Firemonkey

Be careful using the full open lower door technique on one of the new firebowl models - I have found that having the dial full open will put you in the 500 degree neighborhood, even when you choke the top down. There is a lot of charcoal in that bowl, and its only inches from the draft door so it doesnt need as much draft through the grill as the old style did. Hitman - try putting your heat deflector on the handles of your charcoal basket. They were designed to be able to hold the deflector, and it will free up another grate for bigger cooks. I think the deflector on the basket handles gives a more even indirect heat across the grill, too. You didnt put your deflector on at the same time as the meat did you? If so, that woudl explain the 10 minutes to come back to temp. The deflector should come up to temp alond with the grill after you light it. You can toss your smoke wood down around the egdes of the basket with the deflector in place.

When you see the "page expired" message, just press F5, followed by the enter key and it will refresh the search results you were looking at. F5 is the refresh command, the enter afterwards is to clear the confirmation dialog.

Welcome aboard! I will be expecting to find some BBQ smoke lingering on the breezes coming from your direction. So who's kk did you get to visit with?

Im not sure I recall seeing szygies 3% brine... But Szygies is a mathematician, and I barely measure stuff, there is no way i can handle an exact percentage- especially when we are talking liquid volumes vs dry weights - and i dont have a scale either I just use 1 cup of kosher salt, 1/2 cup of sugar, and a gallon of ice water to start. If its not enough to cover the ribs, I will add more water and let it sit a little longer. Too much thinking and measuring taxes the relaxation factor of BBQ

Yep...what she said. I roll up a rag and tie it with kitchen twine so it stays in a nice tight roll. Then i keep it in the smallest rubbermaid container (barely bigger than a yogurt cup) that is half full of oil. When its time to oil the grates, just grab it with tongs and wipe them down. Keep it in the fridge when not in use, and replace the rag when it gets worn out (months)

I do mine one of two ways, depending on how fresh the corn is. If the corn is feeling a bit dry, or has smaller kernels, I will just trim off anything loose - silk on top, leaf tips etc. I will soak it in water for an hour or two before putting it on to roast. If the corn is fresh, or has big juicy kernels, I will remove a little husk, about half, so that it gets more of a golden char inside the husk. I never peel them back first, as the silk comes off cleanly with the husk after cooking. Time and temp is more a result of what else was on the grill.

You can see the pizza stone in my calzone thread. Sorry, no link as I'm posting from my iPhone on the plane. There is also a recent thread from within the week where Dennis said he now has some pizza stones available for those interested. Like fetz said, any pizza stone works, but as you can see in my calzone and pizza threads, Dennis' thick stone holds just the right amount of heat.

I can see the point you guys make for the guru or stoker, but really, all you are buying yourself is a little piece of mind. Anyone who has ever filed an insurance claim knows just how far that goes when the rubber meets the road. What will you do when you are off at work and your stoker fan sticks in the on position? Or it rains and shorts your power supply? If you have a guru you wouldn't even know until you came home to either burnt brisket or raw ribs. Jest aside, I can set my kk for any temperature and be within 10 degrees on the first shot on any given day, and spot on after one adjustment. It's not that hard once you learn the characteristics of your grill in various conditions. Once I load a long cook I have no qualms leaving the house, and I have one less thing to go wrong if I do. And if I am at home the only notice I pay is to stop and enjoy the smells - it's definitely not babysitting or tending the cook. That's not a slam on you guys who like to use the devices, it's a testament to how stable and reliable the grill is.

Yep, I think it makes them much sweeter, too. Thats the only way I make them anymore. Conodo is telling you right on the smoke...toss in a few chunks when the fire is hot, and wait for the white cloud to settle down before you add your meat. I am not a fan of chips, as I find that they burn up entirely too fast if not packed into a container. For longer cooks, I mix a bunch of wood in with the charcoal, all the way through to the bottom of the bowl, so there is almost always at least one piece smoldering. As you found, its hit or miss which way the fire goes when you use only a few pieces. A 250 degree fire has to basically contact the wood to make it burn. After the cook, you can remove any unburned wood to save for next time, so dont be afraid to mix in a few extra pieces. Here are some pics of how I load the wood for ribs: viewtopic.php?t=1567 BTW, dont confuse the heat deflector with the pizza stone...one of them is a little smaller and is covered with a layer of white alumina. That white coating will get dry and flaky with enough heat and start to come off on your food. The pizza stone is a little bigger, and has a very smooth and shiny top surface...you dont want to let drippings get all over this one The deflector you can just flip after each cook. The burned off drippings just add some flavor, like the lava rock in your gas grill

I completely agree. I cook several times per week, and dont have any kind of draft controller. My KK is 100% reliable, consistent, and easy to control once you figure out how much air a given temp requires. So was my POSK for that matter, if it didnt develop new air leaks I also apply Conodo's laziness theory to my Maverick...I am still on my first one, since I only use it for things like overnight cooks. I dont use it for the everyday cooks, because the results are also consistent and reproducible each time. While a guru may be handy every now and again, or a stoker for the logging and networking, I woudl likely seldom use it because I wouldnt want to have to hook it up, run an extension cord, etc. every time i wanted to use it. I always advise any new owner to give the manual controls a shot before feeling like they need a guru, because they will likely find that they dont. I use the old school technique of twisting the tru-tel so that my desired dome temp is at the top-center position. That way, I can see at a glance if I look out the windo if my temp is a little high or low.

Re: Early Cooking Mistakes Thats no biggie, just flip it over next cook and it will burn clean.

Nah...caught me after my monthly bath

Stainless doesnt have to be shiny...the only difference between shiny and not shiny is polishing. As one of the folks who received a plated head, you will know right away if its not stainless - it turns orange in a week.

uhhh... No.

Nice spot, Dave! Now, who recognized song in the background audio?? A tall frothy fresh margarita to the first who can name it.

No, use the upper grill, you want the radiant heat from the top. Fetz's suggestion on leveling the defelctor sounds like good advice, but sometimes, the fire just has a mind of its own. I usually get a hotspot somewhere in the basket when i do a longer cook at high temps. I have found it more productive to just roatate the food than trying to correct the hotspot. Mine is usually on the back or left, but its not always consistent. I figure its all at the mercy of the grill gods, and so I drink beer while grilling because that makes them happy, and just rememeber to check half way through the cook and rotate if necessary

I flipped mine, and replaced the head with the new one provided by GrillFloss, and it went back tight each time. You still have the lock washer with all the teeth on it in place, right? The only thing i can think of that would make it wiggle is if the hole through the tip, where the screw goes through was cut too big on yours, so there is some play around the screw? Maybe its just a bad tip...my orginal tip was from a batch of crap SS, and it rusted immediately. The new one is still shiny as can be, so there may be some QC issues at the machinist making the tips.

I would be interested in hearing the story behind the C4 - it looked like a great idea, and I often stopped and tinkered with the display model when i was in the Expo store. Care to tell your story, ickkey?

Welcome to the club! And remember the mantra...when you cook something, if there are no pictures, it didn't happen.

Black RTV silicone is a spot on match for the black grout. The high temp rtv is rated at 600 degrees, just like the jb. Maybe just skim a light layer of rtv over the jb you have now. I have used the high temp rtv to reset and grout between a few tiles a year ago and it's holding solid

half bake the pizza - we used to sell them that way as carryout in our delivery store.

Re: Pizza - making pre-baked crust. I havent tried it on a KK, but I would probably half-bake the whole pizza, which will melt it and hold it all together, then finish it off in the oven to brown it when you get there.

The parts that got loose, i just scraped off with the end of my charcoal stirring stick..just a oak branch. When i removed the rest, I used a plastic putty knife to scrape it, so it wouldnt scratch the insides.

Ahh, but that was just for making ropes and such

Sweet! You have to love it when a plan works out! At least your door is still bright and shiny. My door is all yellow because it gets so damn hot down there!