Batch Manager
Artisan seamlessly integrates with connected scales, enabling comprehensive bookkeeping for both green and roasted batches. It offers graphical displays that guide users through weighing tasks, making them accessible from any web browser.
Bookkeeping
The Artisan scheduler provides bookkeeping features to streamline the execution of roasting sessions.
- A green batch is prepared for roasting by weighing the corresponding amount of beans into buckets
- A roasted batch is post-processed once its weight has been determined
A schedule item is rendered with a filled circle to indicate that all of its batches have been prepared. A half-filled circle signifies that some, but not yet all, of its batches have been prepared.
Note: A right-click on a schedule item opens a menu that enables you to adjust the number of prepared items.
A completed roast item that has undergone post-processing displays the measured weight of the roasted batch.
Task Displays
The scheduler provides a tasks display that alternately displays the next green batch to be prepared or the next roasted batch that requires post-processing. Additionally, the batch manager offers two separate Web displays, one for green weighing tasks and one for roasted weighing tasks, which serve as task displays for batch weighing using the connected scales.
Scheduler Display
The scheduler window contains a task display on top, accessible via a slider. If the TODO tab is selected, it shows the next green batch that needs to be prepared. If the Completed tab is selected, it shows the next roasted batch that needs to be post-processed.
Green batches to be prepared are ordered according to the roast schedule in the TODO tab. Therefore, batches that need to be roasted next must be prepared first.
Note: Clicking on the scheduler’s task display, which displays the next green batch to be prepared, marks it as completed.
Batches that require post-processing are ordered based on the list of completed roasts. Before processing any newer roasts, the oldest roasts that haven’t been processed yet need to be weighed.
Note: Clicking on a completed roast item allows you to set its roasted weight to the estimated weight and marks it as post-processed.
Weighing Displays
Artisan offers two dedicated web displays, one for green beans and one for roasted beans. These displays guide users through the corresponding weighing tasks using the connected scales. Each display provides detailed information about the weighing tasks at hand, including the name of the next batch, its size, the type of beans, and the current weighing state.
Note: The displays can be initiated from the Device Assignment dialog (menu Config >> Device..., tab Scales). Upon startup, a link and QR code are generated to access the Web display.
Scales
Artisan can be connected to one or two scales. Each scale is dynamically assigned to either a green or roasted beans weighing task. While a weighing task is in progress, the assigned scale is unavailable to any other tasks. The availability of a scale for a task is indicated by a grey square scale symbol in the corresponding task display.
Note: A scale can be connected by selecting a supported model and scanning for discoverable devices in the Device Assignment dialog (menu Config >> Device..., tab Scales). Once a scale is chosen from the list of discovered scales, it is connected, and its current weight is displayed. Scales can be renamed by clicking on the tool icon with the little dots.
The selected scales are automatically reconnected on opening the Batch Manager configuration dialog or by starting the Artisan scheduler.
Containers
The weights of the containers used for weighing green and roasted coffee should be registered. This ensures that the containers are reliably identifiable once placed on the scale.
Setting a container for green coffee is not mandatory. If no container is chosen, it is assumed that any of the predefined containers is used for weighing green coffee. In case the list of containers is empty, some reasonable default container weights based on batch sizes are assumed.
To facilitate post-processing of roasted coffee using the connected scales, it’s mandatory to specify a container for roasted coffee. The weight of this container is subtracted from the total weight of the container filled with roasted coffee to determine the weight of the roasted batch.
Processes
Green Batches
Three simple steps.
- place empty bucket
- fill to 100%
- remove filled bucket
The weighing process is initiated when a task is displayed and the scale’s availability is indicated by a grey square scale graphic.
To begin, place an empty container on one of the available scales. This scale is then assigned to the task and becomes unavailable for other uses. The container’s recognition is indicated by a circle on top of the symbolised scale in the task display.
When you add green beans, the scale symbol will change to blue, and a percentage will display the progress of the weighing task, indicating how much coffee is still needed to reach the target batch weight.
Once the bucket is almost full, except for the last 1%, the graphic transitions to MagicEye zoom mode, enabling precise reaching of the target.
Note: The MagicEye is a homage that pays tribute to the tuning indicator of the wooden tube radios of the 1950s. Those tubes were also used as recording level indicator for the tape recorders of that time.
If the bucket is finally removed from the scale while the required batch size is reached (within the specified accuracy), the task is marked as done indicated by a check-mark symbol.
In case the filled bucket is replaced while the done timer, indicated by the white growing progress bar, is still running, the termination of the task is canceled and you can continuous with the task by filling or removing beans.
If the bucket is removed before reaching the target batch size plus or minus the configured target accuracy (defaulting to 1%, which corresponds to the beginning of the MagicEye zoom range), the task is canceled.
Blends
On weighing a pre-blend batch, the display will always indicate the amount of beans and the amount to be added for each blend component. The color of the outer frame indicates the total progress of the batch.
Let’s assume a 15kg batch of an “Espresso Blend.”
- 60% Nensebo Natural, Ethiopia (9kg)
- 30% El Catuai, Guatemala (4.5kg)
- 10% Mount Kenya Selection (1.5kg)
After adding 8 kilograms of the first component (89%), still 1 kilogram of the Nensebo has to be added.
After adding the 8kg of the first component and 2kg of the second component, there are still 2kg of the second component and all of the third component to be added to the El Catuai.
Splitting Batches
To prevent lifting excessively heavy containers to the machine’s hopper, a dual-bucket mode enables you to split a batch into two containers.
In dual-bucket mode, after filling approximately 50% of the batch into the first container, simply remove the first bucket and place the second empty bucket on the scale. Add the remaining amount. In dual-bucket mode, both the first completed bucket and the placed second bucket are indicated by a small bucket symbol.
Roasted Batches
Two simple steps.
- place filled bucket
- remove filled bucket
Note: Remember, weighing roasted batches is only enabled if a container for roasted coffee is set in the Device Assignment dialog (menu Config >> Device..., tab Scales).
After placing the roasted batch on a connected scale, the roast loss is indicated in the center of the roasted task display in percent and the weight of the roasted batch in the lower right corner.
Now just remove that bucket again from the scale to register this roasted weight.
Canceling
If you remove a bucket that doesn’t contain enough greens for the required batch size (thus less than the specified batch size minus the specified accuracy), the weighing task is canceled. This is indicated by a circled cross symbol.
If the filled bucket is replaced on the scale while the cancel timer is still running, as indicated by the growing white progress bar, the cancel operation is canceled, and the weighing task continues.
Similarly, the successful completion of a task can be canceled by replacing the filled bucket on the scale while the done timer is still running.
Tapping the scale after a bucket has been removed cancels the currently running task and starts the process over.
Configuration
To access the Batch Manager configuration, select the “Config” menu, then “Device…”. The last tab is “Batch Manager.” There are three sections. The top section allows you to connect the Batch Manager to one or two scales.
In the middle section you can specify the containers you use for green and roasted batches. For the green task you can also specify the acceptable accuracy in percent and switch between single and dual-bucket mode.
In the last section you can start the green and roasted task displays.
