Calculating weight loss with beans stuck in machine.

[Jayel]

Up until now I have just added the weight of these lost beans to the ending weight to calculate weight loss but I started thinking, what if they were subtracted from the starting weight instead? After calculating both ways I found that if I added the weight of the lost beans to the ending weight of the roast (as I have usually done), the weight loss is 13% (13.49%). But if I subtracted the lost beans from the starting weight, the weight loss is 14% (13.81%).

My charge weight was 350 grams and the ending weight was 294.5 grams.

How has everybody else been calculating weight loss? I know this may not seem like a significant difference but I figured I would bring up the discussion anyway since the percentage could increase/decrease with varying charge weights.

[edtbjon]

Well, if you want to be finicky about it, you can take some 10% or so off the weight of the lost beans, as they should at least be fully dried (if they are at least yellow, which they should be after being in the exhaust for 10+ minutes). Besides, the difference at a quick glance seems to be 1% (13% to 14%), but it's only 0.32%...
On the subject of bean loss, I have a T model too and I normally loose maybe 5-10 beans in a roast, sometimes none at all. It's all up to how you handle the fan, including having the fan fully off when you charge the beans. In a recent thread, hankua describes using a strip of folded aluminium foil to block the exhaust while charging the beans, which helps too.
I'm not denying the problem and that this is a weakness in the construction of the Huky. The worst case I've heard of was a guy who was roasting houndred of samples, without sorting out this problem first. He had the whole roaster quite severely tilted trying to solve the lost beans issue, which wasn't a good solution.

[day]

The first step seems to be to identify the problem. I was the originator of the previous thread and had coincidentally come up with a very similar method to the aluminum foil tongue. That solves the main issue. Some beans can rest in the throat as well of unlucky, but doesn't seem to Ben  consistent problem for me. If the fan is just slightly past a certain thresehold then retention will also become much higher and I fear it is likely variable per bean. I also suspect solid drum may, just a theory. Be less susceptible to the airflow and so plan to pursue that next. I also took the trier to the hardware store and found a threaded stainless steel pipe and a nut to tighten it and lock it in place that I sit inside the trier to further eliminate stray beans. I think with accurate and consistent famy control you can get loss down to reasonable levels and keep it predictable, allowing you to shake it at the end, throw the strays away and then calculate it to 1g error without weighing the strays each time.

Either way, figure out exactly what's happening and then go about solving it, I say.