Best way to Heat Soak for Low n Slow

[Lannoos]

Hi all,

 

Again, as a newbie I have a lot to learn, but I've been cooking' up a storm.  I've really never had so much fun cooking in my life (and I've spent most of my life cooking...!)

I've done Bread, Pizza, Steaks (reverse sear is a dream on a 2" Ribeye), Brisket, chicken and the list goes on....  What a joy to cook on a KK!

 

So that brings me back to the point.  Low n Slow, What's the best way to heat a KK and keep it where you want it?

 

I've tried a couple of different methods and I'm interested in the methods others use to maintain what I consider very low temps (<230F) in the KK using a heat deflector.

 

I've used the following techniques with varying degrees of success:

1. Light a full basket of coco charcoal, install my deflector and wait for the KK to come up to temp.  This seems to take a long time and also forces the KK to burn hotter longer to reach my target temp.  I believe that so much heat is trapped by the deflector that by the time the dome temp gets where I want it, there is too much fire in the bottom of the cooker to properly maintain the cooking temp desired (200F?). I find myself fighting the temp for the balance of the cook.
2. Light a full basket of coco charcoal and leave all the deflector/drip pans, grills out of the cooker.  Allow the cooker to come up to dome temp and stabilize for some period of time.  Then open the KK lid and build the environment for the Low N Slow cook.  This tends to give me a smaller burn in the bottom of the cooker and allows me to better regulate the cook temps for a longer period of time without overshooting.  It takes a little while after the environment is installed in the cooker to return to temp, but not nearly as long as building a small fire and waiting for the temp to come up in an ambient temp KK.

I would be interested in how others attain and maintain low n slow temps for their briskets and butts.  

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tucker]

For low-n-slow, i light a small amount of the charcoal w/ my weed burning torch, usually the center of the lump pile in the basket.

I then put the heat deflector on the basket handles, the drip pan wrapped in foil on the heat deflector, then the grills i will need.

I open the top hat 2-3 turns, open the lower vent all the way.

Monitor til it gets to ~200, then start to close the top hat, usually 1 turn at a time, and reduce the lower vent opening.

Once it gets to 220, i then close top hat to 1/8th turn open and close lower vent almost all the way.

let it stabilize, then load it w/ meat.

[GoFrogs91]

You're bound to get a lot of answers on this. I use your second method and get the grill to temp without deflector or grates. I then add my smoking wood, deflector, and grates.

Sometimes I put the meat on immediately and sometimes I wait until the temp comes back up. I haven't noticed a difference in taste either way.

My top and bottom vent settings for about 220F are identical to tucker.

Benton

[tony b]

For temps that low, be careful that you don't light too much charcoal, or like you said in #1, you'll be fighting to keep the temps down where you want them. I haven't used my deflector stone in years. For indirect cooks, I just put the drip pan on the lower grill. For low & slows, I don't load any grates, etc. until I see the dome temp start to rise, i.e., have good confidence my fire is going well. Then, I put in my smoker pot, the lower grill/drip pan, and the main grate (and upper grate if I'm using it) and let everything come up to target. Then on goes the meat. By the time the whole assembly gets to target, the smoker pot has usually started as well, so I have good smoke right out of the gate. I pretty much follow this routine whether or not I'm using the Guru fan/controllers. 

 

Hope this is helpful.

[tinyfish]

For the responders. what would you think the total time would be from lighting to complete heat soak at 225f.

[DennisLinkletter]

For the responders. what would you think the total time would be from lighting to complete heat soak at 225f.

 

The biggest variable here is what is the starting ambient temp of the grill.. It might be frozen or 86ºf at 11pm like it is here in Bali.

There are cheats to heat the grill with a large volume of burning charcoal in a starter sitting on a drip pan.. once the cold grill is heated pour the remaining charcoal into the charcoal basket. If there is too much use less to start next time.. The gas burner is a great pre-heater too..

[Lannoos]

Wow!

This group is full of enthusiasm and good information.  Thank you all for the recommendations and insight.  I can't wait to get my hands on another CHUNK of quality meat to slowly roast to perfection!

Seems that the consensus is to keep the minimum amount of charcoal burning to bring the KK to temp and then to make sure you have a good stabilization strategy.  Living in Northern California it doesn't get terribly cold here at night in the summer so my heat soak time is probably a lot different than in Bali or in Northern Wisconsin during the fall or winter.  

I will continue to practice and refine my skills, sharing what I learn along the way.  Again, I really appreciate the inputs.

[5698k]

I guess my suggestion is pretty much what you gathered, light small, and be patient. With a kk, time is on your side. If I'm cooking in the morning, I'll light the night before. Always start with a full basket of coal, and you have these options.

Robert

[wilburpan]

I've used the following techniques with varying degrees of success:

• Light a full basket of coco charcoal, install my deflector and wait for the KK to come up to temp.  This seems to take a long time and also forces the KK to burn hotter longer to reach my target temp.  I believe that so much heat is trapped by the deflector that by the time the dome temp gets where I want it, there is too much fire in the bottom of the cooker to properly maintain the cooking temp desired (200F?). I find myself fighting the temp for the balance of the cook.

 

When you say, “This seems to take a long time,†is that 30 minutes? An hour?

 

• Light a full basket of coco charcoal and leave all the deflector/drip pans, grills out of the cooker.  Allow the cooker to come up to dome temp and stabilize for some period of time.  Then open the KK lid and build the environment for the Low N Slow cook.  This tends to give me a smaller burn in the bottom of the cooker and allows me to better regulate the cook temps for a longer period of time without overshooting.  It takes a little while after the environment is installed in the cooker to return to temp, but not nearly as long as building a small fire and waiting for the temp to come up in an ambient temp KK.

 

 

I’m guessing that you think that your second method takes less time altogether that your first method. Is that right?

 

For me, what has helped more than anything else with stabilizing Smaug for low and slow cooks is to be patient. Based on experience, I know that when I have a final temp in the 200-225ºF range, the top vent is open about 1/8 of a turn, and the bottom vent is cracked open about 1/16â€. So when I am letting Smaug ramp up to that temperature, I’ll light the fire in one spot, and I have the top and bottom vents open a little bit more than those final settings: the top vent somewhere between 1/4-1/2 turns, and the bottom vent at 1/8†open.

 

Once I know that the fire is established, I’ll put in the heat deflector and grate. This is usually at the 15 minute mark. As the temperature approaches my final goal, I’ll set the top vent at 1/8 turn and close down the bottom vent to 1/16†open. This is usually at the 45 minute mark. I’ll let the grill continue to heat soak and settle in at the final temperature, and then put the meat in. Total time is about 1 hour or so.

 

That’s why I was asking what you meant by “This seems to take a long time.†The nature of maintaining a low temperature and the mass of a KK grill means that it takes longer to stabilize at a low temperature than setting up a KK grill for searing steaks. Last night I made some salmon, and I went from lighting to 600ºF in less than 15 minutes. But I know that if I make some ribs this weekend, it’s going to take an hour for Smaug to settle in at 225ºF. Once I learned that, it was much easier to get my low and slow setups going.

[ckreef]

I've done a lot of md and high heat cooks (350*-550*). I can get it up to temp and heat soaked in about 45 minutes. I do this type of cook almost nightly.

I've done a couple cooks in the 250* range. To get it stable and properly heat soaked at that temperature it took 60-75 minutes.

The one cook I did at less than 225* (average 212* to be more precise), I took it up really slow and was stable and heat soaked at around the 2 hour mark.

Personally I like Low-n-slow in the 250*-275* range. Less Startup time, less cook time, stays in the stall less time and it tastes the same in the end.

YMMV.

Edited September 30, 2015 by ckreef

[Lannoos]

Wilbur,

to place my comments in better context, I would say that option 1, letting the KK come up to temp slowly, fully loaded takes more time and is more prone to eventually get away from me if I don't monitor it closely after it reaches 130-150 dome temp.  I think that my damper control is probably the root cause of this issue because I tended to leave the top open about 1/2 a turn and the bottom about 1/4" at the top margins (I guess I have some trust and patience issues   ).  Once the Dome temp began to climb, I think that i allowed too much charcoal to become involved in the heat soaking before I hampered down, so I could not return the cooker to my target range of 220F.  It tended to stay around 250ish.  Total time averaged 1:30 minutes. I'd overshoot my temps consistently because I'd start doing something else and loose track of the temp i was working toward.  Decreasing temp would require near full shutdown and if you go too far, then you don't finish your cook.

 

What i've come to prefer is using my new DigiQ + fan for Low N Slow cooks.  This allows me to light a small central piece of charcoal (about 45 seconds with a Mapp Gas torch), set a target temperature at 200, Clip a probe to my cooking grate, open the Top damper about 1/8 turn and walk away.  The lower dampers remain closed and the fan provides the air to bring everything to a stable 200F.  Once that is established, I increase target to 220 and place my brisket into the KK to cook.  This process takes about 60-70 minutes during 70F ambient temps.  I also think that this method minimizes charcoal burn to attain and maintain target temp.  It is very easy to increase or decrease temp by 20 to 30 degrees in a reasonable period of time (20ish mins) because it is easier to recruit more charcoal than it is to retire it.

 

I may just be enamored  with the fact that I can monitor the cook from my phone anytime I want and have some help maintaining the temp using this gadget.  It is not necessary, but I do like having a dedicated controller to keep my A.D.D. in check when I'm cooking Low N Slow, otherwise I find myself wishing I'd check in on the cook more frequently....

 

ckreef may have a point, and certainly has more experience that I do.  I may try a slightly higher temp next time around, but on a smaller payload, like some pork ribs.  

talk with you all soon.

[wilburpan]

Wilbur,

to place my comments in better context, I would say that option 1, letting the KK come up to temp slowly, fully loaded takes more time and is more prone to eventually get away from me if I don't monitor it closely after it reaches 130-150 dome temp.  I think that my damper control is probably the root cause of this issue because I tended to leave the top open about 1/2 a turn and the bottom about 1/4" at the top margins

I think you are right on in your analysis. For me, 1/4†open at the bottom vent would be too much for setting up a low and slow cook.

 

What i've come to prefer is using my new DigiQ + fan for Low N Slow cooks.  This allows me to light a small central piece of charcoal (about 45 seconds with a Mapp Gas torch), set a target temperature at 200, Clip a probe to my cooking grate, open the Top damper about 1/8 turn and walk away.  The lower dampers remain closed and the fan provides the air to bring everything to a stable 200F.  Once that is established, I increase target to 220 and place my brisket into the KK to cook.  This process takes about 60-70 minutes during 70F ambient temps.  I also think that this method minimizes charcoal burn to attain and maintain target temp.  It is very easy to increase or decrease temp by 20 to 30 degrees in a reasonable period of time (20ish mins) because it is easier to recruit more charcoal than it is to retire it.

 

I may just be enamored  with the fact that I can monitor the cook from my phone anytime I want and have some help maintaining the temp using this gadget.  It is not necessary, but I do like having a dedicated controller to keep my A.D.D. in check when I'm cooking Low N Slow, otherwise I find myself wishing I'd check in on the cook more frequently....

Gadgets are fun!

I do think it’s interesting that your DigiQ hits a target temp of 200ºF in a little over an hour, and that your top vent is at 1/8 turn. That’s exactly where my top vent is at for low and slow cooks, and it’s about the same time it takes me to hit 200ºF using analog controls.

[mguerra]

As soon as I start the fire I put the meat on. The meat is in there smoking and cooking while I am stabilizing the temp. And yes, it is in there during the heavy thick smoke phase if I am using smoke wood...

Why do I do it? I can't stand the thought of "wasting" the heat and the smoke! It's not for everyone.

[Lannoos]

seems like 'reasonable eccentricity' to me mguerra  

I can't see where a little early smoke at low heat will make a huge difference over a 10 hour period.  The smoking wood is finite and it is a shame to waste good smoke!

[tony b]

seems like 'reasonable eccentricity' to me mguerra  

I can't see where a little early smoke at low heat will make a huge difference over a 10 hour period.  The smoking wood is finite and it is a shame to waste good smoke!

 

Doc's point was that he's willing to trade off early "bad smoke" for the loss of cooking heat by waiting until the "good smoke" starts. I'm in Doc's camp on this one. If I'm worried about the quality of the smoke, then I use my smoking pot. YMMV. 

[ColoradoRick]

Howdy all, Love this forum.

I am very new, got my 21" supreme last week and have it all set up for the games to begin. I have done the burn-in and one, (1) cook of 2 racks of pork ribs on the rib rack.

I used a piece of applewood as the smoke and the coffee charcoal.

 

I found the temp got away from me, unreal how this thing creates air draw.

 

I started by lighting things up, burning for about 20 min and then added my wood (a 2" round about 5" long). I pretty much immediately covered the full basket of charcoal with the diffuser stone and then placed the drip pan on top of that, then the upper grill rack with the rib rack setting on that. I was getting flames on the outside of the stone at this point.

I closed it all up and reset the top to about 2 turns open. At this point I had the bottom slide open about 1/2" and the little turn door on the second smallest hole.

 

OK... So way to soon to add the meat and WAY to much air stoking this in hind sight, anyhow.. the temp climbed to 250 before I added the ribs and started ratcheting it down to the point of only using the smallest hole on the dial and about a half... then a quarter of a turn up top. The slider at this point is all the way closed on the bottom. The temp just kept climbing .. by the 2 hour I was easily into 300 and by the 3rd I was over 350 approaching 400. I had been closing the top a half turn at a time, tightening up to the point of thinking I was going to snuff the fire all together. so maybe about a 1/4 turn?

 

In the end it turned from an intended slow smoke of about 5 hours @ 200 to a 250 to 400 climb and was at about the 3.5 hour mark where I pulled the meat. The ribs turned out good, maybe even great.

 

The thing for me to learn now is how to control temps. It just kept climbing, almost like the smaller airfeed was creating a jet like inferno. really amazing.

 

I know this is only the first, so LOTS of practice to come. I am so grateful for this forum, the info on your methods and times of creating proper opening sizes and times of certain changes in the settings when you are controlling your temps is super valuable info to a newbie like me.

 

Thanks for all your informative posts, I am reading as many as I can.

 

 

 

 

[Lannoos]

Hey there Colorado Rick,

Just happened to see your post so I thought I would share what I have learned.  

First, your were probably way too open on your lower vent and top vent.  To maintain 200-250 I've found that 1/16 to an 1/8 from full stop on top and a hairline crack in the bottom is about all you need once your reach 200F.

It is amazing how well these ovens burn.  I can also state from Experience that it is very difficult to drop temp once you've overshot your target.

 

Second, I think you added a large piece of wood.  That wood would burn and increase the heat in the oven as well.  With smoking wood, a little goes a long way.  Some folks like a very smoky result and that can be achieved in a number of ways, most of which have their own topics in the forum.  I prefer a light smoke, so I'm not a great source for that type of information.  I generally get enough smoke influence from a cup of soaked wood chips spread across the coals right before I start my cook (after I've stabilized my temp).  This allows the fire to gradually encounter more smoke wood over the course if time as the coals burn across the top of the basket.

 

Other than controlling your Airflow, you need to make sure that "if you want to cook at a low temp, you don't get too much fuel involved too fast".  I follow the recommendation of the more senior forum members in that when I light my low and slow, I only light an area about the size of a ping pong ball on the top of the charcoal.  I then open my top vent a few turns and my bottom vent wheel about half open.  From there it is a waiting game till It hits about 170.  Then I start shutting things down so I don't overshoot my 225-250 target.

 

Everything else just kinda happens automatically.  You gotta love these cookers!  Use quality ingredients at the right temp for the right time and you really cannot loose!

Good luck with your next cook.  

 

BTW, I dying to try the coffee wood charcoal.  Did it add an interesting dimension in the flavor profile of your ribs?

[tony b]

For a "newbie," Lannoos, you nailed it.

 

For Colorado Rick, listen to what Lannoos said. You had the vents open way too wide for too long. As was noted, you can't bring the temps down easily on these grills, so ease up slowly. But, you seem to cope with all this well enough to turn out some decent ribs. Hot & fast works as well as low & slow on many cuts of meat. 

 

Second, where are the pictures, man??? You know the Forum "rules." We want to see the grill and your cooks.

 

Lastly, WELCOME to the obsession! 

[5698k]

It sounds to me way too much fire was lit in the first place. Flames were coming above the stone? For a lo/slo, light no more than one spot in the coals, bottom vent about 1/4" open, top maybe one full turn to start. To maintain around 225°-250° ish, the top will be about 1/4 open. As you learn, I preach patience, you'll get the hang of it quickly. <br />

<br />

As Tony said, where are da pics??<br />

<br />

<br />

Rob

[MacKenzie]

ColoradoRick, welcome, I have the same grill, a 21 inch, love it. What colour did you get, and as you can understand some of us are imagination challenged and would like to see pixs of your setup and food. One thing I thought I'd mention, do you know there are 2 positions for the lid, one is just a catch and the has the locking lever pushed all the way in.