Dual air vent use

[Eddie mac]

Anyone ever ran the KK on the right side with the holes to see what temp you get on each hole with the top open at 1/4 to 1/2 turn I am curious might play with that Thursday if no responds and post each hole temp 

[Pequod]

Yes. I tend to use the right dial for low temp cooks. More repeatable than trying to adjust a sliver on the left dial. For low temps, I’ll use 1/4 turn of the top vent, left vent closed, and control temp with the right side holes only. 

[Eddie mac]

I am going to  Experment 

[Bruce Pearson]

Let us know what you find out

[Bruce Pearson]

I have been just adjusting my temp by the top vent

[Eddie mac]

45 minutes ago, Bruce Pearson said:

Let us know what you find out

Thursday if weather holds out I will fill basket in the am and run 1/4 turn on top vent go thru each hole record temps starting with the tiny hole first

[tekobo]

I do the same as Pequod for low temp cooks.  I smoked some fish the other day and can hold at about 105C with the left vent closed, right vent on second to smallest hole and the top about an 1/8th open.  

[Grant]

I’m interested in the results also.  I’ve been using the left dial and just haven’t taken the time to see where the temperature would stabilize on the different hole sizes.   

[Eddie mac]

I will report back

[Tyrus]

Not yet ED, been having pretty good luck with the left and developed a habit of going there. Almost as if it's not there, thanks for waking me up, kinda forgot about it

[Tyrus]

12 hours ago, Eddie mac said:

Thursday if weather holds out I will fill basket in the am and run 1/4 turn on top vent go thru each hole record temps starting with the tiny hole first

Could you please graph that for all of us too....lol  bell shaped curve Dr Frankenstien

[Eddie mac]

40 minutes ago, Tyrus said:

Could you please graph that for all of us too....lol  bell shaped curve Dr Frankenstien

Sure will I figure if I we can set top vent to 1/4 then just turn to certain hole and get the temp for low and slow temps would be easier and fine tune with left vent.Now poll should I go 1/8 or 1/4 turn on top vent so all vote 

[Pequod]

Here are my notes for my 23". Haven't done the same with the 32 because I tend to use that primarily for grilling. Haven't checked this lately -- good enough to get me in the ballpark and adjust from there. Note that at 275 I start using the left vent. Less than 30 degrees on that and it's hard to tell where you are.

Temp	Top Vent	Bottom Left Vent	Bottom Right Vent
225	1/5	Closed	Third Hole
250	1/4	Closed	Largest Hole
275	1/4	30	Closed

[Bruce Pearson]

Cool I’ll give that a try

[tony b]

Given the variability in the fuel supply, I suspect that you'll need to run a lot of trials to get reliable data. 

I seem to recall us asking Dennis when he came out with the dual dial door whether the holes in the right side corresponded to any specific temperatures and he said No. They just picked a nice variety of sizes that they thought would work well for most low & slow cooks. 

[Eddie mac]

18 minutes ago, tony b said:

Given the variability in the fuel supply, I suspect that you'll need to run a lot of trials to get reliable data. 

I seem to recall us asking Dennis when he came out with the dual dial door whether the holes in the right side corresponded to any specific temperatures and he said No. They just picked a nice variety of sizes that they thought would work well for most low & slow cooks. 

Hummmm I see certain settings points in the manual for specific temps using the left vent.I know different fuels burn differently but I usually use same charcoal (fuel) so when Dennis says take a mental note on temp and that vent setting you should get that temp always.Kind of the same idea here right 

[Pequod]

Kind of comes down to how much precision do you need? Does it really matter what temp you get with the second hole if you know that the first hole gives you 250 at 1/4 turn of the top vent? It's an interesting academic exercise, but doesn't really reflect how I cook, which is a few rough temperature bands, and I don't sweat the variations within a band. Temperature chasing is futile. Even the following is more detailed than reality (which is more akin to fuzzy sets than discrete sets):

Cold -- no heat for cold smoking

Very Low -- under 200 for smoking bacon without rendering fat

Low -- 200 - 350 for low and slow (some would call the upper end of this hot and fast...ok)

Medium -- 300'ish to around 450'ish -- most grilling and rotisserie

High -- 450'ish to 600 -- baking bread and pizza

Very High -- Above 600 -- never used

[DennisLinkletter]

The determining factor is how much vacuum the exiting hot air creates in the chimney.. You can have the largest hole with very little vacuum and have almost no airflow.. or the smallest hole with the chimney all the way open creating lots of vacuum and forcing lots of air through the (smallest) hole..
You can however fine-tune an existing temperature by changing the lower dial setting.

[Eddie mac]

1 hour ago, DennisLinkletter said:

The determining factor is how much vacuum the exiting hot air creates in the chimney.. You can have the largest hole with very little vacuum and have almost no airflow.. or the smallest hole with the chimney all the way open creating lots of vacuum and forcing lots of air through the (smallest) hole..
You can however fine-tune an existing temperature by changing the lower dial setting.

Top vent controls vacuume correct 

[Tyrus]

It's kind of like tinkering with your carburetor, redoing the jets and changing the amount of airflow for better performance. That's what it is, performance. Is the 32 any different for time till it's completely heat soaked vs the 23.?  I heard the 32 is more responsive vs the 23 between temp changes. Seems to me, a question of balance. Good luck