It is easy to convert your gas grill into a coffee roaster.  If you can pop popcorn, you can roast coffee.  This drum will also roast Peanuts, and a variety of other nuts.

Update 5/26/10

RK Cooler Price Adjustments - Well folks, the numbers are in and it just ain't pretty.  I want to be as transparent with you as possible with all this, so here is the straight deal.  These coolers are really great units, beautiful, functional, and having used one, I never want to go back to any other cooling method.  But the straight and honest truth is these things are incredibly labor intensive and require a very large amount of material to do it right.  In fact, 40.5LB of stainless steel, motors and fans are in this unit.  Frankly, it is everything we dreamed it could be.  The last 4 coolers took 42 labor hours to build.  If you look at one up close, you will see all the brackets, welds and bends that go into these coolers.  It really and truly is a custom work of art.  Larry tells me, however,  they just simply can't be built for what we are charging for them.  Literally, it means coming out of pocket to build them at the prices we initially had them set at.

Adding in the materials and labor, all the stainless steel, motors, wiring, etc...we literally pay cash out of pocket to get them out the door.  If you look at the amount of labor and material in each drum, then compare the amount of labor and material in the cooler, you will see that even the new prices are proportionally acceptable.  So, the question is....  Is it worth it to us to have these nice coolers, at the cost required to build them, when we can rig up a box fan for $50 to do the job?  I think the true question comes down to what you want to do with your coffee business.  If you are in public view, I think these coolers are a mandatory addition to bring as professional an image as possible to the table.  They work extraordinarily well, and are a pleasure and a joy to use, and having been spoiled by one, I will never go back to the old way.  I feel a stroke of pride if someone happens to see me roasting, and they say "That's really a cool machine!"

So with all that, I'm going to have to price these in at $649 and $715 respectively for the basic and deluxe units.  The honest truth is, at those prices, RK makes $0 in profit and is straight cost of build to you.  That's a poor decision from a business standpoint, but I feel it is a great unit that we have put hundreds of hours of work into and I don't want to scrap it just based on price alone.  I realize that this is going to price some of you out of the game.  Some will just say "I'll keep doing it the old way".  I respect that.  However, if things get rolling for you, I would absolutely and seriously consider getting one if you can, you definitely won't look back.  I just don't want to see these units scrapped, and will just offer the unit at pure cost so that RK has a good cooler option to go along with the drums, and because I love them so! 

Finally, the only way to do these, is to build a batch of 5 at a time.  The cost of setting all the machines to the right bend and roll radiuses to make these coolers is actually quite expensive.  It may take 45 minutes to setup the machines just to roll the outer shell of the cooler in 5 seconds.  So to only fabricate one cooler at a time, is not practical.  That process is repeated for each bend and roll of the cooler, so you can see how you would take 90% of your time, just setting machines.  Better to set the machines once and roll out 5 in assembly line fashion.  So on this issue, we are going to take pre-orders for 5 coolers.  When we get 5 orders in, we'll go ahead and stamp out 5 coolers all at once.  I'll keep a list of those interested, with a very small deposit, just to keep people serious, and once we get 5, we'll roll and ship all of them at once.  I do realize this is also an unattractive decision.  The reality is that we can't do it any other way, at even this new price.  If you want special consideration, give me a ring and I'm sure we can find a way to make it worth the shops time to roll out one if you are in a hurry.

I truly regret having to do this as this was not quite the vision that any of us had, but the bottom line is that there is too much work and material in these coolers to do it any other way.  Someone once told me,

"If you're going to work for free, why bother working at all...?  Might as well go do something fun." 

I think everyone gets that.  Please don't hesitate to call me up and chat about it if you wish, I always welcome your conversations.  The only other alternative is to not make them or price them $200 higher yet.  I will constantly keep my eye open for ways to improve on this, but for now that's where things stand.  To those of you who got in under the wire and already have your cooler, Congrats!  You got one heck of a deal!  -  Shane

Update 4/20/10

Update 1/31/10

New Drum Latch Available Now - All New Drums are now shipping with the new latch system, and the traditional pin/chain setup.  We additionally will post the new latch in the products section for those who want to add this latch to their existing drum.  The chain is attached to the drum with a screw and we recommend you keep this in a safe place to serve as a backup.  Personally I have enjoyed very much roasting with this latch and I know you will too. (read the latch review here)

Update 12/22/09

Shipping Update - For years we have always offered free shipping on our roasters, and shall continue to do so, but it seems that recently it is getting more and more complicated.  From the shop Leah has been having to drive across town which has been taking an hour out of Leah's day, fuel costs, etc. to get this done.  Larry has informed me that we cannot continue to take advantage of Leah's time in that way.  So I'll need to adjust pricing to cover handling of the shipment.  Please accept my apologies on this, but I just can't get around this at this time.  I will keep looking to see if there is a better way.

Update 11/12/09

The Importance of the Rear Sheet Metal Mod.

This last week as I was building a grill for Miss Mari Nobile in Washington State, I was going about the rear sheet metal mod and was really quite astounded at the difference it really makes.  Just to give you an idea, I did a heat test before and after.  Running all burners at 100%, it required 7.5 minutes to heat the grill to 650F and then 100% to maintain that temperature.  After the sheet metal mod, where you can see, I have capped off 90% of the rear vent, I could achieve the same temperature at between 1/3 gas and minimum gas.  I would say 15% to 30% gas.  Think about this for a second.  This means that you can now get 3 times the number of roasts out of every tank of propane.  That is pretty remarkable in terms of your cost per pound of coffee.  If you haven’t done this yet, you should think about it.  Dale in Wichita, suggested using fireplace insulation to line the inside of the grill and reported very remarkable savings as well.  Bottom line?  Keep the heat that you already have in the grill longer  and you can save money.  ( Also a safety tip.  The vents in the grill are designed to keep the grill at a safe operating temperature, thus, if you do choose to restrict the vent, then operating the grill for extended periods of time at highest heat, could overtemp the entire rig.  Please do not forget that you have left your burners on high and go and do something else.  We don't want any fires)

Update 9/9/09

RK Cooler:  We are pleased to announce that the RK Cooler Basic is now available for purchase.  We have made a few final refinements including a guarded power switch so that the switch cannot be damaged accidentally, and a grill guard for the under side so that fingers can't go where they don't belong.  So these are a couple of welcomed features.  The total combined cost of all the parts and stainless steel was a tad higher than what I was shooting for, but very much worth it in that the cooler is of exceptional design and quality having significant durability and function for the long-term, and a valuable asset to the 1Lb+ coffee roaster.  As you would expect from RK, buy it once, enjoy it for a lifetime.   Check it out here

Update 8/31/09

RK Cooler Update:   The day is finally here, where I can show you in close detail what we have been working on with the cooler.  We have the first RK Cooler Basic ready to show and to sell!  I am awaiting final price decisions for the end of the week.

I had been waiting on the fufillment of the blade motors for the deluxe unit, which was resolved today.  I would like to see the Deluxe unit available next week.

Update 6/13/09