WoodieB

Wow, 10 months ago, you are an OG! (original griller). Maybe the grill spacing changed and Dennis isn't including them anymore. I didn't get one

What gives with the scrapers? Those look like custom made grill cleaners for the KK's 1/4" & 3/8" grills. I haven't seen them before now. Anybody have one? How did you get it?

Airflow Nice pics, I haven't done brisket yet, soon. Yep, that's exactly what I found. 1/4 turn open on the top, draft door closed with fine air controller open about 1/8", and that baby settled down at about 220-230 for 24 STRAIGHT HOURS!! Only a couple of times late in the cook did I have to tweak the top damper by 1/4 turn or so.

Very cool, Chile! I'll have to get me one'a them 2 dozen models. I've spent a lot of time in LaGrange. Beautiful old courthouse on the square in the middle of town. And only about an hour or so from Austin! Some great recipes on their website, too.

Nice recipe, Chile. That looks like it would make an excellent dry rub for pulled pork. I jumped in a bought a KK after browsing the forum for a bit. It was an excellent decision. The thing rocks, and all who lay eyes on it are struck with it's beauty. I had never cooked on a ceramic before, nor had used lump charcoal. Thanks to the info from all the good folks on the forum here, (and of course my own innate cooking skills) I'm turning out awsome food from the beginning. Welcome, WoodieB

Sweet! I had a old gasser (albeit a nice one) next to mine at first, but I could't take the look of it spoiling the beauty of the KK, so I cleaned it up and gave it to a friend. Gonna keep the Weber, just tell it not to make any passes at the beauty beside it?

DEElux side table I think I posted this in another thread, but here is what I've decided to go with for a side table. As it turns out, the maker is a good friend of Dennis's. This puppy is gonna look sweet beside my KK. Now if DJ were to get one, he'd be rigging up remote control & steering, but I think I'll just leave it stock. Bad thing is it doesn't ship until 08/29, so we may be getting our side tables at around the same time.

Niiice!!

DOH! The boat! Those are some cool pics. 30 miles!! How do you stay clear of the Cesnas? I used to instruct in gliders (the hard wing, glass windshield variety) and we would ride mountain wave to 12,000 (No O2.) That was back before I really knew how many general aviation planes are out there. We kind of operate on the "Big sky, needle in a haystack theory" I've never heard of a collision between a foot launched aircraft (hang or paraglider) and a GA plane. I've had small planes come within a few thousand feet of me, and have heard and read some close call stories, but in general it's a pretty remote chance. Of course we have to respect restricted airspace & obey air law, as we operate under FAR103 (for the moment anyway) Salt Lake and the Wasatch Mtns. offers some outstanding paragliding. In the fall, when cloudbase goes to the moon, we are regularly thermaling to 14000-16000', and on the good days to to 18 grand. Carrying a small O2 bottle on the super high cloudbase days, but since I live at 5200' and hike & mtn. bike at 10,000 quite a bit, I go to 14-14500 on my glider without O2. Here are a couple of more shots from the DR from the 2006 competition.

Umm....I think he meant the aircraft carrier, USS Kitty Hawk. But I dig where you're coming from Turtle. I'm way into UNpowered flight, having been flying paragliders for about 7 years. It's pretty amazing how far things have progressed both in powered and unpowered flight. Here's a shot I took in Feb. of this year, flying in a comp in the Dominican Republic. That a good friend of mine out ahead of me. We are in route on a 30 mile triangle flight, most of it at or near cloudbase. Awesome day.

Nice Paul! This is your second one? An easy way to unpack: At the base of the crate, at each corner, there are 2 long lag bolts. Unscrew all 8 and the entire crate will lift off of the pallet in one piece. Voila!

Shopvac

Thanks Fetzer, Dennis, I'd be honored to have a pic of my OTB on your site. Have some pretty good ones. Just posted a few to the pics section. Sanny, all of my friends have told me many times that if they could be reincarnated, they would want to come back as one of my cats. The oldest is 11, the younger one 8. I hate to think about them coming to the end of their life span, (and I think they have quite a few more good years left) but one thing I know for sure, they could not have lived anywhere else where they would have been loved & pampered more. But this is a happy camper thread, and I'm indeed a happy KK camper. Now when my set of Kingsley-Bate teak furniture arrives, I'll have some photos to truly do justice to the KK. W

OK Curly, Here's some shots. Next time I'll be sure to take the cooking shots from start to finish. But it does prove that I didn't imagine it all

Happy 4th & good KK'n to everyone. I won't be doing any grilling this 4th, as I'm at work on my home away from home, procuring the raw material for all the gassers. But I work a 2 week on, 2 week off schedule, so I'll be home July 11th and will be cooking with a vengance. By that time, my order of Dizzy Pig rubs will be here, and my Grillfloss, (although a 3/8" end wrench does a pretty good job), and later in the summer (won't ship till the end of August) my deluxe KK side table will come. Check it out! It's a bit of a splurge, but so was the KK. Happy 4th!

Hebert's has some pretty good stuff. The original is indeed in Maurice, LA. I've gotten lot's of goodies from them over the years. They told me that they opened the store in Oklahoma because of something to do with LA mail order law, or sumptin like that. I forget now. The stuffed boneless chickens are excellent, and I like the turduckens as well. Like ordering any fresh/frozen food product, the price is one thing, but it's the overnight FedEx that kills you. Their Cajun ribeyes are pretty good, though, as well as stuffed brisket.

Sweet, got my order in for one too! In the meantime, I've been using a Craftsman 1/4" & 3/8" open end wrench to clean the grills. They are chrome vanadium so won't make it rust, and do a pretty good job. You just have to wear a good welding glove or similar when doing the cleaning. Woodie

Good Stuff, Firemonkey Since the Billybar folks don't seem to answer their email, I'll be ordering the Grillfloss. Thanks

Wow, tough crowd Ok, some pics to follow soon. And Curly, you're a good dude. I read the kitty story. I have two cats that are like kids to me and I'll have to say it brought a tear to my eye. Weird, I worked in equatorial West Africa for a few years (Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Gabon) and got so numbed that I could walk by a dead body on the street without a second glance, but I still get teared up going into the animal shelter to give them my food donation at Christmas

Hi All, Been away for a while, (dead laptop), and now, having had the opportunity to cook on my awesome Terra Cotta Blue OTB for a while, have some observations. First of all, thanks to everyone on the forum for all the knowledge & recipes. It's allowed me to be successful from the very first cook. And a big thanks to Dennis for making such a beautiful piece of cooking kit. And I guess I should thank whoever invented ceramic cooking in the first place. I'm just blown away at how well the KK excels at cooking at both the low end and the high end of the spectrum, (and the middle as well) Did a few moderate temp cooks, chicken, etc, that were good, but the first time I fired it up to 750 and seared some steaks, I was just blown away. I decided to do some buffalo steaks, since I have a bunch of it in the freezer. (Bought half of a young one this past winter) I invited my neighbors over, and the lady was pretty skeptical, (not of the KK, she says it's a piece of art) but of the buffalo. Anyway, I gave them a good rub with CharCrust, seared for 90 sec a side at 750, then moved them to the edge of the grill, shut the dampers and let them dwell for a couple of minutes. They looked great, but my neighbor said, "I'll just try a little piece, I don't think I'll like buffalo". I cut her a small piece of one, and the instant she put it in her mouth, said "OK, that one's mine!" Awesome steaks. I don't think I had ever had a truly seared steak before. But I'm from Kentucky, and I wanted some real pork bbq. Practiced once on a small piece, about 4 lb. bone in butt, for 9 hours to learn temp control. It was really good, but wasn't quite pulled pork. But I did learn how to regulate the temp quite well with just damper control, no Guru. OK, time to go for the big one. Went to Costco, and got a 14.5 lb. boneless butt. Cleaned the KK out (shop vac works great for that) loaded the basket up with mesquite lump, big pieces on bottom, then smaller ones. Lit in 3 places with a mapp torch, let'er get to about 200 then started closing it down. I found that with the top damper open 1/4 turn, and the bottom fine air controller open about 1/8", the temp settled down nicely at about 220-230 deg. F. A little dry rub, on goes the meat, with a few nice chunks of hickory on the lump. Cooked for 24.5 hours at 220-230. Rarely had to adjust the damper at all. Went to bed, slept all night, in the morning it was still 230 or so. I was really amazed. After 24.5 hours, the internal temp of the butt was 190, so time to pull it off. Absolutely awesome! Unbelievable! I had about 8-9 friends over. Now I hadn't opened the lid the whole time, so I had my fingers crossed. Everyone was blown away! The entire butt was consumed! Also made Dennis's Tidewater Coleslaw & Lexington Vinegar. Both are among the best I've had. One thing I did was to substitute Marukan Seasoned Rice Vinegar for the cider vinegar in both recipes, and it is REALLY good. A little less sugar may be needed since the seasoned vinegar is slightly sweet. So, I'm a truly happy KK camper and cooker. A check is on the way to Johnnyboy for a cover commensurate with the looks of my baby! I'll be sure to post some pics of my next big cook. Was too busy drinking good homebrew and eating pulled pork to do so last time. I've ordered a few Dizzy Pig rubs to play with now. Happy KK'ing to all, Woodie

probe hole KKeller, On the KK you will find the probe hole, which is about two tile widths down from the edge of the lid, and offset toward the front of the grill a few inches, and then there is the EZ Q bushing, directly below the two acorn nuts that will hold the side trays. The EZ Q thingy is a bushing that turns in a sleeve to transmit the rotary force of the EZ Q. Make sure you don't try to knock that plug out. On my KK, the probe hole is indeed about 5/8, lined with a stainless steel tube, but has no plug in it.

Alright!! I can now post in the Happy Camper thread! My beauty arrived Monday, at long last. Would've had it sooner, but I had to be out of town for a week, then there was a slight shipping mixup. Dennis called me from Indonesia to explain the shipping thing, then again yesterday to make sure it arrived OK. Another example of the great customer service. So, last Friday I spoke to UPS freight & scheduled delivery for Monday between 12-2:00 pm. Line up a couple of friends to help, and then went to Costco and got a cheap ($45) hand truck that converts to a 4 wheel furniture dolly. Sez it's rated for 750 lb. in the 4 wheel position, so I should be good to go. Now my driveway is fairly steep, and then we have to get it around behind the house, also uphill for the first bit, through mulched landscaping. OK, so a piece of cheap plywood ripped lengthwise will make for a nice ramp, but I'm thinking, man, it's going to be a tough push with only a 2-3 guys. Then I realized that my mighty Honda snowblower, (on tracks) will make for a nice little tractor for motive power, so I get a strap, rig it all up, and wait. Of course I'd invited people for dinner, assuming that UPS would be on time since we had an appointment & all. No such luck. 2:00 came & went, calls to UPS, they can't get in touch with the driver, all I can find out is that it's out for delivery. Finally, at 6:00 pm, the truck shows up. The UPS guys are pretty impressed with the crate, as am I and my friends. We maneuver the behemoth off of the lift gate onto my little overmatched dolly, fire up my faithful Honda, and voila', it works perfectly. All the other guys had to do was keep it steady and we motored it right on around to the patio. Perfect! Now for the uncrating. The packaging itself is worthy of more photos, but I only took the one because I was so excited to get it going. Located the crowbar, and then unscrewed the 8 long lag bolts holding the crate to the pallet, and the whole crate just lifts off and there it is, like a giant Faberge egg. Best packing job I've ever seen. OK, pry the rest of the stabilizing pieces off, remove the innards, cut the banding holding it to the pallet, and slip a couple of 2x4s through the loops to get my precious the last few inches off of the pallet onto it's wheels on my patio. Whew, that last bit was the most precarious, as we had it tilted over a bit and it was HEAVY! But finally, with no mishaps, it's on it's own wheels on the patio. What a work of art!!! You just have to stand back and admire it for a bit. Edit: Whoops, tried to do a spell check and it posted before I could stop it, and then I had to leave for a while. The rest of my story and photo's got left out! Ok, so by now it's after 7 and I haven't even started a fire yet. Get the KK assembled, in goes a load of mesquite lump, out comes my new grill starter, (Home Depot, Mapp torch, but with a 4' hose. The bottle has a belt clip the will hang on the KK handle while you light it. Awesome!) Woooo, wouldn't wanna wear your nice cashmere sweater while doing this! Get the KK fired up, but my TelTru thermometer is still in transit, so I monitor the pit temp with my remote meat thermometer. Wow, the temp climbs fast when you get a load of lump going! Awesome, get it up to 400 or so and throw on the chicken. 45 min or so later, (had some pretty big temp swings as I was getting used to the adjustments) and the chicken is awesome! My friends are just kind of dumbstruck by the appearance of the thing. It really is beautiful and unique. Anyway, without further ado: http://picasaweb.google.com/woodieb The photos in the yard folder were all taken at full extension with a Canon 100-400 L series zoom lens. Really isolates the background. The two Bengal cats are my assistants Rubin & Xena. They both very much enjoyed a little of the first cook. Can't wait to do more cooking on the KK. Everything about it is just superbly crafted. I'm totally impressed, and the customer service has been awesome for me as well. Thanks, Dennis. WB

congrats Nice, Jeff! You beat me by a couple of days. Got the email today and scheduled for delivery between noon & 2:00 on Monday. Woooo!! Gotta recruit a couple of burly friends now. Let's see some pics. Woodie

Yup, that'd be extree well done. Hopefully that means the probe cord, but I'll probably shield it with almuminum foil just for extra protection when I do my hi & slow special method, 18 hours at 700 deg. It's a low fat recipe

mesquite lump Hi Greg, Haven't tried Wild Oats yet, but I went by Standard Firewood yesterday and picked up 2 40# bags of mesquite lump. No brand name, just says "mesquite lump charcoal". I opened the top of one bag to look inside and it looks fine. Nice big pieces. Of course the chips and dust all settle to the bottom, so I can't tell how much there is until I dump it out. Also ordered this: http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProd ... =CIC-00869 A bbq meat thermometer with a remote display and alarm. Supposedly the probe is good to 700 deg. Looks pretty cool. Now I'm ready to cook, just waiting for my KK to arrive! WB