Hello fellow roasters,
I thought that the problems I'd been having with my Alp were just 
drum roasting growing pains but I'm starting to wonder.
First I had the problme with the Alp giving me what looked like good 
espresso roasts (fast second crack), that ended up tasting grassy. I 
thought that might be due to a 14 ga extension cord I'd been using.
Then a few days ago I roasted some Monkey to "bursting second crack", 
i.e. I hit the cool button as soon as I got a burst of 2 or more 
close second crack pops. The resulting espresso was too sour, so I 
decided to roast about 15 seconds beyond that. Since my previous 
toast ended at 19:20 and apparently a "1" setting is 16:35 with 15 
seconds gaps between numbers, I figured trying a 12 (19:35) would be 
perfect, and would give me a chance to see how accurate those time vs 
numbers were.
To my great surprise, the Alp went into a second crack much earlier 
than before, after about 17 minutes. I decided to wait until 19:35 to 
see if the "12" was accurate. To my even greater surprise, I waited, waited 
and... waited... After *25 minutes* my Alp was still going and NEVER 
went into the cooling cycle. I hit the cool button just then and the 
resulting bean was very black and oily (surprising me, I expected 
charcoal after all that time!).
So does it look like my Alp is defective? With my luck, of course, it
looks like I'll have to wait quite a while for a replacement since
I've read that Swissmar is out of Alps... Thanks,
               Renaud
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Renaud,
With the Alp not shutting off after 25 minutes on setting 12, that's a
problem.  The max time on setting 15 should be 25:05 (20:05 for setting 15
plus 5 minutes for cool/eject cycle).  Could be a sick Alp where the
electronics has lost their mind.  Also, could be bad power (even though
you've tried different gauge extension cords).  The length of the extension
cord can be a factor as well (even if you have the gauge wire that should
handle the load).  Maybe a check with a Volt meter would be in order to see
what you've got at the plug.  Also what other devices are running off the
same circuit you use to run the Alp?  Is it possible that some other device
is introducing line noise that is affecting the Alps electronics?  Another
thing that Anthony Lemme once told me is "don't unplug the Alp before it
shuts down on it's own".  He said that can foul up the electronics in the
unit.
Here's a basic Alp test:
Do this as a dry-run to see if the auto-off is working at different settings
and save your beans.  With the lid open, put the setting on 1, then you can
then observe the drum rotating, see that the flaps open and close, watch the
cool down cycle and time the whole thing to see if your unit is working
properly.  Understanding that a setting of 1 = 16 minutes 35 seconds, the
roast/heating cycle should end at that time followed by a 3 minute cool-down
period (drum still turning) and then a 2 minute bean eject cycle (drum
reverses its direction).  On the flaps (just right of where the drum sits),
they should be in the closed position when the "Start" button is pressed.
They open when either the automated cool-cycle begins or if you manually
press the "Cool" button.  They will close again after the beans have been
ejected and the roast cycle has ended.  These flaps are very important to
correct results with this machine, so this is another good reason to do the
dry run and see that they are working properly.
Coffenut  :^)
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Renaud:
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Sure sounds like it to me. How long have you been using the roaster? 
Is this new behavior?
Doesn't matter, really -- you can't roast coffee that way.
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I'd call Swissmar right away. If I were their manager, I'd put your 
replacement in front of mine (since so far I've been able to work 
around my problem by unplugging the unit for a few seconds). But they 
may hold back a few units for emergencies, which is what this sounds 
like.
Good luck.
Kathleen
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Hi,
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Actually it doesn't even go into the colling cycle after 25 minutes, 
unless I manually press the cool button.
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For that roast, the Alp was plugged straight into an outlet.
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Not sure what's in the same circuit, but I know that nothing else is 
in the same outlet.
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I made sure to never do that.
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Thanks, that the diagnostic info on the SM and Swissmar websites. 
It's the first thing I tried, and the Alp passed all tests. Ciao and 
thanks,
                       Renaud
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2 weeks.
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It just started yesterday night.
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Thanks for the advice! Of course with my luck I only had the time to 
call Swissmar 25 minutes ago, and they close for the day (and until 
Tuesday!) at 1:30 Easter Time so no coffee for me for a while... Ciao,
                 Renaud
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Oops -- I think you've run afoul of a fairly major Canadian holiday on Monday.
Sorry about the lack of coffee...
Kathleen
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