Apr

Walt Lewis - Chiammaya Custom Crafted Chocolate

Hard to believe I've been using my RK drum since 2004 and it is still as great as day one. In looking for information for a friend and having been away from the site for several years I was amazed to see the progress made. I saw the new drum latch and had to have it. It arrived last week but only got around to installing it today. I had to roast some almonds for some Custom Crafted chocolate I make. Thirty seconds is all it took
and away I went. It takes about 30 minutes on low to roast 4 pounds of almonds. I did my first batch and began checking at 15 minutes. In 5 minute increments I went along. The last time I checked and it still needed a bit longer I
went to seal back up the drum and was SHOCKED!! Had I broken the latch ALREADY? No I discovered it pivots and was just fine. Sure will make it
easier to open and close with my welding gloves on!

As usual, thanks for an FANTASTIC product!

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JComments

How to Videos for roasting on the

RK! The entire process here!

We'll can walk you through your first roasts over the phone!!! We'll guide you step by step on what to expect, what to look for and when it should happen! Give Us a Call when you are ready to roast!

Les Albjerg

Hello All,

What I love about the RK drum is what I think scares most people away. At first look, an RK drum with a BBQ looks like you have no controls. The opposite is true! With a RK drum setup you have total control! It is the only home roast system that I know of where you have the power and control to roast from 4 oz to 4 pounds of coffee. Where people get in trouble is not realizing the flexibility of this system of roasting because they don’t go beyond the first look. After 20 years of homeroasting using every type of roaster from the new commercial home models to roasting over fire with an antique popcorn popper, I think I am qualified to say the RK drum is the best home roaster you can buy for less than $1,500.00. I have not found a limitation to my RK system yet. After spending $150.00 on a commercial machine a few years ago, it only took me a month to go back to my $3.00 popcorn popper.

The RK drum reminds me of roasting over fire with the popcorn popper except it gets rid of those dimensions that need to be consistent for a good roast every time. The RK drum moves the beans at a consistent rate. The RK drum keeps the beans at the right place to receive the heat they need to roast. The RK drum gives you a way to control the heat. So, instead of five dimensions to control, the RK takes care of three and leaves the roaster with the two most important dimensions to control, time and temperature. It lessens the

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Lee Fike - Cooler Review

In 2010 I had the desire to open a coffee bean business and in pursuit of that I of course needed the tools and turned to "RK" for those tools. I purchased the 6# drum roaster kit and the "RK cooler". Of course for the cooler I had to wait I try to be a patient person but I bugged Shane I'm sure, Shane is great to deal with and I finally got the "RK cooler".

You probably have heard of the saying: "good things come to those who wait". Let me tell you it was worth the wait. Before getting this cooler I was trying to cool 2# or so of coffee with a oblong shape strainer and a mop bucket using compressed air to cool the beans. the chaff would fly every where, good thing I have a good size back yard, in addition to that problem it was just a pain to do and I was only doing 2# of coffee. There was no way that I was going to try to do 6# of coffee that way.

When I unpacked the "RK cooler"

I was impressed by the quality of the unit and I now have had this unit for a year doing about 6# of coffee twice a week and this cooler is well worth it. To be able to remove the drum roaster from the BBQ and empty it in the "RK cooler" and the beans are cool within 50 sec to the touch I will still leave it running and rub the bean between my hands to get the more chaff off. But I now have to best of both worlds it cools the beans very quickly and I don't have chaff blowing everywhere. Sure its not cheap but for a small business like myself it fits my needs.

In a way I'm glad its not cheap because in alot of ways you get what you pay for. In using this I never have experienced any problems it sits outside covered under the eve of my house next to my coffee roaster bbq and I only have ten rust spots and that is where the wheel mounts attach to to stainless drum and where other spot welds are. I live in the central valley of california where is gets alot of damp fog in the winter. I can probably get rid of those rust spots by rubbing with steel wool and then clear coating it or just by waxing it.

If you are roasting a pound or more of coffee a week I would definitely consider the "RK cooler" is sure saves time, clutter (of having to drag out several different things to get the cooling done) and it is just plain convenient.

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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
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Tom Haigler-Lexington, NC (July 2009)

1st 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!
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Coffee Snobs - Australia

Shane,

Got the drum up and running on the weekend here.

Eased into it with a 1.5kg (3.3 lbs) roast of Peru Ceja de Selva followed by 1.8kg (4lbs) of Bolivian Green Mountain.

Very happy with the results of the first 2.

A very short pictorial review of the first roast can be seen in:

http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1323495861/

Brett.
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Shane Lewis

slewis@rkdrums.com

RK Drums

Flowery Branch, GA ♦ Anderson, SC

404-787-7125

Walt Lewis - Chiammaya Custom Crafted Chocolate

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