Dick - Richard Coffee

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.

 Hello All,

I just wanted to take a moment and explain to you my experiences with the RK Drum.  I am currently using a Fiesta 36,000BTU setup.  I also have Ron's Gear motor setup as well.  I must tell you that the combined setup does extremely well.  I have now probably roasted two 70 Kilo sacks of coffee through the RK Drum and I always get consistent reliable results.  The coffee always cups very nicely and my customers are pleased.  I am actually starting out as a roaster and found the entry level costs on roasters to be quite prohibitive.  I would recommend this solution to anyone.  Due to our increasing volume, I am thinking about building another setup.  The only drawbacks I can think of is that it is slightly cumbersome removing the pin from the drum door when it's hot and you're trying to cool the roast in a hurry.  However; it only takes a couple of roasts to get the hang of it and you can usually pull the roast, get the pin out and get it into the cooling tray within about 10 seconds.  As to construction, the drum is really a very fine piece of work.  Not a single complaint on its reliability or sturdiness or design.  It really should last a lifetime.  Highly recommended!

Shane Lewis

Old Spanish Main Coffee Company

Flowery Branch, GA

Hey Shane-- just did my 50th roast last night.  I am really excited about the outcome.  The 1 and 2 lb roasts go a little fast, since my grill puts out a lot of heat.  But the 5 pounds are going about 15-17 minutes and the flavor is fantastic.  Great product.

It's been a week since I received and put together my new 6Lb DIY combo and in short, I'm thrilled!  I had a few small challenges with the installation but engineering the solutions was part of the fun.
With this 10 year old Weber grill, the square tubes were about 3/4 inch too low for the base plate-motor mount combo at the highest position so I cut a pair of 1x2 shims to sit between the base plate and the tubes and got some 3-inch bolts for the muffler clamps--just right!  The rotisserie cutouts in this grill were tiny and wanting to avoid using the Charbroil mounting brackets, I used my Dremel to cut those slots in the grill deep enough to accomodate some extra bearing-bushings that I bought at a grill parts supplier.  Now the rotisserie spit is strongly supported on each side of the grill and I think it makes the motor's job easier since the spit and drum aren't hanging on the coupler.  By the way, the motor , motor mount and baseplate is very well made and I especially appreciate the holes being pre-threaded for the electrical boxes.  I chose to mount an unswitched duplex outlet on the back position to give me a place to conveniently plug in a fan to blow on the motor when I start doing big long roast sessions.  To make the grill more efficient on gas, I blocked off about 70% of the rear vent with a piece of carpet threshold that fit perfectly and already had a slight bend which makes it press against the grill base nicely when the hood is closed.

Enough tech-stuff--forgive me, I'm an engineer--the drum is a work of art and the motor and mounts are terrific and the whole kit is well thought-out and it makes GREAT COFFEE!  I've done several roasts using your
suggested profile for 1lb batches and I'm getting the hang of it!  I will graduate to larger batches when I decide what kind of beans I want to order in quantity.  The only bad thing about this setup is that I want to roast all the time and you need lots of beans in your inventory to have all that fun!  The picture attached is Guatemala--Villa Herminia at a very even roast...delicious.

Thanks for your great products, and even more for your superb customer service!  Keep up the good work!