of the default settings must be changed.
15 i.e. Uninstalled from Control Panel rather than using a more complete uninstaller such as Revo

Uninstaller.
 3

this section is to set up the instructions for a first roast and save settings that can
serve as a template for all subsequent roasts with adjustments as desired.16 In
particular, alarm settings control each roast and therefore we will describe how to
create an alarm list and save it as part of a basic profile. This can then be loaded for
any roast, with minor changes made according to the bean, ambient temperature etc.
Once changes have been made for a different bean or batch size, for example, the new
alarm settings can be saved with an appropriate file name and loaded whenever it is
roasted again.

Profiles are stored in the folder of your choice in the format filename.alog. For your
first roast, of course, Artisan does not have any stored. The default start-up window
has a horizontal axis of one minute, and temperature from zero to 600F on the vertical
one. The title “Roaster Scope” can be changed to whatever you wish, but we will get to
that later. The program will run just fine with that title and temperature scale, but it
is certain that your roast will last longer than one minute.17 So, we will start with the
changes that are either essential or very helpful in controlling a roast, and then we can
come back and look at how we might make things prettier. Along the way, any profile
can be saved by clicking File/Save As and choosing a folder. Mostly you will be using
autosaves (see Figure 8).

Make the changes shown in Figures 1 to 11.

The red arrows in each figure point to these. Where OK does not have an arrow, it is
because you are changing to another tab in the same dialog.

Terminology
Artisan Hottop
CHARGE Load beans
DROP Eject
Power Heater

See “A folder strategy suggestion”, Page 13.

16

Artisan will extend the horizontal axis automatically, as required during the roast, but it is perhaps
17

more pleasing to pre-set an adequate length and then edit this at the end.
 4

Figure 1. Roast/Properties. Figure 2. Config/Device.

This is a necessary change for any Hottop roast. The It is essential to select Arduino TC4. Check that the ET
Roaster will be remembered. and BT Channel numbers conform to your wiring
connections at the TC4C board.

Figure 3. Config/Serial Ports.

The correct comm port will show up in the drop-down list
when the USB cable is connected to the HT. It will not
necessarily be COM4. For performance reasons,115200
is the preferred baud rate with aArtisan v.3, and is the
new default.
Figure 4. Config/Events_Config.
Uncheck the boxes in the Default button list for the ones
you will not use. In this example, Auto CHARGE is
checked, so there is no need for its button. Unchecking
COOL END is specifically recommended for the HT.18

18 Its bean-cooling phase has a fixed duration and takes place external to the measuring thermocouples.
It therefore cannot be recorded. If you wish, you can record the fall in ET and BT as the empty HT is
cooling, of course.
 5

Figure 6. Config/Sampling Interval.

N.B. There is a direct relationship between sampling
interval and curve smoothness, deltas in particular. (See
page 13)

Figure 5. Config/Events_Sliders.

In the Command column, for Power type the following :

OT1,{}. (without the final period). The O is a capital
letter, not the number zero. For Fan, type DCFAN,{} (NB,
requires latest sketch). These must be typed very
accurately as they are essential in the transfer of
commands to the HT. (Note that it is important that you
reconfigure as shown here if you previously used the IO3
command for your Hottop fan and have now installed the
April 2014 version of the sketch).

Figure 8. Config/Autosave

Autosave will remember the name of the roast and the

folder location from the previous roast.. Tip: Sorting is
aided by Autosave automatically taking the roast name
and adding the date and a military time, when it saves
the *.alog file. As long as the path to the Autosave file has
been entered, this alog file and its name can be checked
and edited later if necessary.

If this configuration has been completed, Alt+a triggers a

save of the alog file at any time (including if you later re-
open the alog file in a blank Artisan window).

Figure 7. Config/Axes.

The format xx:xx is important in the time slots.

 6

–Figure 9. Tools/Extras_Graph. Figure 10. Tools/Extras_ HUD.

This distinguishes between Delta values you want to Do not use this dialog box to indicate the position of your
show as curves versus those displayed in LCDs at the probe connections to the TC4C board! (ET<>BT). See
right-hand side of the Artisan window. Figure 2.
Decimals (in the temperature LCDs) can be left
unchecked, to narrow the right margin and create more
graph area.

Figure 11. Config/Events_Style

(suggested settings) Figure 12. Control Panel with after-market LED on at start
of roast.
 7

Figure 13. Screen after initiating START (shows sliders Figure 14. Heater and Fan horizontal lines only appear
that appear in left margin after ON is clicked).19 when there is a change.

Figure 15. Config/Alarms

Explanation of alarm settings in Figure 15

The word ‘Alarms’ is a misnomer, as these are really triggers for instructions that tell
the roaster what to do and when. At the start, the window is blank and each new
alarm is added by clicking the Add button, then changing its defaults. Note the Beep
column which allows you to trigger a sound when any alarm is initiated.20 Figure 15

19 Shows sliders in vertical alignment as described on Page 12 (increasing graph space).

20 It may be useful to check them all?
 8

shows an example of a few simple settings, and the red arrow shows an item to be
checked. Of the thirteen, we will examine six (indicated by green arrows) to outline
different options. It is strongly recommended that you look at the related Artisan
website for further details.21 The specifics of the Alarms shown here may not be
relevant to any particular roast and are only intended as examples of how instructions
are entered.22 Note that if you want to issue an instruction dependent on temperature, it
must relate to something in the Source column. If it is to relate to an event, the Source
column should be empty. This is an “either/or” choice.
If you make any changes to the alarms loaded with the profile, save the new settings
as an alarm automatically included with the newly-saved profile, with or without a
separate alarm file with a more relevant perhaps bean-related file name.
Alarm 1. Says that if BT is above zero after the ON button is clicked, the Power slider
should go to 100%.23 It turns the power on to the Heater on the HT for the first time,
and should be No. 1 on any HT alarm list. See the next section on running a roast.
Alarm 3. Starts the graphical record when BT is >269F (≥270F). The checked event
buttons (Fig. 4) now appear below the graph. The ΔBT and ΔET curves will start but
the section prior to the TP is erased when OFF is clicked (see Figs. 4 and 16).
Alarm 5 (and 4, 12, and 13). Improves the appearance of the Power and Fan record in
the graph. If you have selected Value in the Config/Events tab, that setting provides a “curve” of the
level of each of these two items, but with a caveat. Nothing happens until the level is changed (see Figures
13 and14). Alarm 4 (and 5) repeats the ongoing Power (and Fan) instructions immediately after START,
thereby initiating the trace at that time. The results of this strategy are shown in Figure 16.
Alarm 6. Calls a text-to-speech program that tells the user that it will soon be time to
load the beans.24,25
Alarm 7. ‘TP’ stands for “Turning Point” which is the lowest temperature that occurs
after beans are loaded (CHARGE in Artisan-speak). The instruction is that, after the
TP is detected by Artisan and when bean temperature reaches above 319F (≥320F) on
the upswing, the fan is set to 35%.
Alarm 10. The Fan is turned up to 100% one minute after First Crack starts. Note
that this is set to a specific time rather than to a temperature. Source is therefore left
blank.

21 http://artisan-roasterscope.blogspot.com/2013/03/alarms.html
22 They will, however, produce a good roast, and you might try them for a start and make your own
changes later?
23 The slider will actually show 99 as there is only space for two digits.
24 For Windows users: http://coffeetroupe.com/artisandocs/spoken-alarms-windows/. The author is

unaware of any program other than saystatic.exe that can produce spoken text, and will open in the
second of two back-to-back roasts.
25 Programs cannot be called from an Artisan alarm list prior to START.
 9

Figure 16. Example of the customizable Artisan graphical display showing a completed
roast. “Characteristics” have been omitted. But the bar showing the “Drying, Maillard,
and Development“ phases appears at the top, with the percent roast time for each.
Note: Thermocouples vary in their readings depending on their installation. These read
low.

Using Artisan to Run a Roast

Actions that you should take are in this bold typeface.

1. Make sure that the USB cable is connected at both ends and plug in the
HT.
2. Weigh the beans and note their volume then, in Artisan, go to
Roast/Properties and complete these and any other details you wish.
Include any comments under the Notes tab. If saved at the end of the roast,
these will be a part of its *.alog file. The volume measurement under
Roast/Properties should have been changed from l. to ml. Artisan will then
remember this for subsequent roasts.
3. Check that the correct alarm file is loaded. Alarm settings are saved with
the *.alog file for a roast, if the relevant box was checked in Config/Alarms
(bottom left, Figure 15).
4. Check the Autosave settings.
5. Turn the roaster on to the pre-heat stage. If the USB cable is connected
correctly and the Artisan sketch is installed, the red LED should not light up.
 10

6. Go to Artisan and click ON. The sliders will appear to the left of the Artisan
window, and BT and ET LCDs to the right. If Alarm 1 (Figure 15) has been
implemented, the power slider should now show 99,26 and the red LED should
light up on the HT. 27 This will not start the recording in Artisan but the
temperature LCDs in the right margin should show increasing numbers as the
HT heats up.
7. At some stage in the warm up, click on START28, and the temperature
curves now start to appear. The Power and Fan sliders should stay at 99 and
zero respectively. To avoid recording an uninteresting Preheat period that just
uses up horizontal graph space, START can be delayed, perhaps until just before
bean loading? Your choice.29 Just don’t forget. 
8. The LED on the HT remains lit and, at the end of the pre-heat phase, 100%
Heater and Fan will show on the HT Control Panel display. THIS DOES NOT
MEAN THAT THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING, but merely the available max
settings. From here on, Heater and Fan activity is indicated by the displays in
Artisan and the status of the red LED light on the HT.30
9. Load beans at the bean temperature of your choice and Artisan will indicate
the time and BT on screen if you checked the Auto CHARGE box in
Config/Events_Config (Figure 4).
10. Other than on bean loading, at each phase of the roast click (once only)
on the appropriate button in the row under the graph area (Figure 13) and
the event will be noted.
11. When you are ready to eject the beans, end the roast manually by
pressing Eject on the HT Control Panel. Artisan will make the appropriate
notations on the graph if you checked the Auto DROP box in
Config/Events_Config (Figure 4).31
12. Click on OFF.32 This stops data recording. If its folder is stored, Autosave will
now save the *.alog file. If not, do not click RESET file as you will lose your
Roast/Properties data.33
13. When cool, weigh the roasted beans and note the volume.
14. Go to Roast/Properties and enter the weight and volume information in
the ‘Out’ boxes.
15. At this stage the time axes can still be changed along with many other
elements of the graph, notes can be entered, and the log saved.
16. Click on RESET if you are going to follow with another roast in the same
session.

26 There will be a brief delay. As there is only space for two integers, 100 is displayed as 99.
27 If the red LED does not come on, either the USB connection is faulty or the Config/Serial Port settings
are not correct.
28 See Alarm 3 in Figure 16 if you prefer this to happen automatically at a temperature of your choice

(recommended).
29 You might note the relationship between the built-in HT warning “are you there?” alarms at OEM 355

and 395, and your START, load, and first crack times. They may offer a useful reminder.
30 When power to the heater is decreased below 100%, the red LED will start flashing.
31 The author prefers to retain the DROP button below the graph and end the roast manually, by clicking

on it and then following immediately by pressing EJECT on the HT.

32 There will be a delay while Artisan makes its final calculations and other routines.
33 You may find it useful to re-open the Roast/Properties dialog box after the OFF button disappears, as a

reminder not to take further steps until the post-roast bean weight and volume are entered, and the file
saved.
 11

Settings to customize the display (prior to roast?)

Roast/Properties_General
Up to this point “Roaster Scope” has been the default title.

1. If the Date is not the current one, go back to the main Artisan screen and click
on RESET. Careful! Only do this after saving your data and/or before starting
a roast.
2. In the Title box, delete ‘Roaster Scope’ and enter the name of the bean (see
Folder Strategy (Page 13.)
3. Replace ‘Roaster Scope’ with the name of the bean.
4. Enter the weight in grams of the beans to be loaded.
5. Change the volume measure to ml. if necessary.
6. Enter the volume of beans to be loaded.
7. Check the ‘Delete roast properties on RESET’ box?34
8. Click on OK.

Roast/Properties_Notes.
Any comments about the roast can be entered under this tab at any time. They will
remain with the saved *.alog file, and appear with the detailed report that can be
printed after completing the roast.35

1. Enter Notes under Roast/Notes tab.

2. Click on OK.

Config/Colors

1. Make your selections under the Graph and LCD tabs.

2. Click on OK. See Figure 11 for additional suggestions.

Config/Phases
In this dialog you can set the boundaries of the colored phases that run across the
whole graph. This will depend on the temperatures that your BT thermocouple displays
for these stages of a roast. Further recommendations:

1. Leave Auto Adjusted, Auto Dry and Auto FCs unchecked.

2. Check watermarks and Phases LCDs.
3. Click on OK.

34RESET is primarily for back-to-back roasts.

35From Artisan, one can go to File/Open to bring up any *.alog file of your choosing, then edit Roast
Properties etc, create a graph image, print a report.
 12

Config/Statistics
This section deals with the evaluation data bar that can be displayed across the top of
your graph post-roast (Figure 16), as well as the data beneath the horizontal axis
(characteristics).36 Select the items you want to display and the time limits for any
evaluation commentary.

Config/Events (Config and Styles tabs)

Look at Alarm 12 in Figure 15. The Power and Fan records in the graph only move
forward in response to a new instruction, so Alarms 12 and 13 are set to cause those
records to continue to the end of the roast (implemented in Figure 16). See also Figure
11. If this is implemented do not click on OFF until the Power and Fan curves are
complete and have returned to zero.

Config/Axes
The axes can be changed at the end of the roast.

1. Adjust the horizontal axis to eliminate any unwanted space (usually right-hand
end).
2. Click OK.

Increasing graph space in the Artisan window (Figures 13 and 14)

The Power and Fan sliders can be located one above the other by changing them to
boxes 1 and 2 in Config/Events_Config (Figure 4) and then making the necessary
changes in Config/Events_Sliders (Figure 5) and Config/Events_Style (Figure 11). Do
not leave empty any of the four Event Types boxes in Config/Events_Config before
going to Config/Events_Sliders.

Smoothing curves
This is a multifactorial complex issue.37,38 During the roast, each point on the
temperature curves can only be derived from the average of recent–past events, which
obviously has its limitations. This is revised automatically at the end of the roast, after
clicking OFF, when values after each data point can be included in the averages, and
the resulting smoothing appears. After clicking OFF you can try different smoothing
settings in Tools/Extras_Graph and observe these effects. There is another significant
change that can be made, by editing the file user.h in the aArtisan sketch before
installing it.39

36Tip: Open an alog file in Artisan and change components of the Config/Statistics dialog. The changes
will occur on screen immediately, making it easier to decide which items to retain.
37http://www.homeroasters.org/php/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=3844&highlight=smoothing&pid=

48758#post_48758
38 http://artisan-roasterscope.blogspot.de/2014/01/sampling-interval-smoothing-and-rate-of.html
39One can edit BT_FILTER and ET_FILTER in user.h. e.g. The author’s setup has over-responsive probes
(Omega XCIB-K-3-5-3), and so these two values have been set to 90 in this case.
 13

Back-to-back roasts40
By default, the power and fan are set to zero by the Arduino sketch, aArtisan. As a
result, at the start of the second of two back-to-back roasts when one would expect
the fan to come on at 100% during the HT’s COOL phase, this does not happen! The
solution is:

1. Disconnect the USB cable after the first roast. The Fan will go to 100% and the
Power will be at zero.
2. When the HT cools to 163 and goes to Pre-heat (PH), the Power (and red LED) will
come on and the fan will go to zero. At this stage there is no Artisan control.
3. Reattach the USB cable, and the red LED should go off.
4. Click on START to restore full power.

At the time of writing the latest version of Artisan is 8.0. Up to this point, alarms that
call a saystatic.exe-containing batch (*.bat file) would not play in the second roast, and
the solution has been to come out of Artisan altogether between roasts, restarting it
for the second one. The Artisan download site41 now has a pre-release version (8.1b5)
that corrects that problem. Between roasts one can now use RESET with this
unsupported version, and it is not necessary to close Artisan between roasts.

A folder strategy suggestion

1. The main Artisan program files will be in the installation folder, perhaps
C:\Program Files\Artisan\. The majority of files that you create should be
elsewhere.42
2. Autosave is a very useful feature that saves profiles for each roast automatically
(including alarms etc), at the end of each roast (or in response to Alt+a). This
only happens if you have indicated a folder for the saves (Figure 8). 43
3. If you run the roaster from a notebook or laptop and have other computers on
the same network, you might consider using Dropbox for your Autosave files.
4. There will be other files that you would like to save, such as different alarm
settings. These deserve a separate folder.

e.g. Drive:\Artisan Roasts

\General
\Autosaves.44

40 The appropriateness or otherwise of doing back-to-back roasts is well-discussed elsewhere.

41 https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4HTX5wS3NB2ZFdWd0NFdG1qUFk&usp=sharing
42 An exception is saystatic.exe and related bat files, if these are part of the alarm list. They should be in

the same folder as artisan.exe.

43 Tip: Reserve the Autosaves folder for only those files (anything else can be in \General). This makes

sorting and searching previous roasts much easier. A useful bean-name format when it comes to sorting
might be: countryname (abbr)_vendor_bean name_artisan-generated suffix (eg. El Salv SM Siberia
Bourbon-13-12-26_0737.alog).
 14

Good luck! Once you have completed a roast or two successfully, you will be able to go to
the Artisan documentation and try some of the bells and whistles that are available there.
You are on your own now. 

In putting this together I would particularly like to acknowledge the advice of Marko Luther,
(developer), and Jim Gallt (TC4C and its firmware), who were kind enough to check this guide,
and Miroslav Stankovic. This article is the product of my learning from them as well as from
many contributors to various forums, including Homeroasters, Sweet María’s, and Home-Barista.
We all learn from each other, but any inadvertent errors in this guide are of my own making.
Please bring any that are found to the author’s attention.

44You might use Notepad or Notepad++ to set up a separate text file, with all beans that you use listed
under countries. The names can then be copied from this and pasted into the Roast Properties and
Config/Autosave dialogs to ensure name conformity in the Autosaves folder.