ChiKing Posted October 12, 2020 Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 Hey all, It’s been a bit since I posted. The lady is expecting so it’s been busy around here. Hands down, I love the 23” I have. Brisket, ribs you name it. Getting to and holding 225 is no problem. However, no matter what I do, I can’t get it to burn hot at 700 degrees. This last time I filled with charcoal. Got a nice brining fire and kept the kid open for 20 minutes. The bottom is pulled open and I am out 3 and a half turns. The fire is good, but it’s been almost an hour since I closed and I am just creating 500. Am I missing something. I thought that if I just let it go it would get to 900. Tips and ideas welcome. It may need to heat soak which is fine, but not sure that’s the issue. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted October 12, 2020 Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 Chiking how open is your top? If it is wide open, much of your heat will be escaping. Once the fire is lit, 3/4 to one full turn will see it heat up quickly. I have read here that you may not want to take your KK up to 900f as this may compromise the unit. I've been cooking pizza and bread successfully under 600f 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted October 12, 2020 Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 I usually aim for a temp. about 550F for my pizza cooks. I light the lump, shut the lid, and the bottom vent are open. The top is probably open a full turn or more. Once I near the target temp. I close the top vent down to keep my temp. around 500-550F. The KK is not meant to be used with the lid up, I believe it can damage the gaskets. An IR thermometer will tell you the temp. of your pizza stone so will know when to load your pizza. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrus Posted October 12, 2020 Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 What brand of charcoal are you using? It makes a difference, and use med size with large pieces also for greater airflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 12, 2020 Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 +1 to all of the above. Good advice all around - especially not keeping the lid open that long with it that hot - bad for the gaskets. Dennis will have a heart attack if he sees someone firing up their KK to those temps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiKing Posted October 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 Thanks for the thoughts. It’s not open hop too long. Just enough to get the coals on a nice burn. Never been more than 20 minutes. So I am using big chunk fogo. I think lots of folks use that here. The chucks are big. And I never use the small stuff which I save for the Webber. What I don’t get is basically you all seem to have less air flow but your temps are just getting way higher than mine. How long does it take you all to hit 550? And could you go higher if you wanted? Something is not adding up but I can’t seem to figure it out and there are really only so many variables. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcjudsten Posted October 12, 2020 Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 You can close close the lid pretty much right away after you get it lit. It probably takes an hour to get to ~500 with the pizza stone in starting from a cold start. And maybe another 20 min to get from 500-650/700. Everyone’s experience is going to be a bit different depending on setup. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiKing Posted October 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 You can close close the lid pretty much right away after you get it lit. It probably takes an hour to get to ~500 with the pizza stone in starting from a cold start. And maybe another 20 min to get from 500-650/700. Everyone’s experience is going to be a bit different depending on setup. Hmm, what dies your bottom and top look like? I have the bottom pulled out half way and the top and 3 turns. Also, I try and light a giant amount of the wood so I have a good blaze going. Agree it might be a bit different but that’s no where close to my experience. I do fill the basket? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted October 12, 2020 Report Share Posted October 12, 2020 I'm guessing you are pouring the charcoal directly from the bag into the basket. The small pieces are settling into the airflow channels and restricting your airflow/ temps. Best to pour the charcoal into a box shake a few times, then use the medium and larger pieces. Open the damper top, close the lid.. remember the airflow does not start until you close the lid. The hot air exiting the damper top creates vacuum (forced airflow) and gets everything going. Using the KK baking stone you will want to try 550-650º for a medium crust and thicker pie. If it's too hot the top will burn before the bottom gets leoparding on the crust. if not hot enough the crust will be done before the top is cooked. For Neapolitan cracker crust pizzas you will want to use a baking steel (carbon steel) at 450º this will give you the same heat transfer as a traditional stone at 900º+. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiKing Posted October 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2020 Dennis. Thanks for the info. I have been super careful with the chunks. Lots of airflow. I will try again tomorrow and just let it run and see what temp it gets too. Maybe I am not lighting enough. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted October 13, 2020 Report Share Posted October 13, 2020 All I do is make sure it it lit then I close the lid right away that way you will get a draft coming in the bottom vent and out the top vent, this should get the fire going. Good luck today.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 13, 2020 Report Share Posted October 13, 2020 I'm doing pizza for dinner tonight. I just lit the KK and when it got going well (over 200F) I put in the pizza stone on the upper grate. I'll take note of the time it takes to reach 475F on the pizza stone (I have an IR thermometer). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LK BBQ Posted October 14, 2020 Report Share Posted October 14, 2020 I had a similar situation. I have a 19", so my situation could be different. I could get the fire burning hotter without the stone. There were two theories - one is that the thermal mass of the stone is meaningful. The other is that the airflow is slowed down by the stone - air needs to move around the stone to get to the top instead of a smooth flow. I found that I could get the fire blazing without the stone first, and then added it later after the grill was already soaked with heat. I just needed to give the stone enough time to heat soak as well. Using bigger lumps of charcoal helped meaningfully as well. I don't think I've mastered this yet. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 15, 2020 Report Share Posted October 15, 2020 It took me 3 1/2 hours to heat soak the pizza stone to 450F. Combo of large and medium chunks of charcoal. Top vent was 3/4 turn and bottom left vent was full open. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiKing Posted October 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2020 It took me 3 1/2 hours to heat soak the pizza stone to 450F. Combo of large and medium chunks of charcoal. Top vent was 3/4 turn and bottom left vent was full open. Lots of different ways people are doing it. Some seem to open the top 3 turns, your way is a lot less. For the bottom I have been partially pulling the bottom out but I don’t think that’s needed. If the vacuum inside is created it will suck air either way and I may actually be creating a heat escape by having it too open. 3 hours is a long time. This may be where the pilot tool may make sense to hear soak. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiKing Posted October 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2020 I had a similar situation. I have a 19", so my situation could be different. I could get the fire burning hotter without the stone. There were two theories - one is that the thermal mass of the stone is meaningful. The other is that the airflow is slowed down by the stone - air needs to move around the stone to get to the top instead of a smooth flow. I found that I could get the fire blazing without the stone first, and then added it later after the grill was already soaked with heat. I just needed to give the stone enough time to heat soak as well. Using bigger lumps of charcoal helped meaningfully as well. I don't think I've mastered this yet. I wonder if your right and the stone screws up the flow? To Tony’s point. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted October 15, 2020 Report Share Posted October 15, 2020 (edited) I've had the KK and stone heated to 550f in about 1 hour. Bottom dials half open, top lid two full turns and place the stone in once the dome hits about 180f. You can fast track this by putting the stone in an electric oven at the same time you are starting the fire in the KK Edited October 16, 2020 by Basher 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonj Posted October 16, 2020 Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 15 hours ago, Basher said: You can fast track this by putting the stone in an electric oven at the same time you are starting the fire in the KK Great idea. I'll try that next pizza cook. I've been using the steel recently but have been thinking about using the stone next time as a change up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 16, 2020 Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 As a point of clarification, I did start my pizza cook out with the top vent open about 2 turns. Once the KK, with the pizza stone inside, got to about 300F, then I closed the vent down to where I thought it should be for the 450F target - about 3/4 open. I never pull the bottom vent out anymore. Over time, the rods get loose and you end up having to bend the tubes (never the rods!) to tighten things back up to prevent air inleaks that mess with your shutdowns. If I need extra air inflow, I pull the Guru plug out for "turbo" mode - ha, ha! I probably could have speeded this up some by lighting more charcoal at the beginning. I just did one large spot in the middle. Two medium spots, one on each side, would probably have worked better. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiKing Posted October 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 I've had the KK and stone heated to 550f in about 1 hour. Bottom dials half open, top lid two full turns and place the stone in once the dome hits about 180f. You can fast track this by putting the stone in an electric oven at the same time you are starting the fire in the KKWow. I have never had that happen. The only thing I can think of is that I open the top too much, which I will try and see. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
