PVPAUL

All, thanks for your replies. Basher I really didn’t have that much variation. What happened is I needed to depart home for about 3 hours. I probably only had the upper vent turned about 2” from the gasket......I was trying not to over shoot my target of 185 and I was OK with it being less as long as coals were still going which they obviously were. After running my errands I came back to a smoker that was only just above 150F (which I was happy with) I then spent the next hour opening the gasket a little more at at time until I got to about 185F. My point is that because I was barely off of the gasket there was very little airflow And with the pump on a medium setting I was thinking I may be creating / pumping more smoke out the vent holes then was was going into the KK as there didn’t seem to be much smoke coming out of the vent. I will take Dennis advise of putting pump on it’s lowest setting moving forward. As for this cook I was using Bear Mountain Alder as I could not locate Lumberjack Alder. I have also recently purchased some bags of Lumberjack Pellets. I noticed these pellets burn rather fast when compared to other brands of pellets I had on hand (Not Lumberjack as I’m new to these). I always clean out the old pellets after each cook so I’m not dealing with ash or moist / wet pellets. I then fill the chamber partially to the level of the vent holes. I have a torch that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the vent holes so I can light them very good. Once I feel the pellets are well lit I then dump additional pellets in the chamber. I may try the idea of the vent pipe screen up for a cleaner smoke. As always I appreciate everyone’s input. Best, Paul

Dennis, Starting to break in my cold smoker some more so I appreciate your tip on using the blower at it’s lowest setting. I was making Salmon candy last week and was trying to smoke at the coolest temp possible while still have coal lit. I was able to smoke starting at about 150F up to 185 (over the course of 4 hours) and the top vent was only slightly off of the gasket, hence very very low air flow. It seemed like I had more smoke coming out of my cold smoker then out of the 21”KK. I had the blower at about 1/2 so I will turn it down in the future once I know the pellets are lit. Question, does anybody try to plug the side vents on the cold smoker once pellets are lit to force more smoke into the KK? Thanks!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here so I thought I would post a picture of some Salmon Candy that I made yesterday. However I forgot to include a shot of the salmon on the Grill! This was my second attempt at this recipe and it turned out much better than the first. My 1st run was using Steve Raichlen recipe from his “Project Smoke” Cookbook. Followed the recipe pretty close including an 8 hour brine followed by a 2 hour air dry in the fridge and about a 225F smoke for about 2 hours. The end result was lots of Albumin and not the deep smoky salmon color I was looking for. Went back to the drawing board and followed the brine recipe once again and brined for about 16 hours and then air dried in fridge for about 20 hours. Smoked between 150-185 for about 4 hours and then raised temp to about 225 for another 2 hours. This time it was a winner IMHO! Cheers, Paul

Hey Tekobo, thanks for forwarding this article. I agree that the article was not very favorable. I think I will hold off on this for the time being and continue to play with the toys already in my arsenal. Congrats on your new 32” BB!!! And happy early birthday! Paul PS - I’ve never cooked cabrito before but this was cooked up for my dads 50th birthday back in 1992....very tasty!!!

Hello Fellow KK’ers and cooking gadget lovers, I recently came across this product on the web and it intrigued me enough to a post here to see if anyone has invested in this product and what your thoughts are on it. It’s and extremely tight tolerance engineered enameled cast iron Dutch oven cooker which comes with the option of an induction cooker. Looks like Sousvide type of temperature tolerances in an enameled cast iron cooking Dutch oven. They tout waterless cooking ie cooking veggies in it’s own juices etc . I look forward to hearing back from the forum. Cheers, Paul PS - the website is vermicular.us

Congrats, and welcome. I received my 32” in Spring this last year and a 21” in the fall. I agree with what Pequod said but for me the Cold smoker became more necessary than optional. One thing about the KK’s is they are so efficient that there is very low air flow and I struggled smoking meats without the cold smoker option. Regarding side tables you definitely want these unless you are setting your KK in some outdoor kitchen with counter space. For my 32” I went with the standard wood side tables and for my 21” I went with the wood / stainless combo side tables and I must say if I was doing it all over again I would have the wood / stainless for both my KK’s. I like the clean up aspect of the stainless much better. Regarding the basket splitter, I would say this is a must for the 32” and I did get this for the 21” as well but for the 21” the basket is so much smaller that I have yet to use it. Send pics of the delivery, we love to see these. Cheers, Paul

All, thanks for your feedback. For my first purchase I decided to order a small quantity from Amazon (about 1/2 cup for $20) to start with. I go through a lot of Black peppercorns and love the spice of this type of pepper. It sounds like this stuff goes along way compared to my black peppercorns. If I get addicted and think that Vacuum pack and freeze to preserve the quality over a longer period of time then I may opt for a pound or so in the future. Feliz Navidad! Paul

I’m looking for suggestions on where to buy Purple Crack (Tasmanian Pepperberry). I live in the United States. I know I can google it and find it but looking for suggestions from people on this forum that have been happy with their purchases. Also, thinking that I’m going to get quickly addicted to the Purple Crack So I’m not shy about purchasing a pound to get a better price etc. Thanks! Paul

Alex, I took delivery of a 32” KK in June this year. I was apprehensive as well. One of the things that freaked me out was the loading on to the lift gate and the tilting of the lift gate with all the weight on it. I had a 32” delivered in June and a 21” delivered just over a week ago. Both times the drivers were very accommodating without even having to ask. They both pulled far into my driveways without asking. For the 32” I went out and purchased 3 each 3/4” sheets of plywood and daisy chained this from my driveway to the backyard where it is being used. We kept the pallet in tack and used the pallet jack supplied by trucking company and myself, a friend of mine and the truck driver were able to move this without too much trouble. Please note that the pallet top already has a ramp built into it for rolling the KK off of the skid onto a hard surface. Also the sides and the top of the pallet come off easily by removing 8 lag bolts on the bottom of the skid. I keep my KK on a patio with pavers on it so it’s not perfectly level between the pavers and I’m able to move this around by myself and I’m no football player for sure. Good luck and congrats! Paul

Business, not sure what you mean by 2nd level rack option? There is a lower grate, a main level grate and an upper grate that sits on top of the main level grate.

All, attached are some photos of my new 21” that I received yesterday. Uncrating and everything went well. Planing my first cook on the grill tonight .....some Cornish hens, sweet potatoes and corn. I’ll work on taking a picture of this as well. The one issue I’m having is the clearance on the spit rod. I understand how to adjust the length of the rod, however when I finally get the clearance to insert rod on both sides it looks like it will fall out of the left side (not stay seated) of the grill. I’m concerned that when I go to use this it will not spin properly or stop spinning altogether. Any suggestions out here in forum land is much appreciated. (Note I’ve successfully set up the length on my 32” and have no issues with this) I’m also excited that I was able to order 20 boxes of CoCo charcoal and 1 box of Coffee Charcoal. I’m going to give away 2 boxes of coco char to some friends with BGE’s in hope that they like it and will want to do a combo / pallet buy the next time I need some. Who knows.......maybe they will even convert to becoming KK owners!!! Best, Paul

Hello Houlester, in the KK forum there is a section called “KK Reviews / Happy Campers” in about the 9th thread down there is a thread titled “Comparison between KK 21” and KK23” that was done by Tekobo. This is an excellent thread and helped me make my decision on which one to go with. Good Luck! Paul PS - I choose the 21” and just received it today!!!

Hey Tekobo, glad to see you are making the tortilla recipe. On the cast iron skillet it’s about 15 seconds on each side. The idea is to brown it just enough to give it color and cook it through....and that it is still soft and pliable (not to Crisp it up).....while you can and we do eat tortillas directly off of the skillet we typically reheat them before serving over a direct gas stove flame. It’s in the reheat step that you can brown or even burn them a little as some of our family members prefer. All the best, Paul

I actually went with the same color and tile........maybe someday they will be together!!! Thank you both for the congrats! Tekobo, have you tried the tortilla recipe yet? Best, Paul

Well, in an earlier post some of you voiced comments / concern about my keeping my 32” KK at a vacation home. My reply was that I do most of my entertaining at our vacation home and that works for me. Well, as my time at vacation home is winding down for the summer I started having mixed feelings about leaving my KK behind 😪..........solution.....I pulled the trigger and purchased a new KK the same color but in the 21” supreme size 😀 . The other good news is that this is available from inventory so no long waits. Tonyb was right......I’ve been bitten by the KK obsession bug and need to have A KK to cook on all year long! I’m excited to have the 21” to compare to the 32” KK. Cheers, Paul

All, thanks for your replies.As promised enclosed are a couple pictures of the cook. While I normally would only enclose photos of the cook (food) I enclosed one of my pulling the pork with the new bear claws. My daughter gave these to me for Christmas last year so I needed to have this pic taken so I could show her that I’m actually using a present she gave me! The food pic is not that great but I promised to include. Tyrus while I’m a gadget guy I do like simplicity in my life as well. I hope to someday I’ll be able to put these gadgets in the drawer like you do! Dogs do like to cool off in the lake and visit the neighbors.....thank goodness they haven’t come home with any of the neighbors underwear....yet!!! Best, Paul

Hello Kupermanp, I’m somewhat a newbie here as I’ve only owned my 32”KK about 10 weeks now. I cannot comment on the mold as I’ve not had any issues yet but only 10 weeks into it. I would say the basket splitter is a must!. I recently used the rotisserie and was able to fit 3 chickens that were about 5.0 tp 5.5lbs each. Hope this helps for reference. I would also say the cold smoker is a must for both cold smoking and hot smoking of foods. The air flow is so minimal at low and slow that in my opinion you really need the cold smoker attachment. Good luck, Paul

Why did I wrap it in both Butcher paper and foil......good question.....I have this very large roll of Butcher paper so I figured what the heck! Haha....probably won’t really do anything except for the photo when I unwrap it!

Well I woke up at 6:45am and everything was running smoothly! Shoulder temp was in the about 172F. Finished at 9:00am at 203F. Wrapped in pink Butcher paper and double wrapped in foil and did the FTC method. Now it’s time to let rest and look forward to lunch!!! Below is a picture of the shoulder before pulling off the grill and couldn’t resist sending a pick of our two pups chilling by the lake! Once I pull the shoulder and plate I’ll forward some last pictures. Also, one question for you folks out there with the CyberQ. Towards the end of my cook my temperature jumped higher....about 273F and set point was 240F. I had the ramp feature set up....just not sure this feature works well with the KK? Any information is appreciated! Cheers! Paul

Well, it’s already been about 10 weeks since I’ve taken delivery of my 32”KK and doing my first Pork Shoulder! Based on some learning curves and advise from various forums and cook books I’ve arrived at the following set up and recipe. Ive got a shoulder that is about 7lbs. I dry brined it for about 12 hours with 3tsp of Kosher Salt. After this I rubbed it with yellow mustard and applied Dizzy Pig Dizzy dust. I put it on the KK at about 11PM tonight. Using about 3/4 basket of Fogo Super Premium. Set up CyberQ with a target temp of 240F. Bottom dampers closed and Pit Boss fan damper is 50% open. Top KK vent is just off the gasket. Set up KK cold smoker with a wood pellet mix of about 50/50 Hickory and apple. The photo below is the KK at the start of the cook and decided to include a picture of the moon over the lake....a beautiful evening here! Getting ready for bed now and going to trust that my set up is going to cook flawlessly.....I hope!!! I’ll include pictures tomorrow of the cook! Best, Paul

All, thanks for your feedback, next time I’ll do a better job of an even fire across the width of the grill and will plan on setting up more of an “indirect” cook with foil or pans etc. I was out pontooning with a bunch of friends and had my son light the grill and while he lit it in 3 spots across the width it ended up not an being an even fire...I could of cleaned it up a bit etc but after pontooning.................... was just in a bit of a hurry...using the craddle for the first time......... I think you get my drift!!! Best, Paul

So I thought I would post a couple of picture of the 3 chickens in the 32” rotisserie craddle. As Dennis said these fit nicely in the cradle. These were about 5.0 to 5.5 lbs each. Cooked them with the Huli Huli recipe from the Meathead cookbook. A couple of other comments related to this thread. I ordered and received the CyberQ Cloud this last week. I did one experiment cook for bratwurst and really only used the Pit probe just to control the temperature and it went great. When making the rotisserie chickens I also tried to use it hear and had some problems getting to temperature.....I think this is likely operative error and my learning curve. I also received my cold KK smoker on Friday. Since we had company all weekend I just opened the box today and did a trial run of smoking only...no food. Based on some other threads related to the cold smoker I put some cherry wood pellets up to about the vent holes...I then soaked a small handful of apple pellets in Stroh Rum (very strong stuff) hit it with the lighter.....let it go about 3-5 minutes....set the pump air on high...let it go another few minutes and then added more pellets to the hopper.....it worked like a charm. Think I’m going to make a Pastrami next weekend and tryout the CyberQ and cold smoker at the same time!!!

Alphonse, I ordered mine in the 3rd week of February this year and received it the first week of June,,,,so about 3.5 months for mine and I’m in Wisconsin. There was a delay due to a holiday in Indonesia and I was one of the lucky ones who also got delayed going through customs. It seemed like the build went quick, just some bad luck in transit etc. Like Pequod said good to touch base with Dennis on inventory. I can speak from experience as I ordered mine custom as the color I liked most wasn’t in inventory.....When I was waiting ( which is like a young boy waiting for Christmas) I happened to go on the web site and low and behold the exact grill wanted was then in inventory!!! Because it was the 11th hour and most of my accessories were packed in the crate from Indonesia i just stayed with my order. Based on my experience I would say plan on 3 months +/- 2 weeks. Good Luck, Paul

Hello Tekobo, yes! You got the right stuff! Hope your tortillas turn out great....Keep me posted! Best, Paul

When using the 1/2 grate and the hinged lower grate your ability to open up the hinged lower grate is somewhat obstructed by the 1/2 grate. I do have the cold smoker on order so it’s not a big deal. I was just curious if anyone else out here in forum land also expressed an interest in a second half grate that would fit below the current half grate.