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braindoc

Konro grill indoors?

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The hunger for something new strikes again.  We are looking at Japanese konro grills.  I’ve looked back at some threads here and read that people are using them indoors.  I also understand that these grills were developed for indoor use.  

I’m wondering why so many websites warn against this, even when using authentic binchotan charcoal.   Any thoughts from the community?  Product recommendations?  Korin and MTC kitchen are out of stock for some of the models we are considering, but our thought is that we’d use the konro during the winter so we can wait.

 

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it depends on what you are cooking. if just vegetables, then its ok. if fatty meats or sugary yakitori, then there will be lots of smoke. we had to open our floor to ceiling windows and it was still very smokey. binchotan is really expensive to burn, i just use compressed bamboo, it's also smokeless. i like low profile grills like this round one so you don't need to reach high for the food. if doing yakitori, then bincho grill is excellent but not really for indoor use. yakitoriguy on youtube has done reviews on most of the popular models. image.thumb.png.90ad2161fb352c96863b9273d39b6dab.png

 

image.thumb.png.34162391c34c0efc1757a3d4a523b24e.png

Edited by David Chang
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When I returned to teaching mid-pandemic, I bought a $250 CO2 meter to test my classrooms; people exhale CO2 so these levels are a good proxy for COVID exposure risk. Research predating COVID shows transmission of airborne infectious diseases is virtually eliminated if one can exchange indoor air to outdoor CO2 levels. The Brits learned a parallel lesson in the 1800's after several Cholera epidemics: Don't drink sewage water. Are we making a similar investment in indoor space ventilation, using heat exchangers to make outdoor air quality the indoor standard in all public spaces? No. We breathe the equivalent of sewage water, and accept common colds and now COVID as an unavoidable fact of life. Yes, we're that stupid.

There must be a similar meter that shows levels of CO. You don't just want an alarm, you want to measure your risk. CO is a byproduct of incomplete combustion, and bincho charcoal does burn more cleanly than alternatives. I've sat by live bincho fires in Japanese izakaya, and I've had live charcoal fires at my table in Korean BBQ restaurants, but I don't understand the risk.

 Modernity is novel, which leads to mistakes. One is tempted to try things without twenty generations of experience, "Did my ancestors die doing this?" My favorite example is Alaskan natives who for generations fermented seal meat in seal skins, till someone had the bright idea "Why not just use a plastic pail?" Botulism is why not. Closer to home, one shouldn't use galvanized metals in a BBQ cooker. Who knew? One can't possibly know everything like this, so the fallback is to always be keenly aware of precedent.

There is precedent for burning bincho charcoal indoors, but I don't have ancestral wisdom here, and even that can be wrong. So I'd want a good meter. I get laughed out of fermentation forums for testing my hot sauce ferments with a pH meter, but who cares! We're talking $100.

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@Syzygies i too have dined with live charcoal and some establishments in seoul were totally smoke filled, but nobody passed out dead. they have improved the ventilation in modern yakinikus and korean bbq places, but these ventilation setups usually involve an adjustable exhaust inches away from your food or exhaust built table level that has hidden ductwork inside the table. that setup is a dream. having table level grilling with 0 omissions. 

anyway, i think the CO meter is a really good idea. i wouldn't know how to read one if i had one, but i would guess it's more accurate than having a parakeet in a cage. 😂

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Hi @braindoc, as you will have seen from my previous posts I do use my konro grill indoors under my cooker hood.  I also bought a CO meter with an alarm and use it whenever I use my konro grill indoors.  No issue at all on any occasion so far and the CO meter gives  me the comfort that all is well.  The most dangerous thing that ever happened was cooking oysters on the grill and having pieces of laminated shell fly everywhere!  All good.  

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17 hours ago, Syzygies said:

Are we making a similar investment in indoor space ventilation, using heat exchangers to make outdoor air quality the indoor standard in all public spaces? No. We breathe the equivalent of sewage water, and accept common colds and now COVID as an unavoidable fact of life. Yes, we're that stupid.

I'll take my indoor Northern California air quality over outdoor L.A. (Southern California) air quality any day of the week. 

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       By the looks of it all turned really well, it was worth the investment.  Hell, sitting up on a rooftop overlooking the foliage with a cold beer in one hand and tongs in the other & cooking on the Yak is simply heaven.  No down side there.

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Thanks to everyone for the info.  Sorry I’ve been out of touch.  We had to rush our 13-year-old goldendoodle to the veterinary hospital for an emergency splenectomy Tuesday evening.  Thankfully, he survived a very risky surgery and came home yesterday.  The first sign of a problem, ironically, was a seizure in my office a few days before.    Blood clots were the cause of all this and he is now on Plavix and Xarelto, among other meds.  Quite an ordeal.

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On Sunday, we pulled the trigger on this model:

 

 

KINKA BBQ Diatomite Charcoal Grill Stove Konro yakitori 375×215mm B-4 w/Tracking
It arrived yesterday from Japan.  Unfortunately, there is a large crack in the diatomite at the top on one end and the metal frame there is bent.  The shipping carton and the internal packing carton both had some damage.  I’ve already emailed Global Kitchen Japan with photos.  The unit is probably usable but on the off chance they want it back we won’t use it.  No Yakitori this weekend.  😢

Our order also included a Mac frozen food knife - yes, you read that correctly.  Couldn’t resist at $19, since it barely increased the shipping charge.

image.thumb.jpeg.190655136507e66fea4742509e1f4a29.jpeg

 

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2 hours ago, braindoc said:

On Sunday, we pulled the trigger on this model:

 

 

KINKA BBQ Diatomite Charcoal Grill Stove Konro yakitori 375×215mm B-4 w/Tracking
It arrived yesterday from Japan.  Unfortunately, there is a large crack in the diatomite at the top on one end and the metal frame there is bent.  The shipping carton and the internal packing carton both had some damage.  I’ve already emailed Global Kitchen Japan with photos.  The unit is probably usable but on the off chance they want it back we won’t use it.  No Yakitori this weekend.  😢

Our order also included a Mac frozen food knife - yes, you read that correctly.  Couldn’t resist at $19, since it barely increased the shipping charge.

 

nice. while you wait for the replacement, this is a good time to make your own Tare sauce and get bamboo skewers (thin spikes and paddles) sized for your grill. a squirt bottle to spray sake or water. an uchiwa fan if you want to raise charcoal temp, but i don't really use one..

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