LarryR

Went with a cover Decided to go with a cover. Very pleased with the craftsmanship and service.

Re: Wow I was running her at 325, then removed the main grate and deflector, cranked her up a bit (not that high, maybe 450/500 dome) for a quick reverse sear. Everything was done perfectly, my son's steak was Med. Rare (got to love an 8 yo who orders his steaks Med. Rare) and my chop was a light pink. Perfectly done, all with out my thermapen, just a drunken fat guy using the touch method Just re-read that comment, doesn't sound that great does it?

Need to try this I've been meaning to give this method a try, looks great! Also, love the shot of your KK, what a beautiful cooker you have.

A couple more ideas I'm sure you're not making the same mistake I made but I thought I'd throw it out there. I ran the first three hours of my first cook with the lid in the first position and couldn't figure out why there was so much smoke escaping, doh! Also, when my KK got full of ash the rear door got forced out just enough to let additional air in the cooker and the next morning I woke-up and she was burning just enough to exaust my fuel and keep her at 180 all night. Just a couple of additional thoughts EDIT: An additional thought; what brand/type of charcoal are you using? You will get different burn times depending on the brand. For my everyday cooks I use Rancher with great success. For last night's cook I loaded her with just about 3/4 of a Weber charcoal chimney, then threw 5 lit briquettes on and let her come up to temp very slowly, after about 2.5 hours she was at 325, ran her at 325 for about 45 minutes, then cranked her up to around 450/500 for about 5 minutes then shut her down. Below is what I was left with this morning. It's tough to see from the picture as you don't get a good feel for the depth but I'd guess I have just under 1/2 of the fuel I started with.

Dinner was awesome Wow was that a great dinner. The pork chop was huge, 1.4 lbs and turned out so good. I ended-up throwing a small oak wine (red) stave on the fire, very nice. I've got to say I love cooking on the KK and I'm really starting to feel comfortable with her. Here's a pic.of my pork chop, the rest of the pictures can be found HERE (no ribbing about the potatoes, I love those babies!)

I neglected to mention I forgot to mention my SO is out of town so no listening to anyone bitch about how late we're eating. It's two hours since my original post and Hestia is sitting at 260, if I brought her up to temp any slower she'd be going in reverse. Sure am enjoying sharing a glass of wine and a Dr Pepper with my son on the patio watching her come-up to temp.

Well after a long day of little leauge and school carnival I'm finally in the backyard enjoying my 3rd glass of Zin bringing Hestia up to temp slowly (started with 5 lit briquettes and I'm at 150) to grill an artichoke, stuffed pork chop, a NY steak and a kung pao chicken sausage for my 8 yo son and I. Tomorrow, S & G chicken. What are you grilling/smoking?

LOL, ok, you got me there, had to let that one go to help pay for the best. She would have gotten no use after Hestia arrived on the scene.

I will call you Hestia Went with Hestia, Goddess of Hearth, Home and some say cooking.

Practicing Safe Komodo Kamadoing

Agree and another tip

re: Probes Thanks for the tip on bending my ET-73 probe, I'll do that prior to my next cook. Yes, I've tested all my probes using boiling water adjusting for my altitude and take that into consideration when temping. I thought I'd warmed her up enough that the two would be closer. No biggie though, next time I'll take this into consideration and probably run with the grate temp.

By now everyone is probably getting tired of my "First" cook posts and my saying, "best I've done" but when you're having as much fun as I am with this KK and the product is turning out so good I've got to post. Local supermarket had what I would term "Utility" turkeys on sale this week, $7.99 for up to a 16 lb bird. I picked-up a 13.8 lb bird. It had been enhanced with up to 8% solution so I did a 1/2 strength simple salt water brine. Brined her for 24 hours and air dried for 12 hours. Decided to go with a small chunk of cherry using Rancher Natural Hardwood Charcoal (love the stuff btw). I let Hestia heat soak for about an hour then threw the wood on, head deflector main grate and bird. I stuffed the cavity with carrots, celery, apple, onion, lemon and salt and pepper. I was surprised to find my ET-73 meat probe would not thread through the probe port on the KK so I had to place her under the lid for this cook, I wonder if I can bend the probe without ruining it . . . Overall the actual cook was uneventful with one exception. My KK therm and my ET-73 temps were off between 100 and 50 degrees the entire cook, with the KK temp probe reading higher. I've played the temp chasing game before and ruined a cook so I stuck with the KK probe and chalked it up to the KK probe getting the hotter air up in the dome. My ET-73 was placed on the main grate. Based on weight I figured at 325 the cook would go 3 hours with a brined bird, well cook ended-up going 4 hours, I chalked it up to the grate temp being so low. I think on my next cook I'll pay more attention to the grate temp vs. dome. I pulled her when the breast hit 165, let her rest about 20 min. then carved (sorry, no carved pictures, since it was just us for dinner I didn't plate for display and pictures would have been sloppy). Bird was perfect, so moist, I couldn't have had better timing on dark and white meat being done at the same time. I've been brining birds for years so I'm used to moist birds but adding the KK to the mix made for an insanely moist bird. Whipped-up some Mad Max Gravy that was superb. Not overly smokey, great flavor, I could eat that stuff straight. Another great first and this with a previously frozen Utility bird, can't wait to see how a fresh natural free-range bird will taste.

Doing my first KK Bird this weekend and wanted to get opinions on my setup. I'll be roasting her on a rack in a pan to catch drippings for gravy; I'm thinking of using a drip pan as a deflector or should I use the stone too? My biggest concern is I don't want the bottom of the roasting pan to burn my drippings. Thanks in advance, cannot wait to fire this bird up tomorrow.

Re: First Double Decker Cook - Ribs Over Butts Very roomy up in the dome. I did notice the ribs seemed to cook faster up in the dome than my last cook on the main grate so it's something to keep in mind. Also, the way I racked the ribs they're actually taller than if I would have racked them as whole racks horizontally. But I've got to say my favorite feature is how easily one can access product on that main grate by simply lifting the top grate off. Nice big handles, sturdy grate etc. Simply awesome!

Yes, they went on at 10:00 p.m. the previous night and ribs went on around 9:00 a.m. I was estimating the capacity of the KK on this type of cook and it appears that I could have easily added two more 9 lb butts and at least a total of six whole racks of spares (I cut these in 1/2). Impressive!

Did my first two rack cook this past weekend and I've got to say I love how the top rack works. Butts were finished before the ribs, simply lifted the top grate off using the handles, removed the butts and lifted rack back on. What ease!

Here's a good one Chris Lilly's Six-time World Championship Pork Shoulder Injection - Click Here

Main grate hot enough I like to cook my salmon around 350, think the main grate will get hot enough to smolder at those temps? It's a great idea!

Same configuration Went with the same configuration I used last time, didn't pre-heat as long and got the same results. Awesome fish but lacking the smoldering cedar plank and that really great cedar smoke. Don't get me wrong, the meal was excellent, just want a little cedar smoke flavor. I guess I could always chop-up my planks into chips and toss them on the fire. Next time SO is out of town I think I might try a smaller piece on the sear grate just for shits and giggles. If I burn it I can always throw something else on without someone bitching about me burning dinner or eating late.

Almost a fan . . . Didn't cook the brussel sprouts quite long enough, they were a tad on the tough side. I did however enjoy the flavor and will attempted them again. Thanks for the recommendation.

I should have said "Plank Charring" Sorry, I reread my post after your reply and realized I never said what I'm trying to get more char on. I'm speaking specifically of the plank charring and getting that great cedar smoke flavor going. I'm thinking that due to the pre-heating of the KK it required very little burning of the coals to maintain temp and thus the cedar plank didn't char due to the low flame/heat required from the coals. I have guests coming tonight and I think I'll go with the plank on the sear grate vs. main and see if that helps. Any and all other tips welcome.

My only planking on my KK was great, however, not quite perfect so I'm reaching out to you experienced KKers for some advice. My first effort was lacking char on the cedar plank. I'm thinking that maybe I preheated my KK too long or may have been using the wrong grate; I used the main grate and maybe using the sear grate would work better. Anyone have a great setup that's going to get me a nice char/smokey flavor from my plank? You can see my first setup/results HERE I soak my planks in water for about 1 hour. Thanks in advance.

Very nice, one of my favorite colors.