The most powerful homeroasting machine on the market.
Positive Product Points
Nothing that can break. Straight forward in use. Very easy to keep clean. Outstanding customer support. Very simple to operate. If anything goes wrong, the user can fix it!
Negative Product Points
The latch pin can be a little tricky to get off while wearing heat gloves. If you are looking for a push button roaster, the RK isn't for you. That said, I don't know of a real roaster that doesn't require your attention.
Detailed Commentary
This is a six month follow-up. After using the RK for 6 months, I am more impressed than ever. I have upgraded to the 57 RPM motor. It has improved the roast and the range of roasts that I can do. However, I was getting great quality with the 6 RPM motor. After about 10 roasts, I have my personal profiles dialed in. Ron gives guidelines for setting up your own personal profiles. However having been a homeroaster for years, I found his guidelines to match my experience.
My roasts over the last 4 months have turned out exactly the way I have anticiipated. Just to test the RK, I did a Vienna Roast followed by a Cinammon Roast. Both roasts were 1.5 pound roasts. In the past 6 months I have roasted in 95 degree weather down to 27 degrees and snowing. With the power of Propane, keeping the temp profiles is as simple as moving my heat dials 1/8 to 1/4 inch in either direction from the middle of my profiles. I have roasted 1/4 pound to 4 pounds of coffee.
This is the most versatile roaster I have ever used. You have total control over the two most important aspects of roasting heat and time. I can run my roaster at over 600 degrees and down to less than 100 degrees. It is so well built, you could leave it on for hours. That said, it has POWER. It is a hands on roaster. You set the profiles. You don't have an electronic chip doing it for you. You don't have an electronic chip restricting your creativity either. I love roasting MY coffee. I am glad that some fellow in Tiawan doesn't control my profile. I am glad I don't have to set a number or push an override to get what I want. If you want a roaster that will roast the way you want the beans roasted, the RK is hard to beat. If you don't want to worry about having too little or not enough beans down to the gram, the RK is for you. My profiles are setup by the half pound, so if I put 1.3 or 1.5 pounds of beans in, the RK doesn't care.
I just love roasting at this level. The RK puts the fun back in Roasting.
Buying Experience
After 6 months, the support is still there from Ron. You will not find better customer service anywhere.
