I've roasted about 300 pounds in my RK. I enjoy roasting the larger batches. I prefer 2 1/2 pound batches. When you start roasting with an RK you will find that a five pound bag of greens doesn't last very long. I really enjoy being able to roast coffee for my family and friends, with out having to spend hours of my time to do it.
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!
(This a review by Thomas Owen from Sweet Marias. I sent Tom 3 sample roasts, roasted in a gas grill, with the RK Roasting Drum. Below are Toms remarks.)
Is totally awesome! I roasted 2 pounds of coffee this afternoon after receiving your drum.
The first 2 pounds turned out near perfect! You have definitely taken home roasting to a new level. The quality of your drum was exceptional. I must say the quality was far above what I had expected. I can now look forward to roasting at home. I had been dreading roasting, because I could only do 1/3 cup batches before with my air roaster. It took me about 8-10 batches to roast enough for the Mrs. and I for the week. Chris Hartman
little one, 8" in diameter and 12" long. All stainless
steel-perforated with little holes, with solid end plates and
big stirring vanes inside. I had him put the holes for a
roticery connection in the endplates, in case I want to use it
in a gas grill instead of just on the roller system I have in my
brick oven.
First roast-I'd finished roasting my orders for the day, and the
oven was down to max. temp of 450 degrees, so I just put