tony b

@CaptMorg82 - Congratulations on the Anniversary. Yeah, I'd stay home for that meal! Looks fantastic!

Happens all the time. The burn front is pretty random, so it's hard to predict which direction it will go. It's because the pieces of charcoal are uneven and how they are stacked in the basket. Pretty much unavoidable unless you light the charcoal in multiple spots and cross your fingers that they burn towards each other. I usually have to move food around on the grate to get even cooking (if I'm using the rotisserie) as there are almost always hot spots to deal with.

Indeed, a good "practice run" for the main event down the road.

@PVPAUL - thanks for the tip! I'd prefer chunks over chips, but beggars can't be choosy!

The hardest part, at least here, is sourcing the pimento wood. There were some regulation changes a few years ago that made it cost-prohibitive for folks to import it here from Jamaica. I have a stash, but am judicious about using it. The leaves and allspice berries are very easy to get.

Awesome!

Can't wait to see how the jerk chicken comes out for you?

Hope the Easter Bunny was good to all y'all! 🐰 Easter lamb dinner here - tenderloins, direct @ 325F. Plated, with rosemary & garlic roasted potatoes and haloumi "fries" (cheese coated in crumbs and baked), side salad, and nice Merlot.

Welcome to the Obsession!

☘️🍀🌈 Not doing anything super special here. A couple of Irish Ales. Bangers & mashed for dinner. A nice Jameson's after dinner.

Pizza stone is a very good add-on. Buying it later risks breakage in shipping solo. Plus, we tell all new buyers to load up the pallet with as much CocoChar and Coffee wood as possible. Only way to get it at a reasonable price without having to buy a full pallet.

I use both techniques, depending on the situation. I just used the smoker pot yesterday when doing a pork brisket. The foil pouch works better on short cooks, as it comes up to temp to smolder the wood faster, but it doesn't burn as long as the smoker pot (at least for me anyway.)

The smoker pot and aluminum foil pouch work on the principle of starving the wood of oxygen so it does not fully burn, but just smolders. Plus, if the holes are pointed downward into the fire, then the escaping vapors burn off the volatiles (like the alcohol), giving you a cleaner smoke. Placing the chunks of wood directly in the basket does work, as you said, if you're patient enough to let it burn past the white smoke phase, but on the downside, you've lost some wood in the process that's not giving you the full benefit.

That will fix both problems hopefully. While getting a cover for your KK is important to protect it from the weather when it's not in use, it won't solve the problem of the KK getting crazy hot in the sun while you're cooking on it.

Nice job! One thing, do you plan to put some kind of covering over the KK and countertops? That's a LOT of black out in the sun. I see that thing getting seriously hot in the summer. Probably hot enough to burn someone. My Autumn Nebula gets pretty warm sometimes and it's not nearly as dark as this one.

LIkely true, but I was answering @Dennis's request for feedback/input.

The primary reason many (most?) of us don't use the heat deflector stone(s) is that they just add to the heat-up time (and more charcoal burning) for not a very good reason. You're mainly just trying to shield the food from the direct infrared heat of the fire for indirect cooking, so just a simple sheet of AL foil will do that, and it catches the drips, so you won't have to mess up that SS pan.

It's not called a "rats nest" for nothing! 😆

Salmon takes up smoke so easily, I'm not surprised that yours came out well with only a couple of hours of smoke. It's all in the prep to build up the pellicle for the smoke to attach to.

While I don't have a Billows fan, I can wholeheartedly support the idea of the damper on the fan. The BBQ Guru fans come with a damper built in, which is what I have. It is crucial that you choke down the fan outlet, especially on windy days where you can have "vacuum drag" across the top damper which will pull excess air into the fire when the fan isn't running, causing your temps to spike above your controller setpoint, rendering it useless. All choking down on the fan exhaust does is make the fan run a bit more - no worries.

Nice looking brisket! Dennis has recommended putting the wood pellets for the cold smoker into the microwave for a bit to help dry them out. I'm guess your idea of putting the wood chunks on the main grate is doing something similar. Good tip, I might give this a try for cooks where I'm not planning on using the smoker pot. You might investigate the Dutch oven smoker pot and see if it's something that you might want to try. Lots of threads here about how to build one, with props to @Syzygies who pioneered the idea. I use mine on almost every cook that goes beyond a couple of hours.

Welcome to the Obsession, Dennis! You'll soon find out why I call it that. A big upgrade from the BGE (pun intended). Your prior experience will translate very well to the KK, you'll just have to adapt to the bigger size and learn your vent settings. You'll be off and running like a pro in no time.

Yep. Plus, don't forget that you can use the upper grate as your sear grate if you really want to put a hard crust on your steaks. Just turn it upside down and it sits right on top of the charcoal basket handles - mere inches away from the fire.

@Troble killer bark on that brisket! @remi I believe that, too. Great use of leftovers. I'm going to make a pot of beef stew for dinner tonight using a chunk of smoked brisket that I found recently hiding in my chest freezer.

Most of us just use a sheet of aluminum foil on the lower grate when we want to do indirect cooks on the KK. As @tekobo said, almost no one here (save a few diehards) use the supplied heat deflector stone (not to be confused with the pizza stone - different material) - not even Dennis uses it. A simple aluminum pan works, too, if you want to catch the drippings or get the double-walled pan from Dennis if you think you'd like to roast veggies using the drippings. I have no issues doing reverse searing on my 23". The basket splitter creates enough separation between the "hot" side and "cool" side. The only issue is cooking area. If you want to do a lot of steaks (more than 4 ribeyes/NY strips) at once, you might run out of real estate (assuming you're using the basket splitter). You can do a lot of steaks if you don't use the basket splitter and just use the main and lower grates - roast the steaks on the main at lower temps, pull the main grate out when they're almost done to final temp to rest, crank up the grill temps and used the lower grate to reverse sear. That's my opinion. I've never owned one but have cooked on them at other folk's places. Plus, one of my biggest gripes about BGE is that this is considered an "essential" accessory, but you have to buy it separately - price gouging IMHO. Dennis doesn't do that - every accessory is a true add-on, nothing essential for doing basic cooking on a KK!