How does Roasting work on the RK Drum, and why does it work well?
- All roasters, even high-end, expensive ones utilize a roasting chamber, a heat source and a container (the drum) for your coffee/cacao/nuts.
- Using the exact same principles, we replace the roast chamber with a common grill, and supply heat to the drum using the grill’s burners.
- This lets you start roasting at a fraction of the cost of a commercial unit with the same or better roast quality.
- In fact, in some roasting competitions, the RK has either equaled, or exceeded the quality produced by $30,000+ roasting machines such as the Ambex, Diedrich, and the Probat.
- Some of our customers that own a Probat, Diedrich, or Ambex roaster and also own an RK Drum, have reported superior flavors from the RK Drum due to our perforated drum, and the “flame kist” coffee. These other roasters use solid drums without holes.
How much does a roaster cost?
Costs are extemely economical depending upon what you already have. In comparison to a commercial roaster costing $5,000-$30,000 you will get the largest batch volumes available in small batch roasting for a mere fraction of the cost, even if you purchase the full kits.
You can do an entire 2LB roaster for as little as about $250 if you already have a grill and rotisserie and some creativity.
The easiest way is to use one of our kits. We have three approaches to your project.
1. A-la-carte – Assemble something with your own ingenuity and if you need parts, see here.
2. DIY Kits – This is all the hard to make, or hard to find parts. This is what most people consider the bare minimum. Anything else you may need are common hardware store items and you can save a few bucks depending on your own build design, but you will likely spend the Everything Kit amounts on extra components elsewhere. $353-$770 (6LB-45LB/hr)
3. Everything Kits – This is everything you need except for the grill, right on your doorstep. The one-stop-shop. Everything provided will match the Assembly guide step-by-step. $586-$934 (6LB-45LB/hr)
4. Cooling – You will need some method to cool you coffee. A cheap solution is to use a department store box fan, some screen and some wood. This 15 minute setup can be put together for $30. For a professional solution, see our Coolers lineup. ($30-$634)
You can do an entire 2LB roaster for as little as about $250 if you already have a grill and rotisserie and some creativity.
The easiest way is to use one of our kits. We have three approaches to your project.
1. A-la-carte – Assemble something with your own ingenuity and if you need parts, see here.
2. DIY Kits – This is all the hard to make, or hard to find parts. This is what most people consider the bare minimum. Anything else you may need are common hardware store items and you can save a few bucks depending on your own build design, but you will likely spend the Everything Kit amounts on extra components elsewhere. $353-$770 (6LB-45LB/hr)
3. Everything Kits – This is everything you need except for the grill, right on your doorstep. The one-stop-shop. Everything provided will match the Assembly guide step-by-step. $586-$934 (6LB-45LB/hr)
4. Cooling – You will need some method to cool you coffee. A cheap solution is to use a department store box fan, some screen and some wood. This 15 minute setup can be put together for $30. For a professional solution, see our Coolers lineup. ($30-$634)
What can I roast in an RK Drum
There are many types of product that you can roast. Really your limit is your imagination.
- Coffee
- Cacao (for chocolate making)
- Corn (Whiskey, etc)
- Barley\Oats (for beer)
- Peanuts
- Mixed nuts
- Seeds (millet, mustard, quinoa, sesame etc)
- Chili Peppers
- Kudzu root
The list goes on!
Depending on the size of your product you may want to opt for a solid drum without holes or a small 1/16 perforated drum.
