Primo Timing

[Sweaty Paul]

All, looking for some advice and thoughts. As folks know I recently acquired a Primo XL. I’ve done 2 long cooks. The first was a pork butt and the second was prime beef short ribs (dinosaur bones) and another pork butt for a friend. I noted, however, didn’t really appreciate how much longer it took to cook the first pork butt compared to on my Yoder or the PK-360. However, yesterday I noted that it took forever to get through the stall, and, despite my best efforts I really couldn’t. I had to get my buddy his pork butt, so, while I wasn’t super happy with the bark on the butt I wrapped in foil and threw it on the Yoder which was smoking a double batch of Troutman ‘s Red chili (pheasant season is coming). My buddy reports it was delicious, however, the bark was a bit thin (I was cooking it at 250). The beef short ribs had better bark, however, they hit the stall at 160 and stayed there. I ended up wrapping and ramping the temp on the Primo to 300.

My query is that do the Primo’s take longer to cook. I had mentally prepped/planned for timing while cooking on my Yoder YS-640 at 250. It did, however, take much longer with longer stalls. The other pork butt I did was small, however, it took 5 hours longer than I thought it would take. My wife and kid said it was delicious hot (I was on call and working when they pulled and ate it fresh). Do the kamado cookers retain more moisture than other cookers? Would cooking at 275 be better than 250?

As always, thank you all in advance and appreciate your efforts and answers. Looking forward to learning something and getting better.

Cheers all,

Sweaty Paul

[Oak Smoke]

I’ve been cooking on kamados for 12 years now. In answer to your questions, in my experience, they hold a lot more moisture than other cookers because of the very low air flow needed to keep them at temp. That moisture will let you cook hotter than you would normally think is ok without drying the meat. I get my best results when cooking a pork butt at 275 F, spare ribs at 250 F and brisket at 300 F. If you up your temps you will see your cook times come back down to something close to what you are used to. A normal brisket cook for me is between 5.5 and 7 hours without wrapping depending on the size of the brisket.

[Sweaty Paul]

Oak Smoke thank you. Makes me feel better to know others experience something similar. I perused prior posts in the Kamado thread, however, never felt like I had something on which to “hang my hat.” Will try cranking up the heat. Also wondering if you found opening the top a bit more helps also.

Thanks again.

Paul

[Oak Smoke]

Paul I do most of my temperature regulation with the top vent, It's how I learned when I first started and when I finally got a Smobot it only regulates temp by controlling the top vent. With no fan and the lower vent set a 1/4 open it will keep 1 of my kamados within 10 degrees of my target temp for the entire cook. These cookers are the simplest things once you realize that if you build your lump pile right and use the top vent for control it will do everything you could ask of it.

[Oak Smoke]

Sweaty Paul Oak, pecan, hickory and apple all have distinctive smells that will affect the flavor of you cook. It’s another ingredient that we learn to use. A well assembled lump does not fluctuate much in temp through the whole cook. That old theory that you will get spikes as new pieces catch fire is wrong. My smobot is controlling the top vent on my KJ right now. In the last 2 hours it has varied from 304 F to 306 F. Lump makes an incredibly stable fire. That’s what I meant. Sorry it’s long.

[Sweaty Paul]

Oak Smoke thank you for the responses. I really appreciate it. Will take your advice. Do you usually lite your coals on one side or in the middle? Thanks in advance.

[Oak Smoke]

Sweaty Paul I light mine in the middle with one Rutland fire starter square.