cschaaf

Cool, thank you! The link got messed up a bit, I had to trim the end of it. http://www.teltru.com/p-271-big-green-egg-primo-komodo-grill-dome-or-other-kamado-style-replacement-thermometer-lt225r-5-inch-stem-150750-degrees-f.aspx Only one problem - that thermometer isn't the size of a dinner plate

Thanks all! Bosco, than you for the detailed steps. Unfortunately, I don't have a choice at this point. The dome thermometer went MIA on this KK, so the only way I can know my temps is with my HeaterMeter and grate probe. in fairness, I probably would have used it anyway to monitor my food temp. But, it does raise a good point. I probably wouldn't have noticed those temperature swings if I wasn't using a monitor. I might have seen the needle move on the dome thermo, but it wouldn't have made the same impression, I don't think. As it was, I sat inside and stared at my computer watching the temperature every second. I'll have to continue to use the HeaterMeter until I get a dome thermometer. I might see if I can find a cheap one at Home Depot/Lowes for now. The stem on the KJ thermo is too thick. I didn't think about it until right now, but the burn in process would be difficult without any way to monitor the temp! I do use a thermocouple for my grate probe, so that should probably work for the burn in and not get too hot. I'll have to dig up the specs on the one I bought.

ckreef's link works fine for me on my PC, iPhone, and iPad (using Chrome on all of them). Not sure why it's not working for you. What browser are you using? Are you using Tapatalk on the iPad (I'm not, but I think ckreef does)?

I kinda see what you mean - are you double-clicking when you click in the Reply box? When I single click the Reply box, the box opens up and the formatting bar appears. My mouse ends up right over the formatting bar, but nothing is selected unless I click again. When the mouse if hovered, the button looks like it is selected, but it isn't. If you just mouse away, the button highlight (the darker grey) goes away.

Thanks, Robert! I may have had too much lit. I lit the two areas and left the dome open. I planned on 10 minutes, like with my other kamado, but closed it around 7 minutes as it was taking off. I checked the bottom doors a few times just to be sure. They were as closed as they could be. I do have a small air leak as my dome thermometer wasn't installed. That could play a small role. Looking at my graph, I got to 350 in just under 30 minutes, which I'm very happy with. I just wondered about controlling the temp after a dome open. This thing responds very quickly to small inputs, so the large input of an open dome really changed things. The top seemed to be 'sticky' in a few spots. I'd spin to close and hit a spot where I thought it was closed. I'd push a bit harder and it wold turn freely again. I don't remember hitting those when it was cool. I'll check it tomorrow. Yeah, timing is pretty tough. I get home around 6 and my wife goes to bed at 10, so there isn't a lot of time that we can afford to lose. I had the basket all loaded with the starters in place. All I had to do was light them. Then I go change out of my work clothes, load in the grate probe and top grate, and close the lid. I made my fist vent adjustments when it hit 300. And I was very happy with how it leveled off. It held at 355 for a few minutes, then started to very slowly climb - which I was fine with. It was also pretty windy tonight (tornado warnings tonight through mid day tomorrow) so that may have played a role - but I don't think a big one. Overall, it was a great fist cook. I'll learn more if I can get in another cook or two this week, then hopefully burn in this weekend. I appreciate ALL of the advice and I will keep it all in mind as I continue to learn.

Nice find!

I struggled with the top vent as much as, or more than, I thought I would. It's not as intuitive as a vent that you can see. That's not to say that it's not better in the long run, it's just harder for me to 'see' what is happening. I'm typically numbers and math challenged. If a recipe calls for 4 cups of flour, I count them out, "one..... two.... thre... wait, is THIS three or is the last one three... or the next one???" That's pretty much what I did with the top vent. It got a bit tougher to turn as it heated up, then I wasn't quite sure where 'closed' was. This might help me - is there a way to set the top vent so that in the 'closed' position, the ears are in a specific place? Like get them to point left/right or towards/away? Right now, in my closed position, they are at angles. It's harder for me to remember where they started.

Yes, the temp dropped quickly, but as soon as I shut the lid, the temps took off. More air flowed in stoking the coals.

I'm not even sure lol. I tried following the picture in the KK manual for 350 - so the top was supposed to be 2 turns and the bottom about 3/4 open. I ended up having to back off of those. I'd guess for most of the time, I was about 1 turn on the top and maybe half open on the bottom? I really don't know. lol My "1 turn" could have just as easily been 8 turns

Hey everyone I did my first KK cook tonight. Overall, it went very well. I do have one question: Do you close your bottom vent when you open the lid to check the food, baste, or whatever? My temps soared when I opened the lid. It didn't affect this cook at all, just wondered for future cooks. I soaked the planks for 2 days. That wasn't my plan, I just didn't get home in time last night to use them. Worked out fine. They didn't char much, so next time I might toast them for a few minutes on each side before placing the fish. That, or put them on the lower grate. My wife made the glaze, not sure what all went into it - apricot preserves, some whole grain mustard, a few pieces of diced up jalapenos, not sure what else. Sweet and spicy. Very good. My controller info is posted below - sorry, an over temp error popped up at the end when I was taking the fish out and I didn't clear it in time, so the screen is a bit washed out. Ignore the light blue areas, that's the fan speed, but I didn't have the fan connected for this cook. I don't have my dome thermo yet, so I used my HeaterMeter to monitor the grate temp (indicated by the orange line). The dip at 18:35 was just me opening the lid to peek at the coals. Probably shouldn't have done it, but I was curious. I was shooting for 350 and ended up around 360 and very slowly climbing when I put the fish on around 19:15. I made very few adjustments to get there. It took me a bit to get the fish on as I had to also snake the food probe through the grommet and get it placed. It's a bent probe and I didn't straighten it quite enough. It goes in, but you have to get the angle right. I'll fix that before the next cook. You can see my temp spiked to over 400 degrees after that - because I had the lid open too long. That's where I a m wondering if you would have temporarily shut the bottom vent. The remaining dips are when I opened the lid to glaze the salmon. I should have started that a bit earlier to really get the glaze to set better, but it still worked out. On the planks: (No plated shot) ETA: They came out perfect. The most juicy salmon I've ever had. First cook impressions: Startup was really fast. I lit using 1 Rutland starter cut in half. In about 6 minutes, I had 2 areas of lump well lit with flames a few inches high. I'll need some practice with that top vent. I probably twisted that thing 30 times trying to remember which way was open and which was closed... and how far open was I??? The probe port also has a learning curve. And speaking of curve, straightening my food probe more will help. I really need my side tables. Can't wait till they get here Amazed at how (relatively) cool the outside of the grill stayed. It was the hottest around the "waistline", but I could still hold my hand there for 5 - 8 seconds without any discomfort. Heat soaking will take a long time - longer than I will have available most nights. I think that's alright though, I'll mostly be using it to grill during the week with the more elaborate cooks on the weekend. The coals shut down very fast.

Awesome! Looks great!

some random poster that my wife is not very happy with right now

70??? you promised to keep it under 55!!!!

Great news! I can't wait to see what happens when Project Smoke season 2 starts

Great news, Geo! I just got my 23" this weekend. Someone, and I'll never say who, on this forum talked me into the stainless insert shelves, too. They are on order and haven't come in yet. Hopefully soon... very soon.

Welcome! I am also a new 23" owner. Haven't had the chance to fire it up yet - hopefully tomorrow!

Okay, I unveiled the KK over on the Guru. Let's see what happens. A few additional notes: My wife didn't see the grill in person until we carried it around the house and set it on the patio. She said, "Wow, that's pretty!" After giving me approval for the purchase, she started giving me a bit of grief last week. Little comments like "I love what you cook on the KJ, I don't see a reason for this one." "It's the price of a used car!" "The KJ is a good size. We don't need more!" etc. I didn't respond to most of them directly. On Saturday, she made one more comment... paused, and said, "Hmm, well... but if you'll like it, I guess that's as good of a reason as any. And I can't be upset about you wanting to try to make food even better for us." By letting her come to that conclusion herself, I think I'm much better off than if I tried to make that argument over and over. The Reef's got to feel how hot the outside of the KJ gets. I had it up around 375 to cook some baked beans, then shut it down when they arrived. It was probably 90 minutes later when Charles touched the outside and felt how hot it still was. So hot, that, it wilted an aloe plant that was next to the KJ. I had slide the KJ over to make room for the KK and didn't really think about the plant that was a foot or so away. Poor thing got a little crisp on some of the tips and generally droopy all over. ETA: Oh, and... my wife says it looks like Sigmund the Sea Monster from the early 1970's show of the same name by Sid and Marty Krofft. Other than the color, it's a bit hard to argue with her on this one

Yeah, Charles left me alone for 10 seconds and I broke the thing! Oh well, I think of it like a new car - you know that is't going to get dinged at some point no matter how careful you are. Once you get that first ding, you aren't so nervous about it anymore.

Probably next weekend unless I already have plans that I don't know about yet. We didn't have good sun out today, I can't wait to see this thing reflecting the bright sun. After the Reef's left, we were surprised how much warmer the tiles on the sun side were. I should have grabbed my IR thermometer to check, but the sun side was considerably warmer. The black tiles may soak up the heat.

Goodnight, KK.

I'm hoping it will. I sent Dennis an email to see what he thinks.

I messed up a few of the tiles while moving the lid. About 5 of them are like this. There were two things missing from the kit - grout and the thermometer. But I did get 2 top vent gaskets. The installed gasket got a bit frayed through all of the trips this wayward KK had to take, but I don't think it's serious enough to warrant a replacement at this point. Now comes the hard work of figuring out what to make first!

My new KK is home! A BIG THANK YOU to ckreef and skreef for bringing it down and helping me get it set up! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the setup process, we were too busy working. I do have a few pictures of the new guy in his place. Here is is next to my KJ Classic The clean insides: Komodo Kamado! Speckled black!

Thanks, Wilbur! I can't wait to see those quick startup times you've talked about! Sounds like a great lineup of cooks - chicken, butt, brisket, steak, pizza! I still struggle getting cook pics, but I'm getting better. And my family rolls their eyes a little less each time I start snapping away. Thanks for reading it, Jon! I was a bit worried about rambling on too much, but when I saw the attention that this wounded KK drew, I figured the story fit right in.

Got it. Thanks!