Cedar Planked Salmon - First KK cook

[cschaaf]

Hey everyone

I did my first KK cook tonight. Overall, it went very well.

I do have one question:

• Do you close your bottom vent when you open the lid to check the food, baste, or whatever? My temps soared when I opened the lid. It didn't affect this cook at all, just wondered for future cooks.

I soaked the planks for 2 days. That wasn't my plan, I just didn't get home in time last night to use them. Worked out fine. They didn't char much, so next time I might toast them for a few minutes on each side before placing the fish. That, or put them on the lower grate.

My wife made the glaze, not sure what all went into it - apricot preserves, some whole grain mustard, a few pieces of diced up jalapenos, not sure what else. Sweet and spicy. Very good.

My controller info is posted below - sorry, an over temp error popped up at the end when I was taking the fish out and I didn't clear it in time, so the screen is a bit washed out. Ignore the light blue areas, that's the fan speed, but I didn't have the fan connected for this cook. I don't have my dome thermo yet, so I used my HeaterMeter to monitor the grate temp (indicated by the orange line).

The dip at 18:35 was just me opening the lid to peek at the coals. Probably shouldn't have done it, but I was curious.

I was shooting for 350 and ended up around 360 and very slowly climbing when I put the fish on around 19:15. I made very few adjustments to get there. It took me a bit to get the fish on as I had to also snake the food probe through the grommet and get it placed. It's a bent probe and I didn't straighten it quite enough. It goes in, but you have to get the angle right. I'll fix that before the next cook.

You can see my temp spiked to over 400 degrees after that - because I had the lid open too long. That's where I a m wondering if you would have temporarily shut the bottom vent. The remaining dips are when I opened the lid to glaze the salmon. I should have started that a bit earlier to really get the glaze to set better, but it still worked out.


On the planks: (No plated shot)

 

ETA:

 

They came out perfect. The most juicy salmon I've ever had.

 

First cook impressions:

• Startup was really fast. I lit using 1 Rutland starter cut in half. In about 6 minutes, I had 2 areas of lump well lit with flames a few inches high.
• I'll need some practice with that top vent. I probably twisted that thing 30 times trying to remember which way was open and which was closed... and how far open was I???
• The probe port also has a learning curve. And speaking of curve, straightening my food probe more will help.
• I really need my side tables. Can't wait till they get here
• Amazed at how (relatively) cool the outside of the grill stayed. It was the hottest around the "waistline", but I could still hold my hand there for 5 - 8 seconds without any discomfort.
• Heat soaking will take a long time - longer than I will have available most nights. I think that's alright though, I'll mostly be using it to grill during the week with the more elaborate cooks on the weekend.
• The coals shut down very fast.

[Rak]

Great first cook!  That Salmon looks really good. 

 

I'll let the pro's answer about the bottom vent, but from my experience, once the KK is heat soaked, you really don't have to worry about big temp spikes.  Just my experience, but I'm curious to hear the experienced owners respond.

[tony b]

I've not experienced this spiking when opening the lid. In fact, just the opposite, the dome temperature drops because of all the heat you've let out when you hold open the lid. Hence, the old BBQ'ers saying, "If your looking, you ain't cooking!" 

[wilburpan]

How far open were your top and bottom vents?

[cschaaf]

How far open were your top and bottom vents?

I'm not even sure lol. I tried following the picture in the KK manual for 350 - so the top was supposed to be 2 turns and the bottom about 3/4 open. 

 

I ended up having to back off of those. I'd guess for most of the time, I was about 1 turn on the top and maybe half open on the bottom? I really don't know. lol My "1 turn" could have just as easily been 8 turns

[cschaaf]

I've not experienced this spiking when opening the lid. In fact, just the opposite, the dome temperature drops because of all the heat you've let out when you hold open the lid. Hence, the old BBQ'ers saying, "If your looking, you ain't cooking!" 

Yes, the temp dropped quickly, but as soon as I shut the lid, the temps took off. More air flowed in stoking the coals. 

[cschaaf]

I struggled with the top vent as much as, or more than, I thought I would. It's not as intuitive as a vent that you can see. That's not to say that it's not better in the long run, it's just harder for me to 'see' what is happening.

 

I'm typically numbers and math challenged. If a recipe calls for 4 cups of flour, I count them out, "one..... two.... thre... wait, is THIS three or is the last one three... or the next one???"

 

That's pretty much what I did with the top vent. It got a bit tougher to turn as it heated up, then I wasn't quite sure where 'closed' was.

 

This might help me - is there a way to set the top vent so that in the 'closed' position, the ears are in a specific place? Like get them to point left/right or towards/away? Right now, in my closed position, they are at angles. It's harder for me to remember where they started.

[Newg4]

Congrats on the first cook. That salmon looks great!!

[5698k]

I'm guessing you had too much fire lit, and you likely had the vents too open. For 350° ish, the bottom needs about 1/4"-1/3", the top about one turn open at most. One thing to check, make sure both lower draft doors are pushed completely closed, closing the lid kinda hard might have pushed them open a bit. There is no set spot for the ears to end up closed, you just learn where yours is. The top becomes very intuitive, it just doesn't take much opening except for hi heat cooks. I had to tell Bosceaux to almost close his for 225°, but I finally convinced him. Kk's are remarkably efficient, it takes very little airflow to get a given temperature. Learn by lighting a small fire, bottom vent 1/3" open, and about two turns on the top until you approach target temp, then start cranking the top down.

Getting harder to turn as it heated doesn't sound right, the top vents usually turn very easily. Were you all the way open maybe?

You don't need to heat soak for direct grilling, you're fine once you reach target temp, and you'll quickly learn to get 300°-400° in less than 30 minutes.

[ckreef]

Great first cook but you definitely over thunk it.

Where to start...........

Come home from work, get the lump basket filled then fire up the KK. Park it where you want it - even if it takes you two hours to prep the food the KK will be waiting.

When figuring out the top vent, open it about 2 turns then give it a good free spin towards closed. Where it lands is where closed is - go from there. You never have to tighten the top vent down - just barely snug is good enough.

What I do for 350* - fill firebox - light really good in one spot (get yourself a MAPP torch) - top vent 3 turns - bottom vent fully open and stroker plug removed - at 250* close top vent to 2 turns - at 350* close top vent to 1 turn, put stroker plug back in, set bottom vent to about 1/4". Give it about 15-30 minutes and it should Park right around 350*. This whole procedure should take about 1 hour, maybe a little more with heat deflector installed for indirect. One hour should be about right to go inside settle down from work and prep the meal. I use this basic method almost every night where I get home between 5-6 and go to bed 9-10 - you just have to manage your time properly.

In what you posted it seemed like you left the dome open to long getting the probe in which got the grate temp high even though the heat soaked temp as a whole was actually lower. Get the grate probe setup right after you lite it.

Having the dome temp plunge right after basting is normal. If fully heat soaked it should recover within five minutes or so. I only open my bottom vent before opening the dome if I'm doing a 400*+ CI sear or a 500*+ direct sear.

Well that's the way I roll anyway - hope that helped a little.

Charles

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[cschaaf]

I'm guessing you had too much fire lit, and you likely had the vents too open. For 350° ish, the bottom needs about 1/4"-1/3", the top about one turn open at most. One thing to check, make sure both lower draft doors are pushed completely closed, closing the lid kinda hard might have pushed them open a bit. There is no set spot for the ears to end up closed, you just learn where yours is. The top becomes very intuitive, it just doesn't take much opening except for hi heat cooks. I had to tell Bosceaux to almost close his for 225°, but I finally convinced him. Kk's are remarkably efficient, it takes very little airflow to get a given temperature. Learn by lighting a small fire, bottom vent 1/3" open, and about two turns on the top until you approach target temp, then start cranking the top down.

Getting harder to turn as it heated doesn't sound right, the top vents usually turn very easily. Were you all the way open maybe?

You don't need to heat soak for direct grilling, you're fine once you reach target temp, and you'll quickly learn to get 300°-400° in less than 30 minutes.

Thanks, Robert!

 

I may have had too much lit. I lit the two areas and left the dome open. I planned on 10 minutes, like with my other kamado, but closed it around 7 minutes as it was taking off.

 

I checked the bottom doors a few times just to be sure. They were as closed as they could be. I do have a small air leak as my dome thermometer wasn't installed. That could play a small role.

 

Looking at my graph, I got to 350 in just under 30 minutes, which I'm very happy with. I just wondered about controlling the temp after a dome open. This thing responds very quickly to small inputs, so the large input of an open dome really changed things.

 

The top seemed to be 'sticky' in a few spots. I'd spin to close and hit a spot where I thought it was closed. I'd push a bit harder and it wold turn freely again. I don't remember hitting those when it was cool. I'll check it tomorrow.

 

 

 

Great first cook but you definitely over thunk it.

Where to start...........

Come home from work, get the lump basket filled then fire up the KK. Park it where you want it - even if it takes you two hours to prep the food the KK will be waiting.

When figuring out the top vent, open it about 2 turns then give it a good free spin towards closed. Where it lands is where closed is - go from there. You never have to tighten the top vent down - just barely snug is good enough.

What I do for 350* - fill firebox - light really good in one spot (get yourself a MAPP torch) - top vent 3 turns - bottom vent fully open and stroker plug removed - at 250* close top vent to 2 turns - at 350* close top vent to 1 turn, put stroker plug back in, set bottom vent to about 1/4". Give it about 15-30 minutes and it should Park right around 350*. This whole procedure should take about 1 hour, maybe a little more with heat deflector installed for indirect. One hour should be about right to go inside settle down from work and prep the meal. I use this basic method almost every night where I get home between 5-6 and go to bed 9-10 - you just have to manage your time properly.

In what you posted it seemed like you left the dome open to long getting the probe in which got the grate temp high even though the heat soaked temp as a whole was actually lower. Get the grate probe setup right after you lite it.

Having the dome temp plunge right after basting is normal. If fully heat soaked it should recover within five minutes or so. I only open my bottom vent before opening the dome if I'm doing a 400*+ CI sear or a 500*+ direct sear.

Well that's the way I roll anyway - hope that helped a little.

Charles

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

Yeah, timing is pretty tough. I get home around 6 and my wife goes to bed at 10, so there isn't a lot of time that we can afford to lose. I had the basket all loaded with the starters in place. All I had to do was light them. Then I go change out of my work clothes, load in the grate probe and top grate, and close the lid. I made my fist vent adjustments when it hit 300. And I was very happy with how it leveled off. It held at 355 for a few minutes, then started to very slowly climb - which I was fine with. 

 

It was also pretty windy tonight (tornado warnings tonight through mid day tomorrow) so that may have played a role - but I don't think a big one.

 

Overall, it was a great fist cook. I'll learn more if I can get in another cook or two this week, then hopefully burn in this weekend.

 

I appreciate ALL of the advice and I will keep it all in mind as I continue to learn.

[wilburpan]

I'm not even sure lol. I tried following the picture in the KK manual for 350 - so the top was supposed to be 2 turns and the bottom about 3/4 open. 

 

I ended up having to back off of those. I'd guess for most of the time, I was about 1 turn on the top and maybe half open on the bottom? I really don't know. lol My "1 turn" could have just as easily been 8 turns

 

As has been mentioned, I think your bottom vent was too far open. Since you’re coming from a KJ grill, one of the things to get used to with a KK grill is that it’s so much more efficient compared to the ceramic grills that you need vent settings that will seem ridiculously small to hit the same target temperature. 

 

I’ve found that I typically will set my bottom vent settings smaller than what the KK handbook says. For 350ºF, I’d go for 1/4†open or so, and about 1 turn of the top vent, give or take. I’ll then twiddle the top vent to hit 350ºF.

 

In general, I set the bottom vent pretty small, because if something happens on the top side, like opening the lid, or gusts of wind coming by, the bottom vent will limit the amount of air that goes through.

 

Based on your vent settings, I think that the bottom vent was open enough that it allowed a lot of air to come through after you opened the lid, causing your temperature spike. 

 

I mentioned this recently, but it bears repeating. Once you figure out what vent settings work for you, you will get very repeatable results. CC doesn’t seem to be posting much lately, but if he was around, he would say to spend an afternoon with your grill, and start a fire as if you were doing a low and slow, trying to stabilize at the lowest temperature you can (200ºF for example). Then write down your settings. Open the vents a little, and see where the thermometer goes. After 15-30 minutes, write down the new temp and your vent settings. Keep going, trying to hit 25ºF intervals. After you finish doing this, you’ll have a good reference for future cooks.

[tinyfish]

Some good advice so far.

For my top damper if in doubt I start again from closed and count my spins.

[bosco]

I have the dual vent so I will try and add some advice.

I would first recommend tossing the proble gadget aside... Just for a bit until you get comfortable with the KK. Learn its settings without the gadgets.

Now for both my kks the settings are the same.

Low and slow cooks

To start

Bottom damper 1/4 open

Top damper 1/2 turn open

Once around 200 I dial the bottom back to just a sliver open and the top maybe 1/4 turn if that.

That gets me right around 225-250

Grilling 350-375

I can hit this temp in 10 min on the 23 every time

To start

Bottom half open

Top 3 turns open

Around 300 I dial bottom to a 1/4 open and top down to about 1 turn open.

That gets you in the ball park of 350 and you tweak slightly from there all using top vent with 1/4 turn increments.

I don't see the need of bringing grill over 600 so not really leaving things fully open at anytime.

Lighting- I only light in one spot now for low and slow or high heat. They are very efficient and heat quickly due to air flow and they really have no need for multiple lighting spots. I would always overshoot my temps if I lit in multiple spots.

You really need to buy into the theory of less is more now. The KK runs better and it is amazing to see just how little air flow is required to heat them up.

Lastly when you close the top damper it will get to a spot where it stops. That is closed. I then give it a light turn from there as a final lock.

For me, the two stainless markers stop around the 10 and 4. I turn it just a tad more so it is around the 11 and 5.

When I do turns I open the damper from 11 and 5 position to a 9 and 3. I then open three full turns so I always know where I am at.

Honestly a few more cooks and you will be a pro!!!

[MacKenzie]

Your cedar plank salmon sounds delicious.

[Jon B.]

Had to laugh at this comment................I resemble that also!!!!!! 

I'm typically numbers and math challenged. If a recipe calls for 4 cups of flour, I count them out, "one..... two.... thre... wait, is THIS three or is the last one three... or the next one???"

 

When I first started cooking on the KK, I must have open and closed the top vent 20 times per cook.  Now it is pretty much "set it and forget it".  

 

Good first cook!!!!!!!

[cschaaf]

Thanks all!

 

Bosco, than you for the detailed steps. 

 

 

I have the dual vent so I will try and add some advice.

I would first recommend tossing the proble gadget aside... Just for a bit until you get comfortable with the KK. Learn its settings without the gadgets.

Unfortunately, I don't have a choice at this point. The dome thermometer went MIA on this KK, so the only way I can know my temps is with my HeaterMeter and grate probe. in fairness, I probably would have used it anyway to monitor my food temp.

 

But, it does raise a good point. I probably wouldn't have noticed those temperature swings if I wasn't using a monitor. I might have seen the needle move on the dome thermo, but it wouldn't have made the same impression, I don't think. As it was, I sat inside and stared at my computer watching the temperature every second.

 

I'll have to continue to use the HeaterMeter until I get a dome thermometer. I might see if I can find a cheap one at Home Depot/Lowes for now. The stem on the KJ thermo is too thick.

 

I didn't think about it until right now, but the burn in process would be difficult without any way to monitor the temp! I do use a thermocouple for my grate probe, so that should probably work for the burn in and not get too hot. I'll have to dig up the specs on the one I bought.

[5698k]

http://www.teltru.com/p-271-big-green-egg-primo-komodo-grill-dome-or-other-kamado-style-replacement-thermometer-lt225r-5-inch-stem-150750-degrees-f.aspx

In case you want to order your own

[cschaaf]

<a class='bbc_url' href='http://www.teltru.com/p-271-big-green-egg-primo-komodo-grill-dome-or-other-kamado-style-replacement-thermometer-lt225r-5-inch-stem-150750-degrees-f.aspx'>http://www.teltru.com/p-271-big-green-egg-primo-komodo-grill-dome-or-other-kamado-style-replacement-thermometer-lt225r-5-inch-stem-150750-degrees-f.aspx</a><br/>

<br />

In case you want to order your own. <br />

<br />

<br />

Rob

Cool, thank you! The link got messed up a bit, I had to trim the end of it. http://www.teltru.com/p-271-big-green-egg-primo-komodo-grill-dome-or-other-kamado-style-replacement-thermometer-lt225r-5-inch-stem-150750-degrees-f.aspx

 

Only one problem -  that thermometer isn't the size of a dinner plate  

[bosco]

Are you getting one shipped??