KK essentials

[dj-dj]

I am ordering a 32” big bad, am getting the normal basket splitter, rotisserie spit and basket, the rotisserie basket splitter, baking stone, cold smoker and side tables.
 

Is there anything else I should get, is the half rack useful for when grilling over direct heat but you also want to do indirect cooking at the same time?
 

thank you…

[David Chang]

i personally would want to get:

canvas cover

the charcoal splitter for both horizontal and vertical orientations

side tables stainless

double bottom drip pan

rotisserie spit, forks, and a strong motor.

 

maybe: 

duck hanger

 

the rest is up to you..

 

[tony b]

Depending on where you're going to keep your new beauty, if it's exposed, then I'd highly recommend getting a cover for it. Your list seems to cover most of the rest. We always tell folks to load up the pallet with as much of Dennis' cocochar (coconut charcoal) and coffee wood as will fit in the shipping container. It's the cheapest way to buy it. 

[jeffshoaf]

If you want to use the drippings from you cook, the double-bottom pan is a good investment.

[Cheesehead_Griller]

Be sure to get the stainless tables. So worth the upgrade.

[C6Bill]

Absolutely get the cover, the half grate is included with a 32. So no need to add it. At least it always has been so you might want to ask. The half grate is one thing i couldn't live without

Edited May 29 by C6Bill

[dj-dj]

@DennisLinkletter is the half grill included in the 32”?

[Hx31416]

Ever since Dennis came out with  the rotisserie spit (which I got one of the early releases almost 9yrs  ago), I never used the baskets again since you can setup almost anything on the Spit forks plus much easier to work with and clean afterwards..

[dj-dj]

KK 32” is due to arrive tomorrow, with covers, rotisserie cradle, rotisserie spit, rotisserie basket splitter, metal topped side  tables, baking stone, smoker 

Rotisserie motor is here

I have an old bbq guru but will see how I get on without it, will probably use it to confirm grill temps in the first few cooks so I can make note of vent openings and temperature. I also have the Meater 2plus 

Chicken is brining with lemon, bay leaves, pepper and juniper, and I am just about to shape a sourdough loaf and will do a retarded prove in the fridge

So If all goes to plan KK arrives tomorrow after lunch, and I’ll do the initial burn. Will then fire it up again, char beetroot in the coals, grill some peppers and spring onions (scallions), rotisserie chicken  with some beech smoke and catch the drippings to roast off some new seasons baby potatoes. Then I’ll raise the temperature and bake the loaf in a challenger pan. I am a little bit excited  

 

 

[C6Bill]

That sounds like a great plan, good luck !!!!!!

[dj-dj]

So apart from roasting beetroot in the coals (recipe said give them two hours but they were more charred than my charcoal after one hour) I had an immensely satisfying first foray. 
 

The cold smoker was used with apple chips. I did discover a huge difference between the lid thermometer and the ambient temp at the height of the rotisserie spit. The KK was reading 200C but the Meater 2 plus was detecting 143C. I think a little higher temp next time might help the skin crisp a little more but my wife described it as the most chickeny tasting chicken she had ever eaten. 
 

The bracket the rotisserie motor attaches to needs a little tweak so it is perpendicular to the spit, plus I’ll have to find a way to stop the engine slipping so far down on the bracket. So this will involve bending the bracket a little more and attaching something to control the height of the motor. 
 

Otherwise it was just perfect, easy temperature control and adjustment and the sourdough loaf came out brilliantly too. 
 

As a child my parents had a simple rotisserie grill and a childhood favourite meal was “round and round chicken”. Today felt like this memory got elevated to a ridiculous level. 
 

At what temperature post cook is it safe to place the cover on the KK?

[C6Bill]

We all like round snd round chicken 😀 Next time try a smaller tray so that the back half of the chicken is exposed to flames. Your temp is probably fine to get crispy skin, I like 375 Fahrenheit . The issue is the KK retains so much moisture that you need that extra exposure to the flames to render the fat out of the skin and crisp it.

Edited August 10 by C6Bill

[skoell]

Very nice pictures, that bird looks delicious! 

On the temperature difference between the KK probe and the Meater: did you already calibrate the Tel-Tru of your KK? When I received by 22" Table Top this week, first thing I did was putting the end of the Tel-Tru in cooking water. It was showing 80° Celcius instead of 100°... You can adjust the Tel-Tru by gently turning the large screw right on the back of it.

Also, keep in mind that because of all the heat soaking of the 32", you can have funny readings in the fist hour or so, and even beyond. For me, after all the mass of the 32" is heated, the KK Tel-Tru usually is within 5-10° Celcius of what my fireboard grate probe reporting. I am yet to find out how this is with the fairly smaller (and lighter) 22".

Edited August 11 by skoell

[dj-dj]

 

My smaller oven trays had bigger lips which would get caught by the bird as it span. I need to find  something smaller but with a lower rim. So a little further tweaking is required.  
 

Made club sandwiches today and the leftover chicken from the roast was incredible, so succulent, mild smoke flavour and could be cut into near paper thin slices. 
 

I’ll try to calibrate the thermometer on the KK this week. But last night I reverse seared a couple of steaks and the grill temp in the indirect zone  according to the bbq guru was 115, but the ambient temp according to the Meater probe was 95. I think the heat from the direct heat on the rack was being conducted along the grill rods to the indirect zone.  The temp at the lid was much higher. The bbq guru and the MEATER were in accord on the internal temperature of the steaks  

 

17 hours ago, skoell said:

Very nice pictures, that bird looks delicious! 

On the temperature difference between the KK probe and the Meater: did you already calibrate the Tel-Tru of your KK? When I received by 22" Table Top this week, first thing I did was putting the end of the Tel-Tru in cooking water. It was showing 80° Celcius instead of 100°... You can adjust the Tel-Tru by gently turning the large screw right on the back of it.

Also, keep in mind that because of all the heat soaking of the 32", you can have funny readings in the fist hour or so, and even beyond. For me, after all the mass of the 32" is heated, the KK Tel-Tru usually is within 5-10° Celcius of what my fireboard grate probe reporting. I am yet to find out how this is with the fairly smaller (and lighter) 22".

[wrandyr]

The advent of wireless thermometers seems to have led to some new ideas about what is going on around food as it cooks. There is a body of thought that claims there is a cloud of cooler temperatures around the food as a result of internal moisture moving to the surface and evaporating. The effect is also said to be the mechanism that causes the stall in low & slow. It makes sense to me, and is consistent with my experience. The logging features of these new thermometers and controllers make for a lot of fun watching what is going on throughout the KK. @skoell is correct, things vary considerably while it is warming up. That pan of handsome potatoes probably had some effect as well.

[tony b]

Two tips on using the Guru probe to monitor grate temps - first, don't clip the probe directly to the grate - you're getting heat condution from the rods and aren't measuring true air temperature. I use an old wine cork with a screw in it to clip the alligator clip to. I trim the cork on the bottom to snuggly fit between the grate rods. The second tip - akin to what @wrandyr noted, you don't want the probe too close to the meat. A couple of grate rods away (several inches) is sufficient to measure the air temperature around the meat without worrying about being "in the shadow."

For the MEATER probe, don't insert it beyond the scribed line on the probe. Again, otherwise the air probe at the tip could be "shadowed" by the meat. Another, unrelated tip about MEATER probes - while they're absolutely perfect for doing rotisserie cooks, be careful to insert the probe as close to parallel to the rotation as you can, preferably in the end of the meat. Why, you might ask? Well, I actually had this happen to me on a rotisserie cook where I stuck the probe in perpendicular to the meat surface. When it rotated, juices ran down the probe shaft and were getting cooked onto the tip of the probe. I only noticed it when the MEATER app warned me of a temperature drop. When I went out to check things, I noticed that there was a big blob of crusted material on the end of the probe, which was effectively insulation. When I wiped that off, the temperature reading went back to "normal."