The IKAWA Home relies on a high powered fan to move hot air into the roasting chamber, which both roasts the coffee and ensures that the coffee moves in the roasting chamber to create an evenly roasted coffee. Some external factors can affect how effective the fan is in moving coffee beans in the roasting chamber.

Elevation can affect how the fan moves the air and have a knock on effect on how fast the coffee moves in the roasting chamber. The air is thinner at elevation, which makes it harder for the fan to move the coffee in the roasting chamber. The beans may be slow moving at elevations over 1000 masl. If you are in a location over 1000 masl, please contact hereforyou@ikawacoffee.com for a remote solution to be put in place for you. 

Moisture and density of a particular coffee can also effect how well the fan speed moves the coffee in the roasting chamber. Very dense and very fresh coffee may be quite difficult to ensure an even rotation as there is more mass for the fan to have to move. If you are roasting non-IKAWA coffee and are having issues with your beans not moving, it may be due to the density. We recommend finding an IKAWA coffee that has similar characteristics such as elevation grown, variety, and origin, and using the roast recipes of the IKAWA coffee that closely matches the non-IKAWA coffee that you are trying to roast. If you are still experiencing issues with the beans not moving, it may be necessary for you to subscribe to graph editor to be able to adjust the fan speed on your roast recipes to suit your coffee. You can find out more information about making your own roast recipes here: https://ikawahome.com/blogs/home/diving-deeper-creating-your-own-roast-recipes-using-graph-editor