CeramicChef

Hi bosceaux - to my mind, the "new" air control manifold gives yet another means of controlling air flow in the KK. Is it needed? Well, not exactly. Is it a nice luxury to have? You bet! Does it give really better air flow control than the usual vent? Well, it depends. (I sound like a consultant, right? ) Remember, because of the really deep thought that Dennis put into the design of the KK Top Hat vent, it is infinitely adjustable and it stays in place! IF you open the lid, you don't have to readjust your top vent. What I use the right hand side of the dual dial air flow manifold for is fine tuning. Look, I can dial in temps using the left hand side and the top hat vent just from memory at this point. I can dial in 220 - 240 without a problem. But the right hand dial allows me to be more precise and dial in 225F without a problem. Yeah, its a small deal, but to my my engineering and accounting mind, if I want 225 or 227 or 352, I can get it spot on. To me its a challenge and I like doing it. I like a challenge and sometimes it just F with things to see what I can get my KKs to do. I, like you, also have a bit of an OCD side, hence the 352! As has been pointed out, the KK is a more efficient air handling device that anything you've seen. That is a real advantage. Yes, your KJ can get to 225, but you'll find that that the KK gets there with less airflow through the system due to several factors, chief among them is the KK design forcing all air through the lump pile. This means lower air flow through your kamado. That in turn results in a juicer, more moist cook, ceteris paribus. But there is another upside to lower airflow through the KK. Lower airflow means a longer residence time of the produced smoke in the KK. That means that, again, ceteris paribus, your cook will have a smokier flavor (and as you know, some people say that kamados don't yield really smokey tasting BBQ) because the smoke has longer to condense on the cook. bosceaux, there really infinite possibilities with the KK. You can control airflow without a lot of effort via the left dial and the top vent and never once touch the right side dial. You can use the right dial exclusively on low-n-slow cooks and never open the left dial. I've used the smallest aperture on the right hand dial and cranked down on the top vent and used that combination for cold making. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. And that is the genius of the whole airflow system Dennis has developed. You'll learn what works for you. I'm absolutely certain that other KKers with the dual dial air control manifold use their KKs differently than do I. And that's what makes the KK experience so wonderful. The KK adapts to you. You don't have to adapt to the KK. Finally since that post above, I've kind of had a KK epiphany. The KK has incredible air flow capabilities. I kind of explain that epiphany in my Open Letter To Dennis post earlier this week. To my feeble mind it is in the air flow capabilities that the KK rises well above every other kamado. So, to conclude, spend time with your KKs. Change settings and watch what happens. Have fun. Never do anything the same way until you figure out what is optimal for you. And don't be held down by what you've done in the past. Sure, it'll work with the KK and its a good place to start, but left your imagination run wild and experiment. I can't see what you have to say when you get your KKs in the back yard and yo've had a cooks under your belt! Have fun!

I fired up TheBeast last night. What a great experience. Simply great!

Charles - what a really nice outdoor bistro you're creating! I really like that gas fire pit with the rocks. Takes the chill off and gives you a place to snuggle with skreef! Bucko, you have this deal all figured out!

Ok, that's it! Bryan, its official! You're a bigger gadget freak than I!!!! I really like those polar beat tubes. Gotta get some.

Bosceaux - now do you understand the whole concept behind the Chinese Water Torture?! Buddy, I'm so glad I"m not waiting on a KK> MacKenzie, there is something just twisted about you that I absolutely adore!

Wilbur, you've GOT TO STOP doing these ducks! It makes me want to spin a duck here in OKC. I don't know where to get a duck, but I think I'm on a mission. Then I have to get a foot pump. Then I'm really on a mission! Your cooks are gonna get me in trouble. Great cook and gives something to which to aspire! Kudos!

Slap me stupid and call that some kind of delicious dinner! Wonderful cook. Kudos!

Hard to beat a good shrimp boil! And that looks like some kind of delicious. Kudos!

Charles - I'd throw and fork at that cook any time! Looks wonderfully delicious! Kudos.

And that Folks, is the way its done! Thanks Charles!

Yeah, Tony, life is getting back to normal. I've got all the bags unpacked, the clothes sorted, and I'm already back in meetings with attorneys and accountants. Balmy is 20F? Where I've been balmy is considered something in the neighborhood of overnight lows in the 60s!

Are you asking how long it takes to get to a certain temp? That depends on your vent settings and how many spots are lit in your lump pile. I can get my 32 to 400F in a manner of minutes if I leave the dome open and the vents wide open. Conversely, I can close the dome, clamp down on my vents, and it'll take 2 hours to get to 400F. Now if you're asking how long does it take at 400F to get the body completely up to 400F and the 32 to be completely heat soaked at that temp, I don't really know. I've never measured the rate at which the 32 heat soaks because it depends on some many variables. For instance, what is the temperature of the 32 body prior to you starting the fire. On a hot Oklahoma City Day, with my pebble black sitting in the sun, it doesn't take nearly as long as on a cold evening 20F night and the 32 has been sitting outside for days at 20F. YEs, we have those kinds of days here in OKC. I know that if I start my fire in 3 spots and I want to heat soak my 32 at 500F for a pizza cook, that within the hour I'm sitting at 500F and the dome is at 500F. Great pizza. In general, I heat soak my 32 for about an hour at temp and everything works out wonderfully.

WOWZERS! What a great looking hunka hunka deliciousness! If that tasted half as good as it looks, what a treat!

Can't argue with the truth! Very well said, Suzy.

Tomahawk - I too own a 32", TheBeast so I understand your concerns. To handle small cooks, I simply use the basket splitter. It's adjustable to,a point and makes the 32" very well behaved for small cooks. That basket splitter gives you great flexibility. You have all the size for those large cooks and at the same time you get all the advantages of a smaller grill when you only want to do a single hotdog! TheBeast and all other 32s are amazingly versatile.

Thanks!

I love it! Really inventive.

Tony, those are some KILLER money shots! Great cook. Kudos!

Oh WOWZERS, MacKenzie! I get back in town and I see you're taking your taters to another level! Absolutely beautiful cook! My mouth is watering to be sure. Mega kudos to you to be sure!

Hi Dennis! I just got back in town from an extended trip, first to Houston and then to Australia. Over the course of this trip, I had absolutely no access to my KKs, Beauty! & TheBeast. Talk about going through withdrawal! All I had to cook on we're friends cheap gassers, stick burners, the odd kettle, and a kamado that was a hideous color of green and just another Joe kind of kamado. During my travels (or travails, if you will) I cooked a lot of good food for my hosts, and I did it on their equipment. Dennis, I'd frankly grown complacent cooking on my KKs. Familiarity does tend to breed complacency. Your KKs are just too good and make cooking way too easy and enjoyable. I've always said that the KK experience is very tacit in nature. Everything about the KK is uncompromised. And you get used to that in a big hurry. You get used to uncompromised excellence at every turn. And as the saying goes, "You don't know what you have 'til it's gone!" I certainly didn't realize how deep your design thinking went until I had to use something else to cook. Look, I'm not even going to talk about the differences between gassers, stick burners, kettles etc. those cooks can't haul water for the KK. The differences are stunning. Trying to cook ribs in those cookers is real work! Mopping, spritzing, temp control, having to reload fuels, etc. is just too dadgummed much work! Let's not even talk about the restrictions on the types of cooks you can do. Pizza is generally out of the question and who wants that!? Let's not even talk about breads, deserts, etc. The KKs that you've designed are exceptional in the depth of analysis and attention to detail you've poured into each model. And we who use the KK get so used to so much we take a lot of the whole experience for granted. It might be that our purchase decisions are based on the KK reputation. From the top vent to the casters, the KK never disappoints. In fact it always exceeds expectations. Take the top hat vent on a KK. First, compared to other vents which are monkey see, monkey do, the KK top vent is remarkable. It's gorgeous; the other vents are just butt ugly in comparison. A detail of the KK top vent too often overlooked is the square threads. Those threads solve a host of problems other kamados build in. That square threaded KK top vent doesn't change position when the lid is raised. I've never had a KK top vent jamb shut. Other kamado makers don't even want to go there. Let's not even begin the differences in temperature control because the KK top vent is so good. I also don't have to jury rig something to fit over my top vent so I can cook in a driving Oklahoma thunderstorm! Take the hinge on any KK and compare it to hinges on other kamados. Talk about the difference between chicken salad and chicken crap! Dennis, as you know I've had experience on kamados ranging from the least expensive pos you can buy, to BGEs, KJs, and Primos. The hinge systems on every single one of those kamados isn't even in the same league as the KK hinge. With a KK all you do is pop the front latch and the lid majestically raises to fully open all by itself. That has never happened with those other lids. Never! The KK hinge is rock solid. It's not rickety, it never lets the lid slam shut! OUCH! I know of guys who have owned those other kamados and the lids shattered they slammed shut so hard. The KK hinge system so perfectly balances its heavy lid that every woman who has every been around my 32", TheBeast, was able to open the lid with two fingers and absolutely no effort whatsoever. That never happened on my other kamados. Your gaskets are simply genius. Food grade silicone! Why doesn't any other kamado manufacturer use this type of gasket material! Why do they cheapen their product with those stupid felt gaskets that burn so easily, get grease soaked so readily, that pull apart so readily in cold weather? Why do they build problems into their kamados? Again, your deep thought did away with problems from the onset simply by specifying a better gasket. Again, uncompromised excellence! The firebox on the KK is something special. Refractory. Two piece. No broken fire bowls in a KK as is all too common on every ceramic I know of. As you say, "You can't get away from the physics of it!" but it's absolutely true and you'd think the other manufacturers would take a page from your KK book! Replacement cost have got to be killing them! And speaking of refractory, I've gotta tell you how much I appreciate that choice. I was cooking pizza on a ceramic down in Houston and burned the ever living daylights out of my kneecap when my bare leg hit the side of kamado during a 700° pizza cook. That has never happened with my KKs because of the superior insulating capabilities of your unique refractory. The way the KK handles airflow is something few of us think about. Dennis, you've obviously put an incredible amount of thought into such a subtle process. You've designed the KK to force all airflow through the lump pile. The others haven't. Now that may not sound like much to some, but to me it is the pinnacle of the KK. This simple little fact translates to more advantages than might be readily apparent. First, our KKs get up to temp in a BIG hurry! That means a lot to those of us who want to do a quick cook on a weekday evening. The KK firebox divider works in concert with the airflow capabilities and directs all the air thought the lump pile. Again, it's all about efficiency. Further, the divider allows for a couple of different configurations and again, we're talking about efficiency. The fact that the KK is more efficient in its use of air means less airflow through the cooker and that translates to cooks that are, ceterus paribus, more moist! When you consider the air control dual dial manifold, one really begins to understand how deep your thought processes really are. Those two dials changed the way I looked at airflow, temperature control, and cookin in a kamado. Nobody has anything remotely like it. You couple that air control manifold with the infinitely adjustable top hat vent and you've got a kamado that lends itself to really low temp smoking that even the best conventional kamados can't match. Low air flow equates to longer than normal residence times for the smoke component. Again, the hallmark of the KK, efficiency, come to the forefront. I could rave about your air control system and it's dynamic because I'm an engineer by training, but most folks don't care to get that deep in the weeds! all I'm going to say is that there isn't another kamado on the market as well engineered from an airflow perspective and kamado cooking is all about controlling airflow. That's a simple and undeniable fact. Being away from Beauty! & TheBeast for almost two months was bad enough. Being forced to cook on a host of other cookers compounded the pain. BUT (there is always a but, right?!) cooking on those other kamados again, gave me a real perspective of the KK that I came to take for granted in the year plus that I've had my KKs. Until recently, I was a real fan of the KK for its ease of use and the stunning results it produces. I could go on and on because while you're sitting up tending a fire at 3:00 AM there is a lot to do but think and drink fine bourbon! I examined your designs through an engineer's lens and I came to the conclusion that the KK is the most over engineered Kamado in the world! Now I understand your design so much more. And what amazes me is that you've had not one iota of formal engineering training is some very sublime subject like fluid mechanics and heat transfer! I've rambled on and on here, probably much longer than I should have, but if you're a potential KK customer, what are you waiting for? Nothing comes close to the KK on every dimension you can imagine. The KK is uncompromised excellence in every area. A KK must be experienced because mere words will never do the KK justice. Call Dennis. Get a KK. Enjoy life as never before! Thanks for reading this tome.

Burgers! Mmmmmmm! I love a good burger and that's one seriously sumptuous burger! Grapenut icecream? That's a new one on me but I'm willing to bet it was some kind of tasty! Kudos!

JaxxQ! Yes indeed, resistance is futile! Unfortunately, you can't have TheBeast as he likes his home on my patio! however, you can have any KK BB 32" Dennis has in stock! TheBeast is a lot of cooker to fill for low and slow cooks. If you grill on a regular basis, then the 32's extra real estate comes in handy. The 23 Ultimate can provide a lot of food for parties if you are cooking low and slow. I'm constantly amazed at what I've seen KKers here cook on the 23. Wilbur, Tinyfish, MacKenzie, etc. constantly amaze me with their cooks. I've never known any one here to run out of room on a 23 Ultimate, except if they are grilling and then it fills very quickly. Note that I also have a 19" table top (Beauty!) for really quick cooks, i.e. the single chicken breast, hot dogs ( yeah, I do a couple of dogs at least once a week!) searing off a NY Strip, etc. I also like the ability of reserving Beauty! for kid duty during parties, desserts, pizzas, etc. At the end of the day, the KK (or KK combination) that is right for you depends on how you cook the majority of the time. When I was considering buying a KK I found that conversations with Dennis helped me really clarify my thinking. Dennis will sell you the KK that makes the most sense for you and he'll help you determine what KK that is. Welcome!

Oh! This is gonna be fun! We've got new KKs being delivered regularly between now and the end of the year. Life is good!

My dear Mom boiled dogs. She liked 'em that way and until I got old enough to be trusted with the Weber Kettle, when Dad wasn't home we ate boiled hot dogs. I hate boiled dogs. Give me a grilled dog every single time! Funny story. When my son was about 4 years old, he only wanted to eat hot dogs. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Snacks. That was it, hot dogs. And the dogs were boiled! I decided him eating nothing but hot dogs was going to end. So Joe is sitting there at the table, packing back the hot dogs. Joes stabs another piece of hot dog and I ask "Hey Joe! You know what hot dogs are made from?" Joe shakes his head no. I tell him "They're made from assholes and eyeballs!". Joes fork hit the plate and he has never had another hot dog!