MsTwiggy

@Cheesehead_Griller super thanks for the tip on black bag FOGO. I prefer to cook with lump and can get this. I also like to start in a chimney. If i drop lit coals on my basket I can just shut the lid. Pro tip is while the kamado is heat sinking i place my hardwood lumps on the grate and then right before i put my meat on i drop them on the coals. I find they burn cleaner this way. Big thank you to @tekobo and @MacKenzie for the encouragement with the charcoal!!

Well I have learned a lot here thank you so much for sharing with me. Here are some pics of a brisket cook i did this weekend. I used B&B char logs and got a 27 hour burn time. So all of my concerns about being able to pull off a long cook are gone. The density of the charcoal is significant because a full basket of the char logs weighed 16 pounds while a full basket of the Blues Hog weighed not quite 6 pounds. This was easily my best brisket ever, it was only a choice cut and it was phenomenal. I separated the point and flat because going into it I was worried about cook time. Throughout the cook I measured the temp on the main grate and the riser grate and once the Kamado came back to 225 after I put the brisket on they were within 2 degrees of each other for the next 9 hours. However, as the kamado was climbing back to temp there was a big gradient between the upper and main grate. The main grate was at 180 and the upper grate was at 120. Probably because the flat was absorbing most of the heat coming up from the pit. When the grate temps finally converged at 225 (took 90 minutes) both the point and flat were at the exact same temperature 103F. Neat!!!

Here is my roti cook! Dennis suggested a loaf pan fits on the basket splitter deck! I have two cast iron loaf pans by Lodge that worked beautifully for this. Roasted brussel sprouts and cubed taters. Bird was dry brined and seasoned with Herbs de Provence blend. I used Blues Hog lump and preheated for 90 minutes as I had some grocery shopping to do before I was ready to put the bird on. Used a combustion wireless thermometer and was super pleased with how the signal was not blocked by the Kamado. It utterly fails in my metal cookers and so this a real triumph! Lit from the top this time by dumping hot coals from a chimney and I am pretty sure i got longer burn time than previous cook with this same charcoal. There is nothing like the Komodo roti!! I think I prefer the spit to the basket based on ease of cleanup alone. i am getting closer to those long burn times with everyone's help. Thanks again to the wonderful people here for your timely suggestions 🔥🔥🔥

@CaptMorg82 yeah buddy!! I just got my first box of cocochar today from amazon. I will try it and then hit you up to go in on a charcoal order if I can’t be without it! Thanks so much for suggesting it! @jeffshoaf sounds like you have some really fun cookers. Would love to see a pic of your live fire set up 🤗🔥🔥. It sounds like I need to try lighting from the top. I appreciate the suggestion. I dont have a fan controller so I will do this first and see how far i get. @David Chang ha!! If only I could get my hands on that enchanted charcoal of yours 😎😉!! What an incredible run!! I have noticed the basket in the TT’s to be bigger relative to grate size than the 23 which has a round basket. I have 1.8 cf volume. Good to know you also light from the bottom. Although we seem to be in the minority. @wrandyr i just got my box of cocochar and it IS wrapped in plastic 😁. The box is half the size of the 20# bags of lump I have been using so its very dense. At a burn rate of 0.5#/hr this will get me 20 hours for sure combined with lighting from the top. I may get a looflighter! I also have a few bags of the char logs and will try those and compare. I’ve begun to weigh how much charcoal i use and how long it goes - will report back once i have data compiled. @tekobo very good to hear that the moisture isn’t affecting your stored charcoal. Do you love the coffee lump? I am going to experiment with lighting and possibly close the lid earlier. It’s possible i am overshooting and its affecting my burn time. @jonj thanks for linking your cook!! I will try this lighting method with keeping the lid closed and lighting from the top! No fan controller yet for me. @MacKenzie thanks for the update and extra detail about the lid. So nice to include the photos, they make it very clear. Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and the additional specificity on lighting!!! ☺️😀🔥🔥🔥 I have a chicken to roti tonight and will do the brisket next weekend. I will post pics!!

@jeffshoaf Thats great to hear that you get long run times out of B&B lump. I have access to that lump charcoal, Blues Hog, Fogo, and Masterbuilt/KJ locally. I have ordered a box of the coco char to see if there is a huge difference in burn time using it. I am measuring the temperature of the pit at the hinge grate. This would be one grate higher than the lowest grate and not the riser grate that would be used for baking with a stone. I placed a single tumbleweed in the bottom of my basket in the center, covered entirely with charcoal to the top of the basket and lit the tumbleweed from the underside using a torch lighter and then place the basket in the Kamado. I pull the bottom vent door ajar and leave the lid open for 15 min. Then I shut the bottom vent door and set it to the biggest hole and half of the dial on the left. I open the top vent so that it is about 2 inches from shut. This runs at 230 indefinitely as measured on the top grate. I have a brisket and anticipate needing to cook for at least 18 hours at 230. When you do low and slow do you use the bottom grate? @Syzygies Do you use to cococchar because you prefer the flavor or becuase it consistently burns longer? I am not opposed to using it but ordering single boxes is not very economical and ordering greater quantities would require storage. I have the space but would worry about it getting moist and unusable over time as it's pretty humid where I live year round and my garage is more like the ambient condition than inside my house. That looks like a fun dinner at Kono! Thanks everyone for your input on my post!!

Thanks @MacKenzie that is a new suggestion to leave the Kamado slightly ajar, haven’t heard that before but will give it a try. It doesn’t seem like there is much compression of the silicone gasket so I am a little surprised at this recommendation. @tony b I have used Fogo, B&B oak lump, and the Blues Hog none if them have lasted. I am aware of the nakedwhiz charcoal site snd have found it to be super helpful. Most of my cooks are low and slow which is why I bought this Kamado as I wanted a cooker that would keep going with stable temperatures, in Seattle it just doesn’t work well with thin walled metal equipment when is raining. One thing about the small pieces burning faster - Dennis has mentioned repeatedly that charcoal burns at the maximum volume for the allowed airflow so I am not sure why a smaller piece would burn faster. If anything the smaller pieces should have less void space between them, thus greater volume of charcoal, and burn longer. Has anyone gotten more than 10 hours of burn time out of a full basket of lump charcoal on an Ultimate 23 running at 230 ish ??? If so are you filling it beyond the top of the firebox? Thanks!

Why dont you use the ramp it came with or construct something similar? I have a 23 Ultimate and tilted/tipped it to get it off the pallet. It was high centered on the little box and this allowed me to collapse the box so it could roll down the ramp. I wouldn't jack it unless you used a big piece of wood to distribute the weight of the kamado over the jack.

Hi @Dono thanks for your kind words. I used Blues Hog hardwood lump for this cook. It was a fresh bag. Appreciate you tagging folks that can speak to this. Adding a photo of the pork butt that was my first cook.

And I have a question about charcoal and filling the basket. I want to do a low and slow cook for a brisket - the last time I cooked I filled the basket to the top of metal with lump charcoal and only got 10.5 hours of cook time with the 5.6 pounds of charcoal that fit in the basket at 230 F. In the photo below you will see that I have a little more room to get to the top of the firebox. Should I just dump charcoal in to get to the top of the firebox? Is there any risk to the Kamado in going higher than the firebox? Going to tag some folks that I know have answers (from another forum) and see if they respond to me here @Pequod, @CeramicChef, @DennisLinkletter. Is the only way to get the longer cook time to use the coco char? Thanks everyone I appreciate your comments.

Hello, I am posting here to introduce myself and show off my new 23 Ultimate. I live in Seattle WA and thus far I have made pork ribs, roti chicken, and a pork butt. The food has been very good!!