DennisLinkletter

On 7/10/2021 at 5:06 AM, tony b said:

Interesting top vent on that one? No tiles? New design?

LOL that's the black foam shipping protection..  So the crate does not damage the collar..

It's been 9 years since I raised the price of the 23" Ultimate..

It's been long overdue..
Prices need to go up again.
The 32" has never had an increase since it was released 9 years ago September..
It's time has come too..

Just some writing on the wall for anyone considering ordering..

Over the last 35 years I've been shipping containers to the US from Indonesia, I've paid as little as $2,250 and as much as $6,400 for the sea freight. It costs another $1,800 to clear customs and have the container delivered and unloaded.  

Sea freight charges:
Surabaya to Long Beach/Los Angeles
May 2019           2,850
May 2020          4,200
May 2021           6,900
Mid 2021            9,400
June 1st 2021   11,900
August 15th - 31st  $19,500!!   
Validity only two weeks will go up again...
I've been eating it up to now.. but will be forced to add a "Sea Freight Surcharge" to all new orders.   And will need to start shipping the grills in two crates so we can stack the smaller ones.

On 7/26/2021 at 10:52 AM, Syzygies said:

Easy Popcorn Shrimp | Recipe | Almazan Kitchen

Now that's a knife.

My cleaver hasn't left my hand, despite owning many knives. "Unlike many of you" ?? I resemble that remark!

I watched the popcorn shrimp video.. Am I the only one who wondered why he's out in the woods in the mountains cooking seafood?
Those shrimp are not from the stream nearby!   
Things that make you go Hmmm...

If they are missing tiles, 12 out of 10 times they have gone thru repetitive freeze cycles which are destructive to anything with nooks and crannies.
Water gets into small areas and when it freezes it expands 9%.. That 9%  again and again tears open the solid areas and when water gets under the acrylic jacket into the porous insulation and freezes not only can it loose tiles but the vermiculite insulation can turn to mush also. The tiles are not actually attached to the grill itself but rather the acrylic jacket.
Most damage is done from water getting into the damper tops and freezing.. Once water gets into the lips cracks them open and then water gets into the straps and freezes, the grills are pretty much a write off..

Pork necks here are often speckled with inter-muscular fat.. I exclusively use them for pulled pork. The muscle groups are smaller so more flavor too.

2 hours ago, mstang1988 said:

I have 4 indirect stones for the bottom of my 32BB.  They are different sizes.  Is that ccorrect?  Seems very very odd.  

 

 

You are miss matching them.. the longer rectangle ones create the largest indirect area and only let hot air up the far left and right side.

The grill shaped ones create a smaller indirect area and are used for when you need to crank it up for browning and want uniform heat coming up around the meat.  For example when roasting a chicken indirect, you would crank it up the last 10 min.

I've learned it's easier to give people what they want than to educate them.  I supply them because people coming from the glazed-pot Kamado world think they're very important.  The glazed-pot Kamados lose heat through their walls and having more thermal mass inside the grill helps reduce temperature drops when the ambient temperature changes.  Because KK's are so well insulated, this is not a factor. 

That being said I have not used the heat deflector in one of my grills for probably 10 years.  I'm confident that using foil to create your indirect area then putting your drip pan on top of the foil on the lowest grate gives you a much better performance.. i.e. less airflow, less evaporation, and more retained moisture in your meat.

https://komodokamadoforum.com/topic/10026-heat-deflectors-in-the-kk/?tab=comments#comment-121321

When KK was new and we were constantly upgrading the grills, there would be certain changes that someone would see on the forum, then buy a grill and complain it did not have the feature / was not the latest and greatest. This got old, so like software I gave the major changes their own version numbers.  At a certain point, I carried so much inventory it made adding features difficult.  How do I add a $30 cold smoker port when I had 40  23's and 25  32's without making  $300k plus worth of grills suddenly dated..  My solution was to photoshop out the ports until all the grills without them were sold and then put  of the photos with ports all at once...

When I completely sold out last April, I asked myself is there anything that I would like to add now that I could not add before?
It was the top lip protector.. the 32" and 42" grills have enough weight that they close with more force and the lip protection makes sense and I like the look.. Bit more robust..

BTW it was simply one basket/16lbs of charcoal at 235º will burn for 85 hours.  The 16 lbs was my dense coconut shell charcoal.

During lockup this spring I filled the 42" charcoal basket with almost three boxes of coconut shell charcoal and it ran 215 hours.
I'll try to post the documentation soon..  I ran a stopwatch and took shots of the burning charcoal everyday at dusk with the stopwatch running then took a shot of the phone with the stopwatch and my phone for the actual time and date.  This being proof for the haters and deniers..   LOL  

On 6/26/2021 at 2:18 AM, BlueRidgeBBQGuy said:

I got a big  bad 32, and loving it!
What is the reasoning behind why these cook better?

High-quality insulation reduces airflow which creates better barbecue.  
Charcoal always burns at the maximum volume for the allowed airflow, if you can burn less fuel to maintain your cooking temperature, you will have less airflow, less evaporation, and Bingo.. more retained moisture in your meat. 
And that's better barbecue. 
And commonsense would dictate that less airflow gives the vapor that's released from the charcoal more retention time therefore more opportunity to condense on your food. Condensation of course is how the vapor is transferred to the food. So less airflow not only gives you more retained moisture but more smoke flavor.
And that's better barbecue. 

Best Happy Father's Day cake ever!

On 6/4/2021 at 4:59 AM, tekobo said:

 That said, @BOC opened my eyes to the fact that I don’t have to use the splitter at all and can simply pile my char where I want it.  

Actually you do need the splitter because airflow will always take the path of least resistance.. The air will simply go thru the open area with no charcoal.. this reduces the responsiveness of the controls also.. Ideally you want all the air leaving the damper top to be forced thru the charcoal. This way minor changes actually affect the volume of charcoal you are burning and the temp.

12 hours ago, Snake Plissken said:

Randomly decided to try a prime rib roast on the KK (I usually do the “chef John” oven technique). Really happy! Smoked at 225-240, was a 5.5lb two rib roast and took just under 3 hours to get to 115. Took off and brought dome temp to 450ish, then seared on the sear grate right over fire for about 5 mins total. 

If/when I do it again, I’ll probably cook till 120 internal vs 115 as it was more on rare side vs mid rare but still delicious! Used
small amount of apple and cherry, next time probably just use a single chunk vs 2. 
 

I'm guessing that your final temp floated up quite a bit from the 115º reading you took on the grate while resting.   The meat keeps cooking when you pull it if the outside was getting hit with 450º for 5 minutes..
The doneness on the video definitely does not look like 115º to me.. more like 120-125º

On 6/12/2021 at 10:48 AM, Tomatillo said:

I can see a portion of them resting directly against the tile, which I believe would crack them
 

No danger of cracking a tile..  remember these are the exact same tiles used in a pool deck, stairs and kitchen counters.
They are VERY strong and durable..

It takes literally 2 seconds to install and remove the side table hangers.. Simply pull the front towards you a 1/4" until the tip pulls out of the hole. swing it out and toss it on the main grate.  Done..  Installs just like a doctors stethoscope..
That makes hanging the side tables in the stored position a 5-8 second job requiring no tools.. 
No where on this planet can two items occupy the same location.. in this hangers situation, people act like this is a design flaw..

On 2/26/2021 at 6:56 PM, tekobo said:

I have played with this.  My half main grate seems to only fit on the left hand side of my 32 KK.  

The half grate can be used on either side.. if on the right it simply has a 1/4" rod around the perimeter and the handle pointing down.. no biggie.. 

The half grate is built to sit on the left side over the direct heat.. If you are a lefty, you can also use it flipped over on the right. the 1/4" frame would be on top but does not effect cooking..

You can cook indirect over the splitter on the lower grate also..

We build in 11 different tiles... 
Here are links to the tile factory.. these tiles may or may not be available.

https://www.massceramic.com/gl-50-square-25x25.html

https://www.massceramic.com/mas-50-square-25x25.html

https://www.massceramic.com/mas-50-square-28x28.html

On 5/31/2021 at 1:45 AM, Forrest said:

Using the KK Hot/Cold Smoker for the first time and my temp has gradually carried all the way up to 330 Fahrenheit. My top vent is barely cracked off the seal and the bottom vent is completely closed. I have the aquarium pump on the lowest setting.

Anyone else experience temps running away with the KK external smoker? I’m assuming the smoker is adding additional air flow/oxygen and stoking the fire. Maybe I lit a bit too much charcoal with my torch? Otherwise I can’t think why the temp is out of control.

 

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.  

Great job Oscar..

Thank you VERY BIG!

New tiles never before made..
Terra Blue Pebble, Bronze Metallic Pebble and Autumn Nebula Pebble
Have been asking the factory to make this for years.⁠
I think they're going to be great..

Autumn Nebula

The Terra Blue are sorted for shade, tone and character...
So there will be both light and darker versions

On 5/20/2021 at 11:21 PM, Seasport said:

Hi, still available and approximate location 

Regards

I believe it is as I saw it in a recent photo... and it's in Whitby Ontario..

2 hours ago, Pequod said:

If I'm not mistaken, those are bracket "extenders" for lack of a better term. The side tables have brackets that enable them to be hung in a "wings down" position, but they don't work if you also use the grill hooks. So I think Dennis created some extenders at one point to enable you to hang your side tables even with the hooks attached. I don't have these, but that's what it looks like to me.

These let you hang your right side table in the vertical storage position with the rotisserie bracket installed. 

11 hours ago, Forrest said:

Coffee and beef are good pals, coffee just adds a subtle earthiness that rounds everything out.

Yes, used my 475ml smoke pot stuffed full with hickory chips. The brisket had a very very subtle smokiness, I would have preferred more. I may have to use the KK hot/cold smoker in addition to a smoke pot for brisket.

Also I got no smoke ring even though the meat went in cold and the lid stayed closed for the first 14 hours of the cook. Might need to add celery seed for a smoke ring in a KK, it just cooks so efficiently I don’t think I’m getting the charcoal fire burning vigorously enough to cause the chemical nitrate reaction.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Plenty of shots of meat coming out of KK's that look like purple lipstick smoke rings..
Look at Tony's post recently.. And this ColmenaBBQ on Insta.

We've been buried since last June.. Please excuse my not spending much time here.
Sai wanted some Pastrami so I grabbed two brined brisket pieces from the freezer. I have a German butcher here who sells pastrami and I've talked him into selling me uncooked ones.. uncooked piggy bellies for bacon and shoulders for ham too.

I soaked them in fresh water a half hour to reduce saltiness.. hit with pepper again.. Some coffee smoke at 235º no wrap because I fell  asleep.. pulled at 205º  the thin flat with little fat was typically a bit drier than it would have been wrapped  but the thicker piece as you can see is heavenly.. I love when meat gets this oyster shell look..
Yes it tastes as good as it looks..