tony b

Haven't tried the felt idea. I just use flour paste. Takes some getting used to for the consistency, but practice makes ..., as they say. I do recall someone going to the trouble of cutting/grinding off the handle on the lid and running a bolt through the whole assembly with wing nuts to secure the top. I wasn't willing to put that much work into it. My advice - no more than 3 holes, 3/32" is what I went with. As MacKenzie said, more is NOT better here. Too many folks have drilled either too many or too large holes and wondered why it doesn't work. The goal here is to just let in enough oxygen to smolder the wood, not let it actually burn. It's exactly like making charcoal - in fact, when you open up the pot afterwards, you will be rewarded with pieces of charcoal that you can just toss into the basket for the next cook.

Karma!

Hope Dorian doesn't mess up your lovely garden now that you're finally getting to reap the benefits!!

Mine, too!!

On the back of the dial is a hex nut. Gently loosen that and you'll see that you're able to move the dial needle by holding the shaft and turning the dial. Place the thermometer into a boiling water bath, and being careful not to burn yourself, turn the dial until the needle is at 212F/100C. Carefully tighten the hex nut (this part is a tad tricky - don't hold onto the dial, as it will move the needle. Just grip the shaft with one set of pliers and lock the hex nut with a second pair) - and you're done!

Congrats on the new KK. Look forward to the pics. Stay safe as Dorian passes by. Lots of flooding with this one.

As I noted in my "oops" moment, you've over-ranged your thermometer and it will need to be recalibrated. Mine was off almost 50F. I'm guessing that yours is similarly affected. Glad that singed hair was the only "injury." These flashovers can be very bad.

A good trick for reading your thermometer at a distance - turn the dial so that your target temp is at the 12 o'clock position. Now all you have to do is check the relative position of the dial to 12 o'clock.

I've only had my KK that hot once - by mistake, right after I got it. Only damage, fortunately, was that I over-ranged the dome thermometer and had to recalibrate it. My personal advice - stay below 600F in the dome.

Fell in love with that tablecloth. Perfect decor for your dinner.

Awesome!

Serious meat!

That is probably the most outside version of shrimp and grits that I've ever seen. Nice pizzas.

While I love the visual of it, I'm not convinced the sock puppet corn idea will work, especially if the critters are raccoons. They'll just break off the ears and pull the socks off.

Hurray for good local corn!

Awesome, another 2 KK household. @tekobo you are much more adventurous than you give yourself credit for! You rock, gurl!

Welcome to the Obsession! You are in for a big surprise when you compare the KK to the BGE in construction quality and more importantly, in the improvement in the food that you will be able to produce in the KK. As others have noted, there's a one-time burn-in when you want to cook something over 450F. If you're just doing low & slow stuff, the burn-in can wait. Everyone frets the burn-in, but's really not as bad as folks fear. Just plan to cook something during the process (the venting all takes place on the exterior of the grill and not inside where the food is). It just takes a fair amount of time, so have plenty of adult beverages handy!

Let Dennis have the final say, since I don't know how thick the insulation is on the bottom of the firebox? But, I don't think that it's anything to be concerned about, as you will always be heating up/cooling down fairly slowly, so no thermal shock to worry about. I have granite countertops in my indoor kitchen and have had no problems setting hot pots/pans directly on it out of a 450F oven. I don't know what the long-term effects will be after many thermal cycles like yours will see? Does granite spall? But, Inquiring Minds Like Ours, Would Like To Know - how did you manage to have a KK for 3 months without cooking on it?? Insane amount of patience!

Wasn't too hard to do - LOL!

I'm curious to see how their "suggestion" works out, as I am a bit skeptical that it will attach cleanly to the vent door. If someone gets it to work, please post pictures.

I did some for breakfast yesterday with a combo of olive oil and bacon fat - perfection!

I have both the Sumi (which is very close to Dennis' cocochar extruded) and the Aramaru. Next on my list to try is the White Binchotan. According to the website, it's actually made in Vietnam, but the price point is in the same ballpark as the Sumi and Aramaru. https://www.korin.com/TK-636-28-03

Only suggestion, same as ckreef's, open the top and bottom vents all the way. Temperature = airflow. If you want seriously hot, gotta have a lot of air flowing through. Also, light your coals in 2 or 3 spots for a seriously high temp cook.

I bet she loves your pool though!