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Friday, 18 May 2012
January 14, 2004
Ron,
I received the drum and I am impressed the way you have made it. People tease me that I over build when I make anything, but there is no substitute for strength and quality. I can see how the drum will last forever, great work.
I haven't roasted coffee in it yet, but I did the initial burn. I have a small BBQ, but the heat
quickly climbed to 500 degrees and then slowly up to the 600-degree range, way more then I had expected or need. I am looking forward to roasting. Feel free to use my comment on your web site.
Sincerely,
Bob Wuest #44
This is a email I received from Adam Jahiel: http://www.adamjahiel.com/
I'd like to thank Ron for producing his roasting drum.
After quite some time of struggling with my Alpenrost, or Alpenusuallyrost, or Alpensometimesrost and sometimes not rost, I can tell you that Ron's RK DRUM drum is a GODSEND. At our house, we go through so much coffee that the Fussyrost usually sits on the counter in the kitchen, taking up space for days, because we have to roast so often. With the RK Drum, on the first try, I loaded it up with a couple pounds of Malabar Gold, popped it in my Weber Genisis Gold Grill after a preheat, sat in front of it keeping an eye on the thermometer, and shortly, crack,smoke, crack (I'm referring to the coffee roasting process here, nothing illegal), and suddenly, I had a bunch of perfectly roasted coffee. No muss, No fuss, No Alp. And this was just my first attempt!
Thanks, Ron, you now join the ranks of my other hero Les, maker of the THOR TAMPER. In this increasingly mechanised and mass-produced world, I am delighted to have your lovingly, hand-made products in my home, improving my life.
As for the ALP, maybe target practise?
Best,
Adam
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 thin.g 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!
Thanks for your great products, and even more for your superb customer service! Keep up the good work
I owe you a big thankyou for your advice Shane! That drum is really starting to work for me. Some time in the future I will have to send you a documented time and temperature profile on what is working for me with that srum. One of the bigger hurdles is the barbeque. It doesn't regulate it's heat very well but I have put a bank of 4 thermometers on the front of my barbeque that I use to moniter the heat. This helps me keep an even roast along the full length of that long drum. Your suggestion of preheating the barbeque to 600 has really helped, I also am preheating the drum a little. What really has helped is the times that you projected for me. When I followed those times I started learning when the second crack was happening. this has made the difference. -Jason
Eureka! 2 pounds of Mocha Kadir at 500 degrees. 1st crack at 11m30s, cut back to 480 - second crack at 14m - finish roast with a nice Full City + at 15m 30 sec. - no signs of divots. Thanks for the suggestions. It does baffle me though. It seems that everything I read on the subject suggested that somewhere in the process I was too hot and that was what caused the divots - some suggested too fast into 1st crack - others suggested too hot (therefore too fast) going from 1st to 2nd. Whatever it is, this seems like a nice profile.
Thanks again Shane.
Dick
