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How-To Guide

First Time Roasters

Curious How To Roast Coffee At Home?

We work with many first-time roasters, and are able to help you through every step of becoming an expert coffee roaster.

Is Coffee Roasting Easy to Learn?

Roasting coffee is not as difficult as some may make it seem. Believe it or not, you can learn to roast excellent coffee in just a couple of hours!

Increase Your Confidence in Roasting

"Shane is a wealth of knowledge with respect to coffee and has helped me increase my confidence in roasting tenfold. He's been a fantastic coffee roasting coach and readily available to answer questions. I'm consistently roasting good coffee, having fun, drinking better coffee than I've ever had."

-Amanda M.

Frequently asked questions about the learning process:

What Do I Need To Get Started?

We provide everything that you need to roast coffee at home except a grill. Our kits are designed to fit in almost any grill, and we have cooling solutions as well to cool the coffee when it’s finished roasting.

Are There Other Ways To Roast Coffee At Home?

Many people start roasting at home with a popcorn popper or in a frying pan. Both these methods are a great way to try out home roasting, but will not produce results as good as the RK Drums roaster.

In addition, after getting hooked on fresh coffee, many people find that they are having to roast far too often because these methods simple won’t produce more than a few ounces of finished coffee.

Is Fresh Roasted Coffee, Really that Much Better?

Most people have no idea what truly great coffee tastes like. That’s because they drink it smothered in sugar and cream. But, fresh roasted coffee has none of the bitterness or acidic flavors found in many store-bought brands.

Coffee hits it’s peak freshness 24-48 after the roast and most commercially available coffee is over 3 months old. Fresh, high quality coffee can change your perceptions on coffee and once you try that fresh coffee it’s tough to go back.

Do I Need The Kit, Or Can I Just Buy The Drum?

The RK Drum, by itself, will not be enough to begin roasting coffee in your grill. The kit contains a motor, rotisserie rod designed to fit the opening in the drum and attach to the motor, motor plates to make it easy to mount the motor on most grills, electrical components to switch the motor on and off and all the hardware.

You are more than welcome to purchase only the drum, but you will need to design your own solution to rotate the drum and roast coffee.

Why Use RK Drums?

At RK Drums, our customer service is second to none. We also focus on providing helpful resources as you navigate through your coffee roasting journey. You will also have access to the RK Drums roasting community where you can ask questions, learn from and share with other RK Roasting Pros.

  • Access to a wealth of information including tutorials, assembly guides, video how-to’s and advice on how to DIY.

  • Produce fresh and delicious coffee while enjoying the experience

  • High-quality stainless steel coffee roasting drums

What Our Customers Say

we love our drum from RK Drums

"We love our drum from RK drums. Top quality. Shane gives the most amazing customer service I have ever received from any company. He gave me step by step instructions via online chat and lots of resources for green coffee beans to roast. His videos that he emails on how to start roasting are fantastic. Thank you"

-Kelly V.

Explore RK Drums Home Roasting Kits

2LB Everything Coffee Roaster Kit

2LB Everything Kit

Want to get started roasting coffee? We recommend a 2LB Everything kit for hobbyist users that expect light personal use.

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2LB Everything Kit

4LB Everything Kit

Once you experience the aroma and taste of fresh roasted coffee, you won’t be able to help but share with your friends and family. For shareable quantities, we recommend the 4LB Everything Kit.

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6LB Everything Coffee Roaster Kit (7.5LB Max)

6LB Everything Kit

Once you start roasting, this has a curious way of turning into a business. If you think that could end up being you, then opt for the larger 6LB Everything kit.

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