Theo Lotz Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Ok, I'm very new to this, so a basic Komodo-ing 101 question: How do you get the temperature up high? High enough to sear? I get "low and slow," but CAN I do "hot and fast" on the K/K if I want to? I cant seem to get the temperature hot enough to hear the sizzle of the meat laying on the grill. Even when I've got both top and bottom dampers open all the way. I'm coming to this with old gas grill habits. And old habits die hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 hey theo! are you keeping the dome down while you sear your steak? what temps are your temp guage reading? how much lump do you have in the KK when grilling? very high temps require lots of burning fuel as well as airflow. are you doing this direct, or using the pizza stone as a heat deflector? post details of your setup here, or email me! you should be able to get dangerously high temps on this thing no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojack Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 On the bottom vent, are you sliding out the stainless steel plate or just turning the little black knob to open the 2 little windows? The black knob is to control the low airflow. For high temp you slide the steel plate out for more airflow. Dennis told me when you slide the steel plate out to get higher temps you can immediately see a reaction on the temp gauge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted April 14, 2006 Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Fuel... and more fuel... My early problems were that I only put in the charcoal that I thought the cook required... Wrong! Put in way more and then a little.. remember that the burn is controlled by the airflow and when your finished you can shut it down and use the charcoals for next time.. A huge mountain of red roaring coals can be killed in a few minutes if you starve it of air. So filler up, give her air and watch the temps climb.. PS if you want to sear in the nasty off the chart temps put a small grill down on top of your charcoal bowl.. maybe 15 sec per side, use your welding gloves when working down there near Dante's inferno! I'm off to Thailand to play in Songkran the worlds largest water fight! Your only young once, but you can be immature forever! Remember Theo the famous K cry.. "If your looking.. your NOT cooking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theo Lotz Posted April 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Thanks, guys. I'll try loading the basket up w. more fuel... I've been heaping it on, though. Do you get the fire going, let it burn down some of the charcoal, and then add more? The basket only holds so much fuel, you know. Porkchop, I've tried it both ways, direct and indirect/with and without the deflector. And, Rojack, I've pulled out the whole damper plate.. It very well could be I just dont have enough fuel in there. The other thing is that I havent received my thermometer yet, so I really don't have any idea what temperatures I am actually reaching. "If you're looking, you aint cooking." That's the habit that dies hard. I'll keep you posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Malter Posted April 14, 2006 Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Theo= As Dennis says, the solution is lots of fuel and airflow. With 8 lbs of charcoal, start it with the gas until dome temp reaches 250-300 (3-5 min). Pull out gas and open up the top and bottom draft. If you use a low grill for steaks, make sure you have very good gloves on as you can do some serious damage. Good luck. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted April 14, 2006 Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 or, if you don't do gas, start up a chimney and get it going good, pour it into the empty basket, then put the rest of your 8-10# bag on top of that. with both drafts open, you should be very hot fairly quickly. hot fires should start with the hot coals at the bottom, low-n-slow should start with coals on top of a big load of lump. i don't do gas, so this is my approach. bottom line; airflow and fuel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theo Lotz Posted April 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 Yeah, that was it.. just needed a lot more charcoal than I thought. Thanks for the input. I did a leg of lamb for Easter. I was amazed at how well I could control the temperature now that I have the thermometers. I started it off pretty hot (around 500) and then cut the heat way down to to 325. I thought it would be very difficult cool it down and tougher to keep it steady, but it was pretty easy. I was amazed. Beginner's luck maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNakedWhiz Posted April 18, 2006 Report Share Posted April 18, 2006 Hey Theo! Glad to see you are a happy camper! Here is a link to my web page on temperature control: The Naked Whiz's Page on Temperature Control As you can see in this chart: the amount of time it takes to bring the temperature of your cooker down, depends on how hot you have allowed the ceramic to get. Also, the more mass the cooker has, the longer it will take the cooker to shed heat. In the above chart, the pink line is where I heated an Egg up to 700 degrees and then immediately shut down the vents. The blue line represents when I let the cooker sit at 700 degrees for a while, allowing the ceramic to heat up, before I closed the vents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theo Lotz Posted April 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2006 Thanks, Whiz! Your site really is a great resource. I've learned a lot from it. Thanks for doing great research and offering it to all us newbies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
