tony b

8 hours ago, tekobo said:

 I then only cook for about an hour max at 220.  Will check the timings next time I do it but I tend to cook chicken hot and fast - keeps juiciness and you get crispy skin.

220 C, I presume? 

Fire it up!!

What??? I joke from @Poochie that's actually funny! A sure sign of the Apocalypse! 

I'll 2nd the above. I've had to re-calibrate the thermometer on more than one occasion when I forgot to bring it inside. It's easily done, but why have to do it, when it's so easy to avoid it?

@Firemonkey - Happy to see you posting again!

I live in Iowa and we get pretty damn cold here in the middle of winter, but I still cook. My only temperature cutoff is not because of the KK, but because of ME! When the windchill hits negative numbers, I don't cook outside. I've cooked during snowstorms, as long as the temps stay above zero, I'm good. 

The airflow inside the KK is pretty turbulent, so the meat is going to be enveloped in smoke, unless you have the pan just underneath the meat - I'm talking an inch or 2, not the distance from the lower grate and the main grate. 

Yes, use the upper grate, direct heat. If you want crispy skin, you need dome temps around 425F. I usually cook the bird at 350F - 375F for the first 45 minutes and then ramp up to the higher temp for the last 30 minutes to crisp up the skin. Starting lower allows the bird to roast and remain juicy, then focus on the skin at the finish. YMMV

2 hours of good smoke should be a nice kiss of smoke. Once the external surface of the meat dries and hits around 140F, it stops absorbing smoke. If you want more smoke beyond that, that's why you spritz with some liquid to both lightly wet the surface and lower the temperature (evaporative cooling). But even this only works for a while. 

You're set for wood for a while now. 

One of our local pizza spots uses hot honey on their pizza. I like it - sweet & heat.

I checked my 2 sous vide cookbooks - one said 5 - 10 hour; the other said 16 - 24 hours. Most websites that I searched (Anova) are more in the 1st book's range. America's Test Kitchen was in the 16 - 24 hour range. So, you have a very wide range of cooking times, as @MacKenzie said.

Was down to my last vacuum bag of pulled pork, so Sunday was smoking butt day! Indirect (AL foil on lower grate), Guru set at 275F, meat alarm at 203F, smoker pot of hickory, apple and peach chunks. Butt was injected the day before with Butchers BBQ pork butt and Cajun Power garlic sauce. Dry rubbed on cook day with 3 Eyz BBQ Original and Holy Gospel (Meat Church).

Pork plated with Mojo sauce, Drunken black beans (tequila, lime, onion, garlic, cilantro, S&P), and Jamaican curry rice. 

OMG, That's gorgeous! 

I fell in love with Barcelona! The food scene there is just "stoopid!" Every little neighborhood joint is excellent. Spaniards eat out a lot, so if a place isn't very good, it doesn't survive long! And don't get me started on Tapas! What's not to love - buy a beer, get free tasty snacks! 

12 hours ago, Mcdddy said:

If Using a smoker pot - is it essential to use the flower water mixture and apply to the lid to seal? If so, I’m guessing you would put the smoking wood in and carry to the cooker uncovered and put on coals then put lid on - otherwise as happened to me the wood shifts around and can easily block the holes?

Also, it gets a tad challenging to fit the smoker pot between coals and lower grate.

That being said I think the smoker pot is a better way.

My normal routine is to check the 3 holes to see that they're not clogged. Place my wood chunks inside. Mix up the flour/water paste in a plastic sandwich bag (I buy the cheapest ones I can find, as this is all that I do with them). The consistency should be like PlayDoh (for folks that can remember playing with that stuff as a kid?) Pipe the mixture around the edge of the lid, smearing it out with a finger to close up any gaps. Place the lid on the pot and smear any mixture that oozes out around the seam to make sure to get a good seal - it's essential for the smoker pot to work properly. I light the coals and place the smoker pot on top of the lit area. Off to the races! 

I have a Guru. I set it up to go right from the start, right after starting the fire. Let the controller & fan do its thing. Most overshoot problems come from windy days and getting vacuum drag across the top vent. Best way to prevent that is to have the top vent barely off its seat and to close the damper on the fan output to less than 50% closed. Since doing this, I've rarely had an overshoot problem on a long low & slow cook.

The fire gets hot enough that putting the AL foil pouch directly on it will cause it to oxidize and get very brittle - as you found out.  Heavy Duty foil will work better, especially double wrapped. 2 Holes is plenty.

That all being said, I'm a smoker pot guy almost all of the time on low & slow cooks. My rare exception is doing jerk chicken - a pouch of pimento wood pieces, leaves and berries (aka - allspice). The cook is too fast for the smoker pot to come up to temp and start producing smoke before the chicken gets done. YMMV

15 hours ago, Tyrus said:

I have found wire racks useful  when smoking/drying up Jerky, it's much easier to remove the whole batch. The downside is cleaning a wire rack itself.

Fanfare music - dut, dut, dah, da! PBW* to the rescue! A couple hours soak in a warm PBW solution and everything will just wipe off with a paper towel or sponge. 

* = Powdered Brewers Wash:  PBW Cleaner (fivestarchemicals.com)

I bought this manual air pump just for this purpose! Works great. It's rather shocking the first time you "blow up" a duck! LOL

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FE9CGE

As long as it's you that's rusty and not the KK!! LOL

Meat Candy!!

@jeffshoaf makes some excellent points, as do the others in this post. 

My +/- 50F comment was about not fretting if you're cooking temperature is not exactly where you aimed. As noted, don't try and chase the temperature. You'll just get frustrated - and it really doesn't make a whole lot of difference in the final result. 

I 2nd the comment about the amount of charcoal in the basket - it's the amount of charcoal that gets lit, not how much total is in the basket. Snuff the leftovers for another cook. One of the benefits of the KK. 

I generally only use a single sheet of AL foil on the lower grate for an indirect cook. All you're trying to do is block the Infrared radiation of the fire from reaching the food. You only need to cover as much of the lower grate as the footprint of the food above to allow airflow. If you wrap the foil ends around the grate rods, you shouldn't have any issues with the foil moving about. 

Another thought about using any temperature controller & fan units - keep the damper on the fan output fairly closed (1/4 open). Make the fan do the work to push the air through the grill. Keep the top vent just barely open, open it just until you see smoke escaping. One of the things that can happen (a chance that this is what caused your spike) is that a good breeze blowing across the top vent can cause what's called "vacuum drag" and actually pull more air through the grill than the controller wants, leading to a "runaway." Once the grill temperature gets a few degrees above the controller's setpoint, the controller quits effectively working, as it can't lower the temperature back into the control band. You're at the mercy of Mother Nature at that point for the breeze to calm down and the fire to die back down so the controller can take over again once the temperature recovers to the setpoint. Keeping the top vent and fan dampers mostly closed will help prevent that runaway from happening. 

Couldn't tell the difference between the pictures. You have a good camera on the phone! 

Stay safe, @MacKenzie!!

And just in time before Lee blew in and possibly caused some of them to break off and damage your property. Smart move.