A couple of questions about temp control and smoke pot cooking

[Steve M]

I have about 4-5 cooks on the new kk under my belt and have a couple of questions.

this weekend, I cooked a 11+ lb bone in boston butt. I started the kk around 7pm Friday night and opened my vents to the position that I learned would give me about 225-235. It settled in around 225 but took about 2 hours to get there. I put the butt on 4-5 hours after the initial start and the temp promptly dropped to below 200 and stayed there for about 45 minutes. I didn't want to go to bed with it hanging at such a low temp so I opened the vent slightly more to where I thought it would give me 250 and went to bed. I got up the next morning and it was 254 but when I viewed the graph, it was a very slow rise of about 4.5 - 5 hours to get there. I could tell it stabilized but I was thinking it would get there much sooner. Do you see similar results and do you compensate for it somehow? I think it easily added a couple of hours to the cook.

second question - I ordered and prepared a smoke pot for my cook but when I put it in a full charcoal basket, it wasn't completely obvious how to place a drip pan so I could have an indirect cook. Instead, I went with the foil pouch full of chunks and squeezed it down to place my drip pan on top of the pouch. How do you do this for an indirect cook?

 

[5698k]

Wrap the lower grate with foil, that'll work for a deflector. I just recently did my first smoke pot cook, it's a beautiful thing!


Rob

[bosco]

I am cooking ribs right now and I under set my grill so that the temp doesn't get hotter than I want it to.  

It took a good 2 hours to settle in at 250.  I could have rushed it but it's a journey not a race.  So I let it get to 250 at its own time with a very small opening.  This gave the ribs a long smoke time at low temps.  

I agree deflectors are not required with a KK.  Add the bottom rack and put a piece of foil down and you will have the same results as using a deflector. 

[Steve M]

Is there enough room on the 23" to have a smoke pot and lower grill?

[5698k]

Yep, that's how I did it.


Rob

[Steve M]

47 minutes ago, 5698k said:

Yep, that's how I did it.


Rob

thanks, I'll try that next time

[Syzygies]

5 hours ago, Steve M said:

I ordered and prepared a smoke pot for my cook but when I put it in a full charcoal basket, it wasn't completely obvious how to place a drip pan so I could have an indirect cook. ... How do you do this for an indirect cook?

 

2 hours ago, Steve M said:

Is there enough room on the 23" to have a smoke pot and lower grill?

I might have knocked the lid handle loop off. Long ago, I don't recall for sure, pictured is the original two quart smoke pot.

I nestle the pot into the coals so it just fits under the lower grate. I have been using a 16" terra cotta plant saucer, wrapped in foil, on the lower grate as both heat deflector and drip pan. They break every year or two, and one just did. The drip pans that Dennis designed look nice...

[tony b]

@Steve M - I've never had an interference problem with my smoking pot and using the lower grate for my drip pan as the heat deflector. If you seriously overfill the charcoal basket, you might (I say MIGHT) create an interference problem, but the solution is simple, move charcoal around until the smoking pot fits.  You definitely won't be able to use a smoking pot and put the ceramic heat deflector (or drip pan) on the handles of the charcoal basket. 

[Aussie Ora]

Can't wait to try this out on my KK do chips work good I can get hold of fruit chips here but the word is hard unless I order it online

Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

[tony b]

Chips work fine in the smoker pot and definitely better than just tossing them onto the coals or wrapping in aluminum foil. But you should load'er up if using small chips to make sure you have plenty of smoke for longer cooks. If using chunks, 3 or 4 are plenty. I like to mix woods in mine usually - one chunk basic hardwood (oak, hickory, maple, mesquite, pecan) and 2 or 3 chunks of fruit wood (apple, cherry or peach). 

[cschaaf]

I ordered a 2Q CI pot from Amazon yesterday. Should be on my porch when I get home.

Hopefully I can try it soon.

Do you guys use it for faster cooks - like, say chicken breasts?

 

[Syzygies]

9 hours ago, cschaaf said:

Do you guys use it for faster cooks - like, say chicken breasts?

I don't. Above say 275 F, the smoke gets too intense. Somewhere after that, the escaping gases ignite, and the smoke pot becomes a self-sustaining fire. This is exactly one way to make charcoal, something I experimented which lead to the smoke pot idea.

For faster cooks I absolutely love grilling over KK coffee lump charcoal.

[tony b]

For shorter cooks (under an hour), I don't use the smoker pot. It barely has time to come up to temperature and start smoke production before the foods ready to come off. For these cooks, I just judiciously place the chunks of wood around the burning lump to stagger them catching fire.