Dad’s short answer: On the good machines, yes — and it's the single biggest factor in whether your machine smells. A real dry cycle runs hot air through the roller for anywhere from five minutes on a fast setting to about forty on a quiet one. Some machines claim it and deliver almost no airflow.

The fast cycle versus the quiet cycle

Better machines give you a choice. One flagship I tested does a five-minute flash dry that genuinely works and is genuinely loud, or a roughly forty-minute quiet cycle for when you don't want the noise. Both leave the roller dry. That choice is a real convenience and worth having.

Whichever you use, the point is the same: the roller cannot sit damp. A damp roller in a warm kitchen is a smell problem within days, and once that sets in, rinsing doesn't fix it. You're replacing the roller.

How to tell a real dry cycle from a claim

This is one I check by hand on every unit, because the spec sheet isn't reliable. Start the dry cycle and put your hand near the roller housing. If you can feel moving air and warmth, it's real. If you feel essentially nothing, the machine is running a fan somewhere that isn't reaching the roller, and I mark hot air dry as a no on my spec sheet regardless of what the marketing says.

If you already own a machine with a weak dry cycle, the workaround is to pull the roller out after each run and stand it somewhere it can air dry. Annoying, but it's the difference between a roller that lasts and one that goes sour.

Dad’s Take: Put your hand near the roller during the dry cycle. Air you can feel, or it isn't drying anything.