Marc Dupuis

Craig Jensen:
(Posted at www.coffeegeek.com)

I have been looking at coffee roasters for well over a year, but have been disappointed by the current options.  Basically, most of the current crop of home-use roasters (with possibly the exception of the Behmor) seem somewhat flaky and poorly constructed.  I looked at more than a few of them, and they just didn't seem likely to last out the year.  It seemed to be stretching things to pay the amount of money that many cost if I wouldn't get that much use out of them.  Also, all of the posts about voltage problems in houses with these roasters had me pretty alarmed.  I read posts about people needing variacs and line voltage problems with the roasters, and that combined with the construction problems I had seen were just too much of a red flag.  So I put off getting any of the roasters.

But then I noticed www.rkdrums.com and it seemed like a very good solution.  The drums looked well built and unlikely to fall apart in a year.  Also, since it used a propane grill, no worries about voltage issues.  My only concern with rkdrums was assembling the thing.  This was solved very easily though when Shane Lewis (see buying experience below for more details) agreed to assemble one for me.

I have done 6 roasts with the unit so far, and that seems to be enough at least to get a review started I think.  Using the unit is very easy:

I bought one of Ron's drums years ago.   It is drum #7  .  Out of curiosity, do yo know (ballpark) how many of these have sold so far?

I checked on the "reviews and found an old post dated 2003. See below.

"This was a unsolicited post on Sweet Marias forum by Adam Jahiel on 11/2/03"

Just wanted to check in. My roaster has been sitting outside for close to 6? years now here in Wyoming, sometimes covered with snow and ice. Can't believe how well it has held up.

Adam Jahiel.

-Wyoming

I've only done a couple of roasts, and none more than about 3 pounds, But so far I've been getting good reviews from folks and I certainly like the coffee myself.  The squeak has been minimized, the wobble in the spit largely goes away when it's loaded up and hot, and the clasp/door has not really caused me any problems.  In short, I'm loving my new roaster.  It has made my life a lot easier.  And so far, without any modifications I'm roasting (albeit with smaller loads) at near "low" on the the three burners.

It is so nice to be able to roast 4 pounds of greens in around 20 minutes. My wife sells most of my coffee at her work place and they (office) could tell a big difference in the quality of coffee than the previous roaster I had. It really does an excellent job for the money that you invest.