Help on how to maintain grill temp

[mark61010]

I'm a new KK owner in the past few weeks. Im having a problem with temp control. I'm using the KK with a Party Q. I followed a recipe from this forum last night: 15lb pork shoulder with Chris Lilly rub. Full basket of the Coco Char. Lit the basket with 10 briquets of Kingsford I'm trying to use up. Opened top cap 1/2 turn from full closed. Set the Party Q for 220. Closed the grill and let the party Q bring it up to 220 in about an hour. Put the Butt on and reset the Party Q for 225. Closed the top cap down an 1/8 of a turn (so now open 3/8 of a turn). Had a beer and went to bed:)

Got up this morning to check. 9 hours elapsed. Grill temp almost 300 (at meat level, using a good thermo-couple thermometer). Meat temp 190. Meat looking beautiful, ready to fall apart. Pulled Butt off, wrapped in foil, now resting in cooler for later today.

Is keeping the temp down just a matter of closing down the top cap on the KK even more? It feels like the top cap gasket is touching at 3/8 turn. I'm trying to maintain that 225 degree temp for a longer period.

I've had the issue the last three cooks (Butt, ribs, butt). Temp seems to creep up.

Oh, and any advice on how long meat can rest in the cooler before it becomes unsafe? Meat came off at 7:30 am. People coming over for Q at 3:00pm.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Firemonkey]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

When using a power draft controller you want to close the grill up completely and let the fan do all the work. The top hat setting you used would be fine if you were using natural airflow (assuming a 1/8 inch opening on the dial as well). Try closing the grill completely - just spin the top hat and let it seat itself. You don't have to crank on it or anything. The fan will force enough air out as it blows.

Wrap the meat in foil and a couple towels in the cooler. It will still be burning your fingers when you pull it this afternoon.

[smokelinn]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

I had similar problems the first cook on my new KK. The temp kept rising even with the draft doors closed. I checked the draft door and gas burner door to see if they seated flat against their flanges in the body of the KK. Mine were slightly warped from mounting the sockets for the slides. I carefully tried to adjust them to sit flat and took a cue from my old RJ Kamado and put a strip of self adhesive foam gasket tape around the edges. This has allowed me to hold temps better.

Also the gasket rope around the top damper on mine does not have a uniform height for the full circumference thusly never fully sealing the top even when closed. I would think with a fan, one could leave the top almost closed and still allow the fan to move air, as Firemonkey has stated.

[DennisLinkletter]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

You are better off not using the blower until the grill is heat soaked and at the target temp. When you first light the charcoal the body is absorbing much of the heat and will give you a false reading of the heat generated. The temp control device will run the blower until it reaches the set target temp. All this forced airflow will light much more charcoal than is needed and even with all vents and your damper top closed will result in your grill overshooting the target temp.

[lee grabowski]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

I also had a hard time holding low temperatures and discovered the lower draft door was not sealed tight on the bottom. I discovered it using a placing a piece of paper between the stainless steel mating surfaces on the slide in draft door and the stainless steel surface of the KK, the paper would easily slide so I knew there was a gap at the bottom. I could also see light when a flashlight was on the out side and I looked inside.

After sliding out the draft door mine has 4 little bolts on the inside which hold on the slide bars, I loosened the bolts and started shimming (with aluminum foil) near the top side only of the little bolts, which closed the bottom gap, tighten the bolts and check it on the KK. After a couple of adjustments it was a perfect fit.

I can easily hold 180 Degrees F. for 6 hours, great for smoking fish.

Hope this helps.

Lee

[DennisLinkletter]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

After sliding out the draft door mine has 4 little bolts on the inside which hold on the slide bars, I loosened the bolts and started shimming (with aluminum foil) near the top side only of the little bolts, which closed the bottom gap, tighten the bolts and check it on the KK. After a couple of adjustments it was a perfect fit.

Lee

This is not how I recommend adjusting the lower draft door..

First I need to reiterate that the draft door is not supposed to slide easily in and out..

the tension in the guide tubes is by design.

It is necessary to hold the door snugly against the stainless frame. The doors are absolutely set at the factory.. Impossible for them not to be..

The problems always come from owners who think they should slide like a drawer and try to adjust them.

To check..

First close the door completely and press on each corner to ensure door is touching the frame.. the door should have absolutely no movement, all four corners should be tight against the folded frame.

To adjust..

You need to adjust the tubes welded into the frame to adjust the doors position. You need to get a steel rod or long screwdriver that can fit into the tube.. the tighter the fit and longer the shaft the better. Let's say 12" or longer is easiest to use.

Let's say the lower right corner is out.. Place the shaft into the tube, and gently move the rear end of the tube up "JUST A LITTLE BIT" this will pull the corner in.. Start small.

If the entire right side top and bottom is out, you will want to move the rear of the tube left.. "JUST A LITTLE BIT" this will pull the corner in.. Start small.

As you will see the adjustment of the tube will change how the door sits. You also quickly see how the tension between the rods and tube is by design..

If you have tried to adjust your door by putting pressure on the rods you might have tweaked your door. Please look across the top of the sheet metal to ensure it is still straight and flat..

Please feel free to give me a call if you would like to discuss this further..

[Loquitur]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

I have had good luck with using my Stoker at the start of the cook but setting it 25 deg less than my target temp. Then I reset it online to my target temp after 45 min or so. And I keep the top vent open just an inch or so.

Susan

[Paswesley]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

I'm a new KK owner in the past few weeks. Im having a problem with temp control. I'm using the KK with a Party Q. I followed a recipe from this forum last night: 15lb pork shoulder with Chris Lilly rub. Full basket of the Coco Char. Lit the basket with 10 briquets of Kingsford I'm trying to use up. Opened top cap 1/2 turn from full closed. Set the Party Q for 220. Closed the grill and let the party Q bring it up to 220 in about an hour. Put the Butt on and reset the Party Q for 225. Closed the top cap down an 1/8 of a turn (so now open 3/8 of a turn). Had a beer and went to bed:)

Got up this morning to check. 9 hours elapsed. Grill temp almost 300 (at meat level, using a good thermo-couple thermometer).

I want to qualify my comment by stating that I do not use a temp regulating device. That said, I do have extensive knowledge of how to maintain KK temps using the simple physics that Dennis has engineered into the KK.

I suggest that you do everything that you describe above after stabilizing the KK at the temp that you want to maintain. Heat soak the KK at 220 before you hook it up to your device, rather than letting the device do the heat soaking. I think that your KK continued to heat soak until it reached 300, based on how the drafts were set. Once these massive babies heat soak, it is very difficult to get them to shed heat so long as any oxygen is available. So, try heat soaking it first. Just trying to help, so please take this in a positive light. I could be bass ackward in my thinking.

[Loquitur]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

Some of us use a Stoker because we don't have the time or inclination to physically monitor the KK to heat soaked status. Having the capability of plugging in the Stoker at the beginning of the cook, walking away and checking it periodically online is its best feature. It just takes a little experimentation to get it tuned in to your KK and your style. But its time well spent. I agree totally automatic temperature control is not needed with a KK but it is a wonderful convenience and works extremely well.

[bryan]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

I agree with Paswesley. I also do not use control devices.

Dennis has designed and redesigned the Komodo-Kamado many times involving years of product study, development and expensive material investment.

There are good instruction here on site for learning heat control. Spending a little time up front learning temp control and not so much concentration on food product will soon make you a Komodo-Kamado master Chef. Without that ability you can't get there from here. You will become dependent on electronics. The Komodo-Kamado will work anywhere anytime and let laymen out perform Chefs. That is what we bought. The rest is up to us. A few kind words and a pat once in a while is the only price to be the best in your world grilling.

Best money I ever spent. Welcome to the club.

I advise that one throw away the crutches and get as one with this great piece of equipment.

You can cook. Try it and get your moneys worth. It will do all you bought it for with no outside help.

We have all been where you are. Someone guided us and the forum is here for you.

I can see where having a device to shut down a cook and take the product up could be handy at times.

[dub]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

I have a RJIndo-K and my tophat won't give repeatable positioning unless I

prop it open at low settings. The whole apparatus is too,er,

"woogity".

A former 1/2" wood chisel ground to a long slow wedge does the job nicely.

I can even mark the chisel face to ensure consistency.

Another thing,grease buildup at the tophat junction can cause restriction error.

An occaisional scrape or burnout is a good idea.

dub(kluge,kluge,kluge)

[mguerra]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

You don't NEED a Guru or a Stoker. But if you love toys you really WANT one! It is totally unnecessary for grilling. Just open the vents all the way, rage the fire, and grill til done. For a low and slow or baking it is handy, albeit not needed.

In fact, if you think about, you really only need five fire temps in your KK. A hot grilling fire, a low and slow from 200 to 300, and a baking fire, 350 to 400 will cover most cooks. Maybe a special cool fire for smoking cheese, and a hot pizza fire. If you can finagle your vents to get a fire anywhere between 200 to 300, your low and slow is set. Same for your 350 to 400 baking fire. Actually the grilling fire and the pizza fire are pretty much the same, basically wide open. So no, a controller is not needed.

But it's fun to have...

[mk1]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

I agree with the good Doctors comments.

If I want to set my fan up from the beginning for a low and slow I just plan on an overshoot and set the guru on say 210.

[Eric Moe]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

Something to try. I have been cooking every weekend since my KK arrived about three months ago and initially I have similar issues.

My issue was that I was bottom lighting my full basket of CoCo char from the bottom by lighting a bit of tender under the coal basket. Too much charcoal would be started and keeping low temps (I set my BBQ Guru to 230F) woud be challenging, sometimes hitting 300 before backing down.

Now I am getting 30+ hour cooks and using half the charcoal. The difference? I am top lighting the CoCo with a Looftlighter (about a silver dollar patch is all that is needed) and then opening bottom 1/3 and top half turn from snug. "Debbie" heat soaks in about an hour and holds steady with no drama.

[bryan]

Re: Help on how to maintain grill temp

Something to try. I have been cooking every weekend since my KK arrived about three months ago and initially I have similar issues.

My issue was that I was bottom lighting my full basket of CoCo char from the bottom by lighting a bit of tender under the coal basket. Too much charcoal would be started and keeping low temps (I set my BBQ Guru to 230F) woud be challenging, sometimes hitting 300 before backing down.

Now I am getting 30+ hour cooks and using half the charcoal. The difference? I am top lighting the CoCo with a Looftlighter (about a silver dollar patch is all that is needed) and then opening bottom 1/3 and top half turn from snug. "Debbie" heat soaks in about an hour and holds steady with no drama.

Give "Debbie" a hug. She has taught you well. With a little practice on fine tuning you have it nailed and are soon to be a Komodo-Kamada Chef.

All thanks to a man who cared enough to do his job right, and is driven to insure his customers get what they deserve.

Raise a glass to Dennis Linkletter.

[jmagaram]

I am having trouble maintaining temperatures too. I've only done a few cooks. For the first one, I lit lots of the charcoal in many different spots using a Looftlighter with the vents open and then closed them down substantially after about 10 minutes. The temp got much higher than I wanted. For my second cook I undershot it. Tonight I nestled a paraffin cube in the top/middle of the coals, lit it, and immediately closed the lid and closed down the dampers a lot without even waiting to see if the paraffin cube caused the coals to get going. Well they did get going. I was aiming for about 275 but it got to 330. I will keep trying to learn. So far it seems that it is REALLY important to light the bare minimum amount of charcoal in the beginning (like what I did with the paraffin cube) AND to keep the dampers barely open AND expect to wait at least an hour for the temperature to get where you want.

Once the temperature gets above the goal it is extremely difficult to bring it back down. I tried closing off all the dampers completely and the temp did drop 40 degrees. Then I got nervous I was going to extinguish the coals and barely cracked the dampers open again, which caused the temp to spike again. Is this a reasonable strategy for bringing the temp down? How long can you close off the dampers before the fire is totally extinguished, and does this make the food taste bad since it is trapping some smoke in there?

The manual talks about "x turns of the upper damper" and am not clear what this means. What is a full turn? I assume a full turn of the upper damper means 180 degrees since that brings the metal fins back to where they started.

If anyone has more specific guidance here about reaching and maintaining goal temps I'd love to hear it.

Sent from my All Series using Tapatalk

[5698k]

You have a very heavy grill with lots of thermal mass that has to be warmed up also. For any type of controlled temperature cook, light a small amount, crack your vents, an be patient! I'm talking an hour minimum! You're right to think it's better to not have to bring temps down, you'll be constantly chasing. When you learn what vent settings give you X temp, you'll light, walk away, and be good to go. <br />

<br />

I always considered a full turn as 360°.<br />

<br />

<br />

Robert

[tony b]

In the beginning with my old POSK, I got this tip off their old forum - put a magic marker line  on the damper and lid (or on masking/duct tape if you worry about "graffiti" on you beautiful KK) where you get 225F (250F, whatever), so you just line up the two marks - simple. This trick only works for damper positions less than 360 degrees of course. And, windy conditions will mess with it a little, but not enough to fret over. If you want, you can use different colors for each temp (blue for 225F, red for 350F), as Doc said, you only need a couple of target temps other than wide open (>500F) for a vast majority of cooks. And, after a while you just get a natural feel for it, so you can let the marks wear off (take the tape off).