How does the Bullet hold up in terms of build quality/maintenance etc?
The build quality is excellent. The Danish designers chose to have it manufactured in Taiwan which has a brilliant engineering reputation. They use quality parts from Japan, and the electronics are mostly from America.
Anything can go wrong of course, but rather than take our word, if you go to the online forum, you can see other people's experiences and judge for yourself.
As with all roasters, you have to make sure they are cleaned as per the instructions in order to keep them running smoothly. Special attention to the chaff collector and filter is recommended based on our experience.
Can you roast manually, as well as upload a profile for automatic roasting?
Yes, you can roast manually, and it is usual to start that way when you are learning the controls. However, it is easy to download the software and then the computer becomes the control panel, with the obvious advantage that it records the settings menu and the profile curve, rather than writing down the changes!
How does the Roastime profiling compare to other roasting profile software?
The roastime3 software has been specifically designed for the Aillio brand, and as such it records the IBTS sensor changes as well as the drum temp, fan speed, heat level. You can also store the results on Roastworld and download/share them with others.
Does the Bullet need additional venting?
Yes, you do need to vent the smoke from the back of the roaster as with any roaster unless you are roasting in an outside/ lean-to, or a barn. With the Bullet being a 1kg roaster, it is not subject to any legal restrictions and is solved very easily by using some 4" flexible flue and an inline extraction fan. Domestically, you can use a cooker hood.
A fairly simple, stand-alone set-up, costs around £70 for the fan and £20 for the flexible 4" flue. All are readily available from Amazon. The smoke is not very hot as it is filtered within the roaster, and the flue should not be attached to the roaster, it just needs to be dangling about 75mm above the outlet. I can be more tech or specific and send photos, links to products etc. if required. There are also electrostatic smoke 'eaters' which are used in an enclosed indoor situation, they cost around £800
What does the Bullet use for a bean probe sensor?
The Bullet uses an Infrared Bean Temperature Sensor. This is unique to the Aillio and is a probe, like a type you may have seen to measure the temperature of your forehead, or a sensor used in the food industry. The advantage of the IBTS is that it is extremely fast at measuring the direct temperature of the beans and therefore gives more accuracy than any roaster in current production.
How easy is it to clean the chaff collector and are any filters needed?
It is easy to clean the chaff collector, it just unclips from the back of the roaster. There is a basket filter inside and a silicone plug on the bottom of the chamber. We find that the best tool for the job is a handheld vacuum cleaner and a paintbrush! There is a filter, which is a bit like a pan scourer. Easy to clean, reusable for ages I would think, and we stock replacements.
Can I use this as part of my coffee business as a sample roaster/micro-production.
It would make an excellent sample roaster and also suitable for small scale production.
How do I place an order?
If you would like to buy a roaster, just place your order via our website and pay for it through BACS. The banking details are on the confirmation page.
If you want to reserve a machine for a week, then just click ‘pay offline’ but don’t complete a bank transfer. We will then send you an invoice to pay by BACS. You are not committed to the sale until you pay and we don’t ask for a deposit. It will reserve a machine for you for one week only from the day of order.
Once your payment has cleared we will book a courier for next day delivery (except Bank holidays and weekends).
Do you offer terms or stage payments?
Currently, we accept WIX payments or BACS transfers in order to keep the transaction costs down.
How would I season the roaster? And do you have any old beans available suitable for just seasoning?
The first three roasts are for seasoning, also it gets you used to the controls. We send an extra kilo of beans free for seasoning in addition to the 4 kilos free that you choose when ordering. What you do is to split the kilo into 3 x 330g batches and just roast them. Best to discard them because apart from seasoning, they also mop up any machine oil etc in the process.
Do you sell green beans?
Yes, we sell green beans from the mochamondo.co.uk website. We offer 1, 5, or 10 kilos of around 10 origins (more being added). The prices include delivery and are competitive for smaller volumes such as these. We can help you in recommending suppliers of larger quantities.
How do you deliver the roaster? Is it through a service and if so would it be possible to get it on a particular day?
We use a courier, usually UPS. They have always delivered on time (next day service). We can order them on any weekday, bear in mind they also ony deliver on weekdays. Just send us a message as soon as you pay and we will do the rest.
Is this the V1 R2 version?
Yes it is the latest R1 V2 version
I’ve also seen the soon to launch AIO coffee roaster by Aillio and wondered if/when this might be available in the UK in 2023?
The Aio is a 2kg roaster scheduled for introduction in Boston (USA) in April.
Mocha Mondo has already put in an initial order for the UK, so as soon as we have it, we will add it to the Aillioroasters.co.uk website.
The Aio looks stunning and the design is revolutionary, we can’t wait!
And just to double-check I can link this roaster up with artisan or a similar Aillio version?
The Bullet is best used with Aillio's own roastime3 software. It is downloadable and free. It doesn't fit tablets or Android (yet). The best thing to do is to join rRoast.World and you will be able to see lots of info from other users, and share anything that you want to share too. We did a few manual roasts first before joining Roast.World and downloading the software and it's all good. You write a menu for the roast to follow and let it run! You can record, save, tweak etc. for re-using on another roast. I don't think it integrates with Artisan or Cropster, but as the Roast.Time is specifically for Aillio, I don't know if it would be a benefit anyway.