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I think you misspelled "obsessives"...

The balsamic lamb never lets me down, I set the fire at 8am this morning. No power or wifi in the house so had to wing the temp set to hold at 110c( 230f). Then left it for a few hours while ran some errands. Returned 6 hours later and the KK was holding at 107c( 224f). The internal temp was up to 75c ( 167f). Wrapped the shoulder then ramped up the KK to 130c( 266f) and let the lamb rise to 80c( 176f) before foiling and wrapping in a towel for 2 hours. The internal temp grew to 86c( 195f). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@tony bI plan to go by Mad Fritz while we are here. I’ve known Nile for years when he was still a homebrewer (former winemaker of Barnett and now at David Arthur, plus his own label). A great and adventurous brewer. @Troble, I checked out Freeman; looks terrific. They were booked up today as we went through RRV (in Calistoga now), but may take a trip back over to catch them if I can work it out. Thanks to you both for the tips. (Apologies for the non-food content although, if I remember correctly, wine and beer constitute 2 of the 7 categories on the food pyramid)

Sounds perfect, Basher.

2 other breweries to check out while you're there - Bear Republic (known for their Racer 5 pale ale) and Mad Fritz (Belgian farmhouse and saisons.)

I’ve got “Parilla envy” looks awesome @Basher congratulations!

One of the reasons why I waited so many years to buy a KK was because I knew that I would move and I was worried about moving the KK. Mine will be here this fall. @PWK5017I ordered a BB32 in Matte Black Pebble in late June. This forum has put any 'buyer's remorse' at bay. Don't forget the community of KK owners. I have been a big green egger for about a dozen years and often look to the web for advice. I have gotten more well thought out answers from experienced hobbyists about grilling, smoking, and vacuum sealing (and why KK owners do things certain ways) and I have seen more great examples of cooking in one place in 1 month of being on this forum than 12 years of searching elsewhere. That's because everywhere else they're either trying to sell something or you have people who just love to go on and on for an hour on their youtube channel. I'm thankful to have found the komodo kamado forum, and I have concluded that this group of people is one good reason to buy one. The other is, I believe in the value proposition. - An over-engineered grill that is sold direct to consumer makes me feel that more of the price tag of my KK goes into the materials, whereas who knows what % of a BGE or KJ or a Primo goes to profit for the middleman.

Nice char on those wings Mac. I know it’s second best to the KK, but I do enjoy watching the cook on the parilla grill Boned out chook thighs to the right, rib fillet to the left, and spuds in the ironbark coals. I have a lamb shoulder marinating in balsamic vinegar( for 3 days) for a slow cook tomorrow after I add some cumin, chilli, salt and a few other spices. I’ll share some photos. We have moved into another house while Reno’s are happening so the KK is a little lonely in the ODK. We can’t live through this! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No KK action but next best thing. I did chicken wings on the Yakatori grill last evening. First time this summer.

I'm on my second decade with a 23" KK. I often use the 23" ULTIMATE DOUBLE BOTTOM DRIP PAN as a heat deflector. My primary motivation for using a heat deflector is that a ceramic cooker heats from the bottom, and I often want my food exposed uniformly to heat. This happens naturally for low & slow cooks, where the generous insulation of the KK encourages a uniform equilibrium. For hotter cooks, the "heat from the bottom" effect is pronounced in every ceramic cooker, and the KK's build quality can only partially mitigate this. With a perfect understanding of one's fire and perfect control of one's schedule, one can cook at high heats on a KK after the fire has died down, cooking on uniform radiant heat that the KK does a better job of preserving. At this stage, it's much harder to taste the choice of charcoal. It's much easier to use good charcoal and a heat deflector, and to cook as convenient after the cooker temperature stabilizes. I make pizza and Focaccia di Recco on my KK. My neighbor makes pizza in his wood-fired pizza oven. We both screw up sometimes, but his wood-fired fire control is another level of complexity. Of course one can learn, but an honest appraisal beyond bravado would warn others that it takes attention and practice. At its best the wood-fired pizza looks more authentic than any picture I've seen here in decades. No surprise, that's what they do in Napoli. Anyone who thinks they can simulate a restaurant Salamander with their $5,000 home oven's broiler is delusional. One should still learn how to make the best of one's home broiler, or ceramic cooker. We can reliably make pizza we're very happy with, in our KK. The crux issue is getting the KK hot enough without burning the damn crust. There's an easy fix for when this goes wrong: Move the pizza onto a round pizza screen, so it can finish without direct contact with the pizza stone. Some people may have figured out pizza without a heat deflector. Can they explain what they're doing right? Remember that we regularly see posts from people who still struggle to just get their KK to pizza temperature, even as others can't imagine having this issue. Having a gift is useless unless one can understand it and explain it to others. I'm eager to put away my heat deflector for pizza, if someone can clearly teach me what to do.

Roasted chicken with butter, olive oil, garlic, salt, black pepper, rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram & lemon juice with lemon wedges stuffed inside cooked over grilled carrots and served with roasted baby potatoes with olive oil, truffle salt, black pepper, garlic, rosemary & topped with Parmesan cheese

Pork baby backs tonight. Was in a bit of a rush so did closer to 275 (250 in middle). Took about 4 hours 10 mins to hit 203 then another 15 after some three little pigs competition sauce was applied. Small amount of cherry and apple, just a hint of smoke really.

Pizza and wings kind of Saturday. Wings- sprayed with duck fat, seasoned and left overnight. Then smoked with hickory chunks in the smoker pot at ~225F for 95 min. Dial up heat to 350-400F for 30-40 min more. sauce them as you like with hot, honey bbq, garlic park, and Asian zing options. Pictures were an after thought but I got one early in the grill and one late before the last of them. Pizzas - 4, 14-16in. Pies. heat soak KK to 500-525 with baking stone in. Hand toss. Olive oil on parchment paper. Straight on the stone. Remove the paper after 2-3 min and rotate pie. Rotate pie once more 2-3 min later. Done in about 9 min (Pics front to back): - pepperoni, sausage and green olive - honey sriracha chicken with jalapeño. Highly recommend you google this recipe, follow the principle and make your own rendition. - sausage and pepperoni - margarita with pickled onions and reduced balsamic drizzle Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Forrest.. Always remember that temperature is airflow.. Charcoal always burns at the maximum volume for the loud airflow. Are you sure you had the lid latched? From where the damper top touches the gasket what is "barely cracked" the ear moves how much in inches? The smoker airflow is above the charcoal and so does not really contribute much to airflow thru the charcoal. It's always the damper top setting that controls the exhaust airflow which determines the temp.. And if it's not leaving the damper top, it's not airflow. Always light only a large orange volume of charcoal for low and slow cooks.. The aquarium pump on low would take minutes to fill a balloon.. it's not causing high temps.

Cooked the secreto hot and fast yesterday. Was a lot like skirt steak, on steroids. Bought some more immediately. Salt, pepper, a bit of garlic powder and a coating of chilli vinegar. 10 minutes in KK, flipping every 2 minutes. KK was not heat soaked. Ate with chips, salad and a hot tomato sauce. Delicious. There is a Steve Raichlen recipe online that recommends romesco sauce.