Firemonkey

Dont sweat the rotis hole, there is not enough air coming in there to cause that sort of swing in temps. The rim may be your issue, and it may be just as simple as adjusting the front latch to make sure the grill closes tightly. If you can still press down on your lid while its latched, then you should probably tighten the latch. If there is no movement on the lid while the grill is latched, and you are still getting smoke in some areas, your gasket may be compressed. You can correct it by lightly peeling it away from the top, and putting some RTV silicone between the gasket and the lid to give it a thicker profile and help it seal.

I'll let someone more local comment on lump sources (though I am in San Jose at the moment ) Depending on what you are cooking, you can sometimes avoid the smoke-bath. You have probably noticed that the lump generates smoke when it is first lit, so standing over the grill while waiting for the lump to get going wont help. If you are grilling with smoke, you can lessen the blow if you wait until the grill is up to temp, and toss on a chunk of wood or two. Let it smoke for a few minutes, then load the food. Be quick, and you will only get a little smoky If you are doing a low and slow, you load the lump and wood all at the same time, and just pour a half chimney of coals over the top, close the lid and walk away. Sometimes its unavoidable. I will often go wash the smoke off and change clothes before I eat. It helps me from being too impatient while waiting for the meat to rest.

He warned us that the regime at his office was "discouraging" the use of the Internet for personal reasons. So now he only makes guest appearances He better be cooking some good stuff, and have lots of pictures when he next appears!

Sanny, are we in your circle of trust now? No more anonymous avatar Its a good thing PC is off doing work nowadays

Its hollow inside....just tap it out with a screwdriver from the outside. It should come out pretty easily. edit: Here's the thread you were looking for: http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=921

Just flip the KK stone each time you use it. One side is always "new" then!

Now that is funny. The only one of us who can even remotely be qualified as a surgeon uses the kitchen equivalent of a sawzall!

I carefully rolled mine off the pallet. That is, I held up one side while my wife pushed from the other side. With the one set of wheels on concrete, I went around and helped give the other side a soft landing.

Im not sure there is a single answer to the first question. Its probably a combination of several things, perhaps most notably the difference between the KK body and the portland cement RJ uses. I am by no means an engineer, and can only provide a hypothesis here, but I expect that the less dense outer layer does not expand and contract as much as a one layer cement body. I know it doesnt crack like the cement does (I have a K and a KK side by side). Those cracks have to allow some degree of moisture to get behind the tile, too. So lets assume we have less substrate movement. There is also better seating in the mortar -KK tiles are set into a thick mortar bed, so the mortar is actually up around the sides of the tile. The grout is a thin layer on top. KK is also using grout compounds that are resilient and provide some flexibility when the cooker does expand and contract. The grout is sealed from the factory as proactive measure, and a bottle of additional grout sealer is shipped with the grill. Maybe its none of the above, but I can say that my KK isnt losing any tile, while my K will need resurfaced at some point (lots of loose sections, but they are still hanging on ) Finally, people who have done tile repairs on a RJ Kamado are reporting that the repaired sections perform better than the factory sections. Majestic has a thread on this forum with pictures of his complete re-tile job, and damper/neck surgery as a bonus On Question2 - Adjustment is possible. The latch has elongated holes behind the acorn nuts to allow adjustment to latch tension. The same is true on the back where the spring mounts bolt the the body, so you can adjust the way the back of the dome seats on the base. You can also adjust your gasket if you need to - though I am sure a seasoned Kamado owner is familiar with that process

OMG, I am not the only one who thinks of mint jelly any time they hear lamb! Those do look pretty tasty, Dennis. Is the meat still pink at 145 or so?

Fedex ground? I have always used Fedex when possible, because the rates always seem to be a little cheaper and the counter help has much better service when I drop things off. Than said, DJ is right. USPS is probably your best bet. Maybe just use Priority Mail. They have all manner of flat rate packaging you can use. And if you can fit your item into the package, regardless of weight, it will get there in 2-3 days. Delivery confirmation is something like 50 cents additional, tracking is like a buck more. With rates as low as $4-5 its tough to beat.

All sorts of things change when you reach critical mass

I doubt that a dousing with hot water would allow enough heat to penetrate the surface and affect the grill, but the glaze on your tile is a whole other ballgame! I would go with a few minutes of gas next time.

I typically use corningware or other stoneware on the grill. Is there any benefit/difference with these cazuelas? Stoneware is cheap and almost disposable, since you can get glazed stoneware pieces in various sizes and shapes for about $5 and under at Pottery Barn.

So would you care to enlighten those of us who are mathematically challenged? What exactly was it that was on the clipboard?

Your grill likely came with all the options There are 3 grill racks, available in 3/8 or 1/4" stainless, all of which may or may not have been ordered with your grill. There are refractory heat deflectors that sit on the top of the charcoal basket, which would have come with your grill. There are some side tables that can be attached to the grill - if they are our of R&D yet There is an EZque rotis that fits the grill, but you need to order the basket and motor directly from EZQue. Dennis makes the small square stainless rods to attach it to the grill. And there is a port to add a temperature controller, I suspect you have that part covered

Prime - That door was a previous rendition of the burner/draft door assembly. Im not sure the offset dial ever made it out of the prototype phase. Since you have a gen2, your gas door is in the rear like mine. You may be able to get one of the front doors from a gen1 that has a gas hookup. I think the latest revision has the dial centered with the gas burner going in through the center, where the knob would attach normally.

There is a brew-pub in Columbia, MO that makes a pretty good green chile beer. It was a decent beer to have one or two with dinner. not something you wanted to take to the tailgate party on football Saturdays! http://www.flatbranch.com/

Thats is my kind of introduction. You should get along fine here

Tucker- I over seared my last steaks, too. The issue isnt the sear grill being on the firebox, but the open lid and blast furnace temps. I have found that settling the grill at about 500 dome, and letting it heat soak for a few minutes is just about right. Keep the sear grill on the basket, put your meat on there for 60-90 seconds a side, without adjusting airflow after stabilizing the temp. then move it to the main grill to dwell until desired doneness. Open the lid only as long as you need to move or flip the meat. The benefit to placing the sear grill on the basket is to get closer to the fire, and therefore not need to consume as much charcoal to achieve high temps to sear your steaks.

The EZQue parts you get from Dennis include the bracket to attach the motor to the grill, a couple of lifters to get the cradle out while its hot, and the short pieces of square rod that you use to on each end of the cradle you get from ezque. The short pieces of rod fit into the hubs that are cast into the KK body, and there is one more short piece that goes from the outside of the body to the drive motor. You can see the bracket and lifters in the pics at the top of this thread: http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1466&highlight= The rods are not shown, but are just short pieces of square stainless rob about 3 " long

I understand this dilemma....It took a year to win me over to the point where I was willing to open my checkbook. I had been burned before my buying another brand of tiled cooker, and was a bit gun shy because of it. For me, the leap of faith came with the realization that if I was not happy with the cooker, Dennis would make it right. Ask him for yourself, but if you had an acute case of buyers remorse when your K arrived, I doubt you would be stuck with the unit. I did go visit another owner in my local area to see one first hand. Have you taken a look at the member list to see if there are any close to you? Otherwise, post a more specific location and see if anyone responds with an offer for a personal showing.

Damn, I must have been given a bad link. For all of this time, I thought this was Majestik, all suited up for administrating a forum: