I just wanted to let everyone know that dealing with Ron Kyle was a pleasure. He patiently answered every one of my questions, made some recommendations, told me when it would be shipped and it arrived as he stated. Not only did I enjoy dealing with a man of integrity, Ron's craftsmanship is a work of art.
Thanks, Ron!
Sincerely,
Eddie
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:
Hi Ron,
I wish the forum had dates, so I could remember when I bought your drum (#7 IS a lucky number). Anyway, I'm still roasting away in Wyoming, and am still thrilled at
the roaster and results I get from it.
Bought a real espresso machine this summer, and maybe that is where the rubber hits the road, because I probably have the best espresso and regular coffee in this whole state.
I hope you are selling lots of these things, I'd hate to think others are missing out.
Thanks again for having such a great idea.
Your drum is awesome! I just roasted my first batch of beans on my new
RK drum and they came out great. I feel like a kid at Christmas! Oh
yeah, it is Christmas and this is my present to myself! I roasted 1 1/4
pound on my first try and chose a bean that I do not really care for so
that it did not matter what happened. My grill did a great job of
getting to temp fast and I was able to maintain temps even in the 45
degree weather with a little breeze blowing. I hit first crack at 9:11,
cranked back the heat some and