newbie 2 newbie questions and an apology

[wrandyr]

I took delivery of a 21" Supreme last week, so I am at the very beginning of my journey.

First the apology. The first time I fired it up, there was smoke leaking out from the front of the main seal. I couldn't find any real reason, tried lowering the catch, and finally texted Dennis for guidance. He called me within a minute, and asked me to describe the situation. He must have asked me at least three times if the hook was on the second catch, and I responded yes each time. It wasn't. Even though I had already read several of the many posts on this forum that said to make sure it was on the SECOND catch, I had developed some sort of cognitive blind spot and was accepting that the first catch was as far as things went. The light bulb finally came on as I was taking photos to send to Dennis for troubleshooting. Doh! @DennisLinkletter, I am really sorry for bothering you with a truly dumb question (They do exist!).

First question: Is there a rule of thumb for determining when "heat soaking" is effectively complete? Some length of time? When the tile surface reaches some temperature? When your significant other says "Get on with it already!" ?

Second question: I did the cure/vent process yesterday. I decided at the last minute to roast a whole chicken while I was at it. The KK had been at or near 500°F for five hours when I put the chicken on. The temperature dropped to about 400°, but I figured things must be pretty well heat soaked by then, so I expected the temperature to recover, and made no adjustment to the vents. There was plenty of fuel left. The temperature didn't really come back up until I took the bird out 2⅓ hours later. I only opened the lid once, an hour and a half after I put the bird in. My best guess is that the humidity being thrown off by the chicken was suppressing the temperature. Does that seem reasonable? Do you all anticipate and compensate for this?

Thanks!

Randy Wright

[tekobo]

Hi Randy.  By the time I received my KK I had read the manual five times over.  I took the note to "light a grapefruit volume of charcoal" to mean literally that.  I only "loaded" my KK with that grapefruit volume of charcoal and then wondered why my first cook, chicken wings, didn't go well due to a distinct lack of heat!  I think that beats forgetting to click the second latch on your KK so don't feel so bad.

On your first question, my answer would be: it depends.  I don't bother to wait for heat soaking on hot and fast cooks.  I get the fire going, and, usually after half an hour max I am ready to grill a steak.  Heat soaking for a roast chicken might take an hour and I judge that by the fact that the temperature on the dome thermometer rises rapidly when I first start the fire, drops as the initial flame subsides and rises again until it reaches my target temperature.  Heat soaking for a pizza, to make sure that the dome reflects as much heat as possible, usually takes at least 1.5 hours.  

I'm not sure about the answer to your second question.  I expect my KK to hold a fixed temperature once I have set the upper damper at a particular number of turns and the lower damper open to a particular setting.  Did you fiddle with either after you put the chicken in?  Others may chime in with a more informed view on this one but I have not noticed the temperature dropping and then staying low for say, more than 10 minutes after putting the food in.  

[wrandyr]

I did not make any adjustments to the vents while the chicken was on. I forgot to mention that there wasn't any wind to speak of at the time.

I, too started out with a grapefruit-sized amount of charcoal. I realized that the temp wasn't going anywhere and added more. I think maybe a small jackfruit-size amount would yield a more fruitful experience.

[tony b]

Because you can efficiently snuff out the fire after a cook is over and re-light the leftover charcoal for your next cook, load up the charcoal basket so you don't risk not having enough fuel to reach your target temperature or to run out of fuel before your meat is done. The "grapefruit" analogy is just the size of the lit area of the charcoal, not the total amount of fuel to add. 

My theory of your temperature change has two parts: 1) temperature drops when you put on cold meat, especially large cuts like a whole chicken, but it should recover if the KK was fully heat-soaked. 2) Suspect that you inadvertently moved the top vent when you opened the lid to put the chicken on. A small change in top vent opening will make a noticeable difference in dome temperature. For reference, on my 23" KK, 375F dome is only 1/2 turn of the top vent off the seat. So even a slight closure, hardly noticeable, will affect the temperature by as much as 50F. 

[wrandyr]

Ah! The grapefruit paradox is solved! Thank you!

Since I am really bad at estimating, I made marks on the top stack at 15° of rotation intervals so I could keep better track at where things were. I did notice the vent wanted to move a bit when I opened and closed the lid. The sensitivity you describe could easily come into play. I could have the ratios between the top and bottom vents set in some odd fashion as well. I was running at 500°F with the bottom dial half way open and the top vent at about 105° rotation from closed, a little more than a quarter turn.

[tony b]

Bottom vent is not critical, as long as it's open enough to let sufficient air inflow for the top vent setting. It doesn't take much, as the KK is very efficient in its use of airflow, since unlike other grills, there's no air bypass around the charcoal box. 

The top vent is notorious for "walking about" on its own. The solution, if yours does this, is to get a compression spring and install it on the top vent shaft between the spider and the cotter pin in the shaft. Then, as you open the top vent, the spring compresses and creates a bit more tension to hold the top vent in a more stable position. Measure your shaft diameter and get a spring that just slightly bigger. It doesn't need to be a very strong spring, so the spring wire diameter doesn't need to be thick. This is the one that I've used with success.

Hillman 2-Pack 3-1/2-in Zinc Gate Spring in the Gate Hardware department at Lowes.com

[C6Bill]

Pork butts, they are good for practicing your temp control. You can cook one at 235 to 250 for 10 to 20 hours, depending on size. You’ll learn vent control the easy way and have some great food at the end of the day 😁 They are nearly impossible to screw up, just don’t overthink it. That is the biggest mistake many make, paralysis by analysis. Just enjoy it 👍

[wrandyr]

Thank you for the suggestions. I was under the impression that the bottom vent was the more critical of the two. The spring sounds like a good solution if it comes to it.