tony b

Very nice looking KK and you wasted no time jumping right into those great cooks, too! And, nice pooch - patient, just waiting for treats!

Not a fan of metal clips like that, as they conduct heat from the grate and give you an elevated temperature reading. That's why I went with cork, as it is: 1) essentially free, 2) a way to recycle the used corks, and most importantly, 3) has a high insulating property so the probe is measuring true air temperature next to the meat.

@El Pescador spotted that wine cork & toothpick holder for your grill probe - well, done!

Indeed!

I've been using these lately and like them a lot. https://bbqlumberjack.com/our-pellets/

Peach Melba coleslaw dressing - CRAZY, but I like it!!

Yeah, Doc's pooches are special. Very nice dogs.

Is there a trend emerging?

Where's the beets? (intended pun on the old Wendy's commercial!)

That's why I came up with the wine cork alternative.

A classic KK cook. Nothing better than a great roasted chicken - whole, spatchcocked, rotisserie, al mattone, - whatever (just not beer can, please!) I don't think you can break the latch on a KK just by opening/closing it - I'd be shocked if someone ever did. Granted, the nuts can loosen over time and need to be re-adjusted to get a good closure, but that's hardly the same as the KJ incident!

Many ways to skin that cat! I've heard of the spud trick before. Do you run into the problem of the potato cooking and getting soft enough in a long low & slow cook that the weight/tension from the probe pulls the wooden skewer out?

I've only had 1 Guru probe go bad on me in all this time (a good decade), so just a bit of bad luck. Had a lot of Maverick probes go bad! We'll see how the new unit (XR50) holds up. They do look heftier.

Simple dinner last night - very nice day to sit on the deck and have some Vinho Verde while dinner cooked. Chicken legs & thigh marinated in Uncle Dougie's (I injected some into the chicken, too) and a nice ear of corn. Direct, 350F, cherry wood chunk. Plated up with some salad and crusty bread. Oh, and more Vinho Verde! Corn came from somewhere down south, but was still pretty good for this early in the season.

Crazy hot fire, so I'm guessing this cook only took a minute per side?

As long as you don't use charcoal lighter fluid, they should be OK - i.e., don't use the "match light" version. The odor from the lighter fluid will permeate the inside material of the grill and will be hard to burn off. I, personally, haven't used anything but lump or cocochar (sort of a briquette) for decades.

@Pequod Nice tutorial on basic heat transfer. Flashbacks to my 1st heat transfer course as an undergrad!

Very good question. It's important to NOT clip the temperature probe to the grate with anything metal or it will give you an erroneously high temperature to the controller. As far as I know, no one's software tries to account for this. BBQ Guru sells a "probe tower" to address this issue. Being a cheap-ass, I have fashioned myself a nice holder out of used wine corks (of which I have plenty!) Just trim a little off of each side on one end until it fits between the grate rods. I've then screwed a small screw in the other end to clip the alligator clip on my temperature probe to. The cork provide sufficient insulation that your probe is sensing actual air temperature and giving you a better idea of the cooking temperature for an indirect low & slow cook. Here's a picture of it. This is an older version where I was using a half of a toothpick, but they burned up after only one or two cooks, so I later switched to the small screw. Found a second picture of one that was a new cork.

Hi, Doc! Glad to see you post. Let us know how it works out. I tried the rib idea once and it worked out fine; but, I have to say, that I haven't done it since. Hoever, it's nice to have it in your BBQ toolbox if you need to do a rack in a short period of time! Same for this pork butt, assuming it works out as well!

Then you WILL need the bigger One Grill motor just to turn it - EMPTY! WOW!!

Let us know how it works out, and of course, pictures!

Yeah, I'd eat that!

That's the way judging goes sometimes. If it was being judged by BJCP guidelines, it's not about if it's a tasty beer, but how closely it matches the guidelines for that particular beer style. I've judged beers that were very good, but had to score them lower because it didn't match the style. What did the judges say on your scoresheets? They should have provided feedback on how they arrived at their score.

Suck'em up, Brah!

Temperature control is all about airflow and is mostly dominated by the top vent opening. You will get comfortable with how much to open the top vent for a given temperature as you cook on it, as it is very repeatable. The bottom vents only need to be open as much to allow enough air in to support combustion, which usually isn't much. For your 250F target, the top vent should have been barely off the seat. Also, you don't need to light a bunch of charcoal for a low & slow either - a tennis ball sized fire is enough. Lastly, patience! There is a lot of material to warm up, so it's going to take some time. And "don't chase the temperatures!" If you overshoot your target temperature by a little (50F), don't sweat it and try to tweak the grill to an exact temperature, it's not that critical. Most folks get the hang of it after a couple of cooks. Hang in there!