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HI All, just a quick intro as have been lurking for a while and finally took delivery of my new KK 23 a couple of weeks ago. This one didn't have far to go as I am living in Jakarta (hence title of post), so Dennis was kind enough to drop one on a truck and run it up the road from Surabaya. Arrived a few days after order placed so was lucky not to have to go through the agony of the wait that some of you guys have been through. Bit of back story. Have always been a keen BBQér, Is part of the Kiwi male DNA to attempt to burn things over a raging hot grill. Also have smoked plenty of freshly caught fish as is also an important part of the kiwi way of life. But my interest in BBQ really took a turn when I spent 3 weeks in Dallas a few years ago for work and visited many of the smokehouse's there. From then on in I began researching what grill to buy next as my trusty 4 burner gas and my little Webber Kettle were coming to the end of their days. A popular TV chef in NZ was using BGE's for his show and that sparked my interest in Kamados. Some research later and it was clear that I could do better than BGE and fell in love with the KK. However living in New Zealand made this look a bit prohibitive from a cost and logistics perspective. Here is where fate intervened. This time last year I was offered a transfer to Jakarta and we arrived late last year. 6 months later, settled down and having convinced the wife that the spend on a KK would be worth it and would be like our souvenir of our time in Indo, I placed the order (with great support from Dennis). It arrived a couple of weeks ago,. Spent the last week or 2 in New Zealand for school holidays, so just got back and did my first firing and burn in last night. Like with many others, I was a little apprehensive, but went well. Some minor venting in various places, but no lifting of tiles etc. Took it up the various temp ranges using full basket of CoffeeChar. Managed to cook a couple of chickens through the mid-range temps, then seared off a sous-vide steak at raging hot temps. Got the KK up to 750deg and left it there to burn out the basket. Still have a lot to learn about temp control but was pretty happy with my first crack at it. Now just need to track down some smoking wood in Jakarta (which is much harder than you might think). That's it for now. Look forward to learning more from all of you as you continue to post you knowledge here. This is totally useful for newbies to the KK like me.

Looks like Australian bacon is American plus Canadian get the best of both worlds Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

So my sister is hosting a Pelotonia prep ride fund raiser tomorrow, and I was asked to make smoked pulled pork for the picnic afterwards. By her calculations, she is requiring over 50lbs of pork(before cooking) for the event. The challenge: Could I stuff six pork shoulders, 54lbs worth, on my 23" KK? The answer: No problem. Could have fit a seventh shoulder on the top rack if I needed without much issue, which would have taken the total amount of meat north of 60lbs on a 23" KK. That's a lot of meat! I'll follow up tomorrow with the results of this stuffed KK cook. Wish me luck!

Simple dinner of baby backs tonight. I used some pecan wood chunks for smoke.

Progress check - 5 hours in at mostly 275°. I say mostly because first hour or so was a slow crawl from 250 to 275 because I didn't want to overshoot my target temperature. Had to truss up the butt since Costco likes to remove the bone. Had I not had it tied up I think I would've had a more broken fat top layer which is the sign Aaron Franklin uses as his cue to remove for wrapping. I'm about to 15° short of my target cook temperature of 190°, though 185° was listed in a couple of different sources. I'm going with 190° since I want more fat rendering and I'm certain that 5° difference is not gonna hurt the pork... I will also drop the cooking temperature down to 250° since that is my target temp of my brisket cook that will follow the removal of the butt and addition of a bit more coco-char. As mentioned earlier I will add a couple of chunks of oak to influenced the brisket flavoring.

Well after reading all the cool names you guys have for your kk's l came up with a name for my BB 32. I'm going to call it Dragons Breath cause it breaths fire, DB for short.

I had a big bag of tortilla chips and thought OK let's do nachos. Started to load the goodies- All loaded and ready for the KK @ 330'F On the grill. 30 mims. later and call them done. Plated. and with sour cream. I put that broccoli on especially for Tony B, B is for broccoli.

Now thats alot of pork. It sounds like everyone eat well.

Great stuff not much left at all .maybe they can do a ride for a BB32 lol Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

Steve, be prepared for a flood when you cut into that chicken.;)

Just took the chickens off and the aroma filling the kitchen is incredible. Turned the upper vent a quarter turn to take it to 450 to do at least some of the break in. No problems reaching temps with the coffee charcoal. The lumps are enormous compared to the RO.

Shuley, my wife grew up in Austin and Ft. Worth. We go back regularly just for the food. You have to hit Stubbs. Try to time it right and there are really great concerts in his "backyard". Franklins is also fantastic. The beauty of Texas bbq is the diversity. Everyone has their preference, but none of it is bad. Also, if you like Mexican, hit Trudy's Texas Star. It is one of my fave restaurants in all the US. My wife and I named our first child (a gorgeous springer spaniel) "Trudy Margarita" after this restaurant. Have a margarita but do it as a Mexican martini. Try Matt's El Rancho. Again, an Austin Mexican institution. The food trucks are fantastic. Haven't had a bad one yet. After all the margaritas, bbq, and Mexican, you will need to hit Kerbey lane. Great breakfast place. The gingerbread pancakes will erase the sins of the night before!

I told you that you wouldn't wait. Congrats officially!!

Well Thanks to Dennis i got a heck of a deal on the 23 pictured above thanks @DennisLinkletter tomorrow i will finalize the deal and hopefully get the details when it will arrive i will make a new post soon and then of course delivery pics i have been drooling over the kk for a long time so glad i finally am getting one

Glad to see you here on the forum Ben.. I hope you won't mind my sharing the text message you sent me after you received the grill.. Hi Dennis. Got home an hour ago to find the grill sitting in the garage. Within half an hour me, my security and a couple of locals had it unpacked and in position. Much easier than I thought it was going to be. Have to say that I am not easily impressed in general. I am an engineer and have worked my career in the food industry so have seen my share of high end, shiny stainless kit, but in terms of combination of artisan and pure engineering, this grill is peerless. Very impressed and can't wait to start using once I am back from holiday after idol fitri.

I think you're right...likely only old school artisan bakers have the kind of lined fired ovens I was thinking about...

TY CC - the trick to eating protein that is looking at you - when you take that first bite just wink back at it with an evil grin. Reef's Bistro

Charles, I've gotta tell you this is one really fine cook! I'd eat this up in a second it looks so fine, and I can't stand fish served with the head! Freaks me out. This cook gets it done really well. Kudos! That fish head still freaks me out! I don't like my food watching me eat it!

Shuley, I have done a little bread baking in the KK but not as much as I would like. The baking stone does take some time to heat up and as you mentioned there is no way you are going to get the temp to drop in that short time frame. You could close down the vents some just after putting the bread in. Any bread I have baked has come out fine. I do the same as Kevin in my oven, use a ceramic baker and put the lid in as the oven is heating. When the bread is ready to go in I take out the cover, put the bread in and put the cover on. Personally I would not be messing with putting water into a hot grill. Accidents do happen and I don't need to increase the odds. I have read about putting some ice cubes in a tray but never tried that. It will be interesting to see what you do for your cook.:) BTW, I do use an IR thermometer to check the temp. of the baking stone.

I calibrated the thermometer on the day of delivery. Reads the same as my thermopen. It was new RO red bag from home depot. I had the deflector stone in and the drip pan sitting on top. I didn't check the coals before cranking it but I started with a full basket so it had been about 7.5 hours since starting. I'm not used to cooking with lump charcoal but I thought the pieces looked on the small size. do you think they settled in so close to prevent airflow? There was quite a bit of white smoke in the beginning. I threw some chunks of alder on when I started but only one was on the lit part of the coals. Thanks Aussie I was just shy of 2 hours when the ribs went on. The temp probably only stabilized for about half an hour though at the temp I wanted. The main problem was trying to reach 235. I'm wondering if the lumps were too small. I just poured them in and didn't try to arrange them or anything. I hope to do a couple of chickens today at 375 but at this point, I'm not sure I can reach it without changing something up. I'm going to check the grill out this morning since it is cooled down.

Aussie, that is really interesting looking bacon, a combination of breakfast bacon and Canadian Bacon. How long are those strips?

Never heard of wrapping a pork butt, that being said you can't argue with those results! Nailed it.. Conservative on your "puller's choice"... I always choose a piece with a huge chunk of almost completely rendered fat and lots of bark.. Fat Bark Rules!

Final shots, including "puller's choice"...

Thanks. I need to go a few days with no blue cheese now lol.

Container ships too have a most efficient/economical fuel burn rate...

Don't know she's a bit classy for me but I will have fun trying [emoji1] Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

@KevinD - sorry for the confusion. Go ahead as you planned with the butcher paper. What I mean is that when you pull the cook, wrap the finished cook in foil before you wrap the cook in a towel and then cooler. Wrapping the cook in foil after you pull and before you wrap in a towel will prevent grease from soaking your wife's towel, your cooler, and you being put in the doghouse!

CC - my plan was to remove the butt from the foil used for the est. last 3hrs of my cook. Am I interpreting you correctly in that maybe I should leave the butt in foil, going straight to the cooler in towels? Don't bother removing from foil in favor of butcher wrap? I know that butcher wrap is porous by design... This is my first ever attempt at a butt except for Dutch oven and for that I usually have covered on Ortega chiles... Thanks in advance for your wisdom on a strictly KK butt cook!

Looks like its a good fit from the cheap seats,here in OKC. Looking forward to the money shot tomorrow!

That's a droolicious rib cook. Beautiful color. Congrats and kudos on a very fine first cook!

WELL, how do you like that, a TEASE?

This is mostly for portioning out to the freezer though I will put aside 2lbs. for sandwiches. I will be certain to take a picture of the end result before pulling it apart as well as after the pulling begins. After the butt comes off I have to damp down Pele to 225° then load a bit more coco char. After I get temp stabilized, I will add a few of chunks of oak wood and then put on a brisket for an overnight cook to be the star attraction for dinner tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the first time I will share cooking from Pele with family and friends

I hear ya guys. I would find a way to go paddle if I thought it would help. Oh well. It is on its way. Soon enough!

@MacKenzie - that 's a beautifully crafted lite lunch! Kudos to you! I have this thing for raptors, well, all apex predators really. There is a really big female red tailed hawk that lives across the street and will patrol her territory on a regular basis. She's quite the beauty. Here's my Hawk!

thanks CC. I'm getting things the way I like them. when I get my cabinet that will put the finishing touches on the patio. my main cooker is the KK of course but I have the disc-it for things like stir fry and stuff like that. I also have a treager smoker I bought before I knew I was going to get my KK, its off to the side and not in the pic. Its kinda funny I have lived in this house for 27 years and bet I haven't been out in the back yard more that 100 times. but now that I have DB I guess that will all change in my outdoor kitchen. now all I have to do is get rid of all that dead grass and put something that doesn't need water. all those storage containers have charcoal in them LOL and I still have a pallet in the garage. guess I won't have to worry about charcoal for a few years LOL. MacKenzie not sure what I'm gong to cook. May just make stir fry. my daughter is coming over for a bike ride later on this afternoon. and I'm not sure how far we will ride. Lucky for me I have an electric bike so if i get tired I'll just go on battery power. Ok everybody have a great weekend and happy grilling.

I don't think the grate difference had much to do with it. Also, the KK cooked closer to 400f while the KJ cooked more around 350f and took about the same time to finish, with half the tenderloins coming off the KK before the KJ. I even left a few of the tenderloins on the KK char a bit on the bottom but the results were the same.

This is for you tinyfish.:) Thanks, Aussie, that's the trick, keep on moving.

Aussie, are you sure you can handle such a beauty?

I found out this morning, it is on the Theseus. Scheduled to dock in Long Beach on July 30. Hoping it will clear customs and make it across the states in time for a mid August delivery. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk