Nuprin

OK I've only casually looked over this thread but.....

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A fellow KK'r sent me a bag of Counter Culture beans - Sipacapa - San Marcos, Guatemala. Roast date 7/21

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So do I store it in the freezer? Should I vacuum seal a few different pouches of it? We'll probably go through that size bag in 2 weeks.

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TY Nuprin can't wait to try a cup tonight.

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If you're planning on finishing it in the next two weeks, you probably don't need to freeze it. I just use a good, air tight bag clip or you can put it in a non transparent jar with a tight lid. That coffee is good to go within a few days of roast.

At this point it's a matter of getting your extraction correct. We like it about medium grind at a 16-1 water to coffee ratio, brew time of 4 minutes and filtered water temp at about 200f for manual pour/cone drip or automatic drip machine. If French pressing, go coarse on the grind, steep 4 minutes as well. Maybe 15-1 ratio.

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1 hour ago, Shuley said:

Thank you. I obsess a little sometimes.

That's why we're cooking on KKs right? 

11 hours ago, dstr8 said:

Londinium LI lever, Arrarex Caravel, EspressoForge and a Mahlgut Grist MG-1 are my coffee tools; er espresso tools.  

Tight small cappas in the morning and espresso in the afternoon.   Affogatos too :).    There is so much great micro roasted coffee beans on the market today...but all things Ethiopia naturals (Wote Konga is one of my faves) are a favorite here.   But I pull a wide variety of beans.   Starbucks?   Nope.

Have been drinking espresso for 30-years plus.   And its the only food thing I have everyday and never tire of.  Never.  

 

 

 

 

 

 Nice collection there!  One day, when I'm retired and have the time, I'd love to have a lever to play with at home.  Love the old school Electras. 

13 hours ago, tony b said:

Way cool. 

Thanks for the tips on the newer stuff. I had only been buying their blended coffees sold at the Fresh Market. But, alas, ours was one of the 13 stores they closed in the spring. I stocked up, but will be running out soon, so back to buying from their webstore.  

If you buy from retail stores, make sure to check the roast dates.  Some bags can be really only and at most most of those coffees are good up to one month out, sometimes just two weeks.  Sadly the most of the public doesn't realize they are drinking stale coffee because it's usually months if not years from roast sitting on the shelves and warehouses.

2 hours ago, tony b said:

Great feedback on the Indo coffee. To be quite honest, they were never one of my favorites. Much prefer Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or their nice La Golondrina. Been drinking a lot of their Apollo and Fast Forward blends lately.

Ah, La Golondrina is no longer of the old from 3-6 years ago...it used to be chocolate/cherry notes, really missing that in the new batch.  Try the Los Rosales or Sipicapa for savory or any of the Sun Dried Naturals when they come out...they are usually very strong notes of either strawberry, blueberry or raspberry.   They're coming out so many new coffees (Single Origins) that it's really hard to keep up with and I sell the stuff lol.  We're usually offering at least 8-10 coffees at any given time and have had up to 20 or so when multiple microlots come out at the same time.

If you didn't know, Lem Butler, our Raleigh CCC rep & a really cool dude, recently won the US Barista Championships and placed 4th at the World Barista Championship against 60 other countries. Luckily I got a chance to try the coffee he was using for his competition back in May. 

http://baristamagazine.com/blog/lem-bultler-wins-2016-united-states-barista-championship/

https://www.worldcoffeeevents.org/congratulations-to-2016-world-barista-champion-berg-wu-of-taiwan/

Hope you guys get to try some of their stuff.

Wow, outstanding.  That's serious dedication to a sandwich!

12 hours ago, tony b said:

I'm a Counter Culture Coffee guy (they are out of Raleigh NC). Lots of single farm coffees from all over the world - Central/South America, Africa, Indonesia. Selection varies with harvest times. https://counterculturecoffee.com/store/coffee

If you like the darker roasted styles, try Baby's Coffee out of Key West (they have a bigger processing plant in Louisiana). https://www.babyscoffee.com/

If you want to try something a bit unique, go for Pinion Dark Roast out of New Mexico. https://smile.amazon.com/Piñon-Coffee-Dark-Whole-Bean/dp/B00PBFANKQ

Yup, they are in my backyard and what we serve at our cafe.  They are the Komodo Kamado of coffee.  Hard for some people to understand until they've had some experience with it.  Starbucks and Dunkin are not in the same league in quality but not everyone has had the opportunity to try the difference.  And honestly it takes some getting used to as palates change when you learn more about what you're drinking.  Please don't be offended...not telling anyone they shouldn't enjoy their coffee, just saying there's stuff out there that is a much higher quality product; from the species of coffee trees, to farming techniques to drying/fermentation processes to roasting and finally to cup preparation.  

Indonesia has been producing coffee for a while but often their process is not held to the highest standards when compared to the best coffee growing/producing countries such as Ethiopia or Panama.  Counter Culture has had a hard time getting farmers there to produce high quality coffee and has only offered 2 selections over the last 6 years from Indonesia.  If you've had coffees from other regions that you didn't like, often the case is the roaster doesn't know what they're doing and they're not sourcing from farms that know what they're doing.  Most farms produce coffee as a commodity and more interested in volume rather than quality.  Then you have specialty, very small farms that are truly artisanal, like Dennis is with KKs. 

Counter Culture Coffee now has a 2nd roasting facility in California so you may want to see if a local cafe carries them or order from their website.

The chicken looks so juicy - fantastic.  Glad the better charcoal and airflow solved your temp ramp up problem. 

Great first cook.  They look beautiful.

There's a bit of a learning curve if you haven't used lump charcoal in your previous cookers.  I will mention that the newer, red 15.5lb bags of RO seem to have more small pieces than their previous 17.6lb bags from last few years.   From my experience, I get more white smoke if there are some previously used lump still sitting in the basket, even if you add more fresh lump.  If it's all new unused lump, it shouldn't produce that much white smoke when firing up your cooker.   Try some other charcoal brands or if there's a KJ Road Show near you, pick up some of their lump at $30 for 40lbs.  They are big pieces and burn hot and long.  I only find it necessary to light in one place, right in the middle but if you want it to light even faster, you could always pull out the dial plate and that will get you a lot more airflow - just keep an eye or it'll go nuclear after a while.  

5 hours ago, Aussie Ora said:

 

 

Do you think cooking the tenderloin on the kj on the bottom rack direct closer to the coals and cooking the tenderloin on the KK on the upper rack away from the coals played a part I sure the KK will be better that's why I'm getting one

 

Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

I don't think the grate difference had much to do with it.  Also, the KK cooked closer to 400f while the KJ cooked more around 350f and took about the same time to finish, with half the tenderloins coming off the KK before the KJ.  I even left a few of the tenderloins on the KK char a bit on the bottom but the results were the same.  

On July 12, 2016 at 8:43 PM, Shuley said:

Yup， that is the price I got mine for. As soon as I heard how cheap it was， I tried to get to Costco as fast as I could without being too pushy lol.

Sniff* Sniff* Sobb* Sobb*

The closest Costco that carries Prime Whole Brisket is 250 miles away.  Won't someone please send me a Prime Brisket to love?  The local butcher charges about $15/per pound to special order it 

I got a Weber Kettle years back. Then I got a Vision Classic and never cooked on the Kettle anymore.  When I got my Big Joe, I never cooked on the Vision anymore.  Then sold the Vision and replaced it with a KJ Classic. So you see where this is going...if you're like me, get ready to sell your other grills and start thinking about another KK.  For kicks and giggles, try cooking the same exact thing side by side with your kettle.  I would recommend starting with something easy and quick such as any type of chicken or pork loin/tenderloin.  The difference should stun you. 

Thanks Charles!  Once I get through the hundreds of other things I want to cook on the KK, I'll eventually get to trying a pot pie.  Partly because I've never made chicken pot pie before!

Oh and I got the plug for the KK probe port.  Thanks a million again.  Once I get some fresh bottles of that Rub, I send it off next week!

Congrats and gorgeous looking KK.  I recently got mine and have been cooking on it for a week and have been blown away - and that's coming from cooking on Kamado Joes for a few years, which as you know is very similar to BGE.   Steve, it doesn't EVEN compare!  I wish you could borrow your friends BGE and cook the same food side by side and taste the difference.  It's like going from a nice Toyota to a Ferrari.  Once you learn your KK, you'll just smile at your friends BGE cooks and not tell him how much better it is off of yours .  The folks here are super friendly and will help you with any issues you might have.  Don't hesitate to ask. 

1 hour ago, MacKenzie said:

I like your reasoning, Nuprin. It should work perfectly.  (Both, the idea and the grill) 

Haha thanks.  With the wife, she is more compromising with me buying stuff if we use it often, otherwise if it sits there, even if it only cost a dollar, she would get mad.  Sneaking in a relatively affordable 16.5", I know we would use it all the time just like the Classic vs the Big Joe. But since I got a good deal on the 23", she wouldn't tell me to sell it.  I mean a second small KK is better than no second KK right?  <--- I can come up with lots of reasons when I need to  

1 hour ago, tony b said:

@Nuprin As you can see from our thread on the Forum, your  Anova will still get plenty of use. So don't be putting it on Craigslist just yet. 

@5698k 

Today I grabbed a cheap, on sale flat iron steak to test out in the KK and put the lower level grate (not directly on the charcoal basket) with a moderately filled charcoal basket and got the dome temp to about 750f.  The steak was about 1.25 inches thick and a little bit cold in the center coming straight from the grocery store. It took about 8 minutes of searing to get both sides nice and caramelized, and while usually that's enough to cook the center to a nice medium-rare, the steak was still reading 105f.  Let it cook about 4 minutes and still the same internal reading.  I dialed down the temp to about 350f so I wouldn't char the outside at this point and cooked the steak another 20 minutes before pulling it off.  It still only read 125f-130f.  A little bit of gray on the edges but otherwise a nice medium-rare.  Sorry forgot to take pics.

If I had done this on the KJ, I would have had a lot more brown, over-cooked meat when the center reached 130f.  This now makes sense with the chicken and pork loin I did previously where the center stays so moist, it doesn't cook as fast it seems while allowing the outside to get a good browning.  Previously I would sous-vide my steams to about 110f for less than an hour and then hit a hot grill on the KJ until internal of 130f.  Now I believe I can sous-vide (a thick steak) at 120f-125f and hit the KK at charcoal basket level super hot for just a couple of minutes, getting great caramelization while raising the internal temps to the desired 130f-135f.  

Can't wait to try it!

4 hours ago, ckreef said:

Great looking first cook. Love the name.

Anytime I have a easy chicken dish (pot pie, dumplings, chicken and rice etc.....) I always grill the boneless breasts first. Only takes a few minutes and really pushes those types of dishes over the top.

Reef's Bistro

Funny you mention Chicken Pot Pie...my wife was just talking about that over dinner, asked me if we could make that in the KK.  I said we should try the Mac & Cheese first since the kids love that.  Any suggestions on a grill temp for Mac & Cheese?  I was gonna use dutch oven to cook it in unless there's a better suggestion.

Peer pressure...you guys are bad, bad, bad    

The reason why I was thinking about selling the Classic and keeping the Big Joe is that once in a while, maybe once a month or two, I'll do a big cook that involves about 10 shoulders or 8 racks of ribs. I can get 7 on the Big Joe with the extender rack and 3 on the Classic without the extender rack.  We are planning on moving in a year so I don't want to move a 32" twice.  I would have a hard time convincing the wife to get a 32" and a 16.5" next year.  I thought if I could sneak in a 16.5" this year, it wouldn't be too tough to move.  I have a table I can set it on so no need for the stand.  The 19" to me, seems to be a bit too close to the 23" but I could be wrong.  In my mind I'm thinking a 16.5" would be quick to fire up for those weekly "just us" meals at about a grand less money.   Then I could cry about not having the capacity to do large cooks thus the need for the 32".  

38 minutes ago, bosco said:

KJ classic for sale by owner...

all these years on the guru hearing people say it's not the cooker.. It's the cook.  

Well now you know 

Yeah, getting ready to put either the Classic or the Big Joe along with my Weber performer up for sale soon.   Now I'm even contemplating maybe getting a 16" hightop and selling both KJs since the 16" would be perfect for "just us" cooks for a couple of steaks or chicken breasts.  I think a consultation with the Ckreefs is in order about their 16".  

So after my first cook in which I did a pork tenderloin that came out absolutely fabulous, I decided to cook more (because friends wanted it after I told them how good it was) but this time also cooking one on the KJ Classic.  Had a friend over who blind taste tested the two.  "Night and Day" was his first response.  Not only was the one from KK juicer, but the flavors were so much more intense throughout the middle parts too.  It was even close.  Both were cooked at 350f-400f until 160ish internal.

Sorry, bottom picture was from a last cook.  I couldn't figure out how to delete from the post.

Fantastic! I fear if I make mac n cheese on the KK, my kids won't want it from the stove anymore. Hmm...I need to teach my wife to use the Kk.

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Looks like we just got on the same boat. Wait till you try chicken or pork tenderloin. I can't wait to try ribs.

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Like I said before, these belong in MOMA!

I've heard there's good Chinese food in Canada...I guess this is proof?  Looks fantastic!

 What???  Ckreef you are a mad genius!  That looks amazing.