tony b

Indeed!

Glad you found your dog and he was OK. I've never tried to do a "caveman" style cook (directly on the coals). Closest that I've tried was Alton Brown's version of putting the steak under a roaring chimney of charcoal. Was fun, but I only tried it the one time.

In the US, when we say "lamb fries," we mean the testicles. LOL!

@Pequod - where the F did you find a chicken that big??? @MacKenzie - nice looking beefies. I bet you're addicted now - LOL!

Looks like you've got game!

WOW. That's a keeper!

Your friend did a very nice job with the adaptor. Good way to get the damper into the design with minimal hassles. That's a pretty big "dead band" around the setpoint, but given the size of this fan, it might be reasonable for it. I would have expected better from ThermoWorks, given how good the rest of their gear is designed/built.

Nicely done. Don't bother with the deflector stone. If one side is hotter than the other, just adjust your cooking time or move pizzas back and forth between the 2 stones.

YUMMY!

@tekobo intrigued by those blue handles on your skewers. Where did you get them and do they work well? I have converted to the flat ones with handles for ease of flipping. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D184MRD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I really enjoy hanging out with the folks in our club. Craziest beer that I've run across was made by a guy in our club - Mountain Dew Ale. All the liquid used in making this beer was Mountain Dew! He poured it at one of our Festivals. Before we knew it, the line was 20 people deep! Crazy what folks go for sometimes!

Great looking burgers, MacKenzie (at least I didn't see any beets - LOL!!) We finally started seeing local corn a couple of days ago. Today was my first time to get some for dinner. Still a bit early, but better than supermarket, for sure! Cooked up extras for leftovers tomorrow and Monday. Dinner on the deck (kinda humid), plated a steak with melting potatoes (alternate cooking method - InstaPot), corn and baguette. Made a nice sauce of horseradish, grainy mustard & mayo. Tasty Tuscan Red, too. While it was nice to do the potatoes in the InstaPot versus firing up the oven to 500F for the "regular method," it was a bit more labor intensive - multiple steps using different settings on the cooker. Couldn't tell any difference in taste/texture. Will only use it again if I don't want to heat up the kitchen just for the potatoes.

Understand - life changes things. I've been brewing off/on since it became legal back in '79. Been brewing steadily for the last 12 years. Same story here in Iowa, took a long time for some of the good beers to start showing up in our market and it took some legislation to make it happen as well. But, as I like to tell folks, I like to brew "the weird shit!" Tomorrow I'm pouring my Matcha Green Tea Double IPA at our "happy hour" at a local brewery. My beer club's annual Festival is in 3 weeks and my 2 beers for that are a Red Rye IPA and a Hoppy Wheat, both made with Zappa hops (a new strain, named after Frank), so both beers are named after Mothers of Invention albums - Chunga's Revenge and Weasels Ripped My Flesh.

Nice press. Has cider making all over it! When I retired a few years back, I brought in my contractor to build me a brewing room in my basement, so I don't have to haul anything up/down stairs anymore to brew or clean. As I get older, I'll probably buy a scissor lift of some sort so I don't have to lift carboys of wort anymore. Even though I've shifted to all plastic because of the weight of the glass ones, they can still get a bit heavy when full.

A regular pizza parlor!

Got any pics of your handywork with all those toys in your shop?

Can't wait to see what you're up to these days. Glad to have you back and posting again!

Yep, happened a few upgrades ago. It was just too much hassle to re-link them all. Sorry to hear that you sold your brew stand. I'm surprised that you didn't try to upgrade it with a nice March pump so you wouldn't have to lift heavy kettles of wort.

Thanks for the tips, Tekobo. I'm hoping this recent stint of super hot/humid weather will stimulate a growth spurt. If not, I'll definitely give your tips a try - what do I have to lose at this late stage.

How long you been brewing? There are several of us on this Forum that are homebrewers.

@Jon B. - I just packaged up a box for ckreef. I'll take it to the Post Office on Monday. No way am I going near the place on a Friday afternoon - not unless I want to wait in line for an hour! You'll have to give me the dates of when you'll be here next year, so I can try (finally) for us to meet up! If next summer is anything like this one, it could be a juggle.

I am a big proponent of Powdered Brewers Wash (PBW) to soak/clean the grates, rotisserie gear, etc. Works great, cuts through greasy gunk easily, just rinse off with a wet sponge, towel, etc. Easy Peasy.

Browse the Forum and then ask questions of the members. And in the end, call Dennis!

@DennisLinkletter - just got my shipment of coffee charcoal. Inside the box was a card promoting your website - www.KomodoCharcoal.com. But when I tried to go there, I got an error message saying the page could not be reached. Any ideas on what's up?? @ckreef - I just took delivery on 10 boxes. Would be happy to share one for "the cause" of this experiment. PM me if you're interested.