How does the RK Drum compare to other drums on the internet?..
In recent years, there have come a number of other Aluminum, or mixed Aluminum and Stainless Steel drums onto the market. The reason these drums have arrived is because these drums are very inexpensive in terms of purchasing of the aluminum metal and very easy to work with from a labor standpoint. These drums may appear to look nice, and carry a nice price by comparison to Stainless Steel drums. Make no mistake however, these drums are very poor investments in the long term because they are very likely to fall apart within a short time, and have been shown to cause health issues in food grade machines.
Strength, Durability and Conduction.
While Aluminum does indeed enjoy better heat conductivity than Stainless Steel, which means the drum itself will heat up faster, it does not however have the strength of Stainless Steel. As the Aluminum drum is heated above 400F, the metal begins to harden and age and become brittle, which weakens the metal and subjects it to cracking. We believe this makes Aluminum unsuitable as a coffee roaster. The weak structure of the Aluminum additionally will cause the drum to dent or crush.