Are My Moisture Loss Percentages 'accurate'??

[brew]

There is no way my moisture loss can be accurate.  There must of been quite a bit of beans blown into the exhaust tube.

[edtbjon]

There is no way my moisture loss can be accurate.  There must of been quite a bit of beans blown into the exhaust tube.

We're all getting these moisture loss values (up to 50% more than "normal"), even when roasting in Sweden. Maybe Chris can ask the people at SweetMarias about that "issue".

[SusanJoM]

What do you think the 'issue' is?
And why do you think our percentages are too high?
Is this percentage significantly higher than for other beans you have roasted??

[thusband]

What kind of moisture loss percentage are we talking about?  I'm seeing ~15% which is about normal for me.

Wouldn't you see any beans fall back into the drum after the fan is stopped?  I usually hear four or five.

[Boogity]

There is no way my moisture loss can be accurate.  There must of been quite a bit of beans blown into the exhaust tube.

Have you ever found beans in the Huky chaff collector?  I have not.  I make sure there are none stuck there (in the exhaust pipe) by quickly removing the exhaust pipe and carefully blowing into the top of the roaster. Removing the pipe and blowing the remaining beans lets them fall back into the roaster for collection. If the beans are darker or lighter than the rest of the roast, I will weigh them separately and add to the total weight out of the roaster before doing the final calculation. It may not be perfect, but it's to only way I know to get more accuracy on the relatively small amounts most of us are roasting. 

[Johnny4lsu]

I didn't pay much attention to WL% when I had my Huky. Beans in chute, beans in chaff tray, and beans that spent portion of roast in chute and then fell in mid roast.

[dickcoffee]

I get around 14 to 18% depending on how dark I roast. Sweet Maria's has an article on it somewhere.  I'm certain those percentages are in line with what we should expect. 

[brew]

What do you think the 'issue' is?
And why do you think our percentages are too high?
Is this percentage significantly higher than for other beans you have roasted??

I am merely estimating the issue is beans in chute based on the differences in % between the posted profiles.  It is a little higher.  Usually ~14% and change.

[edtbjon]

IMO the moisture loss in the Burundi beans is some 30-40% higher than with the beans I have at hand. That surprised me at first, but I accepted it as a characteristic of this particular bean.
Of course there are issues like seasonal changes etc. Winters here in Sweden are usually on the "dry" side, electric hair making us look like crazy Einsteins.
I live in a central heated apartment, which is warm and dry. But even beans that I got the very same day from the local (swedish) supplier gives me the "normal" moisture loss of say 10-11% for a City roast.
Those possible differencies in weather and storage should even out within a few weeks of storage, despite of which I had the same moisture loss with my first and last roast.

[JavaBuzz]

Agreed. The Burundi was an oddball on weight loss %. Seemed somewhere around .5-1.5% higher loss than a typical bean with a similar roast profile.

Really wished I had a moisture meter to check the bean before roasting to see if it just happened to start lower than normal on moisture, or if it actually lost moisture/weight easier than most other beans.