mguerra

? So, for the forum members, how many people don't use the daisy wheel and just pull the whole door open?

ash By opening the entire door, ash can get in the mating surface and prevent the door closing. In order to snuff out the air and shut the fire down, you would need to remove the door completely after each cook, clean the ash out of the door opening, and replace the door. The door will be hot and burning embers could fall out during said maneuver. The daisy wheel requires no such shenanigans.

clarify Are you referencing the daisy wheel bottom damper? I think most of us are specifically referring to the daisy wheel when we mention the "bottom damper". Although sometimes some folks do actually pull the entire door open to one degree or another for a super hot fire. In particular when I said to open the bottom damper a coin width I meant the 3 daisy wheel slots should be about a coin width open.

ideas Once in a while I do a hot cook, but not over about 400 degrees. I do use plenty of mesquite. I use a basket full of lava rocks for a heat deflector and have never cleaned it nor changed the rocks. It is one scary looking hunk of black char! The grease has totally infiltrated all the rocks and solidified into one solid hunk. I just figure it burns off little by little each cook. However this may be part of the problem. Perhaps this massive accumulation of burned and non burned grease is vaporizing each cook and then condensing out on the relatively cool surfaces up top. So I took the lava rock diffuser out and replaced it with the stock heat deflector, which I keep cleaned. That may help. I have a spare top gasket but dread installing it because of having to clean thoroughly the mounting surface. That is going to be a chore! But the combo of keeping a clean heat deflector and opening the top a little wider might help the problem, plus whatever solution Dennis is sending me.

fuel I use Royal Oak lump and dry smoke woods. One time I tried to bang my lid open by beating on the metal tang with a hammer and a 2x4. Don't ever do that! Yes, nobody but me has this problem, I don't know what it is.

Tar I have had a major problem with this. Normally I barely crack open the top damper for a low and slow. Then I use the Guru or the Stoker to"push" the smoke out through this tiny little crack. This has caused a tremendous build up of tar on the gasket and its' corresponding mating surface on the damper. So much so that it is nearly impossible to get the damper open for the next cook because it is glued shut from the tar. I have had to heat the damper top from the inside with a torch for quite some time to get it freed up. To avoid this I have been removing the damper completely at the end of each cook and sealing the top opening with a clay saucer base. After the fire is out, I replace the damper top and don't screw it shut. Dennis came up with a solution for me that I will try when it arrives. But I do think it might be a good idea to try to control the fire temp with a more open top vent and then use the bottom vent or Guru or Stoker for temp control. This might prevent the smoke from squeezing through a tiny, relatively cool top opening and precipitating out the tar. Somehow I seem to be the only one with this problem, so it must be my technique of barely opening the top. So don't do that.

Lodge Pizza Wow, those Amazon folks love it! Just ordered one. And a great price, it's $56.00 at Lodge. Thanks for the heads up on the price.

simple Get a really hot fire going, don't worry about the exact temp. Open the top and bottom dampers wide open. Put the sear grill on the charcoal basket handles. Put a heat deflector on the sear grill. Put the Tri-Tip up on the main grill and cook indirect, with the KK lid closed, with a thermometer until it hits your target temp. Open the lid, remove the Tri-Tip and the main grill. Take off the heat defector and sear the Tri-Tip on the sear grill. You're done. No need to fool with the fire, just get it good and hot and leave it that way.

P14P3 Lodge has this pizza device: https://secure.lodgemfg.com/storefront/ ... oduct=3984 You could use it for lots of other purposes, so it's not a unitasker!

inquiry Out of curiosity, I have an inquiry in to Lodge asking them if they have ever experimented with using cast iron for pizza.

seasoning Good question. Certainly there is no reason to use cast iron other than just out of curiosity. There's plenty of stones available. But if I ever did try it I would just clean and oil the cast iron after use like any other piece of cast iron. So far I have not tried pizza on the KK yet anyway, just thinking out loud.

Fe I wonder if a piece of cast iron would make a decent pizza cooking surface?

1st comparison There's the first WSM comparo right there, on the first cook, moister bark. I thought "What, you aren't a fan of bark?!" Then realized you have been cooking on steel.

temp First realize you don't need the temp as low as you think for a low and slow. But certainly you CAN keep the temp under control. Do a Minion Method fire start. Just start a small amount of charcoal in the center of your charcoal basket and let it slowly spread. For sub 250 temps, the bottom damper opening should be very slight, the thickness of a coin. The top damper should be just cracked enough that some smoke is able to flow. That will ballpark your temps in the low to middle 200's for a low and slow. Believe it or not, any temp below 300 will yield perfect "low and slow" results.

idea After a few months of using your KK, give us a comparo relative to the WSM.

Hey Larry Good job, Larry, my first cook on night one was a pork butt. It's the best use of a KK!! Don't sweat the exact temp too much, it will come out perfect at any temp between 200 and 300, I guarantee! My first cook, I was out there freaking out about the temp getting to 240, instead of 225. I soon learned this is of no consequence. Enjoy that Zin and fire up a nice cheroot.

method Open the lid by unlocking it fully. If the current spring setting holds the lid fully open, reduce it til the lid just starts to drop a fraction. If the current spring setting has the lid in the down or partially open position, tighten it little by little until when you push it fully open, it stays fully open.

All weather It's so cool you can cook on these babies in any weather.

Ditto Dave Yeah, do what Dave says. You don't want the spring too tight. I set mine so that the lid will not fully self open, but will stay fully open if I push it up to the fully open position. This is the least spring pressure that will hold it, and therefore the least stress on the mounting bosses on the lid and the body. We are having an unusual cold winter here in Texas and the spring setting for summer is a little too light for the cold. So I tighten it a bit in the cold. I'll slack it off when we get to inferno time!

over thinking a non problem The plug is not necessary. You can just leave the little hole open all the time, with or without thermometer wires passing through it. The only possible problem might be that the small air leak could theoretically prevent you from shutting down the fire. You can just stick a cork in there, one that fits naturally or whittle down a wine cork to fit. Sometimes I stick a plug in there while cooking, sometimes not. I have shaved down a wine cork and cut a little slot to allow the wires to pass; don't need to use it though. The silicone plug from jdbower will fit right in there with the thermometer wires, it just snugs right up around them. Sometimes I plug it upon shutdown, sometimes not. Don't worry about it!!! It's a non issue.

clarity Well, what I meant by kin to EC was that they are pure. Of course the similarity ends there. They have some at Lowe's, I'll try it.

source See if jdbower still has any of these: http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewt ... cone+plugs

briquettes If I'm not mistaken, Larry comes to us by way of the Weber Smoky Mountain forum. They are briquette people over there, through and through. I have not tried the pure hardwood briquettes, but seems like they would be ok. I mean, they seem awfully kin to extruded coconut.

two methods Here's one answer: http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3330 Then there is the low and slow method. Cook between 220 to 250 until an internal temp of about 185 to 195. The time on this is unpredictable, but ballpark about 1-1/2 hours per pound. You can actually get a moister result with the fast cook, but the slow cook is a classic bbq technique. If you search these forums you will find an enormous wealth of info on briskets!

note well If you move it according to the picture you linked, BE SURE to put padding between the 2x4's and the KK. The elastomeric grout is soft and pliable and I gouged the hell out of mine moving it without padding. I fixed it. But pad that thing.