Pale Rider Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Hi All: Cooking some baby back ribs today. Tri tip yesterday was wonderful. I am having a bit of a challenge maintaining a heat below 300, and I wanted to seek advice from the forum members on best ways to do so. Not worried about it today, because ribbing at 325 is okay, but when it comes time for the butts, I will want to be much colder than that. Today, I am using a mix of coco and coffee wood char. I did not start with a blazing fire. I have a heat deflection stone sitting on top of the charcoal fire.I have the firebox SS separator set into the firebox on the right side, so the right â…“ of the box has no charcoal or fire. Started the fire with a Wagner heat gun, and let it rise slowly to about 325. Just for fun, I tried to turn the heat back down closer to 250, and even though the top and the bottom dampers are closed, she does not want to cool down. On my old RJK7, I had no trouble maintaining a temp of 190 and lower for sustained periods. But am wondering if the 32BBKK is so massive, that it is difficult to stay that low, or if it just takes a while to stabilize that low. Any insights or suggestions most welcome. Even guffaws. When I am drinking beer, I don't care if folks laugh at me. TIA! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 The problem came when you tried to cool it down. As massive as that grill is, it still takes an amazingly small amount of coal to get to 325°. Getting it down to 250°, with both vents closed, you've put your fire out, it's just taking that much mass a while to cool. You can hold low temps no problem, you're just gonna have to stop on the way up. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pale Rider Posted August 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 The problem came when you tried to cool it down. As massive as that grill is, it still takes an amazingly small amount of coal to get to 325°. Getting it down to 250°, with both vents closed, you've put your fire out, it's just taking that much mass a while to cool. You can hold low temps no problem, you're just gonna have to stop on the way up. Robert Thanks Robert. Makes sense. So, clamp down harder earlier in the warm up phase, so I reduce or eliminate the risk of overshoot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 It will take you some practice to learn the top and bottom damper positions for each of your target temperatures, but once you do, it's repeatable. I typically have the top damper pretty wide open when I start, just to make sure that the charcoal is lit well. Once I get about 50F below my target temp, I set the damper positions for that temp and just let it coast in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyfish Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Great advice so far. Start a smaller fire and shut it down sooner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Exactly, overshoot is not your friend with lo/slo's. You'll learn your vent settings for given temps to the point that if you're not in a hurry, you can light your fire, set your vents, and walk away. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I know we are at exact opposite ends of the size spectrum but for 225* my vents are set to this: Top vent 1/2 - 3/4 turn. Bottom vent (I only have one dial) maybe 1/8" Seems like almost nothing on the vents. I never overshoot (or try not to anyway) on the way up. Everything is planned with lowest temp cooks first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 It's amazing, the vent settings are about the same across the board I believe. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 It's amazing, the vent settings are about the same across the board I believe. Robert I found the vent settings in th manual to be very close. A good starting point none the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poochie Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I've only had mine a couple of days but if I'm staying under 400, I open the top 5 or 6 turns and only adjust the bottom vents. I like only having one to mess with and it's worked fine so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 The opposite works too. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poochie Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 True, but you can get a little more precision with the bottom vents. Setting are instantly repeatable. I have to start from "zero" with the top and count turns...which is easy to do too. Whatever puts the meat on the table! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Poochie, I must respectfully dis agree. I can't tell you how many times I don't touch my bottom vent once set, and adjust temps by slightly rotating the top. You do have to keep up with rotations, but I can do that without bending over, and possibly spilling my beer. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyfish Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I'm still learning myself but using the top damper is what creates the vacuum that draws the air through the Charcoal. Like you said many ways to put meat on the table. Here are some of the vent settings from the manual if someone doesn't have it. sorry for the poor quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 When comparing to the manual the lower temps are basically correct for me. In cooking at the higher temps I've never had my top vent open 6 turns. Usually 3 turns at the most. I won't even go 6 turns when getting it up to temp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poochie Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I have the bottom vent with two dials. It works out slightly different from the chart posted above. Experimenting is the only way to find what works. That, and making sure you let your Komodo come up to temperature and for at least 45 minutes. An hour and a half is better. There's a lot of mass to heat up but it works to your advantage by holding temps and being rock steady. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyfish Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I have the bottom vent with two dials. It works out slightly different from the chart posted above. Experimenting is the only way to find what works. That, and making sure you let your Komodo come up to temperature and for at least 45 minutes. An hour and a half is better. There's a lot of mass to heat up but it works to your advantage by holding temps and being rock steady. i forgot about the new bottom damper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilburpan Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I have the old single dial bottom vent. For low and slows, I’ll put the vent to about 1/8†open to start, and the top vent open about 1/2 turn. Then as I approach the desired temp, I’ll put it to an even smaller setting, like 1/16â€, and then use the top vent to fine tune. In our area, the wind can go from zero to somewhat windy and back again over the course of the day. I’ve found that throttling down the lower vent really helps in stabilizing temperature changes from wind. What happens is that if it’s windy, the air moving past the upper vent will draw more air through the kamado due to vacuum produced by the Bernoulli principle. (Or Venturi effect — I get the two mixed up. ) By keeping the bottom vent as closed as I possibly can, this limits the amount of extra air that can be pulled through the grill. And to reiterate what Robert said, it’s best to sneak up on the temperature rather than to overshoot and then try to bring the temperature down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnomatic Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 This is pretty standard on any insulated cooker. It's easy raise the temp, but if you overshoot, good luck getting it back down. I have an insulated cabinet smoker that behaves the same way. Using a BBQ Guru on the intake, if I'm aiming for a 225F smoke temp, I'll initially set the temp to 190F or 200F. The Guru will always, 100% of the time, overshoot the initial set temp 20F-30F on my cabinet smoker. So I compensate for the overshoot at the beginning of the cook. Once the Guru realizes it overshot and turns the fan completely off, I'll let it sit for 1/2 hour before slowly raising the setting on the in 5F increments every few minutesto my "real" set temp. At that point I can walk away till the meat is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Close your top vent a bit more, and maybe restrict the fan a bit. I just set mine and let it go, with never more that 5° overshoot. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
