I have recently started cooking on an Akorn Kamado, first charcoal grill coming from a pellet smoker. Took a few cooks to learn how to dial in a temp around 250, would often overshoot by a lot then have to spend an hour plus letting it come down. Realized I'm letting the coals get too too hot before shutting the liid and starting to close the grates. But now I'm coming across a new problem, I'll be locked in at 250-275 (depending what I'm cooking) and will need to open the lid to spritz, add meat, whatever. but when I open the lid and close it again it never comes back to that temp I had it before. and it starts dropping a bit, one time i snuffed the coals out doing this. I tried opening the vents more when I close the grill but that didn't seem to work too well either. I tried leaving the lid open a bit to get some air to the coals but then they shoot up way too high and i'm struggling to bring the temp down 100+ degrees. Any tips??
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Man, it could be a lot of things. What are your vent settings for 250°? -
They are nearly closed on both vents, on the akorn i go a bit past the 1 to where the screw starts, and then leave a bit on top like 1/4 inch or so openOriginally posted by Mosca View PostComment
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Please try this. When you light your kamado open the bottom vent half way. As soon as you see you have some charcoal that is well lit close the vent to 1/4 open and leave it there. Close the lid on your kamado and open the top vent 3/4 of the way. Watch your temps and use the top vent as your temp control. As you near your desired temp start closing your top vent. You may find that once your fire is established that the top vent is only open maybe 1/4 of an inch but that should be after you’ve slowly brought your cooker to temp.Comment
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How long after the fire is lit are you spritzing? It may be that you just need to tap the side of the grill to loosen up some ash. I cooked with an Akorn for several years. I put a gasket on the lid and also on the ash catcher. This helped tremendously with temperature control. Also, are you using enough charcoal? I always filled the firebox. With a Kamado, it’s not how much charcoal you load, but how big you make the fire. I light one small spot for a 250 degree fire, 2 spots for a hotter fire, etc. After the fire is lit, it’s the vents for temperature control. Good luck!Last edited by Thunder77; April 25, 2025, 07:31 AM.Comment
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Ok, maybe I'm playing with the bottom one too much as you mentioned, I'll try that! Also doing some more research could part of the problem be the little charcoal i'm using? this was for reverse seared steaks that I noticed it more and wasn't using much charcoal, should I not worry about hte amount of charcoal and fill the basket and just not light that much?Originally posted by Oak Smoke View PostComment
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Yes. Fill the basket up. when you're done cooking shut the vents and it will snuff out the fire pretty quick. You'll be surprised how much charcoal will be left for the next cook. -
Agreed! Assuming you it seals properly the charcoal will go out when you seal things up at the end of the cook. No wasted charcoal. Basically, as you have learned, you don't want to much lit, but the fire does need to spread and light new charcoal over time. That will maintain temperature till you only have a ring of un-burned lump and then temp will fall.
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It was a few hours in, I'll try the tapping but after your comment and Oak Smokes, I think the problem is the amount of charcoal i was using wasn't enough! I was using quite a small amount for reverse searing some steak. Thanks all I'll give this a try!Originally posted by Thunder77 View PostComment
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Pandaconda you asked about amount of charcoal....
On ALL kamado cooks I pretty much start with a full firebox/basket of lump charcoal. If smoking, I will light one starter in the center, then work towards to the temp I want. If grilling or doing high heat indirect (like pizza) I will use 3 starters spread around the bed of charcoal.
My process is if I have leftover charcoal from a prior cook, I will rake it around, making sure all the ashes dump down to the bottom, then top off with more. Every 2-3 cooks, I need to shovel out the charcoal into a bucket, and clean the ashes out of the very bottom, below the lower grate. I bought a galvanized steel 2 gallon bucket at Lowe's and a metal charcoal scoop that works well for cleaning out the kamado. I use a metal bucket in case any of the coals are still hot!
I think the rest of the advice is spot on. I've had a kamado since January 2021 and was using a fan controller most of this time, but have recently started trying to re-learn the vent settings myself, and found I was shutting the lower vent down way too much and snuffing the fire. I'm starting to see that I am better doing fine control with the top vent.
When you open it up, you do let a lot of heat out, and it will take a few minutes to climb back to temp, but what I find is that the open lid tends to dump more oxygen into the bowl, and my fire will tend to overshoot after I close the lid again. For grilling that doesn't matter. For smoking it might, but it will eventually settle back down.
The other thing I would advise against is spritzing. Kamados are pretty well sealed and tend to be MOIST cookers. I spritzed when I first started smoking on an offset 35 years ago. I cannot even remember the last time I spritzed on any cooker. It just isn't necessary. It washes off rub, cools the meat down, and extends the cook duration. Try skipping that next time. If the spritz has a flavor component you like, just incorporate that into a mop sauce or BBQ sauce near the end of your cook. I like to try and replicate the ribs from the Rendezvous up in Memphis, and one thing I do there is mop with a vinegar/water mix near the end of the cook, then apply some more of the Rendezvous seasoning.Comment
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As others have suggested fill the entire basket with charcoal if you are cooking a long low and slow which is what it sounds like you are doing. I’ve been cooking on a Kamado since 2010 and on very rare occasions (maybe twice) I have had ash clog the air flow, but that should no relationship to opening the lid. I think it is more likely that you are running out of fuel. Is it safe to assume that you are using lump charcoal and not briquettes? Briquettes could easily clog the air flow on a long cook.Comment
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If you think it isn’t enough charcoal, then it’s definitely not enough charcoal! I’m assuming lump, not briqs? If so, there’s no need to skimp. You can snuff it at the end, dump fresh lump on top, and keep cooking. The only time I empty is when I’m doing a long cook like a brisket, or if I’m doing an intentional clean and burn. But for grilling, like steaks, burgers, dogs, chicken thighs, etc; or a rib cook; it’s dump, light, go.Originally posted by Pandaconda View Post
Im not sure about the Akorn, does it have a deflector? I do my reverse sears with the deflector in, and the meat at the higher level. Then I remove the deflector, open all the vents, and finish at the lower level.Comment
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Yes lump, and gotcha, I think that's my main problem, it has a deflector and that was exactly how I did my steaks as well, just had some trouble dialing in the temp and keeping it there, but definitely think futzing with the bottom vent too much and not enough charcoal is my culprit hereOriginally posted by Mosca View PostComment
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Pandaconda cool.
The great thing about an Akorn is that it will do annything any other kamado will do at a fraction of the cost, so any general kamado advice applies to all of them, including the Akorn.
I’ve always controlled my vents with both top and bottom, generally leaving the bottom slightly open and doing fine adjustments on top, where it’s easier to see and adjust. But I recently read that it’s best to open the top completely, and adjust airflow from the bottom only. All I’ll say is that I think I’ll try it first on an empty cooker! No need to start with a Wagyu brisket on that one. I’ll report back on this. In fact, I’m not doing anything right now, I’ll go set it up and we’ll talk later.Comment
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Mosca I have a Smobot which works off of the principle of the bottom vent open 1/2-1/3 open and the controller adjusts the top vent. I like it because it tends to burn a cleaner fire because the fire isn’t starved for oxygen. Let us know how your test goes.Comment
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I don’t want to start a new topic for this. Large BGE. Top vent fully open, bottom vent fully closed, right now it is 287. It started at 283, and it’s been climbing very slowly for a couple hours. My guess is that it’ll keep climbing slowly. But all I need to know is that I can’t run it like that, the top vent has to be involved too.Comment
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Sounds like there is a leak in the bottom vent, for it to keep climbing with the bottom vent closed. Or some air goes down the top vent then back up? Just wondering how that is working...
I know if I close BOTH vents on my kamado I can snuff the fire. But I did find that the gasket on my top vent had shrunk, opening about a 1/4" gap on the back side of the ceramic chimney, where the top vent snugged over it. Once I replaced that mine did better.
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Excellent point. With a Kamado you don't need a water pan either. It is all in the physics. Good insulation means smaller fire. Smaller fire requires less air in and less exhaust out. Less air/smoke flow and less moisture loss. This is what makes Kamado cookers special.Originally posted by jfmorris View PostComment
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The downside is implied by what is described above. Since you have a large amount of charcoal that is ignited gradually, you never get to the white ash stage recommended before putting on the food. So you do get a small amount of the white smoke of newly ignited charcoal throughout the cook. I think this the actual reason for avoiding briquettes in the Kamado - due to the lack of fillers lump charcoal has less harshness during the ignition process. At least that's my thought.
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