Hot and Fast and… Even?

[Bunji]

Hey all! As a KK newcomer I have been taking my time, learning something new each time I get it fired up. Last night I did a shrimp cook. Used a half basket on my 32 and brought the KK up to about 325ish, let the grates heat up a bit, and then put the shrimp on. They turned out delicious of course, but I needed to do a whole lot of shuffling because the heat was super uneven across the hot side of the grill.

My lighting method was to  use two Weber wax cubes spaced a little ways apart with smaller chunks of lump across the top of the coal bed, and larger pieces below. It makes sense that the hottest spots were around where those cubes were to start I think, but are there any tricks to getting a more even heat across the coal bed? I suppose it’s really only an issue on something like shrimp where there are so many pieces to shuffle around, but it could be helpful for next time.

[Tyrus]

Bunji, keep them on the side in the off direct zone and then finish in the heat or just ride it out there quietly. Shrimp is quick, sometime quicker than you think, you can't walk away. There's basically a minute on each side to bring to perfect, you go to far they become gummy, and to early presents a problem. So, I'm sure your going to do a few more batches and with every subsequent batch you'll find that sweet spot. 

[David Chang]

@Bunji are you using a setup where the grate is positioned as close to the coals as possible? on my 19, it's the upper grate flipped upside down and placed on top of the charcoal basket to get it as close as possible. dunno if its the same on the 32. 

[tony b]

Skewers make dealing with shrimp on the bar-bee a lot easier, if you haven't tried that trick yet. 

[Poochie]

What Tony said...but I'd like to add that might want to use two skewers so they don't spin. If you have the wide skewers, one will do it.

[tony b]

Like @Poochie said - I like these flat skewers.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081H1P8BT/

[Bunji]

Skewers, what a great idea!! 
 

Grate-wise I was on the main grate, but next time I will do the upside-down upper grate approach. That, combined with skewers should make it much easier. They still turned out delicious, but tedious to track and flip each individual shrimp. Thanks everybody!

I also read through the lighting techniques thread again and I think using a blower of some kind will help me get a nice even heat across the grate, rather than just relying on the starter cubes.

[C6Bill]

You can get a cheap heat gun on Amazon for under $20 that would work well as a fan when starting your fire. I use a looftlighter, 

[tony b]

I like my FiAir, but unfortunately, you can't get them anymore.

[Poochie]

I use a Looflighter too but it's basically a heat gun with a long nose.  The drawback to a Looflighter is that you have to hold the button constantly for it to work. I put a clamp on it. Just about any heat gun will work to light lump...including a Harbor Freight $9.99 one I have that I picked up on sale. 

[tony b]

@Poochie quote: "The drawback to a Looflighter is that you have to hold the button constantly for it to work." 

My question is: How long do you need to hold the button to get the fire started with this thing? I use a MAPP torch and only run it for less than 30 secs. Then hit it with the FiAir for maybe another 30 secs. 

[Poochie]

It's a different amount of time with different lump. Sometimes you move it because noting is happening. But putting a clamp on it works so I don't have to stand there for 3 minutes while it does its thing. I thought about getting a MAPP torch. Can you invert the container and it still works?

[tony b]

@Poochie asked: "Can you invert the container and it still works?"

I use a weedburner attachment on the canister, so I've not turned it upside down. Given that it's under pressure, I would assume that it would still work upside down?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008ZA0F