tony b

Merry Christmas, everyone! Glad that you came out of it OK. But, the poor Roo looks like it wasn't so lucky!

Killing me, @Poochie. Expecting 4 inches of snow this weekend. Good luck with the pork shoulder.

Looks crazy good!

No Kickstarter ever delivers on the original schedule in my experience. If the delay is less than a year, consider it almost on time!

On my Guru fan, I'm usually running only 1/4 to 1/3 open. The fan does the "heavy lifting" and supplies plenty of combustion air to keep the fire going. If you allow too much natural draft with a fully open fan damper, you can easily lose control of your temperatures, as no device will lower the temperature once it exceeds the setting you've given it. Also another good reason to just barely crack the top vent off its seat - just until you see smoke exiting.

Cute pooch!

I have something very similar to @Poochie's grill pan (great mind, eh, bro!) I have also used Frog Mats for veggies and shrimp. Their only downside is they should not be subjected to direct flames or very high heat. https://www.amazon.com/Frogmats-Non-Stick-Grill-Mat/dp/B00LBH7TZK Grill Mats are good, too. They take higher heat. They are solid mats (no holes), so a bit different style. I like them for saucing items, as the sauce/glaze doesn't run through the holes. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KUJCH66

Chicken thighs last night. Icelandic rub, direct, main grate, 350F with leftover wood chunks from the pork butt cook. They produced a LOT of smoke, as you can see in this picture. Plated with melting potatoes with the Shallot Crack Sauce! Got some nice crispy skin on the chicken!

Happens all the time with mine when I use the Guru. You correctly deduced what's going on. The fan is pushing more air in than can escape the top vent, so it needs to find a place to go. Not going to affect your cook or temperature control at all. The natural instinct is to open the top vent more to relieve the pressure, but you risk losing control of the temperature by allowing too much airflow when the fan isn't running, unless you really shut the exhaust damper on the fan almost closed. If you never plan to use the gas insert (I'm surprised that your KK came with one, as Dennis has pretty much stopped putting them on the newer grills, unless the owner requests one?), Dennis makes a replacement vent door that has threaded rods with wing nuts to secure the gas door closed. I got one for my 23" KK a while ago. I put LocTite on the threads to make sure that it doesn't loosen up. Has worked like a charm.

Funny how that happens! 😆

Keep us updated on how they perform for you on the KK?

They have now declared Wednesday's storm to be a Derecho. Mine survived a direct hit during the derecho of Aug 2010. Top half of a very tall tree fell next to my deck and the metal framed hop trellis collapsed on it, too. This is the "after" pic, when I cleared everything off of it and took the cover off to inspect it. Not a scratch.

An oldie, but a goodie!

Well, the good news was that we hit 73F yesterday - in Iowa - in the middle of December! But, the warm weather brought very severe winds that spawned t-storms and tornadoes. Lots of wind damage north of me and widespread power outages. While we had 50 - 60 mph winds here with our t-storm last night, it wasn't nearly as bad as the folks west and north that saw 80 - 90 mph winds - and the tornadoes! My power blinked a few times, but never went out. I'd planned ahead and had a pork butt ready for the unseasonably warm day. Overnight cook Tuesday. Finished up mid-morning Wednesday. Guru running at 250F, indirect, with smoker pot loaded with hickory and apple chunks. Followed Meatheat's advice and trimmed a lot of fat off and liberally salted it Monday night. He says that he likes this technique better than injecting (which had been my standard practice.) Tuesday morning it got the CYM treatment with 3 Eyz rub and Dizzy Pig Crossroads. Went on the KK at 10pm. Target was 203F, but pulled it off at 200F around 10am. It had gotten so windy by that point that the Guru controller kept getting blown over and coming unplugged. I didn't catch it in time and the fire went out. Once the KK started to drop in temp, no point in leaving the butt on the grill. I wrapped it in foil and put it in the cooler in the beach towel for 3 hours before I pulled it. And YES, there's pictures! Dinner was pulled pork sammies! Hard to say whether Meathead's technique worked better than injecting, but the results were just as good IMHO.

MacKenzie's suggestion is a good one for doing shawarma and similar styles of cooking. I think that I understand what you are contemplating? If you put the chicken thighs on short wooden skewer(s), you could put them in the basket and spin them. Worth a try.

@Cheesehead_Griller - I'm not sure why you'd want to use both? I don't know of any advantage of doing that? As MacKenzie said, each have their advantages. I use both myself.

Not taking the bait! 🤐

Looks very nice!

Followed several folks' suggestions here to make a batch of chili with leftover brisket from my last cook. This turned out to be the "meaty-ist" chili that I've ever made! And, of course, being REAL chili, there were no beans to be found anywhere in the vicinity!

@C6Bill Nailed it!

First, how long has it been in your brine? If more than a few days, you should take it out and rinse it, lest it will be too salty. Prep it with the yellow mustard and crush black pepper & coriander seed rub and let it set overnight. I'd cook it low and slow to at least 190F, then let it rest in a cooler for several hours. Not all the way done for a brisket, but done enough to be easily sliced. (I find that fully done briskets (203F) have a tendency to crumble when sliced.) Then all you have to do to serve is steam the slices until hot.

My opinion (I have a 23"), is to not use the foil deflector, as it kinda defeats the purpose of the rotisserie. I'd push most of the charcoal to the back of the basket, so the porchetta rotates in/out of the direct heat zone. In my 23", the charcoal basket is round, so with the splitter in it, I can easily go front or back or sideways.

I've not experienced any problems mixing charcoals before, including cocochar with regular lump. I've never cooked that many butts at once before, so I do not have a lot of advice. If you keep them on the same level, just don't crowd them too much to block airflow between them. If you put them on the main and upper grates they will cook at different rates, so just be careful to monitor at least one on each level. Otherwise, you sound good to go! Butts are seriously hard to mess up, so you're going to be fine!

Yep, the Shallot Sauce went very well with the sauteed green beans last night. It's a keeper!

Yep, Blues Hog is a nice line of products.