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Grilling has never been this easy. I may make it through my pallet of KK coffee lump. The tortilla masa is from Comiteco Rojo landrace Oaxacan corn. Like I said, I'm usually juggling six other cooking tasks. It's a minute to set the Solo Stove fire, then six enjoyable minutes as a reward for the work in between, to gently grill steaks.

For the last two years Mrs skreef has wanted me to pull the old rust bucket of a fire pit out of the bone yard. It was such a rust bucket I just couldn't do it. Then @Syzygies posted a link to the Solo Stove website. I poked around that website and found the Solo Stove Bonfire fire pit. After reading numerous reviews and watching many videos I knew this would be just perfect for Mrs skreef. It would allow us to have a nice looking fire pit in the BBQ garden. Ordered Thursday night. It arrived on Monday. It came with a nice, heavy duty carry bag. From the pictures I've seen it appears they have upgraded the coal plate. It is a slight dome shape with extra ridges to help prevent it from warping. Here it is in the BBQ garden. Also looking at the box it appears they now include the small lower stand. That allows air under the unit so you don't burn/scorch whatever it's sitting on. Super easy to light. A fire starter, a little kindling and a few bigger logs. Fire it up and within 20 minutes or so it's off to the races. Once going good it really is basically smoke-free. Here is a short video showing the secondary burn effect. Although a little pricey it's a well built SS unit with a lifetime warranty. Everything they say about it is true. It pumps out the heat. The only con I could see - if you're sitting around the fire, your legs from your shins down won't get any heat. It's a small con for having a smoke-free fire. I highly recommend it and both me and Mrs skreef feel it was one of our better accessories to the BBQ garden.

Just because she really wanted a fire pit and I really didn't want to pull out the old rust bucket fire pit. Definitely have campfire will travel and it's a very safe fire pit. With the small stand ring included, I would put it on a wooden deck without worry.

I too thought it was a good improvement. It's just slightly dome shape and the ridges looks like they'll help with any possible warping. All in all Mrs skreef is really happy with this purchase I made for her. I wonder what her reaction would be if I bought her a 42" KK for valentines day - LOL

You're pressurizing the inside of the KK (more air going in than can escape via the top vent), so the smoke is just finding another path to escape. You can either back off on the fan or you can bump the top vent open a tad. If you try the latter, watch your temperatures to make sure that you didn't overdo it.

This started as a 15 lb prime brisket ( thank you, Costco): pretty much followed all of Aaron Franklin’s methods for trimming, slather, seasoned with 50/50 salt and pepper. Into the 32” KK at 11 pm last night, off at 10:45 this morning at a perfect 203*. Got up at 4:30 am and wrapped in butcher paper. Used large lump Komodo charcoal and post oak. Temps were 275-300 ( would have preferred 250-75, but what the heck). Impressions: I usually don’t have access to post oak and use fruitwoods. This is noticeably more of an acrid smoke flavor (in a good way) than the sweetness I get from the cherry or apple. I think it is a better match for the beef brisket, though I will stay with fruitwoods for pork. Bark was excellent, brisket completely done and tender. After really ruining the first 4 briskets I tried, the last two have been excellent...I think I’ve got this.

I ended up getting 2 ‘straight probes’ while running them in between the kid and the seal would work fine I would be fir ever annoyed seeing the the hole that Dennis provisioned not being used. the smart fire works very well. I’ve noticed the smart fire when it blows above 80% up is pushing smoke out where there are gaps between stainless steel and the tiles, such as the tampers or the opening fit the gas - I figure because it’s blowing horizontal. Definitely Better to heat soak up close to temp before using but otherwise great to be able to nip down to the pub and check up on how things are going

I've never cooked one at 400F, but I have done "hot & fast" at 325F. The stall was much shorter and I couldn't tell any difference in the final product over doing one at 250F. My best advice is to try one for yourself and see how you like it?

It sounds like the 42” is happening Charles, it’s just a case of When! [emoji23] There are plenty more celebration dates coming up on the calendar. Summer solstice, winter solstice, first day of spring, birthdays. Australia Day is coming up on the 26th of Jan. You could celebrate this! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The forum and advice of the veteran owners is a huge asset to getting great results on the KK out of the gate. As a newbie, the biggest learning curve so far is timing the side dishes cooked along with the meat so they are done at the same time.

My Solo Stove Ranger came today, just after your Bonfire. It's big, though not as big as yours. The top reducer leaves an 11" opening. I immediately lit a single test layer of charcoal, which it improbably managed to sustain, while the outside stayed cool to the touch.This wasn't my best charcoal, but I couldn't resist grilling some salsa ingredients. The salsa was great on leftover fried rice; Mexico won the flavor tug-of-war. I'll be able to easily grill over wood chunks, for a quick steak. This will be fun...

@benobas, what a lovely looking meal. @Tony, you are cooking up a storm, delicious.

New Year’s Eve porchetta with roast tomatoes and onions. Will defo do again.

The man's a mad genius! Loved reading his book and how he learned by making his own grills and practicing on friends in his backyard. You'll find that super low temps (225F) are a tad tricky. The top vent is barely off the seat. I've found that windy days can play with the grill temps - vacuum drag pulls air through more than normal for a given top vent setting. That's were a Guru (or similar) can help a bit. Also, most of us have found, both by accident and by experimentation, that the end results are typically not super dependent upon actual temperatures (+/- 50F). You can get equally good results on a brisket/pork butt/ribs at 325F as at 250F. The only difference is cooking time. Very little difference in smoke flavor.

This is a better pic Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Dee got back today with a pressie. Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Nice chunky fillets of fish looks tasty Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Tony B: yes, I think you are quite correct about the heat setting. Dennis told me sometime back to only fire up a limited portion of the charcoal/wood reserve- he suggested "a baseball size", and then get the KK to the desired temp and turn the top vent all the way closed, then open it up maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 turn and stabelize the airflow/temp. I am still fine tuning my technique, since I am surprised at how quickly the KK ramps up sometimes. Once it gets to 300*, it is very difficult to get it back down to a 250 or so range. I would like to get to the point where I can run it at 225 (perfect for babyback ribs) but I need to improve my low-low technique. As to the wrap: yes, I put the brisket on at 300* (here's where I wish I could have dialed it back to 250-275) at 11PM and go up around 4:30AM and wrapped it tightly in butcher's paper, a la Franklin's instructions. It was about 165-170* at that time. It stayed in the KK until 11AM, when it finally hit 203* and I took it off, left it on the cutting board to rest for 90 minutes before tried it. It was very, very good. I gave 2/3rds to my daughter and her family (husband and 3 kids) and we had some for lunch and again for dinner. Done with brisket now for a few weeks!

Looks like another great cook Bard, glad you have the method down. Your not gonna eat that all by yourself, piece like that demands some guests to share it with and a few good brews. The road is long, the end in sight may all your cooks, be as great as last nights. A brisket toast, since it takes so long and I just happen to have a Dales Pale Ale in hand.

That's Rule #1 for newbies - never chase the temperature. This observation is VERY true - once you heat soak the KK, that's the temperature it's going to stay at for a very long time! It's OK to open the top vent wide enough to make sure that your fire is going good (1 to 2 full turns), but then park the top vent at the setting for your cooking temperature before you reach it. I generally wait until the dome temp is about 50F or so below my cooking temp, then I reset the top vent. Nice brisket cook. I'm a huge fan of Franklin's method. One question - did you wrap the brisket in the butcher paper AFTER you finished cooking it, or during? The "standard" Franklin method is to wrap it in the paper right after it gets through the stall (typically around 170F internal) and leave it wrapped once it's finished. Just sayin'.

The beauty about the KK is that it sets it's temp with the adjustment of the top hat and the dials .to bordering on Swiss watch making precision .the trick is dial up a bit more then add your cook and set the dials .if I do ribs I ark up Ora with the two grates in to 400f then add my wood and ribs then dial it down it's amazing where it sits 250 every time Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

BTW, I should have mentioned, it is COLD here in Denver right now: mid 40s in the day to high 20s or so overnight. So the extended burn life of the 32" KK is really that much more impressive. I think I am getting the hang of using the KK, but it is so VERY efficient and well-insulated, that the challenge is to pre-heat it only to the level you want to stabelize at, because if you overshoot it, it is very challenging to bring it down again. The 32" KK is a real thermal beast.

And as an observation of secondary importance, but interesting....I started this burn around 9:30 last night using huge Komodo Charcoal (chunks the size of my fist, maybe half the size of my head) and big chunks of post oak (I can seldom get post oak here in Denver, but some turned up at Walmart and I just went out and checked on the 32" BIg Boy is still pegged at 275*....very impressive!

Darn Tootin you’ve got this! Looks excellent.