There are two honest ways to run an RK drum. You can read the roast yourself — sight, smell, sound, a timer and the grill thermometer — the way RK owners have done it since 2002. Or you can put instruments on it. RoastPilot is the second way, and it does not retire the first.
What RoastPilot actually is
Two pieces of hardware and an app.
The WiFi rotisserie handle replaces the handle you already turn the drum with. It has a thermocouple built into it, so it reads the bean mass itself rather than the air around it. The gas pressure controller sits between your propane tank and the burner, and opens or closes the gas to hold the grill temperature you asked for.
Both talk over WiFi to the RoastPilot app on your phone or tablet, and sync to a web dashboard at roastpilot.com.
What you see while you roast
Four things are drawn on one graph, live:
- Green — your target temperature.
- Red — ET, the grill temperature.
- Blue — bean temperature, read from the thermocouple in the handle.
- Dashed — delta BT over the last 30 seconds: where the bean temperature is heading. It is rough for the first minute or two and firms up as the roast logs more data.
Load your beans and the bean temperature falls, because cold coffee has just hit a hot drum. It bottoms out, then starts climbing — and the app marks that moment with a purple dot, the turn point. From there you are watching the climb rather than guessing at it.
Smart Preheat runs the grill above your target by an offset you set, so that loading drop does not eat the front of the roast. Nothing is locked once you start: both the target and the offset can be changed mid-roast, and the gas controller chases the new number within seconds.
When you hear first crack, tap the button. A countdown starts for the rest of the roast and the estimated second crack time and temperature come into view. If the roast is running hot, ease the target down and watch the delta — the number that tells you whether you are slowing it or stalling it.
At the end you name the roast, note what it was and the ambient temperature, and save it.