NapDogg

@Tyrus After further review... you are correct. I wonder if there's much difference in the smoke produced. Could high kiln temperatures cook off some of the aromantic compounds? KD wood (lower moisture content) might burn hotter, faster and cleaner --but maybe slightly less complex flavor.

@tony b Ha! Yes "Purple Crack". Definitely want to micro dose. A few berries go a long way.

A woodworker trick to dry out those green branches... put the chips in a cardboard box with a light bulb (some even use Christmas tree lights). I would be careful about using cut-offs from a wood shop. Most of that wood is kiln dried with some nasty chemicals.

Opposite Day on Taco Tuesday? I've smoked a lot of beef brisket and pork belly, but never the other way around. I put the pork brisket on the dome rack and got a just-right bacon flavor accent on the beef belly under it. Try ordering that at a restaurant! Dry aged beef belly smoked to probe tender (195f) and rested overnight @150f in a sous vide bath. Sides were pickled onions w/Tasmanian Pepper berries, baked beans w/peppers, onions and dark chocolate, slaw and cornbread --you definitely need to balance the insanely rich belly. If I were to change anything I'd back off the smoke a touch. It was great but more summer afternoon loud crowd/loud music vs. quiet winter thaw celebration... but the pork over beef is staying in the rotation. Has anyone else found other amazing KK meat stack combinations?

@PVPAUL I have a 21" and when I do rotisserie cooks there's not much room for a drip pan. I take out the lower sear grate, put the heat deflector on the basket handles and put a cast iron skillet on top of that.

I can get ZENFIYAH coco-char locally, but it's not cheap. I got burned by some under carbonized char one time and I had to cut the bark off a prime rib. I tasted like Diesel. So I just pay the $90/40 lbs. insurance and try not to think about it.

For remote monitoring of the dome temp, (low temp cooks only), I drill 2 holes in a wine cork. I push the cork onto the end of the dome probe, and a (thermoworks) probe goes in the other. I run the cable back and out of top vent. If you need any help, just send me a California Cab or Zin, and I will send you back the cork with holes in it.

Ahh... we all remember delivery day. So happy for you. RE: Adjusting the intake and vent. Nothing to stress over, but the other component of air flow not to overlook is the fire basket. The lump in the photo above looks good. But as you get to the bottom of the bag the smaller pieces will pack tighter and restrict air flow just like the intake does. So if your settings seem to vary more than you expect, it could be that. For a low and slow cook with coco-char (which always leaves a lot of space for airflow), I have my intake open not much more than a quarter slot. With lump it seems to vary between 1 to 2 0'clock for me.

@Dennis -- Tri-Tip... your California roots are showing!

I have the MEATER block probes and wired ThermoWorks probes. I only use MEATER probes for rotisserie cooks. They work fine but they need to be pushed so deep into the food that for small cooks they can be impractical.

^^^ And if you really want to turn lemons into lemonade —have pizza ready to throw in when it’s clean and at temp!

@tony b Thanks for the tip! I can see how that could happen. My issue with the Meater probes is that you have to push them in so far that for a bird this size the tips would be inside the cavity if oriented the way you suggested. I could flip the bird (ha!) the other way, but there’s that Steve Raichlen/KK video where he recommends this orientation for even cooking. In retrospect I probably wouldn’t use them again since it’s practically impossible to dry out a chicken on a KK anyway.

Here's a smoked/rotisserie chicken over a pan of beans. We gave it a cajun style dry rub and basted it with a cajun-bacon compound butter towards the end of the cook. Also made a tangy jalapeño slaw and cornbread. Everything came out great but the beans (pinto & black) with the drippings, bacon, poblanos, coffee, etc. sort of stole the show. I used the heat deflector as a shelf for the pan to keep it off the direct heat.

This is one we will remember. This Wagu Tri-tip melted in our mouthes like a prime fillet, but with a more beefy flavor. We ate half of it right off the cutting board and it was really hard to stop. We gave it a quick 15 min dry brine with kosher salt and then rinsed it. Santa Maria style dry rub. Smoked (offset w/divider) for about 90 mins w/hickory @250F to 120F internal. Then rested for 20 mins covered while we brought the pit up to 450F with the dome rack upside down on top of the coals Reverse seared 2 mins on each side to 130F. We cheated the skinny tip over to the cold side to keep it from over cooking. Another 10 min covered rest and wow...

We just took delivery on a 21 with autumn gold pebbles. We were looking at the 23 but this one became available out of the Las Vegas warehouse so we jumped on it. Looks like it will be just right for the two of us. We mostly need it for smoking, roasting and baking. Our typical cooks are brisket, ribs, pork belly, pork shoulder, pastrami, oysters, breads, pizzas, strombolis... (but I'll throw pretty much anything on the smoker) We've been using a small home built water smoker that requires a lot of temperature management. It was a real thrill doing the burn-in and seeing the KK sit for hours at a constant temperature on a fairly windy day. This is my first time seeing a KK in real life and wow, it's exactly like everyone says. Cheers, Eric & Sarah