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
inks
