kad1979 Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Well, after 2 years of being on the fence I cannot wait for my KK 19.5" to arrive tomorrow! Needless to say I will be putting it through the paces Thurs/Fri/Sat. Any first timer advice? I am thinking whole chickens Thurs, steaks Friday, parlayed into a low and slow pork butt started Friday night for Saturday dinner. This will be quite the change from my go to grill of a thai stove for the past 2+ years. Like a kid on xmas eve right now... Thanks, Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Re: New to the club! Welcome to the forum.. Looking forward to your first cooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookie Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Re: New to the club! Welcome to the club... First timer advice... 1. Always start with a full basket of fuel 2. Let the KK come up to your desired cooking temp slowly and get "heat soaked" before you put the food in the cooker. Get impatient and light too much charcoal and you will overshoot your desired temp and the KK is so darn efficient, it will take forever to come back down to your desired cooking temp. 3. Vents don't have to be open much to get low to medium temps...careful does it. 4. Try to wipe that grin off your face, your friends are already jealous enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Re: New to the club! I don't think you need to heat soak for grilling. But you will get some heat soak parlaying your steak cook into a low and slow. The problem there is that to cook steaks you need a lot more charcoal going than the low and slow will require. But a low and slow can still be pulled off. After you finish the steaks make sure you have a full basket of charcoal. Open the daisy wheel to about a penny's thickness, just barely crack the top hat open. A low and slow can be done hotter than 225 for a pork butt. And you will start hotter after your steaks. But the tiny vent openings will give you a gradually descending fire temp that will work fine for a pork butt. It is a super forgiving cook regarding fire temp. Alternatively if you have a suitable catchment vessel you can just remove some of the lit charcoal from the KK and leave only a little fire behind. Lighting too much charcoal is definitely a mistake for low and slow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kad1979 Posted May 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Re: New to the club! Wow, thanks for the very informative replies! I will be sure to post some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paswesley Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Re: New to the club! Welcome! My advice is to savor every moment and every bite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee grabowski Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Re: New to the club! Welcome to the forum. I also have the 19.5 OTB and just yesterday smoked Salmon for 6 hours at 170-180 Deg. F. all the advice above is correct. My only added information is how to control the heat on a low and slow by using a set of mechanics feeler gauges. This is my routine for smoking Salmon. Light a golf ball size of new lump charcoal and let the KK warm up about 1 hour with the lower daisy wheel open only the thickness of a coin, top hat 1/4 turn, the temp. will rise very slowly. Put on the meat set the lower daisy wheel at .035 (thousands), and open the top hat to only 1/4 turn, because the meat is cold it will stay at a lower than your desired cooking temperature, but after about an hour or so the dome temperature will rise to what you want and stay there. I also monitor the dome temperature with a digital temperature meter. Be patient with low & slows. For the pork shoulder I set the lower daisy wheel to .055 (thousands), because of the size of meat (8lbs.) it takes a long time for the temperature to rise again. This has worked well for me. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kad1979 Posted May 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Re: New to the club! What a day yesterday!!!! The KK arrived around 5:00 pm and I quickly wheeled it around back to my back patio. Un-crated the thing and had it unwrapped and ready to go probably by 6:30 pm. Like many people have said before, AMAZING!!! As many photos as I have looked at I still was not prepared for the manner in which this thing is built! On with the first run. I will spare you all of the little details but lets just say this...I went to bed at midnight with the temp pinned at 225 and woke up at 7:00 am with the temp pinned at 225!!!!!! This thing is incredible!!!!!! And prior to midnight once I got it nailed at 225 it did not budge off unless i was messing with the controls. A few pics....I am rarely a man of few words but I was damn near speechless last night!!!!! If you have been on the fence like I was (for 2 years) get the hell off!!! (please excuse my poor quality photos as they were taken with my phone) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kad1979 Posted May 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Re: New to the club! At 160 this morning when I checked it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigeranteater Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Re: New to the club! Congrats friend and may you have many grilling days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loquitur Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Re: New to the club! You have a real beauty there, kad. Keep the pix coming!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted May 21, 2012 Report Share Posted May 21, 2012 Re: New to the club! Sitting on the fence. I did that. I bet more than a few folks did. The thought of dropping that much coin on a "grill" and trying to explain it to your wife is a little dicey. I was perched up on that railing for over a year. Remember Jon Voigt in Deliverance and his bout of buck ackering (sp?)? He just couldn't let that arrow fly! But with the KK, if you are on the fence, just do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
