Good Evening from Sydling St Nicholas UK

[Braai-Q]

Pleased to see it has arrived. Looks great. Enjoy. And the beer.

[MacKenzie]

4 hours ago, RokDok said:

 

Cheers !!

 

That third glass must be for me, Thank You. 

[Basher]

Looking good RokDok. Well played.
BOC when the delivery is pellet jacked off the truck, have them pick it up by the top pellet, not the second pellet to avoid this extra height.
RD I had to call Dennis before I slid my KK off the pellet. I was worried the supporting box could rip the bottom out of the KK.
He assured me it would be fine to just rock it off.


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[tony b]

Depends on the size of KK. I was too nervous to rock my 23" off the box, so I just bashed it in before rolling the KK of the pallet. I can only imagine trying to rock a 32" or 42" KK off the box!! 

[RokDok]

Thanks guys.

It is a bit scary coming off the pallet - but just have to take it really steady and it'll be fine.

@MacKenzie- you are welcome to a glass or two of stout. If you're heading this way in th next few years I'll keep one back for you.

The reason why they put an extra pallet underneath is because the pallet that the KK sits on is customised and has a broader supporting section underneath. The forks of some of the pallet trolleys are not far enough apart to sit either side of this section.

Supporting the ramp with concrete paver mad it pretty rock solid.

Yes, I did go out last night in the dark and rain to check it was OK.

Unpacked the tables last night - the quality of workmanship and engineering is just staggeringly good - something you can't fully appreciate from the photos.

The neighbours have been round taking pictures of it !

Many Thanks All

 

 

[jonj]

It's time to cook!

[tony b]

Indeed! 

[RokDok]

@jonj, @tony bTony,

I said to Mrs RD this morning that I was going to do the burn in today and cook the 35 day aged Hereford sirloin that is sitting in the fridge.

"You're not going to get it dirty are you ?"

It is chucking it down with rain today.

" You're going to get soaked  - do it on a dry day so it's a nice experience"

Embarrassingly I ricked my back lifting a concrete slab to make the ramp to get the KK off the pallets. Trying to get out of bed to get the tea happens in slow motion as I'm stiff.

" You are not going to do anything that involves bending or lifting today - have you taken anything for that ? "

Mrs RD was an ITU nurse for 35 years. It was generally in folk's best interests to do as she said.

So, it is (definitely) in my best interests to wait till we have a dry day and I can move and bend at something approximating normal speed.

Mrs RD tends to be right 50% of the time so I better behave myself.

 

 

 

 

[Basher]

RD you are far more patient than me.
This delivery and unforeseen circumstances- ships, delivery truck, weather- has had more drama than coronation street!
Don’t let a bit of drizzle stop you from firing up the new toy.
Play On!


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[RokDok]

1 hour ago, Basher said:

Don’t let a bit of drizzle stop you from firing up the new toy.
Play On!

You're right.

It's chucking now but :

[jonj]

Looking good! 

[tony b]

Hey, at least it's rain. We're having a blizzard today. Been snowing for hours - heavy at times and the wind has picked up significantly in the last hour, so it's almost white-out conditions. Very likely won't be using the KK tonight. Will hopefully sneak in a cook tomorrow before the Polar Vortex slams us over the weekend. Highs in the single digits (F) and lows below zero for the next week! And, that's before the windchill factor kicks in. This is usually my breaking point for grilling, when the windchill is in the negative teens. 

So, take some Aleve for the back and grill on!

[RokDok]

It's dark here now but there has been a break in the rain.

The aim is simply to cook a couple of steaks tonight.

So I'm using a quarter basket of local lump wood charcoal - I may need to change this to half but if I do that just means a little more adult beverage so no bad thing.

First time I've ever used a Mapp torch - what a great bit of kit 

Followed by the blower

Swivelled the KK around so I can keep an eye on the temperature, through the window.

[RokDok]

3 minutes ago, tony b said:

Hey, at least it's rain. We're having a blizzard today. Been snowing for hours - heavy at times and the wind has picked up significantly in the last hour, so it's almost white-out conditions. Very likely won't be using the KK tonight. Will hopefully sneak in a cook tomorrow before the Polar Vortex slams us over the weekend. Highs in the single digits (F) and lows below zero for the next week! And, that's before the windchill factor kicks in. This is usually my breaking point for grilling, when the windchill is in the negative teens. 

So, take some Aleve for the back and grill on!

Crikey , that is a bit nippy Tony !

[BOC]

I’m loving that Matte Black when wet.


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[RokDok]

I don't normally post after I've had a couple of beers (stouts in this case) so please forgive the euphoria.

To be honest, when it arrived I thought - ooooh that looks a bit bigger than I thought it would be - have I made the right decision -Should I have gone for the 23 ". What is Mrs RD going to say this time ....

I've not got a good track record here.... 

One Sunday night I bought a top end Pearl Reference Series drum kit on EBay from Germany. I'd only got to grade four by then .

Nothing wrong with that you may say ...except that I'd bought an identical one a couple of weeks before.

What was going to be a simple brew kit - a couple of plastic containers rapidly turned into my making a mini brewery capable of brewing 280 litres in a day.

A little clay oven .. full size Pompeii, we'll just put a couple of new doors on the kitchen units = full house rebuild taking 10 years and we have to live in our caravan on the lawn...

So a little anxious at this point  - you can understand.

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by RokDok

[RokDok]

Mmm That's looking at it through the window x 2 🙄

Within a very short time it was over 400 F and starting to vent a little , so I closed the top vent a bit.

Mrs RD had finished her yoga by then.

So - quarter of a basket - up to temp in no time .

Put the steaks on - here's a picture of Mrs RD happy as a sandboy.

Put the steaks on - not perfect but not bad I think for a first attempt - and the weather conditions were inclement - not far off what  @tony bTony is experiencing at the moment.😉

 

[RokDok]

Simply amazing bit of kit.

I thought I had understood what "the obsession" was all about.

I didn't quite , but I do now.

Absolutely perfect.

Without a shadow of a doubt one of the best decisions we  ( it was Mrs RD who found the site) have made.

Many thanks to all for advice, egging on, joking and nurturing.

RD

Edited February 4, 2021 by RokDok

[HokieBen]

Nice job on your first cook, congrats! Steak looks great!!! I had thought about going with the 23 as well but I can tell you without a doubt I'm so glad I got the 32, you'll love it.

With the weather being wet/cold/freezing be careful not to let it vent. You don't want water working it's way into the exterior "jacket" and freeze/thawing. I'd recommend keeping it at lower temps (below 400) for cooks until you can get a nice day to go through the venting process and then fix any holes in the grout it produces. 

[tony b]

1 hour ago, RokDok said:

What was going to be a simple brew kit - a couple of plastic containers rapidly turned into my making a mini brewery capable of brewing 280 litres in a day.

You said that like is some sort of problem??  

Every homebrewer does the exact same thing! 

Here's a tip for monitoring the dome temps from afar - rotate the dial so that your target temperature is at 12 o'clock. Then you just have to look at the dial and see "what time is it?" relative to your target.