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Reviews

Dale Reif

I've only been roasting coffee since June of this year (09). I needed to get a larger roaster, seems like every week I roast more and more. I did alot research and just did not want to pull the trigger on a $3500.00 plus roaster.

I contacted Shane and talked to him about a drum. I ended up ordering the 4# roaster, bought a new grill and did the sheet metal mods. Shipping was fast and correct. The drum is built to last a lifetime, the only thing that I should have done different was to get the 6# drum for $90.00 more. (Shane should have talked me into getting the 6# roaster.) LOL

It was simple to set up and get it going. I've more than maxed it out a couple of times, beans came out great. You can see the mods i've made to the grill and the simple bean cooler I built on Shane's web site.

Bottom line is that the drum is top notch, works great and is well worth the money! Shane is also a great guy to talk to and will treat you right.

Dale

Mark Onks

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!

Tom Haigler-Lexington, NC (July 2009)

1 st crack hit at 15:50 minutes.. 50 seconds of a pause & beans went
into a slow start of a rolling second crack /......Time 19:30 (complete)
dumped 4 lbs (3&1/3 lbs Roasted) into a good 12+ seconds of a 2nd crack
(Rolling) and slammed the brakes on 2nd crack when the beans hit my cooling
fan.... let see if someone could do that with a roaster under $750.00.....Excellent+ Roaster you got there Shane!

Tom Haigler-Lexington, NC (June 2009)

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.

Mike Brisson
Atlanta, GA

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.

Rob Whelen,
Wilmington, NC
Epula, LLC

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.

Rob Whelen,
Wilmington, NC
Epula, LLC

Shane-- drum is working great, developing a very nice patina, if you will. 7 roastings so far, fantastic flavor which to me is fuller than the fluid air bed roasts. I am getting to 2nd crack at about 12 minutes. I'd like to slow it down slightly but that's a good time in my book.

Craig Jensen-Hammond, LA (Feb 2009)

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.

All in all, it is very direct. You don't have to fiddle with some electronic program to get it to do what you want it to do. Just set the temp as you like it. It seems much more direct and pleasant. I did a range of roasts, from city-ish to full city to vienna, and am satisfied with all of them. It is very easy to hear the beans cracking, even though I had previously only read FAQs about what to expect.

The unit is constructed extremely well. In fact, it is painfully obvious that the only shoddy construction is that coming from the grill itself or the rotisserie spit. The drum looks build like a tank. The motor assembly is mounted to an extremely thick metal plate and looks very solid. It all looks like commercial quality contruction. (FULL REVIEW HERE)

Tom Haigler-Lexington, NC (Jan 2009)

I have been roasting for 3 years as a hobby and many of my family members and friends have suggested that I should start to sell my coffee. Within the second year of sales, my first roaster could not keep up with the overwhelming demand of Tom’s Best Coffee. I have since upgraded to the premium RK Drum Roaster, which allows me to produce my product more efficiently. My customers can tell a big difference in the quality of my roast. I not only recommend this roaster but I give a A+ to Shane for his customer service.

TOM OWEN-

SWEET MARIAS

(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.)

Hi Ron - thanks for sharing the coffee! In short, I am incredibly impressed. The roasts really appear to be professional drum roast quality without any sign of scorching or tipping, and on the City + and Full City you really nailed the degree of roast on the head. The cup quality was excellent on these two. Again, I am impressed. This is better than a lot of small-batch roasters produce. What I imagine, (and I am not a bbq person) is that it takes some mastery of the machine paired with some experience with the coffee. The darker roast blend would be, I guess, a faster roast and it cups as espresso with a lot of tang to the roast taste but a little more smokey-carbony-pungent than I would have expected. There is a big difference between the lighter ground coffee and the surface color, so that's why I think it was a little fast and might benefit from some more roast time ... specifically to back off on the heat a lot after
1st crack and really ease the coffee slowly into 2nd crack. This tends to preserve more sweetness in the cup. Once again, this is another indication that this drum paired with a good bbq gives the roastmaster a lot of choices in the outcome, whether that be faster
or slower roast techniques, and that level of control is something no
other home roaster machine can offer!

If for any reason you want to use my comments as an endorsement, please do! I think whatever you have learned to produce these great City and Full City roasts in terms of monitoring temperature, and judging smell, sight, sound of the roast, you should try to share in
a tip sheet too. I am going to try the dark roast as brewed coffee tomorrow am and see of there is more sweetness etc this way...

Tom

Curtis Scheelke

This is a note to let you know I have been having great success with my drum. Thanks for the effort you put into its design and construction.

David Ross
Just did my first two roasts using your profiles. The results are beautiful!
Thanks for a great product!!

Raid Asfour

We've just received our roaster.... THANX .... very impressive service and
product!!!!!!!! will recommend you anytime!!
REGARDS

Katherine Murray.

Picked it up this evening and we just roasted our first batch – WOW! We are very impressed with the result. Can’t wait to do more :)

Brad & Jeanette

Nice unit. This is built sturdy and should last forever. Unfortunately I dropped motor unit while installing and crushed the plastic fan. I will epoxy it together and see if it runs without shaking. You did a wonderful job on the parts no sharp edges and even the drilled holes have no burs. You must have been a machinist or an engineer or just one talented guy. I am not used to seeing quality with everything made in china now a days.

Thanks, Brad

Brian Bircher
I've been meaning to write but I've been too busy roasting! The drum is
working great and you were right, once it gets seasoned and "settled in"
it just keeps getting better. I've also become more adept at controlling
the heat and of course the movements of getting the drum in and out
quickly become more second nature as you go along. I've been turning out
some excellent roasts and have been able to hit the roasts just where I
want them whether it's for a dark roast or a beautiful City+ or Full
City on an island coffee.
Taking the ceramic briquettes out made all the difference in the world
as far as being able to reach roast temps faster, bring my roast times
down to where they should be and to better control temps during the
roast. It's funny since I had thought it would be easier to do all that
/with/ the briquettes. I haven't gotten the steel plate made yet and am
still using the cookie sheet. It's working fine so I may just leave it.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to death with your drum and am wondering why I
didn't do this sooner! Regards Brian

Bo out in Montana....

Well, 700+ lbs of coffee roasted in the last year and a half since purchasing my Drum....and still banging out some of the best coffee to be found anywhere.

(if I don;t say so myself) My friends, family, and even a couple dozen "Customers"?....people who have adopted me as their coffee supplier will attest- good beans, fire steel (the RK ) and man it makes some good coffee,

thanks much again,

Bo Maiuri

Glacier Coffee Roasters.

Paul Jolly:
Thanks to all who steered me right after my poor experience with the Ronco 4000. A genuine RK drum arrived in the mail today. It's a beefy rig---no joke! I headed out to the local welder's supply store for a pair of good gloves, then returned home to test the drum out. I fired up the BBQ, burned off the oils etc. from the drum for 15 minutes, and let it cool. Once it was safe to touch, I got the grill back up to heat, added a pound of the Zambia AA to the drum, and was off. A bit farther off than I'd hoped, as it turned out...took 22 minutes to get to second crack, but the emptying & cooling went E-Z. And man, those beans taste great! Thanks, Ron!

--Paul

Laura Micucci:
Hi,
I whole heartily agree! I bought a motor off of Ron and what a difference it makes. the shipping was super fast and all questions were answered promptly. I am really enjoying BBQ roasting!

Jamie Shepherd

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 it lasted till about 11:00 minutes. I
normally stop my roasts at a C+ and rarely ever reach 2nd crack but I
wanted to gauge things so I kept on going. At 13:40 I hit 2nd crack and
at a 14:00 I shut it down and pulled the drum. I don't have a cooling
system yet so I had a little difficulty but I will get that squared
away in a day or two. I got a quick lesson in how much heat is
generated in even a pound of beans. It took me a few seconds on a small
fan to get second crack to stop. I can't wait to try again.

As to my bowed rod issues, things seemed to level out some when I
heated it all up for the first time and even more on this first roast.
I think some of my "thump" may have come from the fact that I can't
seem to get the coupler that mates to the motor to secure to the end of
the rod squarely. It always wants to have a slight tilt, just enough to
make things a little uneven. Nonetheless things went great, even with
my 80 year-old mother watching and talking to me the whole time! The
beans came out at a very nice FC+ or so and were probably the most
evenly roasted beans I have seen in a long time. Thanks again. I will
send some pics of my setup and success later. I've got to go now; I am
supposed to be roasting a turkey for dinner tonight, not coffee beans!

Marc Dupuis:
Ditto and more. Fantastic product, but more importantly, great service before and even better after. RK for President!
md

Eddie Dove
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

Bob Boseman
Ron,
It's such a pleasure to roast on your equipment! I want to sell my Hot Top but end up recommending your drum to perspective HT buyers. :)
Bob

Adam Jahiel (drum #7 3.5 years ago, udated review))
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.

Ryan Glover:
Just roasted a pound of that Columbian peaberry you sent with my order
(thanks btw :) ) .....this roaster rocks!!! I am still waiting for my
buddy to get my a 2x1 sheet of 20gage to use as a heat diffuser, but I
had to try her out anyways. Man that was very easy!!! Very impressed
with your product. I'll send you pics of the setup in the next couple
of days.

Cheers,

Ryan