DaveyR

Tony B with you on the Double draft door for the 23" as well.

Ok so here goes my 2c on this  

I have a bbq guru at the moment and for many of the reasons that people listed i have ended up with it in a box.  Since then i have been using a DIY solution called the Heter Meter.

One of the nice things about this is that it uses standard raspberry PI's so what could do is get a wireless adapter that can take an external antenna and run it so the antenna is hanging over the edge of the building and in a place which gets signal.  Currently i use a water proof cabling box called sockitbox  which is where the power brick is and also the Heter Meter.

For controlling the temps in the KK i am using the roto damper as primary method of changing the temp and the fan only kicks in when needed.

It is a good route if you are wanting to play with hardware and like tinkering

Let me know if you want any more information on any of that.

Looks great.

Congrats you should love the KK in bronze i know i love mine

The one i use is 

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Dragon-VT-1-32-Propane/dp/B002LH46M8

Good thing and bad thing about it is that it dosnt use the pizo electric starter.  Just the good old flint starter from a welding kit or a cigarette lighter.  Just light and stick in the coal and ignore for a few seconds.  When connected to a new tank of gas dont open the valve up very far as the pressure will blow the flame out.  (About 1/4 of a turn is all that is needed)

Hi Go Frogs

I do a bit of a setup for Salmon.  

Normally do a dry brine 2 parts sugar to 1 part salt.  cover well with brine and then compress by putting something like beer or chopping block on it.  If doing whole filets then put in vacuum bag and seal to assist with getting nice contact.

Brine 3 - 4 hours then rinse for about 30 - 60 minutes.  Longer brine longer rinse as we dont live overly salty food.

Put in fridge uncovered at least over night to develop a good pelicule.  Should be slightly tacky to touch and skin should be slightly firm.  (You can add flavors like dill or cracked pepper when you put in fridge)(This helps to stop the fat from oozing out the top of the fish as a white sludge that will make the smoke run on the side and just looks meh)

Normally use alder or if i really like the people i am making it for then may brake out some of my manuaka  

If doing a warm smoke then put on about 200 for about 2 - 3 hours.  You can pull at 145 or when your beloved says that it is cooked.  (Can just use a fork to pull apart no special knifes needed)

If doing cold smoke then use one of my smoke generators.  (Smokia or amazin smoker) they get then about 30 hours of just smoke.  Once done needs to be cut with a salmon knife.  (Very thin and flexible blade)  cut it as thin as you can and just server on fresh crackers or eat straight off the knife.  A lot of people perfer the cold smoked a bit more salty.

You will find some like cold and some like hot.  (I live cold and wife likes it hot )

Hope that helps.

Tony that looks great.

Tonight it was a slightly fishy dish.

Hot smoked salmon with trout as a chaser.  (They still had their tails)

Fresh on the KK

a Nice smoke color starting to set in.  Everything cooked now.  Salmon 3 hour smoke and trout about 1

On the platter waiting to be served.

hhmm next time i think that i should use a bigger plate.  Everyone else had the head and the tail removed so not quite so far over the end.  Lemon pasta and pulled salad with grilled asparagus.

Looking good there GoFrogs but what is that temp wire doing in the picture and not through the side as it looks to be a straight probe.

looking good everyone.  Makes me want some pizza about now for breakfast

Dont worry Tony if you dont like it for lighting the KK they can be fun for doing weeding with as long it is not to hot and dry.  

To small for trying to melt the way to the kk though has been my experience.

I use a mini dragon from https://www.flameengineering.com/

If you are still prepping food then it takes about a 30 - 60 second blast in 1 - 2 places and then work inside for another 5 minutes and if you have the vents open you will have a good fire going.  

I find it a scary thought to try to poor hot coal as the KK is so deep and then arrange it without getting burnt.  Even wearing welding gloves.

I dont use the Indirect stone any more.  If i want to do indirect i normally put what ever i am cooking on the main rack and just a sheet of foil on the lower rack.

This makes it indirect and the KK dosnt really need a whole bunch more thermal mas to heat up.  I do it this way for my smoking as well as grilling.  If i am doing something that is just for me and my Wife (Very really happens) then i will put the splitter in and use one side for the indirect and then slide what ever i am cooking over to the direct for the finishing.

Looking good there Tony B

It is well worth it but i can second some of the comments about the accessories that are worth while getting.

The Pizza stone if you like pizza or bread just makes the whole unit an amazing pizza oven.  (Friends rate ours with the best they have had anywhere in the world )

The side tables are just great if you dont have it built in.

The charcoal splitter, if you are thinking of this then get the second basket as having to move the un-burnt coal around to try to fit it in when you just want to do a half basket is very messy and a pain.  (I still have one basket and it is what i have to do)

and the covers are great.  Just make sure you tell Dennis to leave enough room for the side tables

Do it and have fun and many great cooks

Hay CC sorry that post was a bit tongue in cheek and no way a dig at Dennis.

I have to say that Dennis has the best customer support and manufacturing that i have seen.  The products that he builds are built to last and just amazing

Agreed about the break in.  Take your time with it and do the first high temp cook by the numbers and then you can let it sing.

The other day i was doing pizza and had the grill about 650 for a couple of hours then took a photo with a thermal camera.  It shows that around the middle of the grill it gets a bit warm but the base was still not to hot.  It had been on since 8 am that morning.   The first 5 hours was doing a smoke then cranked the temp up for pizza at the end.

Also if you are just doing a couple of steaks the outside of the grill is unlikely to get warm.  You can have the firebox at 700 for long enough to get a good steak done then close it up and 10 minutes later put the cover on as the outside has not picked up any heat.

They look wonderful.

I purchase ribs normally from Resturant depot so the ribs are pretty cheaply priced currently for st Louis Style ribs $2.59 per pound so about $5 for per kilo

Different cuts of pork ribs cost more like baby back are normally slightly more expensive.

I can vouch for the OMG you spent what on that grill and you dont need another one conversation.

Then i managed to get a KK and gave away the bge and the number of conversations have not been about why you need something so big to what can we get cooked today...

I had a medium bge and then got the 23" KK so I went from 100 inches of cooking to dam near 1000 if I use anything

Hi Sav

Yep came up with that after having to many cooks that the last pizza was not the best and the first was been rushed to try and get 8 - 10 done before the coal ran out.  So decided start early and then load about 30 minutes before you want to start cooking to let the VOC burn off from the fresh coal and produce a nice clean heat.

Then you should be good to go for a couple of hours.

Wow looking good there SmokeyDave 

and a nice smoke ring as well

I was thinking the same thing Tony

I was able to post pictures in the pizza thread but not this one as well Tony

I can confer with CC that the pizza stone is just the best....

Let the KK heat up with one lot of coal then put on a fresh batch for cooking and hold it at 650 dome for 2 hours while cooking.  New pizza every 5 minutes with a 5 minute rest in between to let the top of the stone get back up to temp.  

we never fail to have a house full of friends when we say Pizza night..

Some pictures from Superbowl night

Smoked Salmon and Capers again love this one 

Turkeyoni mushroom and cheese

Canadian bacon rosted peppers and cheese

Everything else that was still left to cook including heirloom tomatoes 

So for the really interested some thermal pic's of the KK while cooking pizza as well

Starting the KK off for some smoked chicken to go on later pizza

Pizza stone getting up to temp.  You can see the temp of the lid behind it.

Pizza on the stone it is quite amazing the difference in heat.  The stone is now up to temp and the same color as the rest of the grill

finally just to compare from the first post here is the KK showing the heat of the whole thing when doing the pizza and how hot the outside can get after been cooking for 4 hours at 600+ f

Sorry for the thread jacking

great looking cook there.

It is amazing how small they look on the 32 lol