johnnymnemonic

I had two pork butts to work with tonight. One of them became Tacos Al Pastor. The other became pulled pork BBQ. I only used about 2/3 of a pork butt for Al Pastor so I BBQed the last 1/3rd with another whole pork butt. The results were awesome and a great time was had by all.

I don't know if you have ordered yet @EggheadRalphbut I wanted to update. Here's the reason to buy a 42. Check out this real estate inside. I bought 2 pork butts. One that I'm doing as just pulled pork BBQ and the other I am doing "Tacos Al Pastor". The smaller chunk of shoulder is the remainder / the portion I'm not using for Al Pastor on the 2nd pork butt. Check out how much real estate this thing has. I opened the grill up to test the pan I want to use for Al Pastor tonight. The thing will fit in here lengthwise! And I've only used 2/3 of the room - I still have room to get all the way down to the firebox if I need to reload. Note I don't even have the lower grate on so I can just get directly to the firebox. Anyway, I'm personally glad I got the 42. Once all this lower temp stuff is done later, I'm going to put the lower grid right down above that fire and grill some chicken and vac seal for the week ahead. But in fact, I could grill at the same time as smoking if I wanted to (I just don't want to open the lid that often). Anyway - talk about versatility. The 42SBB is the ultimate in versatility and space. And it's an awesome smoker. Can't wait to taste the food tonight, the al pastor and the pulled pork! As far as the charcoal usage for this cook, I am using the basket splitter 50/50, charcoal only on the left side. I have only loaded it with about 8lbs and I don't think I'm going to have to add any. I burned so much my first weekend b/c I ran it at 500 a very long time. It's not 3x what your big green egg uses, it's more like 2x, and you get at least 5x the room. Amazing machine this thing is.

Yep I noticed great flavor with my first go on the smoker attachment. i have been using up my supply of wood chips from a tree we cut down 3 years ago at my old house (locally grown hickory - doesn't get any better than that). if you really get the chips going at the beginning they will stay going. I had to re-light a couple of times the first time, but I think that is because I didn't get it going enough at the beginning. After my 2nd relight it just kept going and going (a couple of hours). I have some kingsford hickory pellets that will start using when I burn the rest of the tree product. I have heard those are not the worst pellets. But anyway - what I like about the smoker attachment is that it takes all the worry out of how you set the fire. My 42 is so big and I haven't mastered placement of wood (and timing) - and I don't have a smoke pot. But all that fuss goes out the window if you just use the smoker attachment. I'm about to give it a real test. This weekend I'm doing both a pork butt for bbq and an "Al Pastor". Just going to use the smoker attachment and see how it all turns out. Will post here. I'm planning on falling more in love with my 42 this weekend. Great looking chuck roast, thanks for sharing.

Thinking about trying Tacos Al Pastor this weekend. Just have to get final approval from the boss. If I do, I will send pics.

I'd be happy to show off my KK. Just ping me via private message.

I won’t lie I don’t think I will ever quit loving my BGE because it was where it all started for me but the kk is game changing. My cook tonight on my new 42sbb was awesome. The kk truly is the best. Congrats. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fired up the 42 tonight. This thing has a ton of real estate and I am enjoying it. Basket splitter split about 50/50 with the fire on the left side. Used the cold smoker attachment with wood chips left over from a hickory tree felled in my old front yard to generate smoke for those steaks. They smoked up on that top grate on the right side away from the fire while the veggies were cooking down low. Then I put those steaks down on the lower grate for the final sear after taking the veggies off. Everything turned out great. Needless to say , I'm really enjoying my KK. The steaks were as good as they could be made. They were just choice strips from kroger (nothing fancy). Salt, freshly cracked pepper, sage, garlic powder. Veggies were just EVOO and sea salt and the great KK fire. Yum.

I'm not really all that discouraged. I was a little pissed yesterday, but I am better now. I'm glad I have a matte black grill. You can definitely tell the "splotches" where I had to scrub on it but my guess is this will fade as the grill ages. The cooking is the most important thing. I'll be cooking again soon hopefully before the week is out. It is a great piece of equipment.

Yep I had baseball sized pecan wood chunks. But I put them on when I lit the fire. I think I will wait until after the grill is heat soaked to add wood next time. Thanks for the advice.

"Turbo Butt". 😭 Definitely borrowing that!

Yep it was very difficult. I had put too much grout and let it dry. Took me about 2 hours straight of scrubbing with the scotch brite on the 7 or 8 places where I had put grout to get it all off the tiles. All the scrubbing made the grout look lighter in color - but after wiping everything down though, it looks pretty much like new. So - just a little sweat and it's all good. Lesson learned. I will be honest, after all this initial work I have a twinge of buyer's remorse. I know I'm going to love this thing once I spend a few more cooks with it, but right now, I'm spent. User error. I accept that it's my fault. but - don't make the same mistake. USE A VERY VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF GROUT PATCH. Maybe apply it with a q-tip or something. I'm sure with the humid weather we have here in georgia I'll be doing it again one day, but I will not forget this lesson!

I had chips and chunks in the firebox mixed in @Poochiebut it took the grill so long to heat soak that I think I lost a lot of my wood early on. I think next time I will put chunks on the fire when I put the food on.

oops. I'm afraid I waited a while. It may be difficult, but I'll clean it up.

I figured it out. The scotch brite that is included in the package. Duh.

I heated the KK back up again today and regrouted the vent holes. The video says "it's a bit scary" - Yes a bit scary when you just leave it looking crusty. At first I thought I was doing something wrong, then went back and watched the video again - nope - wipe off all that excess stuff the next day and leave it a little crusty. OK! Trusting in the process...... The other thing I recognized is - you can't hurt this thing. OK it may look a little weird with the grout patch on it right now - but - that jacket is now back to 100% waterproof - that's the main thing. I can worry about how it looks when it cools off. @BigO or anyone else who may be reading. When you say "wipe it off" - what is the best way to get the excess grout off?

I vented my KK but I didn't re-grout yet. I assume it's OK to heat the bad boy up again and let it get nice and warm and then put on some grout. Got nice dry weather next few days.

@jeffshoaf I have to say you're right about the KK. I didn't get the smoke flavor I was expecting this weekend. It was "good", just not what I'm used to. If I figure something out I will let you know. FYI one thing I thought would be better but actually wasn't is putting food on the upper rack to get it up in the dome a little more. I thought the food I put on the main grate was actually better. It was apples and oranges - ribs friday on main grate, briskets saturday on upper rack. Both AWESOME on the texture and definitely has me loving my KK but I want more smoke. I will try the cold smoker attachment next and see if I like what that does.

@EggheadRalph Here's some detail from my first weekend. I, too, am an egghead. I went for the 42 over the 32. My decision was based on wanting to be able to smoke or grill food for a large party, but also have a nice versatile tool for everyday grilling. I am pleased that this is going to be the case. One advantage to the 42 over the 32 is that both the lower and. main grates are split into 3 sections so you can take out just the middle section or a side section. I liked that setup the best. Charcoal detail from my first weekend with my 42: I went through about 45-50 lb of charcoal this weekend with my new 42, but it was running all weekend from friday at 1PM to Sunday at 3PM. 48 whole hours. AND I both cooked and "vented" the grill (a break-in step). With venting you go up to 500-600 degrees and keep it there. I took out the basket splitter and used the entire firebox of the big 42. I did ribs friday night and I didn't realize I had left a probe plug port open on it. Just that one little 3/8" hole gave this huge grill enough air to keep the dome thermometer of the KK at 225 all night long after I shut it down. I put on briskets saturday. Saturday after my briskets were done at ~6:30PM I took the KK up to 550 to start the venting. It vented some, then I shut it down (but when I opened it it still had some smoldering coals that I was able to get the next fire going with). When I woke up Sunday morning I smoked a whole chub of bologna and then finished the venting. I would imagine from my experience I could probably cook low and slow all weekend very easily with only one basket. Could probably do a 12 hour low and slow with the basket splitter on one 15lb bag of royal oak, which is about 3x what my large big green egg would use if I were filling the firebox all with brand new charcoal at the start of a cook. Compared to my large big green egg, the 42 inch KK is several times bigger maybe 5 times more cooking area for smoking, but it takes only about 3x more charcoal to keep it going. My uneducated guess just extrapolating from the weight of the two grills, the 32 will consume about 55-60% the amount of charcoal as the 42. In other words, the 32 will take about 2x more charcoal than your egg (give or take a little). The 42 will take 3x (give or take a little).

The ribs were definitely the best thing we cooked. We were too hungry and eager on the briskets and they didn’t go quite long enough. Decent though. The kk is great. I seem to have a similar thing as Jeff with the smoke not being as intense. The texture was amazing on those ribs and the meat was so pink almost like the entire rib was a smoke ring. I should have taken pics but we were too hungry. There will be more. It is amazing to have a smoker that large and temps just stay rock solid. What a great piece of equipment. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The 42 really might be the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

Some more pics from the weekend.

Nice! I got the same grill. Loving it. Bout to post some pics of my cooks as well. I still can't believe it.

Thanks so much! I am not feeling too much pressure. I am counting on my experience with other Kamados and all my watching and reading on Kks to make this good, but also I have a couple of my oldest friends here who I am not trying to “impress”. I have a feeling it is going to be really good but regardless, a lot of fun. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Coming right along. I have friends coming over to get it off the pallet and I have all the wrapping removed now and everything removed from the inside of the grill so it is as light as possible. Man these things truly are amazing. It is difficult to put into words. So the picture I attached with the "foot" of the grill --- I am assuming I just remove the front piece of wood there and then I bump this thing down off the blocks. I don't see how else to do it. Anyway - it's coming down the ramp tomorrow! Sorry I couldn't provide more - I have kids running around and my wife is gone for the weekend. Ah yes - food. I am planning to fill up this firebox for low and slow and just keep the grill going at low and slow temps all weekend. Friday night: 3 racks of baby back ribs. Saturday - 2 briskets. Also saturday - got a friend coming over who was interested in smoking a whole chub of bologna so we are doing that for saturday lunch. The briskets shouldn't mind a little company.

will do!