As title says. Been running KJ for 3+ hours now. Vents are all but closed. Still on the high end of smoking range, about 265F
It's full load of chunky charcoal, few smoked maple chunks, reflector plates, dripping plate and brisket on the rack.
One suspect, may be I am loading too much coal? Following some popular posts hear, I took it to "fill it up, you can control heat anyway, and reuse what's left next time". I filled it up all the way I could till reflector plates.
But looks like you should not fill all the way, especially for smoking. eg this guy here (Pitmaster X) is barely half full?
by gesho
15 Comments
You’re fine
Use a probe thermometer at grate level. Dome is likely higher. Ideal on my classic II is 240-270. I fill with lump and light in 1-3 spots depending on my goal. The perfect temp is the one you’re grill/smoker sits at naturally.
Don’t worry too much about the temp, as long as you are close to what you want, and that you can keep it consistent.
There are some people that suggest each Kamado type grill has its own “ideal temp”, could be 225, or 240, or 250, or 265, etc. That temp will be different for each grill. So, with vents set similar to what you have, you will get that temp easily and consistently, whereas if you try a temp that’s different from the grills “Ideal” temp, you will struggle to keep it at that temp consistently over the duration of the cook.
I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it does make sense to me. That said, I’ve been using a temp controller for a long time now, which is pretty much set it and forget it, because I’m lazy.
Also, fwiw, I always start out my long cooks with a full load of charcoal.
When I first got my BJ3, I did my first few cooks at 225, but nowadays I tend to cook more in the 250-300 range. The key to keeping temps low is to light a small spot, don’t spread your hot coals out, and be careful of overshooting, bring the temp up slow if you have to.
I don’t smoke anything at less than 250. Just wasting your time. As long as you have your temp steady at 265 you’re golden.
I’ve found on the KJ that the dome temp usually reads 25-35 degrees hotter than the actual grate temp when smoking low. I’ve done smokes at 250 (grate) and the dome thermometer reads 275. Might be worth putting a temp probe at the grate level to check.
With those vent settings temp will begin dropping after 10-15 min.
To add to what everyone else is saying. The komado is extremely efficient. If you go over then it’ll take awhile to drop back down. I also smoke at like 275f.
We’d need some more details like how much of basket are you putting and how you are lighting coals etc. Did you heat soak your dome before starting? Did you stabilize your temps for like 30 minutes before you added your meat etc. Are you putting some smoking wood? Where do you put it? How much smoking wood are you putting? When my flame hits the smoking wood the temp will rise a bit. These details make a difference. Also watch smokingdadbbq on YouTube for tips
My guess is you let it get too hot too fast and need to be more patient letting it get up to temp. Im starting to close it down by 200, so that I slow down how fast the temp is rising and can dial it in very easily. I always cook with a pretty full basket, even if it’s just an hour for chicken. I can keep mine around 225 with a full basket if that’s where I want it, and definitely 240-250 very easily and thats with especially the bottom more open than that.
Kind of adjacent to the question you are asking, but there’s really no reason to smoke less than 300F in my opinion. People seem to think 225-250 is the only way, but it just adds time for the sake of adding time. I get identical results at both temps for large cuts.
Yo answer your question, odds are the fire caught too quickly and spread too fast. It happens sometimes. If you catch it early enough you can lower the temperature inside by closing the vents completely for 5 mins, open the lid for 30 seconds and repeat as needed. If the ceramic has become heat soaked, it gets a little harder to do but it’s the same process.
Hot and fast club. I’ve been using mine for 4 years about once a week. I’ve tried low and slow and hot and fast. Kamado grills just work differently than your pellets and offsets. Embrace the heat and save yourself hours.
I smoke most things double indirect between 275-300. And if I need to, I can always make a foil boat to protect the bottom from getting over done.
I strongly suggest calibrating your thermometer. My original kj was reading 80 degrees too cool.
In my experience, it’s much harder to drop temp with a full basket than to control going up.
Yesterday was my first time smoking wings, i put only 2 big chinks of coal and about 7 small medium, barelly covering the center, light up with some nice wood and smoked for 1 hour ish , i had fuel for an other hour, very impressed with my fuel gauging
Is there a chance you let it get too hot to start with? If you did, the Kamado is really good at keeping heat and it will take quite some time to get down. I would be worried by the time it does, with the vents the way you have them you would have put it out. I would not worry going to 280 or higher for a bit to make sure you are getting some smoke and to make sure you do not put it out.
As others said, I also keep temps above 250.