Pictorial Assembly Guide

This will attempt to be a step-by-step setup guide for building your own roaster, (This can be difficult as every grill is different.)   It is a collection of documents and images that give close-up or additional detailed information that may make the assembly of your RK Roaster easier.  Since every setup is unique, a little ingenuity and forethought is necessary to completing your setup.

I shouldn't need to say this by now, but here goes:

*************DISCLAIMER***************

Do we need to say this? ....ok, here we go. 

These instructions are provided as a helpful guide.  They are not necessarily a step-by-step exact guide for your situation.  Some thinking, planning, forethought, and common sense are required on your part.  If you do not know how to use hand tools, power tools or otherwise, please acquire the assistance of a knowledgeable person.  Working with tools, flammables and electricity can be dangerous if common sense is not used.  If you scratch yourself, bruise yourself, cut yourself, burn yourself, electrocute yourself, drill through your hand, cut your arm off, poke your eye out, lose any appendages, blow yourself up or blow up your neighbors, family and friends, or inflict any other kind of injury to persons or property, we are not responsible, RK is not responsible, you did it to yourself. 

There is nothing unusually dangerous here and every attempt has been made to make this guide safe and logical, but use your head, if you are not sure how to do something, ask a question in the forum or get some help.  If this guide is intimidating, ask for help from someone who knows this kind of work.  Wear your safety glasses!

*************END DISCLAIMER***************

General Information

Wash your drum in hot water and detergent before using. A 5 gallon bucket works great, wash the outside, but not the inside, not much room and you could cut yourself, just slosh it up and down in the bucket After washing you will need to do a burn in.

Set the drum in your grill and fire it up to 600 degrees and let the drum soak in the heat for 20-60 min. You can rotate it or not, its up to you, this will assure all production oils will be burned off.

The drum will go through some changes for about 5 heat cycles. The door may get a bit tight, or loose. The drum should stabilize after 5 heat cycles and will stay put after that.  It’s called tempering, and stress relieving. The drum should turn a nice bronze color; this is normal, and actually quite nice.

The roasts will improve as the drum and your grill normalize. The more you roast the better it will get. Practice, Practice, Practice.

1. The drum is all stainless steel, not a high polished stainless, but durable.

2. The drum will turn a bronze color when heated. This is normal, so don’t be
alarmed.

3. All grills are different and you will have to adjust the profile to suit your grill, but the profiles provided are a good starting point.

4. Placing the drum as low as possible in the grill is preferred.

5. Thermometer placement in the grill will affect the profile temps. Locate your thermometer in the center of lid and dead center of the drums length and diameter if possible. The profile was developed in my grill, yours may be
different, and so you will have to adjust the profile temps to suit your grill.

6. If your thermometer is near the top and off to the side, like a Weber grill. You will have to go higher then the profile because the top of the grill is cooler then at the bottom, all heat goes to the top, and cools as it raises.

7. It is not hard to relocate or install a new thermometer near center and pointed to the center of the drum. It will be nearer the bean temps. Refer to the pictures on my web page. http://www.rkdrums..com

8. CAUTION: Wear protective equipment when handling the hot drum. Gloves
should be able to withstand 500 degrees, or more for at least 30 sec.

9. The drum will take 3 to 5 roasts to season; the coffee will improve in taste as the drum seasons.

10. If your rod becomes loose in the sq. tubing, and you begin to hear a thumping noise while roasting. You can tighten it by removing the spit rod and putting a slight bow in your spit rod. Just bow it a bit over your knee or thigh and insert back in the drum. Allow it to cool before doing this.

K.  TEST FIRING & FIRST RUN

(Figure 168)

Here is our thermometer cold, on our first test firing. (Figure 168)

(Figure 169)

Light'er up.  Make sure you turn on the motor thereby turning the drum.  It allows for even heating, expansion and burns off the protective oils, and the residuals oils that are impossible to get out.  These other residuals oils were used for cooling the stainless metal during the welding process.  It gets inside the drum and you can only burn it out.  You will also smell the paint fumes and other strange odors during the first firing.  This will absorb into your coffee.  I recommend running the roaster at 550-600F for 40 mins to 1 hour before putting coffee in it.  We want to burn it ALL out.  (Figure 169)

(Figure 170)

The bearing may squeak initially and from time to time.  A little 3-in-one oil or motor oil will clear it up.  Avoid spraying aerosol based oils (WD40 and similar) as it could flame up being close to the flames.(Figure 170)

(Figure 171)

I have made additional metal inserts that I can use to simply wedge under the sheet metal.  This closes off the rear vent.  Particularly useful for max efficiency, cold weather, windy weather and high-heat roasts. (Figure 171)

(Figure 172)

Lets do this first burn-in, empty and let it run at 600F for 1 hour. (Figure 172)

(Figure 173)

Right on my numbers.  If you have built it efficiently, then you should be able to hold this temp at a relatively low gas setting. (Figure 173)

(Figure 174)

All three burners set between 40%-50% and holding 600.  Not bad, that means 550F should land at about 1/3 gas.  That's great!   (Figure 174)

(Figure 175)

Some people have mentioned that when the drum is hot (right after a roast) the door is very hard to open, and impossible to close again until cool.  This is a result of thermal expansion and is incredibly hard to predict, or fix from the shop side without firing the drum.  This was the case with this new drum as well.  Inspect the lid and pin where the lid closes to see where you have overlap.  Take a drill bit and just insert the bit into the hole in the lid and hold it at the side of the hole that is interfering.  Not a lot, do it slowly little by little until the drum closes and opens semi-easily while hot.  As time goes on, it will loosen up, so you don't want it to fall open either.  Once this is set, you are ready to roast your first batch and you can roast back to back without waiting for it to cool.  For how to roast, please see the roast profiles section for assistance in this area. (Figure 175)

One last suggestion, keep your roaster garaged, and don't cook meat in it after it becomes your roaster, unless you like meaty flavored coffee!!!!!!

Keep the ash and chaff vacuumed out every few roasts, and your roaster will last you absolutely many years.

Tips for Gear Drive Motors

1. Mount your motor as far away from the grill as possible, 6”
minimum.

2. Make a heat deflector to go between your grill and Motor to
mount in front of your Coupling. It can be made with flashing or
light sheet metal that can be bought at any hardware outlet. Use
bushings or washers to have it stand off the grills hood about ½ to
1” cut a slot with beveled edges to go over your spit rod when you
close the hood. This will help protect the motor and rubber driver
in between the couplings from the extreme heat created during a
roast session.

3. The motor is not weather proof. Do not leave your motor exposed
to the weather. Cover it with a grill cover, tarp, or keep it inside a
building.

4. You will have to lubricate the non motor end, where the solid
bearing rides in the support bracket. Use some High temp white
lithium grease. Dupont makes a spay can that works quite well,
alternatives are Slick 50 oil additive, or good synthetic motor oil.
The Dupont lithium grease is best.

5. You will encounter more noise using a fast rpm motor, not from
the motor, but from the beans moving against the drum. After a
few roast you should not have a problem distinguishing the bean
movement noise from the cracks of 1 st and 2 nd crack.

6. If you do have trouble, use this as a guide. Smoke will start to
appear as first crack gets going. It will slow or stop at the end of
first crack, and will begin again 15 or so seconds before 2 nd crack
begins.

7. If plan on doing multiple sessions you will do your motor a favor
by adding a fan to blow across the motor to help it stay cool. Heat
is a destroyer of electrical components, so do all you can to keep
the motor cool. Under normal 1 to 2 batches the heat shield and
the 6” separation should be sufficient. In the heat of the summer
months a fan will be beneficial. You can use a small clip on fan
found at any discount store, such as Wal-Mart, or Bed, Bath, and
Beyond.

8. When mounting your drum in the grill allow about 1/32” space
between the couplings to eliminate binding.

Roasting Profiles for up to 2lbs

1. Preheat grill to 470 degrees, give it time to stabilize

2. Load a cold drum with greens

3. Install the drum in the grill, and close lid, working as quickly as possible,
so as not to loose too much heat.

4. The grill will drop to about 400 or 410 degrees. It should come back up to
temp in about 6 to 7 min.

5. Adjust if you have to but be patient. Keep the grill at 465 to 475

6. First crack should start between 9 min and 13 min depending on the
amount of greens. If it does not, start by 14 min. raise the heat

7. I lower the heat just as first starts, to 440 and let it coast thru 1 st . and ease into 2 nd . When 2 nd starts I turn the heat to low and let it coast to desired finish Allow time to pull drum and dump beans. In other words stop 15 sec. short of target. It seems that my roasting temperatures are 25 degrees lower then most. I believe this is due to the drum being only 1.5 inches above the plate used to diffuse the flame, also the placement of the
thermometer dead center, of the grill, and dead center of the drum.

8. Second crack should start between 12 and 15 min. depending on the
amount of green you are roasting. If it does not start within 3 min. after first
slows to a stop, raise the heat to push it into 2 nd crack

9. Make sure you use gloves that can withstand 500 degrees, for about 20
to 30 sec.  For 3 to 4 lbs follow the above instructions, the Preheat temp changes to 525 degrees. The roasting temps should be kept at or slightly above 525 degrees.  First crack should be 14 to 16 min and 2 nd 16 to 19 min.  If a city of light full city roast is desired dump the beans before 2 nd crack occurs, or just a snap or two into 2 nd crack It is good idea to have a fan and a perforated or screened cooling tray, to cool the beans and stop the roasting process.

You may have to adjust your temps, each grill is different, and smaller loads tend to roast faster. I found that a grill that is to hot will cause fast roast times and uneven roasts.

CAUTION: DRUM AND BEANS WILL BE HOT

Use protection to prevent burns.

I wish you the best with your new drum, and I know with practice, you will be
roasting like a pro.

That's it, I hope you found this guide helpful.  Happy Roasting!-Shane

Further documentation can be found on the Drum/Motor setup page by clicking here.

http://www.rkdrums.com/docs2.htm

As always, I enjoy your comments and questions.  If you need assistance feel free to email.

Thanks

RK