compareeHub

A HOME-BUILT SEE-THROUGH COFFEE ROASTER, RUN ON FREE ROASTING SOFTWARE

Free software that logs and controls coffee roasts the way commercial gear does, and also runs home-built fluid-bed roasters.

by Marko Luther and contributors

FULL CAD BOM FIRMWARE DOCS

HomeAutomation

Built withArduino

difficulty
●●●●○
time
a weekend-plus
license
AGPL-3.0
repo
repo ACTIVE1,222 stars

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Videos
1
Jump to section

COMPAREE VERDICT

Artisan is production-grade roasting software used by home roasters and small commercial operations. It plots bean temperature and environment temperature in real time, lets you design and replay profiles, and logs every roast for later comparison. The interface looks dated but the functionality is deep: PID control, alarm triggers, Modbus and serial device support, and export of roast data. The software itself is straightforward to install on Windows, macOS or Linux. The hard part is building or buying compatible hardware. The featured transparent fluid-bed roaster runs from Artisan over an Arduino UNO with a TC4 board reading thermocouples and a zero-cross detector for phase-angle control of the AC blower. It is a community build, not a step-by-step kit: you choose and source the heater, blower and glass chamber yourself, and you handle mains voltage. A hot transparent chamber and a live heater also mean real burn risk. If you already roast coffee and want better control, this is the software to run. If you have never wired a thermocouple or mains-switching electronics, start with a simpler build first.

GOOD TO KNOW

  • —Artisan is the software only — it logs temperature curves and drives profiles, but does not include hardware plans.
  • —The featured transparent fluid-bed roaster (Arduino UNO, TC4 board, zero-cross detector for the AC blower) is a separate community build, not documented in the Artisan repository.
  • —The TC4 shield and thermocouple wiring are shown in the Artisan wiki, but you are expected to source and wire the heating element, blower, zero-crossing detector, and enclosure yourself.
  • —Bill of materials for the roaster hardware comes from community builds and forum posts, not a single canonical list.
  • —Licence is AGPL-3.0, which permits commercial use but requires you to share modifications if you distribute the software or run it as a service.
  • —The software works with many roaster types (drum, fluid-bed, popcorn popper conversions) and supports PID control if your hardware has it.

Parts to buy

9 items

From our check of the build. Exact quantities and part numbers are in the creator’s BOM.

  • For a build like the featured roaster: Arduino UNOFind
  • TC4 thermocouple boardFind
  • K-type thermocouplesFind
  • Heat-resistant transparent roasting chamberFind
  • Heater and an AC blower suited to continuous roastingFind
  • Zero-cross detector or SSR for power controlFind
  • Power supplyFind
  • Enclosure partsFind
  • Wire and connectors rated for the currentFind

BUILDS OF THE WEEK

Five open-source builds worth your weekend, every week.

Checked like this one: what’s really in the repo, what it costs, how hard it is. One email, unsubscribe anytime.

Can I build this?

Printnothing required for software; hardware builds are not 3D-printed
Buyfor a build like the featured roaster: Arduino UNO, TC4 thermocouple board, K-type thermocouples, a heat-resistant transparent roasting chamber, a heater and an AC blower suited to continuous roasting, a zero-cross detector or SSR for power control, power supply, enclosure parts, and wire and connectors rated for the current
Toolssoldering iron, multimeter, wire strippers, screwdrivers; safe workspace for mains-voltage wiring; a computer running Windows, macOS, or Linux for the Artisan software
Skillsintermediate to advanced — you need to read thermocouple datasheets, wire a zero-crossing detector, and handle mains voltage safely; software install is straightforward but hardware integration is not
Timesoftware install is an evening; building the roaster hardware is a weekend-plus, and expect another few evenings tuning profiles
Cost$$: the software is free; the hardware cost depends entirely on the heater, blower, glass chamber and thermocouple interface you choose, and no parts list with prices is published for the featured roaster
Safetymains voltage, high-wattage heating element, and a glass tube that reaches several hundred degrees Celsius during operation — burn risk and electrical shock risk are both real; keep children and pets away, and do not touch the tube or element while powered

This build involves mains voltage — for adults comfortable with electrical work only.

Build at your own risk. Projects involve tools, electronics and sometimes mains voltage — follow the creator’s safety notes.

Videos

Homebuilt Arduino Controlled Coffee Roaster - Technical Overview

A technical overview of a different homebuilt Arduino roaster (by Alex Campbell) running Artisan; for software walkthroughs, see the official Artisan YouTube channel linked from the README.

More builds like this

All projects
Take your Nest thermostat back from GoogleHomeYou can jailbreak your old Kindle into a smart home panel for your wallHomeTake your router back from its makerHome

Gallery

Start here

Navigation into the creator’s own docs — we don’t rewrite the guide, we route you to the source.

  1. 1.Install Artisan from the releases page (Windows, macOS, and Linux binaries are provided; follow the wiki for device setup)
  2. 2.Read the TC4 shield documentation(the Artisan wiki covers TC4 wiring and thermocouple placement, but hardware sourcing is up to you)
  3. 3.Source a heating element and blower rated for continuous operation(pick parts rated for ten-minute continuous runs; check current draw and breaker capacity before testing)
  4. 4.Wire the zero-crossing detector or SSR for power control(this is the step where mains-voltage mistakes happen; if you are not confident, find a local maker who has done it before)

Resources

Documentation, files and community threads for this build — we link straight to the original sources and never rehost the creator’s files.

KNOWN ISSUES

  • Buying a heating element or blower not rated for continuous high-wattage operation — popcorn popper elements and cheap heat guns are designed for short bursts, not ten-minute roasts, and will fail or overheat.
  • Underestimating the current draw and discovering mid-roast that the circuit breaker trips or the connectors get warm — a 1.5 kW element on a 15 A circuit leaves almost no headroom if other devices are on the same breaker.
  • Touching the glass tube or heating element during or immediately after a roast — borosilicate stays hot for minutes, and burn risk is real.
  • Wiring the zero-crossing detector or SSR incorrectly and getting either no heating or uncontrolled heating — test with a low-power load first, and double-check polarity and grounding.
  • Expecting a single canonical hardware build guide — the Artisan repository is software-focused, and the fluid-bed roaster in our video is a community build documented in forum posts, not a step-by-step repo.
  • Skipping thermocouple calibration and discovering your bean temperature reading is off by 20°C — cheap K-type thermocouples drift, and profiles tuned on one sensor will not transfer directly to another.

Can I use Artisan with a popcorn popper or a heat gun pointed at a bowl?

Yes, if you add a thermocouple to read bean temperature. Many home roasters start this way. The software will log and graph the roast even if you are controlling heat manually.

Do I need the TC4 shield, or can I use a different thermocouple interface?

Artisan supports many devices — Phidgets, Modbus controllers, serial interfaces. The TC4 is popular because it is Arduino-based and well-documented in the Artisan wiki, but it is not the only option.

How much power does a roaster like this draw?

The builder has not published the heater or blower ratings for the featured roaster. Fluid-bed roasters typically use heaters in the kilowatt range, so check the rating of the parts you choose against your circuit breaker before building.

Can I roast indoors?

Roasting produces smoke and chaff. Many people roast outdoors or in a well-ventilated garage. If you roast indoors, expect to set off smoke detectors unless you have serious ventilation.

Community builds

No community builds yet — be the first, we feature the best ones.

Discussion1

FROM THE COMPAREE TEAM

Artisan has over 1,200 stars and an active release cycle, and it already supports machines from dozens of brands. If you were building your own roaster, would you start with a popcorn popper conversion to learn the software first, or go straight to a fluid-bed build?

CompareeTEAM2mo agoedited

Practical notes from our verification: the Artisan repository is actively maintained, with a v4.2.0 release in June 2026 and newer beta and continuous builds since. Artisan is roasting software, not a hardware project: its documentation covers installation and supported devices, including the Arduino TC4 thermocouple board, but it does not include a bill of materials or assembly guide for the fluid-bed roaster shown in our video. That build is a community example, not an official project document, so the heating element and blower are yours to source and match to your chosen thermocouple interface. Plan for chaff and smoke before the first roast; roasting indoors without a plan for them is a fast way to set off every alarm in the house. Correction (4 October 2026): we re-checked this page line by line against the project's own repository, documentation and videos, and fixed errors in earlier versions.

Marko Luther and contributors

Artisan is developed by Marko Luther with a community of contributors. It started as a tool for coffee roasters who wanted to record, analyse and control roast profiles, and it now supports hardware from simple Arduino setups to industrial Modbus controllers and machines from many brands. The transparent fluid-bed roaster shown here is a separate community build from the YouTube channel DESIGN • BUILD • EXPERIMENT (@TheCoffeeForgeLab), which runs it from Artisan over an Arduino UNO with a TC4 board and a zero-cross detector for phase-angle control of the AC blower.

GitHub

Star the project on GitHub

DISCLAIMER

  • Comparee is not the author of the projects featured here. All rights to each project belong to its creator — every page links to the original source, and we never host creators’ files.
  • Information is provided without warranty and may become outdated as projects evolve. Prices are indicative bands only — always check the creator’s parts list for current costs.
  • Building and operating any project is at your own responsibility. Protective equipment, safe workshop practice and compliance with local regulations are the builder’s responsibility.
GitHub repo